Why wouldn't I go for Sonos...
Discussion
This is a very unusual scenario. I've thought about buying Sonos gear to link the two surround systems in the house and put some audio in the bedrooms.
Thought it would get torpedoed by SWMBO. Blow me down, go for dinner last night with some friends who sit there selecting music off the iPad and she turns round and says why can't I do this?
My reply, only money...
Her response - I want this...
First time in umpteen years that I've been given carte blanche to go spend money on toys. Why wouldn't I do it?
Any pitfalls to be aware of? My reading so far is that it does what it says. Our set up would be a router bridge, two Connect units and a Play 5 with possible additions later.
First time in my life that I'm questioning spending money on non-essentials
Thought it would get torpedoed by SWMBO. Blow me down, go for dinner last night with some friends who sit there selecting music off the iPad and she turns round and says why can't I do this?
My reply, only money...
Her response - I want this...
First time in umpteen years that I've been given carte blanche to go spend money on toys. Why wouldn't I do it?
Any pitfalls to be aware of? My reading so far is that it does what it says. Our set up would be a router bridge, two Connect units and a Play 5 with possible additions later.
First time in my life that I'm questioning spending money on non-essentials
Rick101 said:
Sonos is not value for money.
It does however do what its supposed to and does it were well. We have four I'm the house now. Its used daily, was easy to set up and 99.9% of the time works perfect.
By definition then, for 99% of the people, how is it not good value form money?It does however do what its supposed to and does it were well. We have four I'm the house now. Its used daily, was easy to set up and 99.9% of the time works perfect.
V.
Rick101 said:
Simple. Its extremely expensive for what it it.
It does have the market cornered and as I said it works well.
I'm a fan. The only negative is the price.
Sorry Rick but have to disagree about it's value and subjective cost. There's nothing that does what it does for less money and it's a significantly better music player than systems costing many, many times it's price. In fact in terms of user interface I can't think of anything that could be reasonably argued to be better. In terms of sound quality you'll better the Connect Amp with a decent stereo amplifier( for less) but that's not apples for apples. Similar products that outperform the Connect Amp cost two to three times as much.It does have the market cornered and as I said it works well.
I'm a fan. The only negative is the price.
How exactly does this make it 'extremely' expensive for what it does? Cheaper systems offer nothing like the user experience and you have to spend much, much more to better it. Compared to the competition it's very good value for money. It's just not cheap, that I'll agree with.
NorthDave said:
£300 gets you a room of digital radio and Spotify!?!
So does £150, and it'll take batteries.http://ue.logitech.com/en-gb/smart-radios
Can't believe you guys all think it's cheap, cost me £1200 odd so far, plus the £10pm spotify.
As said from the start, I love the system and recommend it, but I also advise people it is expensive.
Edited by Rick101 on Monday 7th October 08:53
I bought a Sonos connect to go beside the PS3 in the lounge. Sonos allows me to stream music files from my NAS to the sound system in the front room. So I use the PS3 for streaming movies and the Sonos if I want music.
The reason I don't use the PS3 for music is the awful media player , the Sonos media players (Pc, tablet or phone) are all very good, intuitive and work easily. I think a lot of the money you pay for a Sonos is to pay for the software as well as the hardware.
Anyways, I don't use it often, but it always does what it says on the tin.
The reason I don't use the PS3 for music is the awful media player , the Sonos media players (Pc, tablet or phone) are all very good, intuitive and work easily. I think a lot of the money you pay for a Sonos is to pay for the software as well as the hardware.
Anyways, I don't use it often, but it always does what it says on the tin.
Well thanks for all the comments. It seems the consensus is that whilst it is possibly not the cheapest it does work and is easy to set up and use.
This is important because right now I can stream music to one of the AV systems which is networked but the UI is slow and clunky and thus just not used.
Seems like I can go shopping then..
This is important because right now I can stream music to one of the AV systems which is networked but the UI is slow and clunky and thus just not used.
Seems like I can go shopping then..
z4chris99 said:
or just get apple TV's and plug them into your system?
£99 a room and you can play off any iDevice, single room, multi room etc
I've bounced between the two for a year or more, trying to decide which is better / more convenient etc. The Apple TVs are great little things, but they have one massive drawback: iTunes. You have to have a computer somewhere awake and alive and running iTunes for the Apple TV to even work. Then to control the ATV you have to have an iDevice, or turn the telly on and do it manually through the laborious menus. Quick and easy it is not.£99 a room and you can play off any iDevice, single room, multi room etc
Sonos on the other hand happily accesses all my library by just being pointed at the directory on my NAS which contains the iTunes library, so as long as that NAS is alive, it works. It can then be accessed via any Win/Android/iDevice through a quicker and simpler menu.
I already have all my own speakers and amplifiers, so all I've ever needed were the Z120s or whatever they're now called, which are still frighteningly expensive.
We're in the middle of renovation at the moment so I plan on continuing to use a handful of AppleTV to run the extra zones and see how I get on, but I can well see me adding Sonos to those zones simply for the sheer convenience of the way the system works.
The amped or speaker-equipped Sonos boxes are brilliant for what they do, and not really comparative to the ATV as you'd have to add the extra bits, but I do agree that the non-amped ones seem pretty expensive for what they are.
Hi OP,
We've used Sonos for 18 months and with Spotify its pretty good. We use connects and a bridge. The only down side is if you have a collection of high res music on a share. We put most of our existing CD collection to flac and its a brilliant.
It works better with ethernet than wireless (flacs will pause and stop via wireless, compressed stuff it's OK)
Hope this helps
Oh iPad App for the win
We've used Sonos for 18 months and with Spotify its pretty good. We use connects and a bridge. The only down side is if you have a collection of high res music on a share. We put most of our existing CD collection to flac and its a brilliant.
It works better with ethernet than wireless (flacs will pause and stop via wireless, compressed stuff it's OK)
Hope this helps
Oh iPad App for the win
nick s said:
Also, With Apple TV, I don't think you can select multiple zones/speakers etc unless you are using iTunes on a computer. Which as mentioned, has to be on.
If you're just using airplay straight from your phone/ipad. Then you can only send it to one speaker/zone as far as i'm aware?
correct, multi zone is only from computer, from mobile devices its single zone.. If you're just using airplay straight from your phone/ipad. Then you can only send it to one speaker/zone as far as i'm aware?
Sonos is the best multi zone music player out there if you want my opinion.
It isn't cheap, but it works and is very simple to use. I have them all around the house and the only thing I wish would be different is that the streaming music services used higher bit rates. Other than that, it's spot on. Even my wife loves it and she is completely unimpressed by most of the tech that I buy!
It isn't cheap, but it works and is very simple to use. I have them all around the house and the only thing I wish would be different is that the streaming music services used higher bit rates. Other than that, it's spot on. Even my wife loves it and she is completely unimpressed by most of the tech that I buy!
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