Sonos Multi-room Music System Review: S5, ZoneBridge, Controller 200

By Jonathan S. Geller on Feb 17, 2010 at 1:59 PM

Featured February 17, 2010 at 1:59 PM

It’s pretty incomprehensible that until about two weeks ago, I had never used a piece of Sonos equipment. Heard about it, and read about it? Sure, but never used it. What MP3s did for personal audio enjoyment 5 years ago, Sonos does for your home, office, or wherever you want today, ingeniously creating a seamless and practically unlimited expandable system. Sonos is literally one of the coolest things I’ve seen in years; not because they reinvented the wheel (even though they kind of did in some places), but because it works.

Sonos-Review-4

Our digital lives are consumed by software updates, OTAs, custom ROMs, and promised OS upgrades, and because of their absence in Sonos’ system the entire experience is completely refreshing. You literally, in the words of Ron Popeill, “set it and forget it.” Once you unbox the sucker you have access to potentially limitless amounts of music spanning dozens of genres and styles.

We were sent two Sonos S5s, which are incredibly powerful units, and include speakers, subwoofers, and the ability to transmit/receive data and signal in addition to a ZoneBridge and Sonos Controller 200. If you want your S5 in the room where your internet router is, great, you just plug it in, and off you go. If you don’t have Ethernet in the room you’d like to host the system in, you can simply buy a ZoneBridge ($99), which will bridge your wireless network to your Sonos base for you. From there on out it is as simple as pairing the additional components.

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I started off setting up the ZoneBridge to my network, I then added a Sonos S5 in the kitchen two rooms away. Set up was a breeze. I ran the Sonos software, touched a button or two on the S5, and it paired immediately and connected to my network. Once networked, I had instant access to my Pandora account, Last.fm account, Rhapsody account, Napster account, and Sirius radio account, in addition to whatever music was on my network. Instantly. Before I got too excited and immersed in some music from Billboard charts from 1995, I decided to add the other S5 to the network; this time unit was headed for the living room. The second S5 also seamlessly connected in about one minute. I now had independent control over the music/volume in the kitchen as well as the music/volume in the living room from my computer. So wild. If you’re having a small get together, or raging party, and want the music to play all over your apartment or house, you can simply link the zones together — all your zones will play the exact same thing perfectly in sync. You can also control the volume of linked zones together or independently.

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We’re not done…there’s more. Sonos’ new controller is so thoughtfully designed that I’m really not sure what to compare it to. It seems like it should cost $1,000 instead of $349; it even includes a capacitive screen. You have the ability to control the entire system — including changing your playlists, music queue, stations, volume, zones, and everything else — right from the controller. Computer not required. But, Sonos went even further. They basically replicated the entire experience they offered on the remote into an iPhone application. This transforms your iPod Touch or iPhone into another controller, complete control over everything, computer not required (you need to be in range of your WiFi network though, duh).

In terms of the actual music, the Sonos S5 unit itself sounds absolutely amazing and really packs a punch. For something that can be literally picked up and plugged in anywhere it’s pretty remarkable. During the tests I didn’t ever miss having my actual home speaker systems hooked up, the S5s sounded that good.

While it’s great that the hardware and wireless network side of things work so incredibly well, what good would all that be without quality music sources, right? Here’s how Sonos’ music breaks down:

If you have a PC or Mac on your network, Sonos can make use of any existing library pending of course the music is DRM-free. This includes all of your iTunes music, ripped music, downloaded music — whatever is stored locally on your computer
Rhapsody (subscription based access with free trial, streaming)
Napster (subscription based access with free trial, streaming)
Pandora (streaming)
Last.fm (streaming)
SIRUIS (streaming)
Internet radio (25,000 stations, streaming)

All in all I loved listening to a seemingly endless catalog of music that I could tailor to my daily routines, activities, and moods. Times when you’d normally just forget about turning on tunes dissolve away when there’s a Sonos remote nearby — hopefully the neighbors aren’t too mad at me. Check out some more photos in our gallery, and definitely hit up Sonos directly to learn more!

Click on over to our Sonos Music System gallery!

Tags:: Audio, iPhone, iPod, Itunes, Last.fm, Mesh, Music, Napster, Pandora, Review, S5, Sirius, Sonos, Streaming, Wireless

106 Comments

Wags

Logitech Squeezebox does more than Sonos and does a better job at 1/3 the price. It also is open source and constantly upgraded. I have had both systems and dumped the Sonos, it’s no match. Only a fool would buy Sonos.
iName

yeah if i was a zillionaire i’d get one of these. but my sony s-air system will work for now.

http://www.edoubleclicks.com John Green

what are you doing?

Majik

People who are critics of this review clearly haven’t used Sonos. Most would change their minds if they did.

Yes it is expensive, but you get a whole lot more than you do with similar looking solutions. part of this is the superb Tech Support which is head and shoulders better than any other I have experienced. When you look at a cheaper solution, consider why it is cheaper. Support (or lack of) will be one of the reasons.

Usability will be one of the others. The usability of Sonos is superb. Sonos is the ONLY system I know of which is actually used by partners and families, not just the techy who bought it and looks after it). What’s the point in having a cheaper solution if it’s not used.

In these respects, although it appears on paper to be more expensive, it offers far better value than the cheap alternatives.

As for Squeezebox, you have to be joking. Sure I bet there’s a handful of geeks out there who like messing around with the technology and will chose a Squeezebox system for this, but most people want a system that works without having to deal with the technology. This is where Sonos comes in, and why you get this sort of reaction from former Squeezebox owners:

http://forums.sonos.com/showthread.php?t=14858

“Sonos absolutely smokes SB for ease of setup and use.”

” Sonos beats SB in almost every conceivable manner: set-up, ease of use, reliability”

“I also had a Squeezebox system which is similarly redundant! Whilst the Sonos system seemed at first to be quite expensive (I have several zoneplayers, bridges and S5′s so it was quite a big investment), it does so much more than the SB.”

“We listen to our music so much more – it’s a delight to use and I think sets the gold standard for wireless music. The SB was incredibly clunky in comparison with a really horrid user interface. Yuk! Never going back!! ”

“Same here….purchased my Sonos system after Christmas (2xS5, 2xZp90, 4xCR200) to replace 2 Roku Soundbridge Radios, an SB3 and an SB Duet…none of which I could get reliably working using my wifi network. Finally took the plunge very concerned that I had sunk so much already into this technology, but after less than two months I have a system that is reliable, easy to use and my wife actually likes using herself. An absolute plus. Couldn’t be happier!”

“Roku and SB for me were something I was willing to put up with, the less than satisfactory interface etc to access the technology…to a point. My wife on the other hand found such problems, drop-outs, interface issues an absolute barrier to her being able to enjoy the technology.

All she wants to do…quite rightly is turn the thing on and have it work…just like any other stereo component…with Sonos I now finally have that…don’t underestimate how major this really is, especially given what the Sonos system can do…it is quite remarkable.”

jbs

Majik,
Sonos is awesome in every way you describe. But you are missing the point: the problem with the article is that it reads like an advertisement without disclosing so.

Further, this is a geek site, many readers are more concerned with flexibility and hackability than whether their grandpa can set the system up using their superb tech support.

Even though you are a moderator on the Sonos forums, I am surprised that you would come over here and justify, err I mean defend your purchase of a system that many people seem to think is too expensive.

See ya!
Rik

Great review. Just setup my first Sonus units today – a ZP120, ZP90 and the CRC200 controller. I feel like a kid on Christmas morning. I have a whole house system – 5 pairs of in-walls, 2 pair of outdoor and soon to get a pair of StereoStones for the pool area along with a 5.1setup in the family room. I have another 4 pairs of in-walls upstairs with another 5.1 setup in the MBR. I had previously been running the upstairs and downstairs separately via the zone 2 of my home theater receiver thru a separate amp, niles speaker selectors and Niles in-wall volume controls. It was a decent setup but last decade. Everything downstairs or upstairs had to be running the same source, no access to internet music, sources, my music collection etc. I finally blew out one of the amps (it was bound to happen because I was trying to run too speakers through it) and decided to try something else. WOW! This is seriously cool. As others have mentioned – everything just works … right away … easily. I have access to more music than I can fathom and everything is in sync. The amp in the ZP120 appears to be of very good quality. The in-ceiling Boston Acoustics in my kitchen never sounded so good. The controller is sleek and extremely intuitive and looks like something that would cost quite a bit more. I was able to teach my 7 year old daughter and my wife to use it in under five minutes.
My plan had been to demo this setup for a few weeks (Sonus gives you 30 days no questions asked) but it took about as long as two songs from my music collection, AC/DC, Ben Folds and Scorpions tunes from two of my Pandora stations and two tracks from a Pandora Hannah Montana station setup for my daughter to know this baby is a keeper. I am looking forward to adding the other rooms – one or two at a time.

http://google.com Steve_J

Hey Rick, glad you are liking the SONOS units, thanks for providing good feedback here and help us sell more units. For anyone interested here is additional discussion of Steve’s setup here on the SONOS forums: http://forums.sonos.com/showthread.php?t=15927

ob2s

It is clear there are several posting here that can only post in wide open venues like this. I suggest to BGR a filtered approach. ‘Product X sucks’, fine you’ve shown you are a debating wordsmith extraordinaire, ‘Only a moron would buy product X’, should be discarded.
Majik

It’s only an advert if the vendor is sponsoring it somehow. I see no sign of that. He even had to give the kit back.

I just find some of these comments highly suspicious and suspect there are other commercial influences at play here. At least one Sonos-wannabe competitor used to have an “Online Communities Manager” whose role was primarily to encourage their users to post negative remarks like the ones we see here on any review that mentioned Sonos.

And which is more suspicious: a review from someone who has actually used the system praising it highly, or criticisms from unattributed sources that have, most likely, never used it and still feel able to pass judgement on it?

I’m not justifying or defending anything. I’m just pointing out that most of the people who have Sonos or have used it seriously (including me, and including former owners of other systems) are as blown away and enthusiastic about it as this reviewer. That should perhaps tell you something about how good the system actually is.

I’m also pointing out that you often get what you pay for and often that extends beyond the raw specs on paper. In Sonos’s case I believe the value is more than delivered in the Support and presentation. Sure you could spend a third less and get a system that nominally does the same, but it won’t be as polished.

I’ll point out I’m a hardcore techy and I love playing, but I also want stuff that works well, that I only need to tinker with when I want to (not when I need to) and I also want something my family can use. I’ve used other solutions and they are not family-friendly. Sonos is, and that’s a key difference.

jbs

Well Majik, you actually are defending Sonos even though you say you aren’t. I mean are you a random person who reads this site or are you Majik, moderator of the Sonos forums who also owns 13 zones and 6 Sonos controllers. If you aren’t getting paid to evangelize maybe you should be cause thats a lot of Sonos gear you own!

I am interested in buying a system (and was pointed here from the link on the Sonos forums). BUT – the major issue I have and that many people here have is that the price is very high for the average guy like me. I mean I don’t need 13 Zones, I am just a regular dude living in a regular sized house in suburbia.

For an average guy like me who needs maybe three zones with little or no syncing the value proposition of Sonos is a lot lower than airport express or Squeezebox. I am not saying that Sonos isn’t a better user experience, or has better WAF.

That said, I might buy the Sonos if it had high rez support.

Majik

I’m certainly not getting paid by Sonos in any way, and yes I am a user mod of the Sonos forums, but only because I use the forums a lot and help out with Spam and so on. I was up front with my Nick on here because I have nothing to hide.

I have 13 zones now, but I started with two back in 2005. I’ve grown to that number over time as I’ve found it useful to extend Sonos to other rooms. 2 of those zones are portable S5 zones that I can use in the garden when the weather is right.

I guess the syncing value does diminish slightly with fewer zones, but not much. Having a solution that syncs easily and properly 100% of the time is better than a solution that syncs badly or not all of the time, or is a clunk to use even with a couple of zones (I know because that’s where I started from). And, yes it is relatively expensive by today’s cheap PC peripheral standards, but I repeat what you get for some of the that money is superior usability and superior support (as well as superior build quality and superior functionality over some of the solutions out there).

Having experienced them, I couldn’t compromise these by going with any of the current alternatives on the market today.
Majik

I’m actually defending the right of the author of this article to make an honest review without Squeezebox and Apple users jumping all over him and accusing him of some sort of dishonesty.

Joe Leavé

I’m sorry but that equipment is hideous. I can’t believe I am saying this, but itunes + airport express seems more versatile. At least this way I can use any pair of speakers I want, from a really nice set of Cambridge Soundworks towers to my alarm clock in in the bedroom (which has audio in). Oh yeah, and since you make a big deal about iphone / ipod touch app, Apple has one of those too.

jbs

Joe, Sonos does sell a product that is like the airport express to hook up to speakers. It is called the ZP90, 349$ from Amazon. It would need to be hard wired to your router, or you could buy another adapter for 100$ to make it wireless. You could your your iTouch w/ Sonos app to control it.

mezmryz03

You must mean the ZP120 with speaker terminals.
jbs

Well yeah, if he needed an amplifier and wanted to buy a zone with a built in amplifier he would need the ZP120. But at 500$ I didn’t think it was fair to Sonos to compare it to a 99$ device.
mezmryz03

the ZP90 cannot power speakers as Joe wanted, it only has pre-outs. And as far as comparing an AirPort Express with SONOS, there not really even close to eachother as products, hence the wide gap in cost.

Wags

Logitech Squeezebox does more than Sonos and does a better job at 1/3 the price. It also is open source and constantly upgraded. I have had both systems and dumped the Sonos, it’s no match. Only a fool would buy Sonos.

mezmryz03

You’re kidding right? Man it’s frustrating when people like you bash a product you clearly have never used. Get a job, buy SONOS, and then talk about it.

Meme405

@JBS

Wait what? To get the Sonos systen to do exactly what the airportexpress does, you have to spend $450… EXTRA?

This is sounding more an more like a rip off. And @BGR’s review I highly doubt that those speakers would compare to a a 9.5 dolby surround sound speaker system with 12 external zone speakers that i have in my house. This site is definetly influenced by money.

These speakers are just a set of wireless ipod speakers that connect to your home network. Even as a none iPhone user i dare use the motto. There’s an App for that…

If you know anything about setting up a home theater in a box then im sure you could do this also:

Go get an iPod touch (Most people have them, if not its more of an investment then anything else) Buy a few speakers that you think will meet your needs, maybe 2 for each room you want music in, a Sub for each room, and an airport express system.

Now it might take a little more time (maybe 1-3 hours longer) to set up than a Sonos system. But you will undoubtedly have better quality than the Sonos system and depending on how much you spent on speakers you could have saved money or potentially spent $1000 more than the system. But you have a way better system that customizable in infinite ways and with the use of a few airportexpress routers you could own a 90 000sqft house and still be able to put speakers in every room. And you could also use your computer, ipod, or a universal remote to control your speakers in each and every room.

Majik

“undoubtedly better quality”… an Airport. Are you kidding me. This is one of the funniest things I’ve heard for years.

if you want to hack together some clunky old solution that makes listening to music a chore, then go ahead and get an airport. If you want a proper solution which makes listening to music a pleasure, then Sonos really is the only thing around in the price range which does what it does.
mezmryz03

Dude, you a funny guy! That may be the most ridiculous posting I’ve read in a long time. You obviously don’t know this product or you would never compare it to an AirPort Express. By the way, SONOS offers far more content, far better customization, superior control, and it’s actually easy to use. Get one, try it, and then talk.

jbs

mezmryz03, while the airport express can’t be synched in the same way a Sonos or Squeezebox system can, if one only needs a few zones why wouldn’t it be a decent solution? For less than the cost of a CR200 remote, he could have three airport express zones set up and controlled by his iTouch/iPhone. This type of system would work quite well for the average person and the iTouch makes a great remote. You might think it is “clunky” or that Sonos is “easier to use” but the comparable Sonos hardware (3x ZP90) would be over 1000$ – WTF!!

The idea that this system would provide less flexibility, content and customization than Sonos isn’t true. His computer is the hub, he doesn’t need to worry about whether Sonos supports XM Satelite or Spotify or the next big thing. If he can play it on his computer, he can stream it to the Airport Express!
As far as I can tell, the Squeezebox system through the wav input plugin can also do this.
mezmryz03

Ok, i respectfully disagree.

ob2s

it seems Wags is just a bot. and Meme405: “But you will undoubtedly have better quality than the Sonos system” , how do you figure ? it is not build quality, it is not sound quality, so what is it ?
RD

I looked at putting in a wired multi room sound system in my house. Besides the wires the other problem was in order to control volume in each room you had to install volume controls in each room. I decided on Sonos and purchased two zones. The day after I received it we loved it so much I purchased 3 more. Sonos is incredible. I run 5 rooms and control independently the volume and content sent to each room. Each zone controller also has an input, so the big TV in the family room can have the sound come out in the kitchen only and not have to blast it. Review was right on! The ability to access my Sirius and Pandora account in addition to all the music in our library and radio stations that are out of our range. Beauty is in the simplicity and elegance of the interface. You can have up to 16 remotes on the system, we have the one sonos controller and a few iphones and ipod touches. Lastly each of the zone players communicates to each other to create a private wireless network you can use them to access the web via an ethernet connection in the back. Great for my basement where my wireless network did not reach. I do not work for sonos, have turned many friends onto it and all are very impressed and happy with it.

jbs

RD, thanks for posting this because it illustrates some good reasons for Sonos. If I was looking at a multiroom wired system like Russound or Elan, I can see why the Sonos system would be great value.

What some of your friends from the Sonos forums fail to realize is that for many of us regular folk with regular jobs, we aren’t comparing Sonos to an even more expensive wired system. We are comparing it to systems that cost a fraction of Sonos and at least in the case of Squeezebox do pretty much everything Sonos can do – maybe Sonos is less “clunky” than Squeezbox but whether the cost difference is worth it is a subjective thing depending on your perspective.

http://www.solinsystems.com fro

Again, people that are comparing Sonos to the AE…it’s apples to oranges. Sonos to Squeezbox may be worth discussing, but comparing to AE does not make sense. AE only does iTunes (for the most part) and is not zonable. You can not send different content to different zones. Yes, it’s a possible wireless speaker solution but only for itunes. I set Sonos up as part of an AV system in a new bar in Chicago. I can send the TV audio in as an aux input and now it is sourcable. In other words, I can have the TV audio (like a game) play across the entire bar, synced, wirelessly, in all zones. So please, stop comparing AE to Sonos. Also, those with AE experience (including me) should realize that the reliability is not as good as it should be, especially for an Apple product.

jbs

Fro, well actually you can sync multiple AEs with Airfoil. Also any sound on your computer can be sent to an Airport Express. If you are watching TV on your computer you can send it to one AE and music to another. Does it work as well as Sonos: Nope. But it costs like 25$.

Also, if someone goes the Airport Express/Airfoil route you can turn any computer into a zone with their free Airfoil Speaker software (windows,mac and Linux).

Moreover, with Squeezebox you can add as many zones as you want with the free Squeezeslave or Squeezeplay programs.

Hey if you have some spare hardware, you could use Squeezebox Server and Squeezeslave on computers in your zones and not have to spend any money to get a system that will sync well and can be controlled with an iPod Touch.

Can you do this with Sonos? Turn a spare computer into a zone? I’ve been reading the Sonos forums for a while while trying decide what to buy, but I haven’t read anything like it.

Maybe the Sonos does syncing better and has a better controller/interface – and hey if I am running a bar I could justify the business expense. However for readers on this site, maybe something that performs well and doesn’t cost thousands of dollars is a good enough solution?

http://www.wwwtixx.com Billytickets

Where you been hiding I have had Sonos for 3 years ..the greatest music device ever …period I love those guys!!!
Majik

Until you’ve really used these systems then it’s really impossible to understand the differences. The fact that people compare the AE to proper multi-room systems shows that. Yes it,s POSSIBLE to make these cheap devices do something broadly similar to Sonos, but it takes a fair bit of work and some workarounds, and you end up with some limitations. If those limitations don’t affect you and you can save some money by building a solution out of AE’s the go for it. But don’t think it’s the same as buying a system like Sonos, as it’s not.

The same goes for the Squeezebox. Despite the recent marketing, it was never designed to be a true multi-room system (with zone syncing). This is evident because despite being available for several years, it is only in recent software versions that they claim to have syncing working with any degree of reliability, and even then it’s not 100%: some users still have to tweak their networks to get it working with recent code, and there are complaints about the usability of zone linking with the SB Controller.

Also, although you can use the SoftSqueeze software to create a zone from a PC, it’s not a true zone (at least not in the Sonos sense) as they cannot be reliably synced. Guaranteeing sync between zones is only possible with dedicated hardware (even Logitech say this) and isn’t possible on a PC zone. Sonos don’t provide a software zoneplayer because it would be substandard and lacking in capability compared with other zones. The approach Sonos takes seems to be to make the technology transparent so, as much as possible, it just works without you having to think about it.

Again, some people just don’t care about this, and that’s fine, but don’t pretend that the SB solution is the same as Sonos in this respect.

They are all different systems with their strengths and weaknesses. Sonos’s strength is it ease of setup, ease of use (e.g. high WAF), and superior multi-room capabilities. If these are important to you then a cheaper solution will disappoint and Sonos will seem like a bargain.

jbs

Majik,

You aren’t conversing with technical neophytes here. Most of use know what the options are. You seem to think you know how the other systems work – yet you only acknowledge the faults of the other systems without even acknowledging the fact that they all work well for lots of people and are legitimate alternatives.

I agree with most of what you are saying, but most of the negative aspects you point are actually huge benefits (squeezeslave).

I’ve tried out both SB and Sonos extensively.

Maybe you can help sway my purchase decision:

I want to play music stored on a central computer through my hifi, in my bedroom and Kitchen and maybe media room. For now only four rooms. AE, Squeezebox and Sonos are all products I am considering. I have tried all products but am still debating what to get.

- Syncing: Sonos wins here. SB second. AE last. Since I can’t listen to music in four rooms at the same time the syncing aspect isn’t huge for me.

- Bedroom and Kitchen would require powered speakers such as the S5. But ideally I would like something with a display as I don’t want to grab a remote in the morning to turn off the alarm, look at what time it is or select what to play. Squeezebox wins out in this comparison with either the Boom or Radio. Not a deal breaker though as the S5 would be good in the kitchen and I could still use my current alarm clock.

- I would like something that can be controlled via my iTouch – AE, SB and Sonos all can do this

- I have Cat6 wiring in my house so it would need to be plugged in to this. All three again can do this.

- I need it to be compatible with my debian based media server and support Flac. For this reason AE is out.

- I need to be able to control it with either linux or Mac OS. Squeezebox wins in this regard – unless you can point me to an easy way to control Sonos in linux as I can only find a Mac or Windows desktop controller.

- I have about 30, 000 songs – I need it to be scalable. I don’t expect I would hit the Sonos 65 000 limit soon but this is a concern so Squeezebox wins out slightly here.

- Reliability – Sonos wins here based on what I have read. Especially if I was going to be running only wireless – But since I have cabling in my house this isn’t really a huge clear cut win here for Sonos in my situation.

- Last – I have a linux based mythTV/HTPC – I would like to play music via this PC but not have to use Myth or have the TV on to do so. So basically a fourth zone. I can do this with Squeezebox for free – but I would need to buy another Zone Player to do this with Sonos.

So ultimately I am left with either Sonos or Squeezebox. I think both would be good choices for me. But the cost of Sonos is what is pushing me towards squeezebox:

Squeezbox: 1 SB3 (179$ on sale) 1 Boom (220$) 1 Radio (150$) iPeng Controller app for iTouch (10$)
= 559$

Sonos: 1 ZP90 (350$), 2 S5 (2×399$)
= 1148$
Or really 1498$ because I would have to buy an extra ZP90 for my media room. This isn’t even factoring in additional iTouch or a CR200 because I doubt I could get by with just the single remote.

So Sonos costs at least 939$ more than Squeezebox for my desired setup.

From my perspective I want to be able to justify the difference through usability or quality, but I can’t. To my ears the S5 and Boom sound very similar, maybe the S5 is a little better. But SQ is basically similar enough to not matter to me. The Sonos interface is great, better overall than Squeezebox. On the other hand having a display on the Squeezebox units is pretty useful since I don’t plan on buying a bunch of remotes. The price difference is killer: 939$ is HUGE.

What can you tell me that would make me want to spend the extra 939$ on Sonos?

Majik

Probably nothing. If you’ve done the analysis and you know the differences and the relative strengths and weaknesses then only you can make the choice.

Most of the reviews I have seen, and for my own ears the S5 is noticably better than the Boom, but again it depends on your requirements. Certainly the S5 competes on quality with higher end iPod docks like the B&Z Zep and Bose and provides more capability at a lower price.

My point was not that Sonos is always automatically better than Squeezebox or Roku or AE for everyone, but the majority of uses here are complaining about the review and claiming you can do the same thing with a cheap streamer like an AE mostly are speaking from a position of ignorance. The fact there are a lot of people who have migrated from Squeezebox and AE solutions to the more expensive Sonos solution, and are happier with it demonstrates it must offer them something significant over those other solutions that justfies the additional cost.

It’s a bit like comparing a Fiat Panda with a VW Passat. They both nominally do the same basic thing but the Passat costs more. For some the Panda may be more practical as well as cheaper, but to say that the Panda is the same as the Passat, but cheaper, is clearly ridiculous.

The same goes with Sonos and Squeezebox (as well as AE, etc.)

jbs

The massive difference in price and relatively small difference in functionality makes it an easy decision for me. The lack of Linux support is a pretty huge issue for my household, even with Wine. For some being able to sync the way Sonos does might be worth 1000$ over Squeezebox, but given the fact you can sync with Squeezebox and it works well it isn’t worth it to me.

Most of the reviews I have seen, and for my own ears the S5 is noticably better than the Boom…

I agree for the most part it is better sounding, but only marginally better, I haven’t been able to compare them side by side. The boom is 180$ cheaper though. I like the controls and display on the unit, but its a personal preference.

MyMote that lets you control your MythTV box from your iPhone without turning on your TV

Yes there are lots of options for controlling Myth headless, but with lots of music it isn’t the best thing. I can run Squeezeslave as a service. No need to turn Myth off or on as Squeezeslave runs in the background.

the majority of uses here are complaining about the review and claiming you can do the same thing with a cheap streamer like an AE mostly are speaking from a position of ignorance.

Maybe most people here have never tried Sonos – but the review gives them a good idea of the general idea. It might be surprising to you (since you own 13 zones and 6 controllers) – but some people would be happy with one or two zones. Why wouldn’t they compare Airport Express and Sonos? Even if you think Sonos does it better most people don’t care because the difference to them is marginal and Sonos costs so much more.

It’s a bit like comparing a Fiat Panda with a VW Passat.

I think the better analogy is comparing a Mac and a PC. You can get the two laptops with similar specifications, they both do the same thing, but the Mac costs three times as much.

See yah, I will return to lurking.

Majik

“I think the better analogy is comparing a Mac and a PC. You can get the two laptops with similar specifications, they both do the same thing, but the Mac costs three times as much.”

I think this is a fair comparison. Despite the fact that Macs cost more for nominally the same functionality, lots of people are prepared to pay the higher price to get what they feel is a better product.

I think the difference is if someone posts a glowing review of the latest Mac, they don’t automatically get accused of the review being an advert. I put this down to the PC platform not having an army of diehard fans who attack any good review of a competing product.
Bill Masterson

Dude do you think there are nefarious forces at work to kill sonos sales among the BG comments? Or maybe commerical interests from apple or squeezebox with a diabolical plan?

With statements like:
“What MP3s did for personal audio enjoyment 5 years ago, Sonos does for your home, office, or wherever you want today, ingeniously creating a seamless and practically unlimited expandable system.“

Or

“Sonos’ new controller is so thoughtfully designed that I’m really not sure what to compare it to. It seems like it should cost $1,000“

People have every right to be critical of the review.

The controller at 350$ is startling expensive for a single purpose remote.

Sonos is like MP3s – WTF?. Ingenious, seamless, unlimited? The comparison and use of adjectives is way over the top. No balance in the article at all.

I will take them at their word that the gear is going back to Sonos but it sure reads like an advert.

Majik

Oh, and I forgot to say, the Sonos Desktop Controller works fine under Wine on Linux.
Majik

Also isn’t there an iPhone app called MyMote that lets you control your MythTV box from your iPhone without turning on your TV? If it handles MythMusic, then wouldn’t that be a better way to go than to install a separate music player and have to find a way to arbitrate between the two apps?

Bob

Majik, I think it’s time you left and went back to your day job at the Sonos forum and have your Sonos love fest over there not at BGR.

Roy

Someone has a nice bankroll by working for BGR. Nice granite and fancy artwork.
Ken

I can give some feedback here, having owned BOTH Squeezebox and Sonos for a significant amount of time (SB for 3 years – 6 devices, Sonos for 1 year – 6 zones). They both have strengths and weaknesses:

SB: Very Hackable, Very Customizable, inexpensive, displays on most devices.

Sonos: It ALWAYS works, great syncing. Better device build.

Neither device is better for everyone, but for my needs, the Wife Acceptance Factor was important – I cant tell you how many times I had to mess around with my SB installation to get things working. My Sonos system, though more expensive, has never, not ONCE, failed to operate as expected when I wanted to use it.
Moravec

This seems to me like “Intel is better than AMD CPUs” neverending story.

If somebody like Squeezebox – fine
If sombody like Sonos – fine

Why always these nerds who think only because they like/own something everybody else should do that too?!

Ok, I am a happy Squeezebox user, never have problems. Well, maybe if my first box wouldn’t have been in the bathroom (no room for expensive sonos remote) I would have a Sonos today. Actually I never regret bought a Squeezebox – same to my wife who can handle them perfectly…
MuckleEck

I shall add my tuppence for what it is worth, and up front I shall state that I am a SB user, and the reaspn for that was two fold, one cost and two the number of tracks the Sonos could cope with. At the time (2005/6) I was informed that Sonos had a limitation of 25-30k, since I was at 20k then and now at 40k it was a potentially serious limitation, although the Sonos could now cope.

In my view the article has used a number of adjectives to describe the Sonos in terms that are far beyond what the Sonos actually is. In that respect the article is slightly disingenious in what it is saying and does come across as an advertorial style of piece.

At the end of the day though each to their own, the Sonos and SB both have their place. I haven’t heard the AE so can’t comment.

TTFN
Moe

I decided to outfit my house with SONOS. I put ZP120s in my MBR, Sauna/gym area, indoor pool area, media room, garage and parlour making use of speakers I already owned. I put S5s in the kids room, kitchen and the nanny’s quarters. Of course I put CR200s in all the rooms to control the music (really wish they made a water proof remote for the pool!). Since I didn’t have a NAS I didn’t want to spend too much on one so I bought a DLink DNS 232 with a 320 gig drive and I was good to go. I’ve got about 100 CDs so this drive has more than enough room for us to grow. My wife and kids really like how they can plug their iPhones in to the Aux jacks and listen to her tunes through SONOS. I don’t think you could do that with Airport Express! I do wish there was an iPod dock option though as it would be great to be able to charge my iPhone while playing music. I used to have to listen to my iPod while getting my massage (helps me relax), now I can ask the masseuse to select the music for me depending on mood. My biggest complaint is that I can’t really hear all the zones in Sync, like when I am in the MBR I can’t hear the Kitchen, Garage, parlour. I like the CR200 remote, too bad there isn’t an App store for it though as it would be great to maybe hack it to control my home automation system. Blackberry has an app store why not Sonos? It would be great to have it draw the drapes for me when I get glare through my back windows from the ocean in the afternoon, rather than having to get up off the couch.

Cost for me was pretty reasonable at about 8000$ including installation.
Rick

I’ve had Sonos for over a year. The set up had problems due to my cordless phones conflict. I am in the computer industry but more so let me offer this next comment representing every average joe on the planet. Their support when needed was beyond wonderful, I thought it to be what every support avenue SHOULD be. I was prepared to listen to endless, counter productive, barley listening banter from a support group. Nope. They were right there and we resolved the problem quickly. I thought I went to heaven when I was expecting hell. I will agree that the product is a bit pricey. Such is life I guess, I can’t and won’t defend that aspect. I have a zone player attached to the home theater, another powering speakers on the deck and a zone in my home office. I fully intend on buying one or two more zones. (After I repair the deck. ) This thing just works for me but I will freely admit I did not look at SB. On a score of 1-10, I’ll give it a 10 less 3 points due to price. During a party with the house full of music, I might change that to an overall 8. Respectfully submitted to all. Best regards.
Rick

If I may, I’ll offer this as well. The ZP90 assumes an amp or more inline with current buying an AV home theater device. I would much rather the ZP90 connect via HDMI to the AV unit. Also, I would like to see the remote GUI and the TV screen. Not to be controlled there but just viewed. My wife and I are not party animals but we do have people over from three to thirty once in a while. The Sonos remote at some point will have 3 to five people looking over shoulders to choose music. I think it would be outright cool to be able to see the play list (or again) just what seen on the remote. I my minds eye I can already see the clamoring over get that song, no that sux, don’t you have any *insert artist* Lady GaGa…? Anyway, I’d really like to see those two items, remote visible on the TV and an HDMI connection. At a much lesser degree, I wouldn’t mind another version of the ZP120 on steroids. Up from 50 to 100 watts? Over the years of upgrades going from large speaker mains to smaller speakers working in a 5.1/7.1 environment,these nice mains are sitting idle. With a 100w version of the ZP120, I could bring them back to life and function. I wouldn’t mind your comments at all – both; it’s a good idea or, what planet are you from. Best to all. -Rick.

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