Is it worth paying PLN 2,500 for one loudspeaker? Sonos Play: 5 - review

"Studio quality" - this is how Sonos praises its largest speaker, the Sonos Play: 5 model. I had a month to confront this statement with reality.

After I tested a couple of the smallest Sonos One speakers, it was time for the biggest beast in the herd. If someone is interested in how the Sonos ecosystem works and why it is worth investing in it, I refer to the previous text . Here, however, we will focus only on the Play speaker: 5, because there is something to tell about.

Sonos Play: 5 suits every modern interior

My apartment is rather a cross between the office, warehouse and utility room, and yet Sonos Play: 5 suited it as well as the beautiful, Scandinavian interiors in the spirit of hygge.

The construction is of a minimalist allusion. The loudspeaker can be purchased in black and graphite or white and graphite: both variants look equally good, but to tell the truth, if I had to choose, I would bet on black.

However, the white-gray variant does not look bad. More importantly, it is exquisitely made and ... perfectly packaged. When it comes to the experience of removing the speaker from the box, this is the level of Apple. The carton is blocked by a special mechanism, and the presentation of the product is excellent. A small thing, and enjoys.

The Sonos Play design is also exemplary: on the usable side. There are no unnecessary elements - there are only three capacitive buttons at the top of the casing, while behind the physical pairing button, Ethernet connector (useful in places where Wi-Fi fails) and 3.5 mm jack input to connect the speaker to the physical sound sources via cable.

Even such a small thing as the power cord has been well thought out and does not stick out from the structure, but elegantly hides in the housing. Again: a small thing, and very happy.

The Sonos Play: 5 speaker can also be placed in a vertical orientation and not only to save space. If we pair two such speakers together and put them vertically, a single speaker will automatically switch to mono mode to create a stereo in pair with the second one. Unfortunately, I could not check it out in practice, because only one copy came to me for testing.

Speaker packed with technology

Sonos Play: 5 counts 203 x 364 x 154 mm, which puts it somewhere between small speakers 2.0 sets and home Hi-Fi speakers. It weighs only 6.36 kg, so adjusting it will not cause problems.

For such a compact size, Sonos has packed a surprisingly large number of elements into his loudspeaker. We have six loudspeakers here: three midrange and three tweeters, arranged in series, each of which is powered by an individual amplifier. The housing has been designed to suppress vibrations and reverbs.

Sonos engineers have also managed to make the sound coming from Play: 5 does not seem tight and enclosed in a small box. On the contrary, the sound is surprisingly open and even if we are not exactly in front of the loudspeaker, there is no impression of "box" sound.

Speaking of the sound ...

Sonos Play: 5 deserves all praise, although this "studio quality" is an exaggeration

Sonos Play: 5 game ... good. Very good indeed. It is not overly demanding in relation to batch files, so we can enjoy good quality music even when using Spotify.

All frequencies are in the right place. The bass is so meaty and strong enough that I would not need to buy a subwoofer. Medium tones are here brilliantly accented, and rock music sounds on Play: 5 great. The mountains are singing and melodic, deprived of an unpleasant "dustiness".

However, I would be lying if I wrote that it is a "studio" sound quality. Yes, Sonos Play: 5 is more organic than the heavily digital Sonos One, but it's still a Hi-Fi sound, not a Studio. You can hear that the sound is artificially insulated, and therefore slightly unnatural.

However, I do not think that this will disturb potential buyers of Sonos speakers. After all, this is not a product dedicated to audiophile voodooists, but to music lovers who would like to have something a little better than the average Hi-Fi home theater set.

The average music lover will be delighted with the Play: 5 sound. Its details and the separation of instruments. Its a good balance between frequencies and a wide stage, surprisingly wide even for one loudspeaker.

A small crack in this picture is the fact that to Play: 5 he played well, he must play quite loudly. At the lowest volume levels, the sound is slightly silted and blurred. It is only at higher intensity that the sound opens, becomes resonant and juicy. But I do not think it's a disadvantage - Sonos One is quiet playing. Play: 5 has to fill the room with sound and it succeeds in it successfully.

Sonos' greatest strength is the ecosystem

I wrote about the ecosystem in detail in the previous test , but here it is enough to say that the convenience of its service compensates for any shortcomings or even a fairly high price of Sonos Play: 5. No other ecosystem of wireless speakers allows you to connect devices with each other in such a simple way.

None is so widely implemented by leading music service providers. None is so maintenance-free - the simplicity of speaker pairing is comparable only to what Apple offers and its AirPods. Pairing Sonos with my Android smartphone for a moment felt like I had an iPhone. It just works.

Nevertheless, compared to other Sonos products - One loudspeakers or soundbars - Sonos Play: 5 is distinguished by the fact that it works equally well as the solo team.

A single Play: 5 quietly fills the sound of even a sizable living room. It works as a speaker for a Hi-Fi system, but also as a computer speaker or to be placed on a bedroom table. It is also moisture-proof, so you can also put it in the bathroom for a stubborn one.

In addition to the small Sonos, it does not require a second copy to sound really good, unless you're talking about a really big room - then two pieces combined in stereo may be necessary to achieve the desired effect.

Is it worth buying a Sonos Play: 5 speaker?

My answer to this question is: it depends. To tell the truth, instead of spending PLN 2,500 on one Play speaker: 5, I would buy two Sonos One loudspeakers. This is due to the fact that I have a small flat, and the combination of two speakers placed in the living room and kitchenette works better with me than a lone loudspeaker in the corner of the room. From the side of usability, two speakers are better than one.

On the sonic side, however, Sonos Play: 5 wins even with the Sonos One tandem. So if this sound is a priority, then Sonos Play: 5 will be a great choice.

Yes, some people will say that you can buy a full home theater system for PLN 2,500. And I will say it - of course, but no home theater set for PLN 2,500 will play as well as the single Sonos Play speaker: 5. And even if it's worth every zloty that you have to spend on it.

Is it worth paying PLN 2,500 for one loudspeaker? Sonos Play: 5 - review