Summary – Sonos Play 5 Review
The Sonos Play 5 is a really solid home audio speaker that delivers richer, deep sound with more powerful bass than its predecessors in the Sonos Play series, including the Sonos Play 3. The Play 5 is able to deliver rich and clean sound with deep bass, and comes equipped with three Class-D amplifiers and three custom built drivers which create a full and wide soundstage which brings out the details in vocals and instruments. It is also equipped with a rear-firing bass radiator which pumps out exceptionally deep lows for a speaker of this size, and sounds great in virtually any position due to the Trueplay speaker tuning which optimizes sound performance in your preferred orientation. You can also wirelessly pair the Play 5 with other compatible SONOS speakers into separate left and right channels for a bigger and deeper stereo sound. The Play 5 will pair wireless to your home Wi-Fi or mobile device through an app, and can stream music from Pandora and Spotify without any issues. While the Sonos Play 5 is slightly on the steeper price range, the level of sound performance and bass output does surpass what you can expect from a traditional home audio speaker.
The Pros. The Sonos Play 5 is a really solid Wi-fi speaker for home audio that we have tested, delivering really solid, deep and punchy bass. Music performances sounded cinema-like through the Play 5 speaker, and the ability to pair multiple Sonos speakers together to create a wider soundfield is definitely an added plus.
The Cons. The Sonos Play 5 is priced on a steeper range. The speaker requires wifi connection to connect to your smartphone through the Sonos app.
Sound Performance
The sound performance of the Play 5 is phenomenal and much better than we expected. The best thing about the sound performance is how crisp and detailed our music sounded, and you can hear details in the music which you have never heard before. The highs and mids are very clearly defined and crisp, and it also has a nice bass response that feels impactful and goes very deep. We also liked the soundstage on the Play 5 which felt really spacious with good musical separation; you can hear the details of the music as if you were in a live concert, although there are some practical limitations due to the size of this speaker. Instrumental music was reproduced with great detail and felt sublime to listen to, while bass heavy music genres such as electronic dance music sounded right off the bat punchy and enjoyable to listen to. We absolutely loved the excellent sound quality from these speakers and thoroughly enjoyed listening to music and instrumental performances on the Play 5.
Design
The Play 5 has a minimalist, versatile design that fits nicely in almost any setting, and can be positioned vertically or horizontally, or use as home theatre rear speakers and as a stereo pair. It is specially designed to optimize sound based on your preferred orientation, so the sound quality will remain just as good in virtually any position (although we recommend placing it near a wall or better bass resonance). The Play 5 is also incredibly easy to set up – you can connect to this speaker using your home Wi-Fi and expand your home audio system by adding more wireless speakers to additional rooms. With this setup, you can play different songs in different rooms at the same time, or play a single song in perfect sync throughout your home. Since the Play 5 uses Wi-Fi wireless connection, the sound quality is preserved through the Wi-Fi connection and there are no dips or drops while streaming music.
Miscellaneous
With that in mind, you will need to install the Sonos app in order to properly use this speaker. The Sonos app simplifies all the functionality into a simple menu and you can create playlists easily by the touch of a button. That being said, the Play 5 does not connect like a traditional Bluetooth speaker – you have to connect the speaker to a wireless access point and then connect to the speaker through the app. The app well designed and provides you with the ability to have the speakers work in group sync or as an individual speaker, and allows you to control the sound in different speaker units. The app also comes with a nice function that allows the speaker to tune itself to the room and adjust the sound accordingly to get the best sound quality from the Play 5.
The Verdict?
The Sonos Play 5 delivers really solid and crisp sound performance with an aesthetically appealing design. While the Sonos Play 5 does require a wireless access point and an app to stream music, we loved the sound performance and the fact that it does an extremely good job of tuning itself to the surrounding environment to optimize the sound quality. The highs and mids on the Play 5 are exceptionally crisp, clear and detailed, and we were very impressed with the bass response which felt impactful, deep and powerful. The sound from the speaker has a certain presence and authority that makes it feel very enjoyable to listen to. The design of the Sonos Play 5 is clean and minimalist, and is inconspicuous enough to blend in easily into the room. The Play 5 can also fill a large room with powerful sound without any distortion, and is suitable as rear speakers for your home theatre system. Compared with the Sonos Play 3, the Play 5 delivers much more natural sound performance with great attention to detail and refined, solid bass performance. It is definitely a speaker you should consider if you intend to install a multi-channel wireless home audio system in your home.
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