Sonos was one of the pioneers of multiroom audio and is currently the market leader when it comes to piping music throughout people’s homes. A few weeks ago I got to have an advanced look at what Sonos has been up to around its smart multiroom speakers and today I can finally take the wraps off what I saw and heard.
Sonos Play:5
The first big announcement is that the Sonos Play:5 is being replaced with a brand-new model to sit atop Sonos’ range of speakers as the flagship model. The speaker cabinet has been completely redesigned and is, in my opinion, a vast improvement over the original Play:5, which is beginning to look a little dated.
The original, after all, is half a decade old now. The front now has a far cleaner design, with an almost uninterrupted front grill and a rectangular design with rounded corners. This looks a lot more attractive than the old design that sat on an almost pedestal-like base. Importantly, the rectangular design now means that the speaker can be oriented horizontally or vertically on either end. You won't need to invest in a vertical stand, either, unlike with certain other speakers.
As two Play:5s can be paired for stereo, vertical orientation is a handy option not only to save some space. As you’ll expect, this widens the soundstage versus a solo speaker. Even as a single Play:5, the sound was surprisingly expansive, something that Sonos particularly aimed for even in light of its sealed, port-less design.
Sonos says there are nearly 60,000 precision drilled holes in the front grill. Special consideration was even provided to the placement of the Sonos logo as not to impinge on the sound. Inside are six custom-designed drivers, which consist of three mid-woofers and three tweeters. The speaker cabinet also feels nicely solid and weighty.
Having listened to a few test tracks, it certainly delivers a crisp and delicate sound. I listened through A$AP Rocky’s track LSD, which is a tough test for lower frequency response and was pleased to hear the Play:5 deliver the lower-end in spades. The individual crashes of cymbals and trumpet flares in Menahan Street Band’s Three Faces were also delightful and could be individually picked out.
Along the top, Sonos has introduced touch-based controls that respond to swipes to adjust volume. There’s a gyroscope inside the Play:5 that detects its orientation so that volume increase is always at the top, which is smart. It’s also why there isn’t traditional ‘-‘ and ‘+’ volume markings.
Rotating the Play:5 will obviously also have an effect on the physical speaker arrangement, and Sonos has taken this into account. When the Play:5 is oriented vertically the top tweeter is actually turned down so that sound isn’t intentionally directed up towards the ceiling. The larger centre tweeter takes over the main bulk of the work more like traditional stereo separate speakers.
I asked Sonos’ Sound Experience Leader, Giles Martin, his thoughts on Dolby Atmos’ upfiring speakers and was told that Sonos is continuously developing its products so this is something that could be developed in the future, but “getting surround right requires a lot of work. If you get surround wrong, it’s worse than mono.” The Play:5 can act as a rear speaker when paired with a Sonos Playbar and Sonos Sub.
The Sonos Play:5 will retail for £429 and come in a choice of black or white.
Trueplay
The other big announcement, and one that will benefit all Sonos owners and not just those looking to pick up new speakers, is the unveiling of Trueplay. This is speaker-tuning software to help optimise existing Sonos speakers to provide improved audio performance regardless of their speaker positioning or room layout.
Acoustic performance can be drastically affected by how you place your speakers, whether that’s close to a wall, recessed in a corner or hidden behind a curtain. The latter, according to Sonos, is a common occurrence when it talks to its users. Not everyone wants to have their speakers out on display it seems.
Trueplay attempts to bring “acoustic transparency” by calibrating your speaker based on the acoustic response of your room. Using the updated Sonos Controller app, the speaker will emit a test sound and use your iOS device’s microphone to take measurements as you walk around the room. You’ll need to wave your arms and device around in circles and there’s a pretty thorough tutorial in the app. It will also tell you when you’re not moving enough.
The Trueplay software then analyses how the test frequency bounces off different surfaces in your room and then tunes the speaker accordingly for the best result. Trueplay, at present, will unfortunately only work with iPhones, iPads and iPods. This is because of the standard hardware inside, so Sonos knows how each microphone performs. There’s simply too much variation in Android and Windows Phone devices until they can build a hardware catalogue of the various microphone hardware.
For the demonstration, there were two Play:1 speakers tucked behind some thick curtains and almost flush against a sliding glass door. Without Trueplay, the sound was hollow and muffled. There wasn’t any real depth and a lot of the mid and trebles were getting lost. Turn Trueplay on and I could immediately hear what Sonos meant by acoustic transparency. Things became richer and more detailed and considerably less muddy. For anyone who has their speakers tucked away in a bookshelf, you’re going to get an instant benefit as soon as the update rolls out.
At launch Trueplay will work with Sonos Play:1, Play:3 and Play:5 speakers with more support added over time. Both Trueplay and the new Play:5 should be available before the end of the year. You can watch a video outlining Trueplay below.
