Sonos Play Review - Hear the Bass! 🔥
The Sonos Play is super loud! At just 40% volume from a single Play speaker, I could cover a 500 square feet living room. But of course, just because it’s loud doesn’t mean it sounds good, right? Well, we’re going to talk more about its sound, listen to some sound samples, as well as talk about what can be better about the Sonos Play, so stick around for that.
Battery Life
The Sonos Play comes with a charging cradle, its battery contains up to 24 hours of juice and it can also function as a power bank, which is one more reason to take it outside. The battery is officially replaceable, and you can buy it from Sonos’s website or from the stores.
Automatic Trueplay tuning
What I also like, and this applies to all Sonos portable speakers, is Automatic Trueplay tuning. Depending on where you place the speaker, usually, it’s going to sound different because of the way sound bounces off solid surfaces. So if you place it in the corner or on the shelf, it’s going to sound more boomy, more bassy, if it's in the middle of the room, or outdoors, it’s going to sound thinner.
In other words, inconsistent quality. Automatic Trueplay fixes that with microphones that listen to the environment, and tells the speaker whether to tone down or boost the bass, in real time. I don’t recall any other brand of speakers that does this.
👉🏻 Have a listen to the sound quality samples
Of course, if you prefer fixed tuning, you can turn off the mics by flicking a switch at the back of the speaker, or turn off Auto Trueplay in the Sonos app. And I can still boost the bass and treble yourself to add some flavour.
Sound Quality
By default, though, I think it sounds good. It’s a rather smooth sound with great bass mids separation so it’s a pretty clean signature with nice midrange emphasis and detail retrieval. Nails the upper and mid bass, not so much the sub bass because I didn’t feel much impact. So bass lovers might be mixed about the Play. This was at mid-volume level playing over Bluetooth.
👉🏻 Have a listen to the sound quality samples
As for how they sound at higher and lower volume, when it’s above 80% volume it starts to distort in the upper mids and vocals. I will say, though, that mostly you won’t need to go beyond 80%. Like I said, it’s plenty loud already at below 50%. At low volume levels, even below 20% it still maintains its balance and dynamic range very well. Great for ambient music.
Bluetooth VS AirPlay
Sonos says it’s a stereo speaker, and while I do get some stereo imaging about 10cm left and right of the speaker, it’s not a very spacious representation of stereo. For anything better, you’ll have to get 2 of these and combine them in a stereo pair.
It does sound a little different over AirPlay in that its track separation and bass sounds a little cleaner, but I couldn’t tell if there was an improvement to its soundstaging.
👉🏻 Have a listen to the sound quality samples
Stuff that I didn’t like so much…
There are a few things I don’t like that much, first, the lack of a built-in line-in port. If you want to hardwire the Sonos Play to anything, maybe a turntable, you’ll need this adapter from Sonos. It’s not expensive, but it’s a minor inconvenience because I couldn’t connect it directly to my iPhone or my PC - they could not detect it as an audio source through USB-C.
And second, since the buttons are not backlit, and they’re very small and flat, it can be a little difficult finding the buttons at first, unless you hold it against the light. Just some minor complaints. I will be continuing to use the Sonos Play so if you have any questions, let me know in the comments!
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Sonos Play - https://amzn.to/4tQlq4u
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