Sonos....Any good..how does it work?

[Deanno1dad]

Hi Guys..was looking at the Sonos One smart speaker and just needed some basic Info and pitfalls and wondering if they're worth the dough etc.
My understanding is I need a music subscription to play some tunes.

Could I have some advice as to the best and cheapest way to get any music I want..I currently Use an Itunes account on my PC with about 2000 songs listed..I don't have a tablet and just use a basic Iphone 5S ..I don't have music on my mobile as only got 16gb memory..I store my current tracks on an Apple Ipod.

My main question is where are the tracks stored I like as I've not got much phone storage left for the music streaming and can I link an Itunes account or do I have to manually re enter my songs..cheers guys and apologies for being a music novice !

[Deanno1dad]

Anyone?

[anonymous-user]

I have recently bought a 2nd sonos play 1 (yes I was stitched up ) I have nothing to to with Apple but the kids recon they can play their itunes stuff through them. It's handy that you can play different music/sources in different rooms etc just by the touch of a button on your phone and i am not really tech savvy.
I use them to play my uploaded Google play store tunes also the amazon prime music that comes with prime. I also use them to stream radio stations via 'tunein, and I player radio.
All in all I've been pleased with it but I think they are a bit overpriced.

[Speed 3]

You might want to read this:

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

[Chester draws]

When I was looking for a music solution I did some reading on the web but found the most useful 20 minutes was spent at the hi fyi shop in our local town.

Spoke to the guy there with specific questions about what I wanted a system to do (was leaning towards Sonos at the time) and seeing the speakers and the app as well as being able to say can it do this.., what if I want to do that..., what happens when I..., how does it do.... Was hugely beneficial.

And we walked out with a play 1

Initially connected it to the home wifi, and fairly quickly got a second to work as a stereo pair in a fairly large room. Found the radio would drop out a little too frequently to be acceptable.. so moved one to the room with the router i and connected it to the router with a cable.

This lets it make its own Sonis wifi, and is much improved from sharing the home wi-fi.

We then bought a third to leave connected to the router, and now have our stereo pair of play 1's back.

Mainly play radio through it but have recently ripped all my CD's to the computer and can play them from this, but also have them copied to a 64gb SD card in the tablet.

Happy with it and know that it's likely to be expanded in the future if the boys want a radio in their bedrooms etc..

[survivalist]

Deanno1dad said:

Hi Guys..was looking at the Sonos One smart speaker and just needed some basic Info and pitfalls and wondering if they're worth the dough etc.
My understanding is I need a music subscription to play some tunes.

Could I have some advice as to the best and cheapest way to get any music I want..I currently Use an Itunes account on my PC with about 2000 songs listed..I don't have a tablet and just use a basic Iphone 5S ..I don't have music on my mobile as only got 16gb memory..I store my current tracks on an Apple Ipod.

My main question is where are the tracks stored I like as I've not got much phone storage left for the music streaming and can I link an Itunes account or do I have to manually re enter my songs..cheers guys and apologies for being a music novice !

Sonos can play music from a large number of sources, the only real exception is by Bluetooth streaming as they don't have Bluetooth onboard.

The whole point of Sonos (originally) and similar systems is that they stream the music directly from the source, using your phone only as a controller to select, start, stop and pause the music (plus volume control).

Free sources typically are:

Music stored on your computer and shared over your home network
Music stored on a Network Attached Storage device (NAS) and shared moved your home network
Internet radio


Paid for sources typically are:

Music subscription services including Spotify, Deezer, Amazon Music, Google Music, Apple Music

Sonos now also allows you to stream music that's on your phone via their app and Apple AirPlay Support is coming.

If I'm reading it correctly, you could set your PC up to share the music in your iTunes library. This would mean leaving your PC on to ensure the music is available to the Sonos speakers.

The advantages of Sonos to me is having speakers in multiple rooms that can all play different things (day to day life) or the same thing (party time)

It's worth noting that other manufacturers have credible products now (Denon Heos and Yamaha spring to mind) for multi room.

If you're just looking at a single room then more simple solutions may work or look better - I find Sonos units pretty boxy and dull to look at.

One of the things I liked about the Bose and Revo smart speakers/radios was presets so you can connect straight to Radio 1, Spotify etc. Maybe it's an age/generational thing but some people don't like to open an app to do everything and prefer to hit a physical button instead. Bluetooth is also a nice addition and something everyone can use without downloading an app.

Downsides of these devices IMHO is that the apps are less polished, fewer streaming services are supported sand multi room was more clunky than Sonos.

TLDR - if you want app controlled, multi room with most if not all services supported then Sonos is great. If you want something with buttons that can be used day to day without opening your phone every time then consider Bose, Revo and probably Ruark to name but a few

Edited by survivalist on Monday 16th October 21:59