Jac Hawk
21-11-2015, 11:52
The company i work for has a consumer arm, anyway earlier this week i received an email inviting me to the launch party of the new Sonos play5, the launch was held downstairs in the shop and meant that i could get off work an hour early if i attended :eyebrows:.
I've always been more than a bit sceptical about this sort of of thing, relatively cheap all in one amp, speaker combos that claim to be the "next big thing" have always left me thinking, if it was that easy and that good how come others aren't doing the same. So anyway I went in all ready to tear the Sonos rep to pieces, how wrong was i, he had the speakers all set up in the demo room, not just scattered about the shop on shelves like you see in currys and pc world, now this was the launch of the new play5 so he was eager to show me what they could do, he asked me to suggest a few tracks, found them on Deezer and let rip, Wow i was soon reevaluating my standpoint, now i'm not saying they're the best i've ever heard, but the sound was clear, the bass was deep without becoming boomy and annoying and the stereo image was really good too, for the price i would find it hard to fault them, plus you're free from cables, amps, cd players, turn tables etc. so for bedrooms, kitchens, studies and the like they seem to tick all the boxes.
The rep could see i was impressed, so went in for the kill, i told him that unfortunately the Play5's would be a bit big for the room i would want them for if i was in the market, no problem he said, we've got a deal on the Play1's, i quickly worked out what my staff discount would be on top and bought them, with the idea if they turned out to be crap then i'd flog em on eBay for more than i paid for them. Got them home and set up which was surprisingly easy, then for the second time that day i was again gob smacked, the depth of bass was the first thing i noticed, then the openness of the sound, the only slight downside is the maximum volume, in the room they're in it's fine but in a bigger room they may become a bit lost. So overall i'm very pleased and impress at what these little boxes can do.
I've always been more than a bit sceptical about this sort of of thing, relatively cheap all in one amp, speaker combos that claim to be the "next big thing" have always left me thinking, if it was that easy and that good how come others aren't doing the same. So anyway I went in all ready to tear the Sonos rep to pieces, how wrong was i, he had the speakers all set up in the demo room, not just scattered about the shop on shelves like you see in currys and pc world, now this was the launch of the new play5 so he was eager to show me what they could do, he asked me to suggest a few tracks, found them on Deezer and let rip, Wow i was soon reevaluating my standpoint, now i'm not saying they're the best i've ever heard, but the sound was clear, the bass was deep without becoming boomy and annoying and the stereo image was really good too, for the price i would find it hard to fault them, plus you're free from cables, amps, cd players, turn tables etc. so for bedrooms, kitchens, studies and the like they seem to tick all the boxes.
The rep could see i was impressed, so went in for the kill, i told him that unfortunately the Play5's would be a bit big for the room i would want them for if i was in the market, no problem he said, we've got a deal on the Play1's, i quickly worked out what my staff discount would be on top and bought them, with the idea if they turned out to be crap then i'd flog em on eBay for more than i paid for them. Got them home and set up which was surprisingly easy, then for the second time that day i was again gob smacked, the depth of bass was the first thing i noticed, then the openness of the sound, the only slight downside is the maximum volume, in the room they're in it's fine but in a bigger room they may become a bit lost. So overall i'm very pleased and impress at what these little boxes can do.