Sonos Play:1 - The little Speaker that could!

We’ve all done it – Impulse purchases that, while not triggering buyer’s remorse, didn’t really get all as much usage as we would have thought. I’ve done it more than once, and some have only really started to see much use due to the current COVID-19 lockdown that has half the planet hunkering down at home. With said lockdown looking like it’s going to last for quite a while longer, I thought it would be a good idea to show off some of the tech that’s keeping me sane while working from home, insofar as that’s still possible.

My first bit of what you could call “Corona Kit” is a Sonos Play:1, a connected speaker. This thing is what could best be described as a planned impulse purchase. I’d been planning to get another Sonos speaker for quite some time, after winning my first one in a workplace competition back in 2018, but between job changes and other turbulences, it wasn’t until back in September 2019 that I finally made my move, in a rather rash decision. I had initially wanted to get it for use in my bedroom, but lack of shelf space there meant that it was pressed into service in my home office, something I’d set up way before COVID-19 was even a thing. You could say I’m a home office hipster, having had one before it was cool.

The Sonos Play:1 in its natural habitat in my home office.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand. The Sonos Play:1 isn’t a new model. In fact, it’s been discontinued by Sonos, though there are still quite a few devices out there. It’s basically the smaller cousin of my Play:3, and while the shape may be different, the concept is still the same, with only a bare minimum of external controls and connections. The speaker is surprisingly heavy for its diminutive size, weighing in at 1.85 kilograms, while measuring only 16.1 centimetres tall, and 11.9 centimetres wide and deep. All in all, it’s quite a compact package, and the weight can throw you off if you don’t expect it. The device is available in two colours, with me opting to go for the white and silver option, “dust collector white” as I like to call it. Controls are limited, as I indicated earlier. There’s a Play/Pause button as well as a volume rocker on the top side of the speaker, as well as a status LED. That’s it. Ports are equally limited, with just an ethernet plug at the back of the device. You can of course also set it up via wifi, which is what I opted for.

The design is minimalistic and straightforward, just how I like it.

The control elements are just what you’d expect from Sonos - Sparse. Most of the controlling is done through the app anyway, so it’s not much of an issue. Better than the LSD induced light show on Apple’s Homepods, that’s for sure!

The backside is equally sparse - An ethernet port and a mount for a stand or bracket, that’s all there is to it. The power cable connects to the speaker’s underside.

Setup is as straightforward as you would think. You simply plug the speaker in to the wall outlet and let the Sonos App take care of the rest. It really is as simple as it sounds, especially if you already have a Sonos speaker, in which case you don’t have to bother with registering and all that. You can connect two Play:1 together to form a stereo pair, or group two of them with a Play:3, Play:5 or other Sonos speakers to form a surround system, but I’m not quite there… yet. The one interesting part of setup is Trueplay, a technology that allows you to “tune” the speaker to the acoustic properties of the room you’re using it in. Once again, the Sonos app takes care of most of the hard work in this regard and will lead you straight through the process, which shouldn’t take you more than a couple of minutes.

Yeah yeah, don’t bore us, get to the chorus! Err yeah, anyway, with all those preliminaries out of the way, let’s get to the real big question: How does the bloody thing perform in everyday use? Damn well! It only got limited use initially, as I didn’t really spend that much time in my home office until recently. Since the start of the COVID-19 lockdown however, this little speaker has been pretty busy, seeing hours of use every day as I listen to music while working. Granted, it isn’t quite as powerful as its bigger brother over in the living room but let me tell ya, it still packs plenty of punch. The bass is powerful without being overpowering, while the mids and highs clearly stand out. It does sound a little less “full” than the Play:3, but that is to be expected given the smaller size. What really surprised me was the volume that this little thing is capable of. I have yet to actually crank the volume up to max, mostly out of consideration for my neighbours. Even at 50%, the volume, the Play:1 is easily capable of filling any reasonably sized bedroom.

The one issue I have with the system is the app. Don’t get me wrong, it still offers all of the functionality you can expect of such an app, however it has gotten noticeably slower with recent updates, and there haven’t really been any feature or optics updates, leaving the iOS app a bit dated. The OS X app has been given a major facelift, so at least it doesn’t look like straight out of Windows Vista anymore, but it is still as clunky as it was when I wrote my Play:3 review back in 2018. I’ve been mostly using Spotify for my music playback over the last couple of weeks, and that app provides a much better control experience in my opinion. 

Overall though, my initial buyer’s remorse about the Sonos Play:1 has long since evaporated. It’s a nifty little speaker and has definitely become an anchor of sanity in these chaotic times. If the app was a bit more powerful and the OS X app got a redesign, the Play:1 would be even better, but even so this is a great connected speaker for your bedroom or home office. If you can get one, I highly recommend you go for it.