SONOS Playbar, SUB, and Play:5 Review

Audiophiles today install sound systems in every room in their house, and every TV in every room has to have some sort of sound system or home theater to play your tunes, shows, video games or movies.  The problem has always been:

a.    Do I setup multiple systems in multiple rooms (price?)

OR

b.    Do I setup one system with different zones to multiple rooms (crazy cable runs?)

Wireless audio company SONOS decided to give you an option “c”. Have stand alone wireless speaker systems that easily work together to provide music or home theater sound to all parts of your home.

Started in 2002, SONOS’ goal was to reinvent home audio for the digital age by connecting multiple devices in multiple rooms for seamless integration. Their visionary plan was to be able to walk from room to room with your omnipresent smartphone in hand to cast your music wherever you are in your house.

If you’ve been looking at wireless whole home speaker solutions recently, you’ve probably come across SONOS. They currently have six options for bringing music to different parts of your home including their SONOS One, Play:1, Play:3, and Play:5 compact wireless speakers, and their Playbar soundbar.  All four speaker systems have to ability to link to a wireless sub simply called the SONOS SUB.

To get an idea of how well the SONOS line of products worked together we decided to test their Play:5 and Playbar models in separate rooms while linking their SUB to the playbar for a 3.1 surround system.

Sonos Play:5, PlayBar and Wireless Subwoofer YouTube Review

Play:5 Overview

The Play:5 arrived triple boxed. The unit was securely and safely nestled inside the innermost box with the quote, “A room feels more welcoming when there’s music playing…” emblazoned on the side. Simplicity rules here. Just the Play:5, a power cord, and Ethernet cord, and a quick start guide. Nice.

    

I received the black finish, but the Play:5 also comes in white.  For a speaker system the size of a shoe box, the unit is surprisingly heavy coming in at 14 lbs. The graphite grill on the front of the speaker is solid feeling with an ample amount of holes (SONOS says over 60,000) to let the sound through. The top of the unit contains the touch response buttons for volume and track changes as well as a centrally located multicolored light indicator for setup.

The rear of the Play:5 has a line-in for connecting your Play:5 to a non-wireless device and then sending that music to other SONOS speakers around the house. Also on the back of the speaker is the Ethernet port, synch button, and antitrip and fall power cord.

On a Personal Note: The power cord drove me crazy for the Play:5. If you slightly moved the unit the power cord unplugged from the back of the Play 5. This probably won’t be a problem for most people since normally you won’t move your unit after setup. But for the smaller SONOS One, Play:1 and Play:3 this might present an issue.

The Play:5 comes with 3 mid-woofers and 3 tweeters in a sealed cabinet with a phased speaker array (three drivers on top and three on the bottom) to help create a wider stereo soundstage directing sound left, right, and center and for power, the Play:5 has six class D amplifiers.

The Play:5 is humidity resistant (NOT waterproof or weather resistant) so big master bathrooms and outdoor patios can be opened up to SONOS music. It went beyond the scope of this review to see just how water resistant the Play:5 is so we’ll just have to take SONOS’ word for it.

    

The SONOS Play:5 is designed to be oriented in either a horizontal or vertical position and the rubber feet on the sides and bottom do a great job of keeping the Play:5 in place. The unit recognizes the orientation so when it’s horizontal, it’s in stereo and when it's vertical, it's in mono. Structurally the Play 5 is a very well built unit. A solid, clean design make the Play:5 easy to integrate into almost any home décor.

Play 5: Setup

The first step to installing your new SONOS system is downloading the app which is available for both iOS and Android users. After installation, the app will guide you through a series of steps to get your Wi-Fi connected to your SONOS device.

         

We won’t go through all the steps since SONOS does a pretty good job of walking you through it with their setup options and questions. I did like the fact that SONOS added some default help solutions along the way in case you were confused about what you were doing.

Depending on the generation and model of the SONOS product will determine the buttons to push to get it to link up with your wireless network. In this case I was using the newer models of the SONOS Play:5 so there is a specialized button on the back of the unit for connecting the Play:5 to your wireless router.  The Playbar on the other hand and older models of the Play:1, Play:3, and Play:5 require you to simultaneously press the play/pause and volume up buttons. The app will guide you through it, but if you decide to re-setup the system in a new house you might forget which device is older or newer which might cause problems during reinstallation. The good news is there are just a few combinations for the SONOS models and as mentioned above the app will help you figure it out.

If problems persist in connecting to your wireless network SONOS will advise you to connect straight through an Ethernet cord directly from your router.  Not a big deal if you are connecting one of their smaller models, but maneuvering their Playbar through the house and connecting it to an Ethernet cord tucked behind the desk in my office is another matter. 

Editorial Note: Operational Quirk

While I was reviewing the SONOS system there was a SONOS software update which caused the SONOS app on my phone to lose connection with my system. I eventually got it working again, but these are the little quirks that still need to be worked out.

If you have two units the Play:1, Play:3, and Play:5 speakers can be used to turn each speaker into separate left and right channels for larger stereo sound. It’s a pretty cool feature that many companies are integrating into their smaller speaker units. The feature that makes SONOS so unique though is that you can take these two smaller speakers and use them as wireless rear speakers in conjunction with the playbar and sub for a 5.1 system without any speaker wires, just the power cord.

Another issue we had with the Play:5 was volume control.  Although you can adjust the volume in some apps, we had issues with others using an iPhone 6 as the streaming device. The side volume buttons on my iPhone also had a very limited volume range as compared with the volume control from the app. 

Playbar Overview

The SONOS Playbar was also double boxed for protection and arrived in perfect condition. Like the Play:5, The Playbar is made of high quality materials from the metal and plastic body to the form fitted soft fabric speaker grill.

The SONOS Playbar features nine speakers: six 2.5” mid-bass drivers and three tweeters. SONOS says they are designed in a phased speaker array to deliver “directionality” creating a wider sound stage. The unit also features Nine Class-D digital amplifiers tuned to match the nine dedicated speaker drivers and the acoustic architecture. SONOS does pack a lot of speakers and electronics into their unit.  To give you a comparison of a product of similar price, the Pulse Soundbar from Bluesound has 6 speakers. two tweeters, two 2” mids, and two 4” bass drivers.

Playbar Setup

I set the Playbar right on my entertainment center and it fit nicely just below the level of the television speakers so as not to obstruct the view of the TV. The SONOS Playbar also has the option of mounting the unit right to the wall.  The wall mount is a $39 option (free shipping) and can be purchased directly through SONOS.

SONOS advertises easy setup with their Playbar unit. A power cord and an optical cord for your TV, that’s it! Physically hooking the Playbar up the TV was a breeze; no issues, but I had similar problems connecting the Playbar to my wireless network as I did with the Play:5. It took several tries to get it right, but eventually everything worked. Installation of the SUB was much easier.  It connected without any issues the first time.    

Some soundbars I have reviewed recently include a cheap remote as the only means to control the volume of their unit.  Although they work fine, it’s one more pesky remote to add to your collection.  The Playbar works with almost all TV, cable box, and universal remotes by learning their infrared (IR) commands during setup. The remotes you have are all you need.

Some cool features that have been added to the Playbar are sound options such as Speech Enhancement designed to clear up muddy dialogue scenes. Another option is Night Sound. In the Night Sound mode, quiet sounds are enhanced at lower volume levels and the intensity of loud sounds is reduced.

SONOS SUB

 

The SONOS Sub has a weird looking O shape and is constructed around two oval 6” drivers in a push-pull arrangement.

SONOS says, “You can stand it tall or lay it flat and even hide it under the couch either way, SUB brings out the bottomless bass you desire.” The SUB is cheaply made for its $600 price tag. No bracing or inert materials here, just hard plastic. But if you’re more interested in paying for the convenience of having everything work together seamlessly in the SONOS world then I wouldn’t rule the Sonos SUB out. It did add a considerable amount of bass to the Playbar and all the controls for the sound levels are in the SONOS app. The SUB is equipped with rubber feet to prevent scratches and comes with additional felt feet if you want to lay it flat.  It features class D amplification and dual drivers in what Sonos calls "force cancelling" where the drivers face each other and allegedly cancel out cabinet vibrations.

Trueplay Room Calibration

Continuing with the idea of simplicity, SONOS also integrates an acoustic calibration system called Trueplay for tuning your speakers to your room.

Trueplay uses your Sonos app and the microphone on your iPhone or iPad to measure how sound reflects off walls, furniture and other surfaces in a room. Trueplay then makes acoustic adjustments to your speakers. The calibration took less than four minutes with my iPhone 6 and made a big difference in the soundstage of the room. Sorry Android users, no integration of Android devices is coming in the foreseeable future.

On this subject, SONOS comments:

We realize many Sonos users, and music lovers considering Sonos, are happy Android users that want to use their phone or tablet of choice to Trueplay tune their Sonos speakers. Unfortunately due to the wide variety of devices on the Android platform using different software versions, microphones and ways to process audio we could not ensure a consistent and reliable Trueplay tuning experience thus far. It’s absolutely our intent to support Trueplay on Android so know we haven’t lost sight of this gap and are quite unhappy about the lack of Android support.

SONOS Play:5, Playbar and SUB Listening Tests

The easiest way to play music using the Play 5 is through the SONOS app. Pandora, Spotify, Tidal, Google Play Music and Groove, are all available on the app or you can play your own collection of music stored on your computer or networked drive.

The newest version of the Play 5 that we reviewed has significantly better sound than the previous Play 5 model and an extra $100 on the price tag. For its size the small unit does not lack bass though owing to the three midwoofers.

Pulling up the app I decided to listen to my Pandora Maroon 5 station.  Immediately “One more night” came up.  Adam Levine’s opening falsetto rang out clean.  As the main beat kicked in the bass drum hits were present. Not to overpowering, not too soft. The separation of sounds for such a small unit is exceptional.  The offbeat reggae style synthesizer beats were distinct from Levine’s vocals, both the background and main tracks were easily distinguishable from one another. More Maroon songs played through the Pandora App and the Play 5 showed its prowess in the neodisco genre with ease.

To test the Play 5’s lower end I next pulled up my Today’s hits station betting that something with a lot of overengineered bass would play. Imagine Dragon’s “Believer” started. Imagine Dragons is known for their actual bass drum hits as opposed to synthesized ones. It’ll do. The big drum hits held true with the Play 5. The vocals were still clean and clear, and the dead silence right before the big hit “PAIN!” showed the engineered skills of the SONOS designers and their ability to integrate the Pandora app into their unit.

Next, another retro-style song played on the pop station “Feel it Still” by Portugal. The Man. The opening guitar and cymbals have a great 60’s style beat and the lead singers super high voice add to the feeling that Austin Powers was going to come out of the speaker yelling “Yeah Baby!”.

The Play 5 was consistent through other genres of music. For the size, the unit played exceptionally well. A good comparison would be the Oppo Sonica which we reviewed recently. At $299 (compared to $499 for the SONOS Play:5) the Sonica has slightly less bass owing to the two 3.5" bass woofers as compared to the Play:5's three midsubs. But with the Sonica's ability to stream using Apply Play and Bluetooth right out of the box and the huge $200 price difference I'd give the edge to the Sonica.

Listening Tests - Playbar and SUB

Unlike the setup of the Playbar and Play 5 to a wireless network, integrating the SONOS SUB into either unit (yes I did sync the SUB to the Play 5) was not an issue. All features of the Playbar and SUB were controlled through the SONOS app with relative ease. Pulling content from your phone for the Playbar is a little bit trickier than the Play 5, but since the Playbar was hooked up to my apple tv, most of the content used in the Listening Tests came from that device rather than streamed from my phone.

Cable

“Walking Dead” Season 8 Premier

Depending on the episode, “The Walking Dead” can be anywhere from a soap opera’s worth of dialogue, to an explosive filled roller coaster ride of chaos. Luckily this was the later. Rick’s rousing speech to the fighters of the Hilltop, Alexandria, and The Kingdom is easily heard through the Playbar. Although not necessarily needed, the Speech Enhancement option worked well to help clarify some of the dialogue. It did not make a huge difference, but a change for the better was there none the less. The diversity of the number and types of drivers really came through in the action scenes. This was evident in the low rumblings of Darryl’s motorcycle, the explosions of guns, and the breaking of glass.  The Playbar and SUB worked well together to portray what the sound director was looking for in the scenes. The content itself from the cable service didn’t warrant a good soundstage or imaging so I decided to move on to Blu-ray.

Blu-ray

Mad Max – Fury Road

This is still one of my favorite movies to use for sampling new units. The opening scene alone has it all and the SONOS Playbar did a wonderful job through all of it.  From Tom Hardy’s low gravelly voice, to the news reports moving from left to right and back again to the voices in the black matter of his brain. The skitter of the two headed lizard, the crunch of his boot and he crushes it and swallows it whole all come through the Playbar with a wide soundstage for a 35” unit. As Max jumps into his car and revs the engine to life, the sub kicks in and shows a surprising amount of punch which is further reinforced as he is chased over the hill and through the desert.

A little finessing was needed to achieve the proper levels of bass for the sub, but I eventually found a good compromise between music, dialogue and explosive movies.   

Conclusion

My home is a revolving door of new audio products to review. New speaker systems are plugged in, unplugged, moved around, and shipped out on a weekly basis. I found the SONOS speakers to be finicky when moving them around the house, connection wise. If the wireless connection was lost, sometimes reconnecting to the network was a problem.  I also had issues connecting when moving the speakers from one wireless network to another.  On the plus side, when the speakers were in place, the connections worked well with little problems and the speakers themselves were built of top notch materials and the sound was fantastic. If you are planning on using any of the SONOS products as a mobile system to take back and forth to work, I would look into other systems. But if you're setting this up in a stationary environment like an office or a home, then Sonos is a sound option.

Sonos Play:5, PlayBar and Wireless Subwoofer YouTube Review

 

The Score Card

The scoring below is based on each piece of equipment doing the duty it is designed for. The numbers are weighed heavily with respect to the individual cost of each unit, thus giving a rating roughly equal to:

Performance × Price Factor/Value = Rating

Audioholics.com note: The ratings indicated below are based on subjective listening and objective testing of the product in question. The rating scale is based on performance/value ratio. If you notice better performing products in future reviews that have lower numbers in certain areas, be aware that the value factor is most likely the culprit. Other Audioholics reviewers may rate products solely based on performance, and each reviewer has his/her own system for ratings.

Audioholics Rating Scale

• — Excellent
• — Very Good
• — Good
• — Fair
• — Poor

Metric	Rating
Network Features
Ease of Setup
Build Quality
Appearance
Treble Extension
Treble Smoothness
Midrange Accuracy
Bass Extension
Bass Accuracy
Imaging
Soundstage
Dynamic Range
Fit and Finish
Performance
Value