Tech —

Sonos Play:5 review: The best-sounding wireless speaker system we’ve ever used

Plus, TruePlay tuning really does work, even if the differences are subtle.

Mark Walton
Specs at a glance: Sonos Play:5
Size 204mm length, 364mm width, 154mm depth
Weight 6.3kg
Amplifier Six Class-D digital amplifiers
Speakers Three long-throw mid-woofers, three tweeters
Connectivity 802.11b/g 2.4GHz Wi-Fi, 10/100 Ethernet
Supported Audio Formats MP3, iTunes Plus, WMA (including purchased Windows Media downloads), AAC (MPEG4), AAC+, Ogg Vorbis, Audible (format 4), Apple Lossless, Flac, WAV, AIFF
Supported OS Windows, Mac, iOS, Android
Price £429, $499€579

Sonos, where have you been all my life? I'm really late to the Sonos wireless speaker party, but after a spending a week with the new Play:5, I'm about ready to empty my wallet directly into Sonos' bank account to kit my entire flat with these things—it's that good. Not only is the Play:5 the best sounding all-in-one speaker I've ever heard (yes, even better than the legendary Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin), it's one of the best sounding audio systems I've heard full stop. Sure, you can go nuts with valve amps and floor-standing speakers and dedicated DACs as I've done in the past, but for something so elegantly designed and simple to use, the Play:5 is unmatched.

In fact, there are few bits of tech that I've encountered—outside of Apple stuff—that's as easy to set up as the Sonos Play:5. Within just a couple of minutes of taking the Play:5 out of the box, it was up and running and streaming music from the Internet via Spotify. There was no convoluted wireless setup, syncing issues, or complex software to decipher: I simply downloaded the Sonos app on the Google Play Store, pushed the sync button on the back of the speaker, and it did the rest. When you can describe the entire setup procedure in a single sentence, that's special.

That said, while there are some excellent free options like SoundCloud and TuneInRadio, to make the most out of the Play:5 you need to subscribe to at least one music streaming service or have a bunch of music stored locally on a PC or NAS. My music service of choice is Spotify, but the Play:5 works with Amazon Prime Music, Google Play Music, and Tidal to name but a few. Entering your details to log into your chosen streaming service is pretty much the only fiddly thing you have to do during the initial setup, other than deciding where in the room to place the actual device.


Sonos has stripped back the design of the Play:5 over the previous model, removing the integrated stand from the bottom and the bevelled edges and sunken area from the top. The result is a sleek black (or white if you're so inclined) box that will fit in with pretty much any living room décor. Some may prefer more frills, but I think Sonos made the right call with the Play:5 design: it's meant to be heard, not seen.

In lieu of the stand there are small nubbins along the bottom and sides of the Play:5, which allow for horizontal or vertical orientation. The latter option is particularly useful if you pair two of them up for stereo operation. The physical volume and play/pause buttons have been ditched in favour of capacitive ones that light up. While that might ring alarm bells for anyone who's had a cat brush up against an Xbox 360 in the middle of a heated Halo game, the buttons aren't overly sensitive. (Sadly, I can't confirm whether they're actually cat-proof.)

The back of the Play:5 is similarly sparse, featuring a socket for the power cable (the power supply is thankfully internal), an Ethernet socket if you'd rather go wired than Wi-Fi, a 3.5mm jack for hooking up wired audio devices, and a sync button for use during initial setup. That's it: no LEDs, no screens, and certainly no graphic equalisers. Like the setup process, the device itself is wonderfully simple.

How do I play music on this thing?

You have two main options for getting music to the Play:5: music streaming services or local files. You also have two options for sending music to the Sonos speaker: either from your Windows or Mac PC or through a mobile device running Android or iOS. Either way, unlike the Chromecast that lets you use your own music player of choice, you have to use Sonos' app. There are good and bad points with either approach, but I like the way Sonos does it. Knowing that you have access to all your music, wherever it's located, from a single app is incredibly convenient.

The app is lightweight on iOS, Android, and Mac (I haven't had a chance to test the Windows version just yet, but hopefully it's as good as the others), which helps with keeping it feel snappy and quick to load songs. On the desktop, the app scans your local music folder (or you can point it to a NAS/server), after which it adds all the tracks to a library. There's support for pretty much every type of file out there up to 16-bit/44.1kHz (sorry 24-bit fans), although older Apple "Fairplay" and WMA DRM files won't work. From there you just select the Sonos device you want to send music to if you have more than one, browse your library for the song you want, and presto, you have music.

While the desktop app works well, I suspect most people (myself included) will spend far more time using Sonos with a mobile device. The setup process is largely identical, while the UI takes on a more mobile-friendly feel. The top of the screen shows what device you're currently sending music to—yes, you can send different music to different devices all at once—while tapping on the menu button shows your music sources and settings. Most of the time you just search for the artist or track you want, after which Sonos gives you results organised by things like Track, Artist, Album, Station, and Playlists.

Because Sonos pulls music in from multiple places—even multiple music subscription services—those results are further broken down via source. If you have a lot of music and subscription services, this can get a little messy. This is one of the few areas where the Sonos app could do with some UI improvements. Once you've picked a track, you can play it immediately, add it to the current play queue, or add it to a playlist with just a few taps. It's really simple, and most people will be up and running and playing music in no time.

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