Sonos Play:5 review

That said, to use the proprietary wireless mesh network built into all Sonos products, you have to have at least one of them connected to your router via Ethernet – the S5 has a two-port switch built in. If you don’t want to or can’t place your S5 near your router, you’ll also need to buy a Sonos ZoneBridge 100 (around £75) and plug this into your router first. While proprietary systems may not sound the way to go, in this case it’s well worth it: we’ve never experienced any problems using Sonos kit wirelessly, while our WiFi devices have often cut out or refused to work.

Once you’ve decided what you need, adding the S5 to your Sonos network is dead simple. All you have to do is run the controller software on your PC, then press the Mute and Volume-up buttons simultaneously. The rest is done automatically. Then, once you’ve told the system where your music resides (UPnP servers and standard folder shares are both supported) you’re ready to go. Unlike with other streaming audio products, there’s no need for any server software to be left running permanently.

You can also use online radio stations and the Napster streaming music service. Seeing as how the latter costs just £5 a month with five MP3 downloads and access to 10m songs, it’s a good way to massively increase your music library.

Sound quality from the S5 is excellent, as there are two tweeters, two mid-range drivers and a subwoofer hidden behind the front grille. We found that at around half-volume the S5 was plenty loud enough to be heard around the house and there’s little practical reason to go any louder.

Detail in songs was excellent. Listening to a bit of Frank Sinatra we got the full detail from the big band, with clearly-defined percussion and sweeping wind instruments. Switching to Rage Against the Machine’s Bombtrack, the bass thumped out, while the rap vocals punctuated through. No matter which genre we listened to, we found that the sound quality was top notch.