Okay, I’ll be the first to admit it. I’m a bit of a geek. I love my tech and my gadgets, be they drones, cameras, tablets, headphones, and whatnot. However, one group of devices never really caught my attention, namely the so-called connected speakers, or speakers that access streaming services directly via WiFi or ethernet, without having to go through a smartphone, tablet or another similar device. I was a late convert to streaming music anyway, and for a long time, my „musical land mine“, the B&O Play A1 by Bang & Olufsen, was more than enough for my needs.
Until this week, that is.
You see, I work in a business development role, and as part of that role, my employer regularly organises competitions or giveaways to „encourage“ the front line agents to score more deals. Normally, when I see something like that, my brain just switches to „transit mode“, meaning that those words go into one ear and come straight back out on the other side. Don’t get me wrong, I still do my job as best as possible, I just don’t really engage with these „extra“ activities. Now, despite this rather relaxed attitude, I found myself amongst the top performers in a recent competition here in the office, which ended with me finding a rather bulky box on my desk a week ago. The content? A Sonos Play:3 connected speaker. Well, as the saying goes, you don’t look a gift speaker in the membrane, and when you already have such a device, why not take advantage of it? And that’s exactly what I did.
Now, the Sonos Play:3 is not a new product. It has been around since July 2011, when Sonos originally launched it, and they’ve been supporting it with firmware updates and new functionalities ever since, so it’s far from obsolete. Design-wise, the Play:3 is a very understated, not to say minimalist device, and available in black and white. It’s not a shrinking violet though. Measuring 13.2 x 26.8 x 16.0 centimeters, it’s surprisingly large when your first lay your eyes on it. Apart from the front grille, there’s no metal to be found on the outside. But even with a mostly plastic body, the speaker feels rock solid and far from cheap, something which is no doubt helped by the surprisingly high weight of 2.6 Kilograms. My late dad had always told me that one of the indicators of a good speaker is its weight, and using this yardstick, the Play:3 is already setting high expectations. This is definitely not the type of speaker to take with you to a park or BBQ.
 |
| Reduced to the max - that is the best way to describe the exterior of the Sonos Play:3 |
 |
| The included accessories are as spartan as the design. But then again, you don't really need more than a power cable, a network cable, and a quick start guide to get the Play:3 going. |
The „innards“ of the Play:3 are impressive in their own right. In addition to all the electronics needed to connect to the myriads of streaming services out there, the speaker boasts three Class-D amplifiers. The actual sound is produced by an array of one tweeter, two mid-woofers and one surprisingly powerful bass radiator. Oh, and there’s a gyroscope in there as well, which causes the Play:3 to adapt its playback characteristics depending on whether the device is placed horizontally or vertically. Now, with all this being said, you might expect the outside of the speaker to be covered in switches, toggles, and indicators. However, the amount of controls is positively anaemic (Probably the first time those two words have been used together)!. There’s one LED and four switches. That’s it. There’s not even a power button. Things are equally spartan when it comes to ports. There’s a socket for the power chord, an ethernet port, and a thread for a wall mount or a speaker stand (The latter of which I’ll order as soon as my next paycheck arrives).
 |
| That's all, folks! Those four buttons are all the control elements on the outside of the Play:3 |
 |
| There's not much in the way of party in the back either. A thread to mount the speaker on a stand, a power port, and the ethernet port, that's it. |
Now, there’s of course a method to this minimalist madness. Pretty much every aspect of the Play:3 is handled via the Sonos App. This starts with the setup itself. Basically, you just need to connect it to a wall socket, and that’s it. The app leads you through all further steps. Okay, granted, you can also use an ethernet cable to connect it to your home network, and Sonos even includes a cable in the box, but for most applications, certainly in my home, a WiFi connection is more than sufficient. One bit of advice: A Sonos account is required when setting up the device. Again, that can be easily set up via the App, just keep an eye out if you’re planning to use an iCloud email address, as I had some issues with that. During the setup process, you’ll get the option to „tune“ your speaker, which means that the Play:3 will adapt to the accoustic properties of whatever room it is set up in. The process is pretty straightforward, and basically consists of the speaker playing a series of calibration sounds, that seem to be taken straight from a third-rate Half Life clone. The Sonos App registers these sounds, and any minute variations, as you gently move through the room, waving and turning around your phone like you’re sprinkling holy water all over the place of performing an exorcism. It is completely optional, though, and can be triggered at any time through the app.
Once the setup is completed, the Sonos App becomes the control panel for the speaker. One thing needs to be mentioned right of the bat for Apple users. The Sonos Play 3 does NOT support Airplay 2. The official reason given by Sonos is that the processors inside the speaker just aren’t powerful enough for it, and given the age of the model, I have to say that’s a reasonable and fair point. But even without Airplay, the Play:3 is extremely convenient and easy to use. I haven’t encountered any latency or dropped connection yet, and the controls react very quickly indeed. Since it is not actually paired with a phone or tablet, an incoming message, call, or email, will not blow your ears off either, the speaker simply accesses the streaming service of your choice directly via WiFi or Ethernet.
 |
| The Sonos app is clean and crisp, especially on tablets like my iPad |
 |
| Favourite Playlists, radio stations, artists, etc. can be pinned to the My Sonos Page in the app, just in case you don't want to go into the menu every time. |
 |
| Likewise, all configuration questions and settings are controlled through the app. |
Speaking of streaming services, the choice is pretty impressive. There’s over 8 services available, ranging from industry stalwarts like Spotify, or Apple Music to more specialised services and even to Jay-Z’s big ego project Tidal. If THAT isn’t enough music for you, there’s hundreds of web radio stations available as well. Some of my old time favourits like NDR2 and HR3 from Germany, or Ö3 from Austria are available as well. Although I do have to ask myself when contemporary pop music turned that shitty? Seriously, as good as the speakers are, they’re incapable of compensating for a crappy song.
Which leads us nicely to the audio quality and Oh My GOD!!! That is something else! Now, I’m pretty sure that hardcore audiophiles will find plenty to nit-pick about with the Play:3, however most average listeners will not have anything to complain about. The speaker is powerful throughout pretty much the entire audio spectrum. As with most modern speakers, it’s all about that bass, and the bass in the Play:3 is nothing if not powerful. However, mid-range tones and even high notes aren’t drowned out. Granted, the highs can seem a bit weak, but that is mostly at lower volumes. Anything from regular room loudness upwards is pretty much flawless. The one bit of criticism I have is that certain older pieces of music, I’m particularly thinking about pieces by the likes of John Coltrane, Dave Brubeck, and the likes sometimes seem a bit “flat” and lacklustre. But then again, that could just be the recording method used for those pieces. And anyway, it’s really a minor point.
 |
| While the Controller for OS X does its job, it is a bit of a letdown compared to the iOS App. It looks a bit like it's caught back in the days of the original launch of the Play:3 |
So, in closing what’s my take on the Sonos Play:3? Well, for the price I paid, it’s a steal ;) Seriously though, I’m beginning to understand why Sonos has such good reputation. The hardware quality is great, the app in its current iteration is very intuitive, although the controller for OS X leaves something to be desired, and the sound is just flat out amazing. More importantly however, it is NOT a smart speaker, so you won’t have to worry about Siri, Cortana, Alexa, or whichever computer lady of your fancy you prefer, listening in on your conversation. That job continues to be taken care of by the microphone in your phone, your tablet, your watch, and other devices, but I digress. It may have been my first Sonos product, but it certainly won’t be my last. The Play:3’s smaller brother, the Sonos Play:1, is already in my investment plan.
Comments
Post a Comment