Before I begin I should first apologize profusely to the good people at Sonos. More than two months ago they shipped their latest version of the Sonos Multi-Room Music System for me to review. The shipment arrived just as I was leaving my position at Nemo and co-founding my new company, Fight. As I’ve spent the last two months running around like a headless chicken the boxes containing the equipment were left orphaned in my den at home but I finally got around to setting up the system. So here goes.. bear in mind I am not a product reviewer, I’m coming at this review with an open mind along with a couple of goals:
Will the Sonos system improve my music listening experience around my home?
Is it better/easier than just running all my music from my computer?
What is the Sonos Bundle 250?
Basically, what we have here is a way to control your digital music collection around your home. Music can be streamed from the Internet using built in services such as Last.fm and Pandora which are free, or via the subscription services offered by Napster, Rhapsody and Sirius. The system accesses your music folders [e.g. iTunes] on your computer for playback. With the two-room set up that I am reviewing I have one Sonos Player in my living room with speakers attached and the other player connected to my existing audio system in my home office. [Although I "customize" the set up later.]
In the Box:
A multi-room, wireless digital audio system that includes two Sonos players – the ZP120 with a 55 watt amplifier to which you add the optional SP100 speakers and the ZP90 that connects to any existing amplified audio device in your house. Also included is the CR200, a wireless, color, touch-screen remote along with an optional Sonos ZoneBridge BR100 which I used to connect to my existing home wireless network. The Sonos Players can also be controlled from any iPhone or iPod Touch with a free Apple app.
Set up and Installation:
Setup and installation is very simple and you don’t need to be a tech or audio expert to get the system to join your home network. One puzzle for me is that the Sonos Bundle 250 connects wirelessly to its various components, yet you have to use an ethernet cable to connect directly to your network router. I use an Apple Time Capsule network router and once I originally installed it I forgot about it as I presume most non-geeks would. Of course it’s not in the most convenient place in the house.. Anyway, I connected the ZoneBridge BR100 to the Time Capsule and connected the speakers to the ZonePlayer 120 in my living room and added the ZP90 to my home stereo system in my study, then I returned to the laptop to install the software. [That last sentence reads like dialogue from a 70's science fiction B-Movie..]
Installing the software was straightforward until the end where I came across a glitch – I’m running OS X 10.6.1 on a MacBook Pro and after completing installation the software asked me to continue so that I could add music. When I clicked continue I got an error message telling me that if I quit the installer now the desktop controller couldn’t be installed. After going around in circles, always getting the same error message, I quit the installer to find that the desktop controller had been installed into my applications folder anyway.. I also note that when I’m running the Sonos desktop controller I can’t open certain windows in the Finder. [I fixed this by re-booting the Mac]
The next step was to add music from my iTunes folder. Again pretty simple but the software took a long time to index all of my music…although in fairness I do have a lot of music. If like me, you don’t do a good job of organizing your music files you will regret that, as the Sonos system indexes all your music exactly as it appears in your computer’s music folder..just saying.
Choosing and Listening to Music:
Oddly, since I have installed the Sonos system I have listened to more of my digital music collection than I have in weeks. [I tend to prefer vinyl.] There’s a couple of reasons for this. First, the handheld wireless controller that handles selection and playback for all the zones in my home is extremely functional. Like any new technological device there is a learning curve but with this one I didn’t spin out. Being able to sit anywhere in the house and control what music plays in which room is satisfying. Second, and this might be because I settled on what may be a rather unique personal set up*, there appears to be a sonic improvement overall – everything sounds better.
I’m no audiophile but I do prefer the sound of analog vinyl records over MP3s but you can’t beat MP3s for convenience. I have compared the tactile nature of vinyl and the way you have to interact with it, i.e. get up and turn the record over, with the slow food movement. So listening to vinyl records falls into an idea of slow music for me. Not that the Sonos player speeds things up but it certainly comes close to the sonic quality of vinyl.
*After I had listened to music in two separate rooms in my house I started to experiment. One of my living rooms is very large and although I’ve been satisfied with my audio set up in the room it always seemed lacking. I have a NAD receiver driving a powered sub woofer to two bookshelf speakers connected to an iMac via RCA cables threaded through the walls. Although it can substantially fill the room with sound it always felt like a flat experience to me. Then I had an idea based on a Brian Eno experiment. I recalled that Eno in the sleeve notes for his album Ambient 4: On Land had outlined a simple speaker arrangement that improved sonic quality. You simply add a third speaker in between your existing stereo speakers. It works yet even Eno doesn’t know why. [Click the links for a diagram and explanation.]
With that in mind I moved the ZP90, the Sonos device that connects to existing audio amplifiers, and connected it to the RCA inputs to the NAD receiver. I moved the ZP120 which has a 55 watt amplifier, to the opposite end of the living room, then connected the ZP100 stereo speakers. Next I used the wireless controller to set up a “zone group” to join the two units [that would normally be in separate rooms] together, then using the wireless controller I balanced the volume of each Sonos player in the group. The result is spectacular – no hype. My existing system’s shortcomings in the mid to top end range are more than improved by the Sonos ZP 100 speakers, and the existing powered sub fills the room with much more feel rather than just boom.
I chose a mix of different music styles. With Wilco and Ryan Adams it was all about the drums and vocals. It was as if the drummer was in the room, while the vocals were way more clear than with my old system. The Dirty Projectors song ‘Stillness is The Move’ was startling as multiple vocal harmonies and dueling guitars bounced off the walls. Then I spent two hours listening to Goodie Mob while the walls and floors quaked.
The Bottom Line:
Back to my original questions. The answer is yes. The Sonos Bundle 250 works as advertised – easily connects to any home network, streams audio to all rooms with the option to play different music in each room; excellent compatibility includes nearly all DRM-free digital audio file formats – MP3 [compressed] WMA [compressed] AAC [MPEG4] iTunes, Ogg Vorbis, Audible [format 4)] Apple Lossless Flac, WAV [uncompressed] AIFF [uncompressed] – streamed from a networked PC or Mac. The ZonePlayers also create wireless network bridges for other devices in your home.
The device comes loaded with 25,000+ free Internet radio stations, shows and podcasts as well as free access to Last.fm and Pandora. I have to say that I now have a higher regard for Last.fm after spending most of my day yesterday playing around with it. You can also buy subscription services to Napster, Rhapsody and Sirius.
It is a far superior experience than merely streaming music from your computer. The ability to select and play music, send it to separate rooms, as well as organize your music queue with the handheld wireless controller without leaving the sofa certainly simplified my digital music experience. The sound quality is extremely good, no doubt about it. The Sonos players would fit nicely in my home, alongside my record deck.
Pro:
I really want this system
Con:
The price…
[...] Sonos Bundle 250 Multi-Room Music System – Product Review … [...]
October 7th, 2009 at 8:33 am[...] Check out this review of the Sonos Bundle 250 Multi-Room Wireless System. It’s a positive review, but what’s really compelling is the writer admits he’s not a formal “product reviewer.” In other words, he’s a real person. He sought to answer two big questions: Will the Sonos system improve my music listening experience around my home? Is it better/easier than just running all my music from my computer? Here’s what he said. [...]
October 15th, 2009 at 10:13 am