Sonos and other Wifi Streaming Devices

[msommers]

How do they sound per speaker? Or is it basically necessary to have both in a room?

[schocker]

Originally posted by killramos
i find the play5 hard to justify. Esp over the 3 which i picked one up for the wife for her craft room.

I REALLY want the sub for my main floor to pair with my in ceiling in the front and back rooms.. Don't need that kind of fidelity in my bedroom or bathroom. And the media room is run through my 5.1 system so no need there.

But 750 is a pretty asinine price, looks awesome though.

I am sure the play:1's will suit my mom just fine even if split up. Like i said, she was using her 19 inch samsung tv to listen to music lol.

It was alot easier to justify at $450 also. I find though that the 3 has no bass, so I perfer even two 1's over that. I wonder if there is a refresh coming though soon. Wouldn't mind a playbar for my TV, but then add the sub and you are looking at $1500 which is $$$ over the yamaha YSP. Don't really listen to music in my TV room either and I could always hook up a chromecast audio to the yamaha.

Originally posted by msommers
How do they sound per speaker? Or is it basically necessary to have both in a room?

A single one sounds quite good. If you go to bestbuy, you can listen to each speaker in person. For a better listening experience though, the pair works better as you get the separation to provide stereo instead of mono. Depends on the music though too.

[killramos]

I didn't find the 3 to bad for bass. its not a sub, but its far from bad. It does get very loud.

I am just really hoping the Apple Music support comes in 2015 as promised. That is what will push the Sonos to the next level for me.

[schocker]

Originally posted by killramos
I didn't find the 3 to bad for bass. its not a sub, but its far from bad. It does get very loud.

I am just really hoping the Apple Music support comes in 2015 as promised. That is what will push the Sonos to the next level for me.

Compare it to a 5 though and it was night and day for only $100 more at the time. It is what I am looking at now though for the sport I wanted the 5

Spotify + Google Play Music + NAS Box FTW

[killramos]

Yea but both me and my wife use itunes and iphones etc. so apple music makes far more sense to us. Honestly if i had to use a different app to listen to music on my phone i just wouldn't use it haha. Hence google play is out.

Planning on getting a NAS though but running it off my iMac works fine for the time being.

[spike98]

What about chromecast audio?

For Apple music yea, you are SOL. But for Spotify, GPAA, and NAS streaming, the Chromecast is MUCH MUCH MUCH cheaper.

You can buy a quality mini system for less than a few hundred and slap on a CC Audio for $45. It would net you a much better sounding system for cheaper. (CC Audio has a optical out)

Then there is the Sonos Connect. 6 Chrome Cast Audio's and a 6 Zone amp for less than $1000 That wouldn't even get you two Connects.

Even the Polk system is a better deal. Sonos is just overpriced IMO and offers no real benifit now that there is strong competitors in the market and the streaming services are available on most platforms.

[killramos]

Based on their website CC just streams from your devices? "casting"?

Whereas a big plus to Sonos is it is its own host, you can keep listening without your phone even being on.

CC is also wireless only, which is less than ideal. I like to keep as much bandwidth hungry traffic off my wifi onto my gigabit wired network. Which all but one of my Sonos components is on. Me being a stickler for this is why my home network works as well as it does.

The Sonos controller is also fantastic to use, fast and easy.

Also it seems like alot of the functionality beyond basic streaming from the app of CC is lost if you don't use an android device. Where Sonos works equally well on any device.

Anyways im sure CC would work for a lot of people. I just like the all in one nature of the Sonos system and find that they are worth the price premium they command.

[schocker]

^^^Chromecast actually streams itself, your device I believe just points it to the content, that is why it only works with specific applications netflix, spotify etc. and you can't use it with VPN because your device may be on VPN but your chromecast knows it is in Canada (Netflix hulu etc.).

Originally posted by spike98
What about chromecast audio?

For Apple music yea, you are SOL. But for Spotify, GPAA, and NAS streaming, the Chromecast is MUCH MUCH MUCH cheaper.

You can buy a quality mini system for less than a few hundred and slap on a CC Audio for $45. It would net you a much better sounding system for cheaper. (CC Audio has a optical out)

Then there is the Sonos Connect. 6 Chrome Cast Audio's and a 6 Zone amp for less than $1000 That wouldn't even get you two Connects.

Even the Polk system is a better deal. Sonos is just overpriced IMO and offers no real benifit now that there is strong competitors in the market and the streaming services are available on most platforms.

Chromecast I would use to upgrade existing items. Sonos has very high build quality, sound quality, interface quality & app, ease of use and aesthetics. I feel that is worth the extra money. My sonos works great, sound quality is great and I am fine with the money spent.
I can control it from my PC, apps themselves I believe, phone, tablet, speaker itself. I have mine linked to tunein radio, spotify, google play music and it is able to stream all the music off my nas in a very nice and easy to use interface. The app even shows up on my lockscreen once I get in range of my network.

I will give chromecast audio a try though. I was looking to buy some kanto or audio engine speakers to try it out with in the mean time (Built in amp)

[spike98]

Originally posted by killramos
Based on their website CC just streams from your devices? "casting"?

Whereas a big plus to Sonos is it is its own host, you can keep listening without your phone even being on.

CC is also wireless only, which is less than ideal. I like to keep as much bandwidth hungry traffic off my wifi onto my gigabit wired network. Which all but one of my Sonos components is on. Me being a stickler for this is why my home network works as well as it does.

The Sonos controller is also fantastic to use, fast and easy.

Also it seems like alot of the functionality beyond basic streaming from the app of CC is lost if you don't use an android device. Where Sonos works equally well on any device.

Anyways im sure CC would work for a lot of people. I just like the all in one nature of the Sonos system and find that they are worth the price premium they command.

As stated by Shocker, the Chromecast does stream by itself. It is also not wireless only. They have ethernet adapters now too so hardwire away! Not required though because the new CC offers 5G support and uses very little bandwidth (compared to video).

Additionally you can stream with IOS and PC as well (No windows phone i dont think). Believe me when i say before chromecast audio and CC spotify support, i would be right with you. But having owned a Sonos connect and just switching to CC Audio. I enjoy the same experience, ease of use, and sound quality as i did with the Connect. But now i have $400 extra in my pocket.

Originally posted by schocker
^^^Chromecast actually streams itself, your device I believe just points it to the content, that is why it only works with specific applications netflix, spotify etc. and you can't use it with VPN because your device may be on VPN but your chromecast knows it is in Canada (Netflix hulu etc.).


Chromecast I would use to upgrade existing items. Sonos has very high build quality, sound quality, interface quality & app, ease of use and aesthetics. I feel that is worth the extra money. My sonos works great, sound quality is great and I am fine with the money spent.
I can control it from my PC, apps themselves I believe, phone, tablet, speaker itself. I have mine linked to tunein radio, spotify, google play music and it is able to stream all the music off my nas in a very nice and easy to use interface. The app even shows up on my lockscreen once I get in range of my network.

I will give chromecast audio a try though. I was looking to buy some kanto or audio engine speakers to try it out with in the mean time (Built in amp)

See above! CC support for PC...

Also you can use a VPN with CC as the VPN routes all traffic but it needs to be at the router. You can also use a DNS switcher with CC but you need a router that supposes iptables as the CC has hardcoded DNS's (which is why it doesn't work for you)

[GTS Jeff]

I haven't seen anyone mention the playbar yet, so I'll add in my two cents about it. It's quite pricey, but it does sound very good and the angled speakers do a nice job of widening the soundstage. It seamlessly integrates with the TV to which it is connected as well as the rest of my SONOS ecosystem. It could use more bass, and maybe one day I'll go for a Sonos sub.

I have 4 Connect Amps to 4 different rooms with in-ceiling speakers. In the living room, the Connect Amp is hooked up to a wireless powered sub, which is the solution I came up with years ago before they released the Sonos sub. I also have an Airport Express hooked up to one of the Connect Amps so I can use Airplay to quickly stream whatever youtube or facebook video over the speakers to whatever room I'm in. Then a couple years later they updated the app to allow music streaming from the phone anyway. My usual music sources are Songza, Hype Machine, and my own NAS. Sonos is definitely great for day to day enjoyment of media.

[Mitsu3000gt]

Just get a CC Audio for 1/10 the price - spike98 pretty much said it all above. The content does not stream from your phone, it does so right from the CC. It's also not going to use a noticeable amount of WiFi bandwidth. You don't need an Android device to cast things. If your wireless network can't handle a little traffic with no noticeable slowdown, the CC is the least of your worries.

[The_Penguin]

I have a single Sonos 3, I am considering pairing with another.
It's maybe a tad light on bass (I'm a rocker, so I don't listen to the boom boom shit that the kids in cars driving down our street listen to) but more than adequate for me.
I pointed the app to my music collection on my Linux box and it's brilliant simplicity.

[atgilchrist]

CC audio would be a good solution if you already have a good sound system. If you're starting a new system, Sonos is the way to go IMO. The speakers sound as good (or better) as other comparatively priced products, and the multi-room, multi-source control is awesome.

I have 2 play 1s and the Playbar, and people always comment on how good they sound. Sub is next. Listened to the new Play 5 at BB and that things sounds ludicrously awesome.

[Mitsu3000gt]

Originally posted by atgilchrist
CC audio would be a good solution if you already have a good sound system. If you're starting a new system, Sonos is the way to go IMO. The speakers sound as good (or better) as other comparatively priced products, and the multi-room, multi-source control is awesome.

I have 2 play 1s and the Playbar, and people always comment on how good they sound. Sub is next. Listened to the new Play 5 at BB and that things sounds ludicrously awesome.

Sonos is many things but it is not good bang for the buck from a speaker/sound quality standdpoint. You're paying for ease of use, connectivity, and integration with it's other products. Most people buying sonos don't care that much about that sort of thing though I would think, so it isn't their target market anyway. I'm not putting it down, I'm just saying if you're strictly after sound quality, that is not Sonos' forte and you can do much better with a traditional setup.

[killramos]

Apple Music beta available for Sonos users December 15th.

http://www.sonos.com/apple-music-on-sonos?r=1

Needless to say I have reactivated my Apple Music family plan. I am stoked.

[3nergiz3d]

Has anybody seen any deals or discounts on the Sonos Playbar and/Sub?

[schocker]

Sonos revised their canadian pricing

play1 $249
play3 $379
play5 $649
playbar $899
sub $899
connectamp $649
connect $449

No more sonos for me

[atgilchrist]

Our dollar sucks. Converted the new prices almost exactly match the us prices, but it's not like we all got 20% raises in the last few years to make up the difference.

[Buster]

I'm just re-doing my whole home audio on the new house. It's already got speakers and wires so it's about decided on the back-end technology to run it.

The clear winner is Chromecast Audio. I don't even think that the price difference is the reason either. I looked at Sonos, and would be happy to pay the price, but it seems decidedly "low tech" compared to the new CA capabilities.

My setup will be a Chromecast Audio connected to each room/zone. You can then cast from any device to whichever zone you want. You can embed a permanent tablet if you want, although I don't see why. You can enable guests to cast as well. You can cast from a huge list of apps, and the whole thing is idiot proof.

Chromecast Audio also lets you setup "virtual zones" by mix and matching your chromocasts depending on where and how you want the audio to setup. Want your whole main floor to play party music? Just link the Chromecasts together and have a "party" cast option in your cast list. Perfect.

I'll run the whole thing through a multichannel amp:

https://www.amazon.ca/OSD-Audio-MX12...nnel+amplifier



With a Chromecast Audio driving a channel on each zone of the amplifier.

Less than a grand for my whole house, including amplification, and all the Chromecasts, and a ton more flexibility and no dedicated apps.

Sonos is really nice, and I would have no problem using it, but it just got lapped.

[403ep3]

I like having the Sonos to move around and take to friends/familys houses so that's why I got them.

I have two 1's from last year and bought a 5 a month ago because my tech/electric guy from my house purchase said there was going to be a price increase. Happy I bought now