Which Sonos speaker is best for you? Play:1, Play:3, new Play:5 or Playbar

The multi-room speaker market has really picked up over the last couple of years. The options are plentiful to say the least with Denon, Samsung, LG and Bluesound all offering their own solutions.

If you are reading this feature however, chances are you have opted for Sonos. Unlike some of the newer additions to the multi-room speaker sector, Sonos has been kicking around for a good decade and it offers one of the best app platforms out there, with support for many of the big streaming services including Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon Prime Music.

There are three speakers within the Sonos multi-room line up, but there is also a soundbar and a wireless subwoofer available for the party too. This feature is all about working out which Sonos devices are best for you and your setup, and highlighting the differences between them all. Whether you are planning to put Sonos on your wish list or you are looking to set your home up, let us help you work out which Sonos speaker, or speakers, are right for you.

Sonos

Sonos PLAY:1

The Sonos Play:1 is the smallest of the Sonos multi-room offering measuring 161.45 x 119.7 x 119.7mm and weighing 1.85kg. It features two Class-D digital amplifiers, one tweeter for the high-frequency notes and one mid-woofer for mid-range frequencies and bass.

Black and white are the colour options available and it offers a clean and simple design, much like the rest of the Sonos speaker line-up. You’ll find physical buttons on the top of the Play:1 for controlling the volume, along with playing and pausing a track, while the rear of the speaker houses Aux-In and Ethernet ports.

As you would expect from a multi-room system, the Play:1 allows you to stream your entire music library, popular music services like Spotify and internet radio through the Sonos app on your smartphone or tablet and there is also control via PC and Mac. You can connect the Play:1 to your router using the Ethernet port, but Sonos has a brilliant Wi-Fi mesh network that allows you to place it anywhere. 

The Play:1 delivers good sound, it’s easy to set up with step-by-step instructions through the app and you can pair two Play:1’s together to create a stereo pair, as well as with the Playbar and Sub for a 5.1 surround sound experience.

Of course you can also pair the Play:1 up with another one of the Sonos speakers to achieve a multi-room experience. Room-specific bass, treble, balance and loudness controls are available using the Sonos app and volume can be adjusted by individual rooms or by groups, depending on your setup.

WHY BUY?

The Play:1 is a great little speaker with so much potential beyond the speaker itself that we can’t recommend it enough as a starting place to embrace the Sonos system. It doesn’t sound as good as the Play:3, but this speaker is about getting the most out of your digital streaming music service without spending a fortune in doing so.

PRICE: £169

READ MORE Sonos Play:1 review

Sonos

Sonos PLAY:3

The Sonos Play:3 is the middle of the ranger, measuring 132 x 268 x 160mm and hitting the scales at 2.6kg. It features three Class-D amplifiers, along with a tweeter, two mid-range drivers and a bass radiator.

Like the Play:1, you can pair two Play:3 speakers in the same room in order to create a stereo pair, with one speaker serving as the left channel and the other as the right, or you can pair it up to the Sonos Playbar and Sub for surround sound.

The Play:3 comes in black and white and like the Play:1 it has the physical control buttons on the top with the ports on the rear. All the same features apply in that you can connect the Play:3 to other Sonos speakers in order to achieve a multi-room set up and you’ll be able to stream from various services, internet radio, or your own tracks.

At the moment, Sonos works with Spotify, Pandora, Deezer, TuneIn, SiriusXM, Google Play Music, SoundCloud, Amazon Music, iHeartRadio, Rhapsody, Rdio, Qobuz, Tidal and downloads from any service offering DRM-free tracks. Apple Music is due to be supported before the end of the year.

Aside from being slightly bigger and offering deeper bass and more power than the Play:1, the Play:3 can also be positioned horizontally or vertically and the EQ will automatically adjust accordingly. There are rubber feet on the sides to protect your speaker and whatever you choose to put it on from scratches and scrapes.

WHY BUY?

The Sonos Play:3 delivers a better sound than the Play:1, while offering the same advantages and a couple more, such as orientation choice. It is a £90 more expensive but the price jump is probably worth it for those that want the extra oomph or for those with a bigger room.

PRICE: £259

READ MORE Sonos Play:3 review

Sonos

Sonos Play:5

The Sonos Play:5 replaces the old Play:5 and it is the biggest and most expensive speaker within the Sonos line-up. It is currently available for pre-order and will be shipped on 25 November and it features six Class-D amplifiers, three tweeters and three dedicated mid-woofers.

The new Play:5 measures 203 x 364 x 154mm and weighs 6.36kg so it is quite a bit bigger than the Play:3. It also features capacitive touch controls rather than physical buttons for the volume control, previous and next track, and play or pause.

Like the Play:3 and Play:1, the colour options consist of white or black but unlike the other two speakers, the new Play:5 has a plastic front grille rather than metal and both colour options have a black grille.

The new Play:5 can be positioned vertically or horizontally and of course you get the same option to pair two Play:5’s together for a stereo pair setting, or to the Sonos Playbar and Sub for a surround sound experience, or add it to other Sonos speakers for multi-room.

All the same features apply as the Play:1 and Play:3 that we have mentioned, including the ability to place the speaker where you choose when connected to the Wi-Fi mesh network, as well as the streaming options and app features. The Play:5 adds a line-in option to the mix too though.

WHY BUY?

The Play:5 is for those that want the best sound offered from Sonos. If you have the cash to spend, the Play:5 is a fantastic option and a brilliant way to start a Sonos multi-room system with a big bang, or add to an existing one.

PRICE: £429

READ MORE Sonos Play:5 review

Sonos

Sonos Playbar

The Sonos Playbar is another one of the more expensive options when it comes to building your Sonos system. It is a soundbar its purpose is to complement your TV, but it will also work as a standalone speaker.

It measures 85 x 900 x 140mm and weighs 5.4kg, offering physical control buttons on the side for volume up, volume down and mute. With nine Class-D digital amplified speakers, six mid-range and three tweeters, the Playbar’s aim is to deliver clearer sound.

You can connect the Playbar to your TV with a single cable for 3.0 Home Cinema sound, or pair it up to the Sonos Sub for 3.1 Home Cinema. Take this one step further and add a couple of Play:1 or Play:3 speakers to your Playbar and Sub and you’ll find yourself with 5.1 Home Cinema surround sound, as we mentioned previously.

The Sonos Playbar understands most IR remote’s language so you’ll be able to control it using various apps on your Android, iPhone or iPad, and like the rest of the Sonos system, it uses your Wi-Fi network and is easily setup using the Sonos app.

As we said, the Playbar is also a standalone speaker so you’ll be able to wirelessly stream all the same music as the other Sonos speakers, from playlists on Spotify to your iTunes library and internet radio stations or podcasts.

WHY BUY?

The Sonos PlayBar is a fantastic piece of kit that really delivers. While the price might seem high on the surface you are getting a speaker that replaces your AV receiver, a stack of speakers, and the ability to make it part of a bigger streaming system as well. It doesn’t support HDMI or 7.1 however, so keep that in mind.

PRICE: £599

READ MORE Sonos Playbar review

Sonos

Sonos Sub

The Sonos Sub is an extension of the Sonos Playbar, and its intention is to add more depth to everything you see and hear by introducing more bass, offering a frequency response down to 25Hz.

It measures 389 x 402 x 158mm, weighs 16kgs and is finished in black gloss. You will be able to stand the Sonos Sub upright or lay it flat and it features built-in rubber feet, as well as optional feet.

The Sonos Sub has two Class-D amplifiers along with two force-cancelling speakers that are positioned face-to-face for a deeper and richer sound. Audio settings will be automatically adjusted to balance the Sub and the paired Sonos component.

Like the rest of the Sonos system, the Sub can be controlled using the Sonos Controller App and it will connect wirelessly to your home network so you can place it wherever you choose.

WHY BUY?

The main reason you would invest in the Sonos Sub with the Playbar is to bring a more powerful sound to your TV, movies and music. They are an expensive pair though so make sure you really want that extra bass and perhaps check with your neighbours before you spend the extra £599.

PRICE: £1198 with Playbar

READ MORE Sonos Sub review

ICYMI: Self-building bot, fresh tortillas from pods and more

Today on In Case You Missed It: MIT’s Tangible Media Lab built a shifting interface that can be used to test basic physics and even help seismologists understand the ripple fallout from an earthquake. A Kickstarter device for a tortilla-maker costing $240 irritated us enough to call on the latest environment chart made by a climate scientist. And German researchers built a robot that can build itself and our robot eek factor continues to grow.
A drone performed a neat liquid trick over on YouTube and has us excited for the delivery UAVs to come! As always, please share any great tech or science videos you find by using the #ICYMI hashtag on Twitter for @mskerryd.

Google comes up with new emoji to better represent working women

In an effort to better represent the “pivotal roles women play in the world,” a four-member team at Google has proposed 13 new emoji depicting women in various professional roles. The Unicode Consortium added a broader spectrum of skin tones last year, but the team from Google is now pushing for equal representation of men and women:

We suggest decoupling the gender-neutral representation of emoji from this proposal. We would encourage other members of Unicode to join us in creating a system of emoji design that can accommodate a broader gender spectrum.

From the proposal submitted to the Unicode Consortium (via TNW):

Google wants to increase the representation of women in emoji and would like to propose that Unicode implementers do the same. Our proposal is to create a new set of emoji that represents a wide range of professions for women and men with a goal of highlighting the diversity of women’s careers and empowering girls everywhere.

To come up with the job categories, the team looked at the sectors that contribute to the global GDP:

To make our final selection, we looked at the primary, secondary, and tertiary categories that compose global GDP — Agriculture, Industry and Services — and further broke them down categorically based on global popularity, growth, and overall representation. We additionally added in concepts from popular media campaigns such as #likeagirl, global influencers, and the ongoing support to promote women in STEM. The final
determination of the new emoji set was a combination of these above data categories.

From the primary sector we selected farming, for the secondary sector, we chose a representation of industry and manufacturing, and for the tertiary sector, we have included healthcare, technology, business representation (lawyer, financial worker, etc), education, food service, and of course, an aspirational rockstar.

The new emoji also include male emojis for the same categories. The team is made up of Rachel Been, Augustin Fonts, Nicole Bleuel, and Mark Davis, who is also the co-founder and president of the Unicode Consortium; and is looking to get the emoji approved by the end of the year.

Expanding Emoji Professions: Reducing Gender Inequality

EU blocks Three’s £10 billion takeover bid for Telefonica’s O2

The EU has blocked the CK Hutchison — owner of Three UK — bid to take over Telefonica’s O2 operations in the UK due to concerns that the merger would limit customer choice and increase prices. As reported by the BBC, the deal was to be worth around £10.3 billion, reducing the number of major operators to just three — EE, Three and Vodafone.

CK Hutchison has stated the company is considering a legal challenge to the decision. Europe’s competition commissioner, Margrethe Vestager, explained the decision made by the EU:

“The goal of EU merger control is to ensure that tie-ups do not weaken competition at the expense of consumers and businesses. We want the mobile telecoms sector to be competitive so that consumers can enjoy innovative mobile services at fair prices and high network quality.”

The EU found that concessions offered by the Hong Kong company, which included a five-year price freeze and investment worth billions of pounds, were insufficient. Interestingly, the EU has issues with two companies merging together within the industry but had absolutely no issue at all with EE having exclusive access to 4G when the company launched in the UK back in 2012.

Hilton’s HHonors app now taps into Google Maps to help you select the best room

Hilton has teamed up with Google to make it possible for you to inspect and book your ideal room on Google Maps. Exclusively available to HHonors members, Google Maps has now been integrated into the company’s app, allowing guests to see details on hotel surroundings as well as what view their selected room will have before making the booking.

Digital floor plans are present within the app that allows guests to almost visualize where their rooms will be in relation to nearby points of interest. Don’t wish to have your room window located next to noisy public transportation links? Simply browse for a different room within the same hotel away from the line.

The map feature is now available on the Hilton HHonors iOS and Android apps, and will be available on websites this summer. As noted above, you’ll need to be an HHonor member to take advantage of this new tool.

Press Release

MCLEAN, Va.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–More than 13 million times, Hilton HHonors members have used the award-winning HHonors app to choose the exact room they want. Now, in a new benefit available exclusively to Hilton HHonors members, Hilton Worldwide (NYSE: HLT) has integrated Google Maps into the app, giving members the unprecedented ability to see more details about the hotel’s surroundings and their room’s potential view before making a room selection. With the updated room selection feature, you can now be your family’s hero by choosing the room at the Hilton St. Louis at the Ballpark Downtown that faces Busch Stadium, or by picking a room at Hampton Inn Marquette/Waterfront that looks out at Lake Superior.

“Guest preferences continue to evolve and, thanks to our digital innovations and category-leading partners like Google, we’re providing even more personalized experiences for our Hilton HHonors members. By continually evolving our Hilton HHonors app, we’re empowering our members with more control over their stay experience,” said Mark Weinstein, senior vice president and global head of Loyalty and Partnerships, Hilton Worldwide. “Everything we do from a technology standpoint starts with the customer – both the feedback they provide and the experiences we observe. We invest in, anticipate and deliver what we know our Hilton HHonors members most need and want, hopefully delighting them along the way.”

The updated digital floor plans include detailed geographical information about the hotel’s surroundings. Hilton HHonors members can visualize where available hotel rooms are located in relation to city streets, public transportation, parks, bodies of water and other markers. They can see if an expressway is outside their window or if their room faces east toward the sunrise, for example. Additionally, members will soon be able to see where additional points-of-interest like landmarks or attractions are in relation to their selected room.

“We are the only global hotel company offering this game-changing technology and it is one of the most popular features on the Hilton HHonors app. Our guests love having the ability to choose their own rooms, but they have asked us to provide more detail about the hotel’s surroundings, and we have delivered,” said Geraldine Calpin, chief marketing officer, Hilton Worldwide. “By working with Google, we’re making our guests’ feedback reality by providing an exciting, in-app experience that lets our Hilton HHonors members pick their perfect room.”

“Google Maps want to make it as easy as possible for people to get the information they need in a simple and intuitive way,” said Megan Boundey, Google Maps Product Manager. “With Hilton’s spirit of constant innovation, combined with the Google Maps API technology, together we were able to enhance the guest experience by changing the way travelers plan and prepare for their hotel stay.”

The feature is a benefit available only to Hilton HHonors members who book direct through Hilton’s brand websites, award-winning mobile app, reservation call centers or preferred corporate travel partners and professionals. The map feature is now available on the Hilton HHonors iOS and Android apps and will be available on Hilton’s brand websites this summer.

To select a room, Hilton HHonors members can sign into their account via their mobile device, tablet or computer beginning at 6:00 a.m. the day before a booked stay. Upon selecting their arrival time, they are shown a floor plan of the hotel with a green circle denoting available rooms. Along with the enhanced maps, guests can view photos and details of their hotel room, ensuring the room they select matches their preferences. During digital check-in, Hilton HHonors members can also request a Digital Key at participating hotels and head straight to their room upon arrival, using their smartphone as their key.

Digital check-in with room selection is a benefit for Hilton HHonors members, available at more than 4,500 hotels around the globe via the Hilton HHonors app – Hilton Worldwide’s 4.7 star mobile app that is the highest rated hospitality app on the Apple App Store. Hilton HHonors is free to enroll and available to all guests. For more information and to join, visit the HHonors site here.