A new feature that deploys Sonos is to calibrate the sound through the Sonos app to the acoustics of your room

The best known multi-room speakers or those of Sonos, but the speaker series went again for a while. Therefore Sonos has provided line freshening. What are the advantages and differences of the Sonos Play: 5?

Sonos has made a name with his play-speaker series because they were already early by allowing music playback of streaming music and local music sources, with an acceptable sound quality and user-friendly installation. But unfortunately with a hefty price. Read also: 11 tips to always listen to your music anywhere in excellence

The speakers now have some cleaning. The Play: 5 I tested has an attractive appearance with matte plastic finish, which looks a bit retro. But with great attention to detail as there are touch buttons subtly incorporated into the top and the speaker can also be put up, which looks strikingly beautiful if you make a stereo pair of two speakers. A built-in gyroscope makes it sound good play if the speaker or just put down upright. Funny detail is that the Sonos logo is always legible in upright form because the brand is one upside remains the same a palindrome.

Be the Play: 5 now upright.
The only thing we still miss is a switch button to turn off the speaker. When the Sonos is plugged in fact he is always on and connected, which is obviously very sin. I do not weigh the personal and the benefit that you can always play within a few seconds of music. I myself have just solved this by connecting Sonos to a power strip with switch.

calibrate
A new feature that deploys Sonos is to calibrate the sound through the Sonos app to the acoustics of your room. Of course, this works with the new speaker series, but also the first generation can handle this. Sonos Play True mentions this calibration. When calibrating the Sonos gives a beep sound off (which incidentally is the bone). Then walk across the room, so that Sonos through the microphone of the mobile device can identify the room. This currently only possible with the iPhone, not Android devices because of the great diversity of types of microphones in Android smartphones and tablets. In a practical test (multiple rooms, stereo set-up and simple setup) I noticed, however, little difference in sound quality. For now True Play seems more a gimmick, but the feature is still in development.

All control is via the app for iOS and Android , or a simple tool for the Mac and Windows (XP, Vista, 7, 8 or 10). The programs use and music starts up quickly, but tools of streaming music itself (like Spotify Connect) you can not use. Music streaming from Spotify (or any of the many other available streaming services ) must via the Sonos app. The utilities work as long as the device is on the same network as the Sonos Sonos can connect wirelessly or wired. But Bluetooth is not there. However, there is at the back have a 3.5mm jack for direct audio input.

Another nice touch is that the speaker holes are also in the neat little logo.
Full and powerful
The most important, however, remains the sound quality. Under the retro housing is also made changes to improve it. The power of the Play: 5 is from six built-in speakers. The sound is churned it sounds full and powerful, with slightly better sound quality than the previous generation. Especially if you turn up the volume loud is heard much less distortion. But I still had a little more difference in quality expected compared to the old Play: 5. Even if you take into account the price. The new generation of Play: 5 is in fact eighty euros more expensive than the previous generation. Because of this he is in terms of pricing a step closer to the real high-end streaming audio equipment. Those terms sound quite a big step up.

Conclusion
The second generation Sonos Play: 5 is a wonderful streaming audio speaker, with a nice sound quality and user-friendly installation and applications. But a bit on the pricey side. The differences with the first generation are small and ooSk to True Play must be some tinkering to really hear the difference.