SONOS PLAY:5 Smart Wireless Speaker, Black

Product Information

And then there are two side-firing woofers, facing left and right, in a force-opposing configuration. This means they play the same audio, and can be driven hard for rich bass without vibrating such a small speaker right off the shelf – the vibrations of the two drivers cancel each other out. Don't get me wrong, you can still feel this thing putting some energy into a table when you put your hand on it, but it won't make things buzz too much when you crank up the volume.

However, for similar size, stature and features, the Braun LE01, Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin or Sonus Faber Omnia are considerably pricier – so depending on your priorities, the Sonos Five does still represent value. Stream Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Minor, performed by Andre Previn, the London Symphony Orchestra and Vladimir Ashkenazy, and the flute is never harsh through the sparkling and untethered treble. Piano notes are distinct, three dimensional and lilting with enough space around them to shine in a cohesive mix. In 2022, Ikea released an updated version of the bookshelf speaker. The latest model boasts a faster processor, more memory and lower power consumption when in standby mode. IKEA has also added a longer power cable and streamlined the button layout. We'll have to reserve judgement until we've run the rule over every aspect of the Sonos Roam SL, but on paper, it's a tempting proposition for those who want to dive into the Sonos ecosystem at the lowest price point. This speaker shares all these traits with its cheaper brethren, the Era 100 (see below). But the two are quite different propositions.

The Sonos Arc soundbar is bending the rules of surround sound

The sonic performance, streaming options and app support are among the best we’ve tested at this level. Inside are three class D amplifiers powering two angled tweeters with custom waveguides and a 25 per cent bigger woofer for a fuller low end. You can pair two Era 100s together, and they can also be used as rear speakers with the Arc, Beam Gen 1 and Beam Gen 2, and Ray Sonos soundbars. I think the point to consider is that the Arc is going to provide a better, fuller, more surround like experience by itself that a Beam/Playbar/Playbase does by itself. Whether the Arc alone sounds better than those other options with rear sounds...don’t know. This precision is matched by the three silk dome tweeters that deliver particularly crisp highs with an impressive level of control. We were particularly taken by the unit's ability to deliver soundscapes that distinguished sound from individual instruments during particular arrangements without feeling disjointed. And while Sonos likes to say that it provides music without a 'sweet spot', the sound quality does subtly drop off when you go too far to the side. There's roughly a 90-degree angle from the front where you get the full beans, and if you step further round than that, a layer of texture is lost. It's not like when you step to the side of a TV and you can't see anything properly anymore – it's fine during parties. It's just that if you're listening for the quality of the music, you want to stay central.

And with Dolby Atmos, it all goes up several notches. The sound dispersion is definitely bigger and wider than anything from a single speaker I've tested before, though how wild it gets is up to the song – the Era 300 itself is quite flexible. In its more subtle moments, it can just do something like keep two voices in a duet separate, as it does with Elton John and Dua Lipa in Cold Heart. Both voices are coming from the center overall, but from different spaces around the speaker, giving each the room to breathe. All of that effort paid off: the Sonos Arc delivers one of the most convincing Atmos presentations of any soundbar we’ve heard. Height junkies can turn up the volume of the Arc's upward-firing drivers using a separate control, but we don't find it necessary to overly boost the vertical channel to enjoy the Arc's immersive delivery. If you want a light, portable, Bluetooth Sonos speaker, you'll want to consider the smaller, smarter Roam. However, while the Move 2 is heavier and more expensive, it also delivers a sense of scale and weight that the Roam cannot match. Sometimes it's a bigger effect, like the drum beats going for a lengthy walk away from the speaker during Come Together, or the way voices are layered with a sense of depth across Lady Gaga's Chromatica album. When it comes to the idea of getting a stereo feeling from the Sonos Era 100's angled drivers, I would say not to buy it in expectation of that. Sitting right in front of it, you can hear steering to the sides in stereo music, but it's subtle and not really worth writing home about.Setup is straightforward: you can scan a passcode on the device, or the Ray can emit a tone to be detected by your phone’s microphone. Voice assistant support is only available if you have a separate smart speaker, but Trueplay tech is there for automatic sonic adjustment to suit your room. Touch controls mean you can tap to command it, though the Ray is primarily meant to connect to the Sonos app via Wi-Fi or Ethernet. In testing, we found the setup as seamless as we’ve come to expect from Sonos kit: simply tap your smartphone on top to share Wi-Fi details via NFC. You can fire up the app for Trueplay tuning, too. This one is rather straightforward: if you want an entry point into the Sonos ecosystem, the new Era 100 is a terrific way in. It's better than the outgoing Sonos One in nearly every way – although the latter is still a decent buy if you get a great deal. It also has a richer way with voices. But the Era 100 sounds bigger, is more detailed and more open, digs deeper into the bass and simply blows the One away sonically. The bass gets proportionally better at higher volumes, though – in general, the Sonos Era 300 wants to be at 30% volume at the least, I would say. As you drop below that, its balance gets notably weaker. The Era 300 is like a husky that needs a suitable way to run off all its energy. One more consideration and we'll move on, we promise. It's just that if you were looking to buy a second Sonos Five to create a stereo pair, the KEF LSX stereo speaker system (and brand new LSX II) is closely priced and boasts a more comprehensive connectivity spec-sheet and hi-res capabilities out the box.