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Sonos PLAY:1 becomes a less expensive Trojan Horse for just $199

Updated Oct 14th, 2013 9:12AM EDT
Sonos PLAY:1 Hands-on

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The barrier to entry in the world of Sonos has normally been reasonably high. The company’s products sell in the $400 plus range, with the Sonos PLAYBAR retailing for $699. On Monday, however, Sonos is introducing the PLAY:1, a portable speaker that’s smaller and more compact than the PLAY:5 and PLAY:3, and less expensive as well. It sells for $199 and while it features just one speaker (instead of three and five for the other PLAY units, respectively), it really packs a punch.

One physical change that is taking place across all Sonos products is the replacement of the mute button. It’s not a Play/Pause button and I’m not quite sure I’m in love with that yet. In addition to that change, you can now double tap the same button to skip to the next song, which has been a requested feature for a long time. The PLAY:1 is a brilliant, capable product — one that can easily make someone on the fence pull the trigger and get thrust into Sonos’ magic world of limitless music, from practically any source, streaming or local.

Music sounds great on the new speaker and the compact size is really perfect. While the 3 and 5 delivered great ground, they are relatively big and heavy so having an option like the 1 is just brilliant.

Quickly on the software side, Sonos is introducing a feature I’m sure a lot of people will appreciate and that’s the ability to link more than one Sonos system to your controller, letting you use bounce around without having to reset it each and every time.

The Sonos PLAY:1 is available beginning immediately on the Sonos website for $199 and for a limited time comes with a free Sonos BRIDGE.

INTRODUCING SONOS PLAY:1
Filling your home with music has never been easier
This compact and powerful wireless speaker enables you to start or expand your Sonos System and will transform your home listening experience – available today for $199
Santa Barbara, Calif. – October 14, 2013 – Sonos®, the leading manufacturer of wireless HiFi, today introduced the SONOS PLAY:1™, a compact and powerful wireless speaker that transforms music listening at home. PLAY:1 streams all your favorite music to any room in the home, in high fidelity sound. Available today in the US from select partners and on Sonos.com, PLAY:1 retails for $199. And, for a limited time this holiday season, purchases come with a free BRIDGE valued at $49.
“Sonos was created upon the belief you should never have to choose between quality sound and an easy way to access all your music at home,” said John MacFarlane, CEO, Sonos, Inc. “The PLAY:1 makes getting started with Sonos even more accessible to music lovers than ever before.” A compact wireless speaker with surprisingly big sound PLAY:1 is a smart speaker that features hardware and software designed by Sonos to ensure the best possible performance for the size. A custom-designed mid-woofer and tweeter deliver deep, rich and surprisingly big sound. With a powerful low-end and crisp mids and highs, new smart processing technology pushes Sonos’ drivers further than ever before, minimizing distortion even
at full volume. Plus, PLAY:1 projects a wide field of sound, delivering a great listening experience no matter where you are sitting in the room. And since the Sonos wireless network is devoted to streaming music in HiFi sound, you’ll enjoy smooth music wirelessly without dropouts anywhere in your home. PLAY:1 is built to last with premium materials and rock-solid construction. A sealed architecture creates resistance to the most humid conditions in the home, even steam from a running shower.
Stream all your favorite music PLAY:1 lets you stream all the music on earth and access it all using a single, easy to use app. Play millions of songs and playlists from the most popular music services like Pandora, Spotify, Hype Machine and Rdio; listen to your personal music library, whether it’s stored on your computer, in the cloud, on your smartphone or on your tablet; or tune in to more than 100,000 free Internet radio stations, podcasts, and shows from around the world.
Smaller package; same Sonos Wireless HiFi  PLAY:1 comes with all the unique benefits that can only be found in a Sonos Wireless HiFi System including SONOS PLAY:3™, SONOS PLAY:5™, SONOS PLAYBAR™ and more:
• Control your favorite music sources and listening experience with the free, intuitive SonosController apps for iPad® iPhone®, Android™, Mac and PC.
• Add more PLAY:1s or combine with other Sonos wireless speakers or components around
the home for the ultimate, multi-room HiFi system.
• Pair two PLAY:1 units for amazing stereo sound, or use two PLAY:1s as rear speakers with PLAYBAR and a SONOS SUB™ to create 5.1 home theater sound for your TV.
The minimalist design of PLAY:1 features a new button on top of the cabinet that allows you to play and pause your music with a single push of a button. You can also press the same button twice quickly to easily skip to the next track, a feature that has been requested frequently from the Sonos community. And because all Sonos products are designed to get better over time, customers with existing Sonos players can take advantage of the new play/pause functionality with the latest
software update, available today. For more information on SONOS PLAY:1 including where to buy, technical specifications and more, please visit sonos.com/PLAY1. ABOUT SONOS
Jonathan S. Geller
Jonathan Geller Founder, President & Editor-in-chief

Jonathan S. Geller founded Boy Genius Report, now known as BGR, in 2006. It became the biggest mobile news destination in the world by the end of 2009, and BGR was acquired by leading digital media company PMC in April 2010.

Jonathan is President of BGR Media, LLC., and Editor-in-chief of the BGR website.

What started as a side project at the age of 16, quickly transpired into 24-hour days and nights of sharing exclusive and breaking news about the mobile communications industry. BGR now reaches up to 100 million readers a month through the website, syndication partners, and additional channels.