Review: Sonos Music System

Posted by SonicTune

January 6, 2009

Overview:

Sonos music system lets you benefit the music you love from anywhere in the house. Its set up is simple and easy to use even for the novice user. All you need is music!

Review:

Upon purchasing Sonos you are greeted from alien looking space hubs, mistake these not, for they are the “Zoneplayers,” which astonishingly plays your music through integrated speakers, through the power of WiFi (Wireless Fidelity)

The task of setting up your own home music system sounds daunting, but, Sonos make it look easy, in three easy steps:

(1) Attach your ZoneBridge to your router.

(2) Place your Zoneplayers around your home.

(3) Insert your Sonos music system disc to your PC and enjoy all of your music already ripped onto your computer.

It’s neither a problem if you have music installed on your computer because your own Sonos controller (also wireless) can connect straight to Napster. Search through the abundant tracks of the music library and listen to the latest craze, or those classical hits.

One much loved feature on the Sonos system is Last.fm. You can listen to the radio, again through the internet, and the clever thing about it is, Last.fm introduces you to musicians you might like, based on previous music you have played, This is called “scrobbling,” basically meaning “taking note of.”

Now Sonos systems are not the cheapest on the market, but if you buy direct from the site, you can see the figure rising from £100. Sounds cheap, but that’s not even the bare essentials, that will perhaps get you an interface or ZoneBridge, and if you included a couple of players (excluding speakers) and a controller, that’ll be £1000 please! But it does not stop there and it keeps going, until you have kitted your house out and still kept it to bare minimal, you’ll be expected to spend £2,500 (if you have a small house)

Don’t be put off by that rising figure, because if you’re lucky enough to have your hands on an iPhone, then you’ll receive a free Sonos application, to turn your iPhone into a wireless controller.

Perhaps, if you just bought a couple of speakers, that were a little expensive and you didn’t want to part, then your speakers can universally connect to the Zoneplayer too.

The Gaj-It Verdict:
Design: 10/10
Usability: 9/10
Features: 7/10
Value: 7/10

We Say:

If you got a few bob lying around then this is definitely worth your while, and make sure you get the best deal first!

Specifications:

Rated output – 55W per channel RMS continuous average power into 8 ohms.
Audio formats supported – Support for compressed MP3, WMA (including purchased Windows Media downloads), AAC (MPEG4), Ogg Vorbis, Audible (format 4), Apple Lossless, Flac (lossless) music files, as well as uncompressed WAV and AIFF files.
Operating systems (for stored files) – Windows® XP SP2 or higher, Windows Vista™; Mac OS X v10.4 or v10.5; NAS (Network Attached Storage) devices supporting CIFS.
Internet radio supported – Streaming MP3, WMA
Playlists supported – Rhapsody, iTunes®, WinAmp®, Windows Media Player®, and MusicMatch™ (.m3u, .pls, .wpl)
Power Supply – AC 120/240V, 50-60Hz, user-switchable.

Source: Sonos

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