The best $200 you can spend on sound

[lico]

May have been posted earlier. Sonos is the new Bose!

http://www.forbes.com/sites/sethpor...1-review-the-best-200-you-can-spend-on-sound/

 

[RamblinE]

Those things actually sound pretty good.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

[jrtrent]

Sonos is the new Bose!

That's high praise, indeed. I looked at the Sonos site, but am still confused as to how you actually use this product. Apparently, you need something called a router to get started, and then possibly a "bridge" if you want to use it wirelessly. And it will only play music that is stored on a computer, smartphone, or tablet.

I have to admit that I find my Bose Wave music system much easier and more flexible to use. It will play CD's, MP3 files, and AM/FM radio on its own, allows me to plug my turntable into its auxiliary input, and with the simple Soundlink adapter that plugs into a usb port, it will wirelessly play anything I want from my computer.

 

[nopedals]

> allows me to plug my turntable into its auxiliary input

:tresbon:

 

[E-Stat]

That's high praise, indeed. I looked at the Sonos site, but am still confused as to how you actually use this product. Apparently, you need something called a router to get started, and then possibly a "bridge" if you want to use it wirelessly. And it will only play music that is stored on a computer, smartphone, or tablet.

A router is a basic component of any home network. The bridge is synonymous with the Bose soundlink tower. The difference is that sourcing it from the router allows for both wired and wireless connnections. As for being limited to computer based files, that really is the point.

Although I'm a boomer, I no longer spin shiny plastic disks. All of them are ripped to my desktop server which feeds the router and out to the wireless access points. I use a similar Squeezebox Touch platform with players located upstairs for the main system (hard wired via CAT6), one in the garage (connected via a wireless bridge) and my iPhone/iPad can each act as wireless players or remotes from the central server to play not only stored music, but any number of streaming radio sources.

 

[chicks]

it will only play music that is stored on a computer, smartphone, or tablet.

It will play from any of those, but also from a NAS, which anyone with a large collection will already have, and from most of the streaming music services, including Pandora, MOG, Spotify, Last.FM, etc, and virtually any radio station on the planet via TuneIn Radio.

In addition, it can play from any other Sonos device in the house, which, through their digital or analog inputs, can be hooked to any legacy device, including receivers, tuners, preamps, turntables, CDPs, etc. Far more flexible than your Bose.

You may know that Bose has entered the wireless speaker market recently, though with a more limited product range, and with considerably less functionality, so far, than Sonos.

 

[Cubical_Hell]

The Sonos Connect, Connect amp, Play 5, and Playbar all have Aux inputs to stream another source through the system wirelessly.

It can also access any internet radio station or internet based music service (spotify, pandora, etc...)

 

[stereofanboy]

It will play from any of those, but also from a NAS, which anyone with a large collection will already have...........

I have a few large collections, but I don't have an NAS. There is one in my town....well, maybe two if you count Saufley Field.

 

[specialidiot]

No, Sonos is fantastic. When we bought our new 2nd home this fall, I got to start over. I have a friend who kept singing the Sonos praises, so I had a look. I bought a bridge to connect it to the Internet, which basically acts as a wifi router. It creates a wifi network with other Sonos pieces. I then got a Play 3 as a portable speaker (it basically lives in the kitchen but it will spend time on the deck in the summer) and a Connect ZP90. The ZP90 feeds the Aux input of my integrated amp.

The secret sauce is the Sonos App, which works on Windows, Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Android. It's fantastic. I can get to my locally stored music, radio stations all over the world, and my Pandora and Spotify accounts. It works with a lot of other music services too.

It works so great I bought another Connect for my home office.

Fantastic system.

I read between the lines that your comparison to Bose is a back-handed complement. You could not possibly be more wrong.

 

[Yamaki]

I implemented Sonos some years ago and used it to stream music wirelessly to and from computers and to my main system.

However, it will not handle the high resolution files I now use so I sold mine off in favor of two other wired solutions which stream via Ethernet vs. wirelessly.

 

[jrtrent]

It will play from any of those, but also from a NAS, which anyone with a large collection will already have, and from most of the streaming music services, including Pandora, MOG, Spotify, Last.FM, etc, and virtually any radio station on the planet via TuneIn Radio.

In addition, it can play from any other Sonos device in the house, which, through their digital or analog inputs, can be hooked to any legacy device, including receivers, tuners, preamps, turntables, CDPs, etc. Far more flexible than your Bose.

What I have to bear in mind is that the Play:1 is just a speaker, so of course it's not going to be as versatile as a Wave music system. It sounds like it can be part of quite a system, though, when used in conjunction with enough other pieces. And I don't use my Bose on its own, either, since I have both a turntable attached to it as well as the Soundlink adapter to receive audio from the computer.

I'm just not up on all the latest gadgets. I don't have a router or an NAS (had to look that one up), and I've never used a streaming service. From my computer, I listen to ball games from NFL Audio Pass and MLB Gameday, talk radio programs that I can't receive locally, archived podcasts, sermons, and so on.

I have a large music collection, but it's mostly on vinyl. I also have a large and growing collection of old-time radio shows that come as MP3 files on compact discs. I like the cd player in the Bose for this; each disc can contain dozens of programs, and the Bose player, even if I shut it down in the middle of a show, remembers exactly where I left off so I don't have to hunt around when I'm ready to continue.

I'm sure the Play:1 is a marvelous device--if it's comparable to Bose, it must be--but at least for what I want to do with it, the Bose meets my needs very well.

 

[lico]

My comment about Sonos being the new Bose didn't mean they necessarily sound similar or better. From a marketing perspective, I think Sonos "cracked the code" marketing to mainstream, and obviously have a hot product. The execs at Bose are probably realizing their glory days are over (if they haven't already).

Their $199 speaker sounds decent, a bit like clock radio to me, but nice. Considering the overall cost of setup, and being a computer guy, not for me... but certainly understand the ease of use aspect and Sonos will continue to thrive.

 

[chicks]

I don't have any of the Sonos speakers, just haven't had a good reason to get one. Do have a Connect and a Connect:Amp.

It's good that Sonos is finally getting some real competition, with Bluesound, who are producing Sonos clones with some additional features, like CD ripping and storage built-in. They don't copy SonosNet, though, relying on your wi-fi. Probably not such a bad thing these days, with much faster wi-fi than when Sonos was introduced.

Bose just introduced their networked speakers, which will probably have more effect on Sonos' sales than Bluesound.