Sonos - Play - Black

Having tried a roam and a move 2, this option will be the best for most. Its size and shape is easy to pack in luggage, and the sound is shockingly full. Playtime has been exceptional as well. Have taken this trip on many vacations/ work trips and can say it is a perfect companion for anywhere you need it.

I really like Sonos products. I’ve been a user for a long time now. The play in my perspective is not the type of speaker that’s going to fill up a room with a lot of people, but it’s the perfect take to the park or the beach a small portable speaker. I also like that I can link it with my other Sonos devices so I have music in several rooms. If I was to make any changes, I would probably want it to have a little bit more full sound, and a little more volume. But again it’s perfect for what it is designed for.

Overall, this speaker is great. From the smart integration of its own assistant as well as Alexa, Siri, and airplay 2, it really is everything in one small package. This is my first Sonos product. I do wish the eq was more.. diverse, as only the bass and treble can be changed. I do personally find the mids lacking a bit. The Sonos Play has an amazing battery life, I’ve only had to recharge it once in the week I’ve been using it (I usually do my listening around 40-60% volume. $300 does seem a bit hefty, however overall it has a well balanced sound and you really can’t go wrong with this one if it matches your use cases.

The Sonos Play portable speaker, to steal a phrase from a random woman I met at the park, is “a real banger!” I agree with her assessment. I brought my Sonos Play to my local park and tried out the different outdoor listening scenarios I would normally find myself in. Such as, a random boulder along a path, a metal countertop at the Snack Shack, the sidelines of a soccer field, and a random basketball court full of random people. Overall, the Sonos Play does an excellent job in these environments. The Sonos Play also did an excellent job with low volume listening on my work desk and end table in my den. Overall, I found the Sonos Play to be highly portable, flexible, and easy to use in most situations. Outdoor Sound quality: The Sonos Play excels at outdoor listening. It won’t pressurize the ballpark, but it will provide a satisfying experience between 50% to 75% volume. At 100% volume, the speaker can be heard as far away as 78 feet. I was surprised at how far away this speaker was able to project just sitting on the ground, in a field, with nothing around it but grass and sky. At about 50 feet I could comfortably hear my music with enough detail to enjoy it. I could see myself kicking around a soccer ball while using the Sonos Play. Up close at this volume, we are talking about 10 feet or less, the Sonos Play sounds terrible and must be turned down to a normal listening volume below 50% or less. This is because at about 10 feet I can really hear the cabinet vibrate and some speaker artifacts. Below 50%, this speaker is very pleasant for such activities as a picknick, reading, or chilling under a tree. The Sonos Play, in my opinion, opens up and does a fantastic job in any wide-open space unconstrained by walls or hard reflective surfaces. Indoor Sound Quality: Indoor listening is a completely different experience. As mentioned in the previous section, the Sonos Play’s cabinet vibrates with the speaker drivers. At low listening levels, this is not an issue. Actually, this is an asset since the Sonos Play relies on the table, cabinet, countertop, or shelf that it rests on to reinforce its mid-bass and lower mid-bass performance. This became immediately clear to me when I first setup the Sonos Play on my work desk. I was simply amazed by how much bass the Sonos Play was able to output. And then the bass immediately evaporates once I pick up the Sonos Play and hanging it in the air. But I could definitely feel the bass from the speaker going into my hand. I placed the speaker back down onto my 4 x 8 wooden desktop and the bass immediately returned. I put my hand on my desk and could feel the desk vibration with the Sonos Play. In short, whatever furniture the Sonos Play is on will become part of the Sonos Play. Which brings me to my second point. The in-room sound quality degrades from 20% volume up. First, the speaker vibrations increase as the volume increases. My table surface magnifies the speaker vibrations which increase audible distortion from the table. And second, the midrange compresses as volume increases. The midrange essentially becomes nose around 75% volume in room. My use for the Sonos Play will be background music and news for my office during the day and soft reading music on my end table in my den at night. At these lower volumes, vocals are clear, mids are present, and bass is solid. Setup: The Sonos Play will connect to any Bluetooth source straight out of the box at the push of the Bluetooth sync button on the back of the speaker. The Sonos App is required for everything else. This includes Apple Play 2 playback which I use regularly. The initial setup process, for me, was a frustrating half-hour of discovery. Short version. The Sonos app requires a cell phone to complete initial account, network, and device setup. After that any mobile device can be used for control, syncing devices, managing music, and creating speaker relationships. Why the cell phone requirement? No idea. All I can tell you is that the app kept locking up my very current iPad every time I attempted initial setup. I also received a Sonos ERA 100 the same time I received my Sonos Play. I set up the ERA 100 after setting up my Sonos account and the Sonos Play. Setting up the ERA 100 took a minute or two throw the Sonos app. Once setup, connecting the audio stream to both speakers was as easy as pressing the play/pause button for 5 seconds on the ERA 100. For example, I was listening to the news on my Sonos Play in my home office. I got up to make lunch for myself in the kitchen. Instead of turning up the volume or moving the Sonos Play the kitchen, I simply pressed the ERA’s play/hold button for about 5 seconds. And just like that both speakers were playing the same content in two different rooms. Pressing the play/pause button on the ERA 100 a second time ended the stream for the ERA 100 only. And I could have always done this the other way around where the ERA 100 is stream, I move to a new room that I want music in, and press/hold the Sonos Play play/pause button for 5 seconds to sync the streams. Finally, the Sonos Play will connect to any source device that is Bluetooth capable. The speaker has a Bluetooth connection button on the back of the speaker. Press the button, add the Sonos Play to your devices Bluetooth paired devices, and then press play on your phone or other music source device. One last item. The volume control on your cell phone, tablet, or other source device only interacts with the speaker when the connection is made outside of the Sonos app. This includes Bluetooth and Apple Airplay 2. If the Sonos app is used as the source, then volume must be controlled from inside the app or using the volume controls on the speaker. The volume control on the speaker will control the volume in all cases. Size and Weight: The Sonos Play is roughly the size of a brick. And at 2.87lbs it weighs more than a brick. This speaker is very easy to place into a bag for transport to anywhere you wish to take it. I am still impressed with how dense this product feels even after two weeks of carrying it around. The size and weight are impressive. Durability: I did not abuse the Sonos Play. I have not dropped it into any mud, puddles, or sticky sidewalk chewing gum. I have washed the Sonos Play under my kitchen faucet to clean dirt and other grime the rubberized base and top picked up at the park. The debris washed off without any fuss. Per Sono’s user guide, I wiped the speaker off with a clean dry towel and set it on the tower Sonos logo face down until the entire speaker was dry. It is recommended that you stop using the speaker once it gets wet and allow it to dry before next use. It worked for me. Charging and Battery life: Battery life is good. I played the Sonos Play on my desk for almost a week before needing to recharge. I was down to about 20% before my park trip. After topping off the battery, I went to the park and played the speaker all over the place at various volumes. When I returned, I was at about 50%. Mind you, I was pushing the volume to 100% for a good half hour at one point. I would expect better battery life below 75%. Better still at normal listening volumes. The charging base is hard plastic with a rubberized surround. The base has a built in 6-foot USB C cable that is long enough to provide a good amount of placement flexibility. And there are two electrical leads in the base that align with the charging port on the speakers. However, the Sonos Play power adapter is a separate purchase. Any USB C wall adapter will work if it meets Sono’s minimum requirements. Directly from the user’s manual, “Play is designed to work with 18W (9V/2A) USB-PD compliant adapters, but 45W (15V/3A) is recommended.” A laptop USB connection is not going to be enough to recharge or power the Sonos Play. In my case, I am using my MacBook’s power adapter to power and recharge my Sonos Play. And it seems to be doing a good job. Final Thoughts: Overall, I like the Sonos Play. I have zero intention of entertaining a loud party in my home with the Sonos Play. I feel that it will take more away from the party at volume than it would if it were used as background entertainment over drinks. For outdoors, I have no issues turning up the volume as a workout companion or soccer warmups. The IP 67 rating also gives me peace of mind that a little bit of weather, some mud, dirt or a tumble due to a direct hit from a speeding soccer ball won’t bother the Sonos Play. The battery life is solid enough for all day listening. And the speaker is small enough to throw into a backpack for travel anywhere.

Good things do come in small packages and the package that I am talking about today is the new Sonos Play. This is a speaker that is about 8 inches tall, 5 inches wide and about 3 pounds but sounds like full size sound system, if not better. I have been testing the Sonos Play for a few weeks now and simply put, this thing is amazing. So, lets go over what this snack sized speaker has to offer. Sound Quality: Normally I start off talking about the dimension of the product and the setup process but today we are going to skip that and jump to right where this little fun sized speaker shines and that its quality. You don’t realize how much sound a small box can pump out until you turn this on. But the Sonos Play just isn’t big on sound, it delivers audio with clarity, deep bass, fullness and details that you would expect from bigger speakers. The bass has punch without sounding muddy, the vocals are crisp and the highs just sound absolutely beautiful. But if the factory audio presets are not to your liking you can always adjust them to your preference. Unboxing and Setup: Dimensions: Height: 7.57 inches Width: 4.43 Inches Depth: 2.89 Inches Weight: 2.89 pounds The Sonos Play is as smooth as ever. Power up the speaker, open the Sonos app and the app immediately. The app walks you through the connection and in minutes you are online, stream from WIFI, Bluetooth, and apple airplay. The Sonos Play can be fully controlled via the app but there are also physical buttons on the speaker for Bluetooth, Microphone, Play and Pause, Track and volume. Features: One of my favorite features of the Sonos system is how easily you are able to connect to other Sonos speakers. I was able to test that out by connecting ERA 100 SL speaker. You can place the speakers anywhere, control the volume individually or together, and adjust presets to your preference and enjoy your music or audio anywhere in or out of your home. The Sonos Play offers about 24 hours of audio enjoyment on a full charge but does come with a charging base. The only thing is that it does not come with charging brick, which seems to the way most electronic manufactures are going anyways. Conclusion: All in all, the Sonos Play Portable Speaker isn’t just another Bluetooth box. Whether you’re hosting a backyard party or just vibing while folding laundry, the Play won’t just play your music—it’ll flex on every other speaker in the room. If your looking for a speaker to take anywhere, then this is it.