Skip to main content

Hi-Fi Corner: Sonos’ new Play:5 is the king of multiroom speakers

Sonos may have invented wireless multiroom audio, but the past two years have brought it no shortage of competitors. Denon, LG, Samsung, and Bose have all developed their own platforms, while a host of loudspeaker veterans like Polk, Paradigm, and Harman Kardon have hopped on board with the open DTS Play-Fi standard. With all that noise and distraction, it might be easy to forget that Sonos started it all — we almost did. But then Sonos issued a brand-new speaker, the Play:5, which came along just in time to remind us that Sonos not only knows this business better than anyone else, it executes better, too.

In many ways, Sonos is a lot like Apple: Its platform may be a walled garden for wireless music systems, but it is extremely approachable and exceptionally easy to use. The speakers carry the sort of cachet often associated with Apple products thanks to clean designs, simple interfaces, and best-in-class packaging. In short, Sonos stuff “just works,” and that’s all most people need before they pull out their wallets and start throwing down cash. Except Sonos isn’t just another pretty brand with fancy packaging — its speakers deliver outstanding sound quality, and the Play:5 is the company’s best example yet.

Recommended Videos

Related: KEF puts big sound in small packages with the new Egg 

The Play:5 is a direct descendant of the speaker that started it all for Sonos, the S5, and a natural evolution of the Play: series line-up, following the the Play:1 (good) and Play:3 (better) as the best — and biggest —  stand-alone speaker Sonos offers. Sonos doesn’t disclose driver sizes or total wattage, but we can tell you that behind the grill sit three tweeters atop three midbass drivers, each powered with their own, discrete digital amplifier. To enhance stereo effects, Sonos has cleverly flared the baffles around the tweeters on the left and right hand sides in an effort to “throw” the sound beyond the speaker’s confines.

This isn’t just Sonos’ biggest speaker; the Play:5 is also its most versatile. The speaker can be oriented either horizontally for placement on a shelf or desk, or vertically, which would make more sense if two Play:5 speakers were paired for a more conventional stereo or surround sound setup. Of course, it could be argued that the Play:5 is a bit overkill as a surround speaker, but as with the Play:1 and Play:3, the Play:5 can be paired with the Sonos Playbar wireless sound bar for an authentic surround-sound experience. You could also pair two Play:5 speakers with the Sonos Sub subwoofer for a little extra kick.

We’ve come to expect great sound from Sonos speakers, but we can honestly say the Play:5 exceeded our expectations. Having just evaluated the $700 Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin Wireless, the bar was already set fairly high, but the Play:5 came right in and dominated the room. Bass is robust and tightly controlled (if not quite as deep as the Zeppelin Wireless), with a punch that you can feel. The midrange is silky smooth, with natural rendering of vocals and string-based instrumentation, while the treble adds texture, grit, and shiny overtones to a generally well-balanced whole. More simply put: The Play:5 is powerful and potent while remaining well-controlled and reserved enough to handle nearly any type of music with respect.

Add superior sound quality to Sonos’ best-in-class wireless audio experience, and you get the wireless speaker to beat. The Play:5 will be hanging around our testing room for quite some time, because any other wireless speaker that dares ask $400 or more will have to measure up. Something tells us, though, that Sonos’ claim to the throne will hold steady for years to come.

A version of this post first appeared on our “brother site” Digital Trends.

30 years later, it looks like we might finally be getting a Clueless sequel
We don't know what the show will be about just yet.
Clueless - Stacey Dash and Alicia Silverstone

One of the few perfect movies of the 1990s, Clueless is yet another thing that Hollywood simply refuses to let rest. According to reporting in Variety, Peacock is developing a Clueless sequel series, and Alicia Silverstone is set to return to her most iconic role as Cher Horowitz.

The plot details for this new series have not been revealed, but Josh Schwartz, Stephanie Savage, and Jordan Weiss are attached to write. Amy Heckerling, who wrote and directed the original film, will also serve as an executive producer along with Silverstone and the three writers.

Read more
A Pacific Rim prequel TV series is headed to Amazon
The series has a writer, but no plot details or cast yet.
The Jaegers in Pacific Rim

Get ready to put your mech suit back on. Variety is reporting that the Pacific Rim TV series has found a home at Amazon. Plot details for the series are currently being kept under wraps, but reporting suggests that this new show will be a prequel and that there is still a possibility that they will make more Pacific Rim films at some point as well. Eric Heisserer is set to serve as the show's writer and executive producer.

The first film was released in 2013 and directed by Guillermo Del Toro and Travis Beachem. That film imagined a world where Kaijus had long ago emerged from the ocean, and mankind's only hope of defeating them were giant mech suits called Jaegers. With humanity on its last legs, a washed-up pilot becomes their best chance for survival. The movie made over $400 million at the global box office and was divisive among both audiences and critics.

Read more
Marty Supreme: Everything we know so far
Plot details about the film are still unavailable.
Timothee Chalamet sitting at a Q&A in New York City.

Few actors have managed to establish themselves as more exciting or versatile through the first decade of their career than Timothee Chalamet. While not every movie he's been in has been great, the young actor has done enough compelling work to make every project he takes on exciting.

That's just part of the reason we're so excited for Marty Supreme. The movie, which stars Chalamet, is directed Josh Safdie, whose last movie, Uncut Gems, was tense, to say the least. The movie is being produced by A24, which has one of the best track records of any indie studio working today. Here's what we know about the movie, including when it's coming out, who's in the cast, and what it's actually about:

Read more