Sonos expands iOS- and Mac-compatible streaming speaker options with $199 'Play:1'
Sonos on Monday announced the Play:1, a new addition to its wireless audio gear selection to be marketed as an entry-level compact portable speaker.
At $199, the Play:1 is positioned to take Sonos' established brand to the lower-end wireless speaker market, where it will face competition from Jawbone's JAMBOX and Beats' Pill.
Unlike its competitors, the Play:1 relies on Sonos' proprietary Wi-Fi based connectivity technology to play music from iOS devices. In addition, Sonos' standard means users can pair the device with other Sonos speakers they own.
The Play:1 has two speaker drivers, as well as a 3.5-inch extended-throw mid-woofer and an extended-throw tweeter. Its speakers are only front-firing, despite a wraparound grill design. The unit weighs in at about four pounds and stands roughly 6.5 inches tall.
Control of the speaker is accomplished through its physical buttons or through the Sonos Controller app, which is available for free in the App Store for iPhones, iPods, and iPads running iOS 4.0 or higher. The app is also available for both PC and Mac.
Sonos' devices are compatible with a wide array of music offerings, including Mog, SiriusXM, and Pandora. They also support content from TuneIn Radio, Songza, Spotify, the BBC, Deezer, NPR, and iTunes. However, they do not yet support streaming from iTunes Radio, SoundCloud, or Google Music.
The Sonos Play:1 is available in black and white color options. The new wireless speaker sells for $199, and is available to ship with next-day delivery from Amazon. For a limited time, the Play:1 comes with a free Wireless Bridge from Sonos, which allows the speaker to connect to mobile devices and PCs.
At $199, the Play:1 is positioned to take Sonos' established brand to the lower-end wireless speaker market, where it will face competition from Jawbone's JAMBOX and Beats' Pill.
Unlike its competitors, the Play:1 relies on Sonos' proprietary Wi-Fi based connectivity technology to play music from iOS devices. In addition, Sonos' standard means users can pair the device with other Sonos speakers they own.
The Play:1 has two speaker drivers, as well as a 3.5-inch extended-throw mid-woofer and an extended-throw tweeter. Its speakers are only front-firing, despite a wraparound grill design. The unit weighs in at about four pounds and stands roughly 6.5 inches tall.
Control of the speaker is accomplished through its physical buttons or through the Sonos Controller app, which is available for free in the App Store for iPhones, iPods, and iPads running iOS 4.0 or higher. The app is also available for both PC and Mac.
Sonos' devices are compatible with a wide array of music offerings, including Mog, SiriusXM, and Pandora. They also support content from TuneIn Radio, Songza, Spotify, the BBC, Deezer, NPR, and iTunes. However, they do not yet support streaming from iTunes Radio, SoundCloud, or Google Music.
The Sonos Play:1 is available in black and white color options. The new wireless speaker sells for $199, and is available to ship with next-day delivery from Amazon. For a limited time, the Play:1 comes with a free Wireless Bridge from Sonos, which allows the speaker to connect to mobile devices and PCs.
Comments
PSA:
The Beats Pill sounds like crap. If you have a budget of $200 for a bluetooth speaker. The choices are simple.
1. Jambox Mini
2. Bose Soundlink Mini
3. Logitech UE Boom
Reviews of the Play 1 are damn good. I'm torn. Luckily I don't have to make a decision anytime soon.
My only complaint is that it doesn't have a speaker mount bolt like the Play3.
I know I'm going to get a lot of grief for this, but....
My listening habits have really changed...I listen to fast songs when I run and light, easy listening music when at home.
At home, I just stream my photos from my iMac to my flat screen TV with the light music in the background. I know the TV speakers aren't great but for background music while I'm making dinner or my GF is talking at me, or when I have friends over it's more than adequate.
I just don't like a lot of stereo speakers and wires and BT charging crap around my house.
I know, no one would consider me an audiophile. I like to play and record my guitar and for that I use headphones.
I really don't understand why one would use Sonos' overpriced equipment instead of just hooking up an Airport Express to a decent sound system or powered speaker. I have three AEs around my pad, and it all works great, plus it sounds great too because I hook it up to decent sounding gear.
The Play:1 has been on sale in the US for almost a week even tho Sonos officially announced it just today. I think Target was one of the first sellers.
Before we got Sonos, my wife always had the television on for some background noise. Now the only time the TV is used is on the weekends to watch a movie or something.
It's really a great setup. It can get expensive; our condo has 4 speakers, but will need at least 4 more before all is said and done. The Play1 just reduced my cost by $500 or so though.
[edit] Just realized what I assumed was a line-in port is really the threaded stud support, so it is easily compatible with mounts.
Wait, isn’t iTunes-streamed-audio iTunes-streamed-audio? Meaning, isn’t everything pushed out to the local wireless network from iTunes treated identically (like, “AirPlay is AirPlay”, “MP4 is MP4”, etc.)? Shouldn’t you just be able to do that?
That is where Sonos actually really shines. You can scatter speakers throughout your home, keep the volume low, and have nice uniform background everywhere (or different music in each room if you want). You can hook it up to your TV, the mac, or any internet radio service, with the sound going everywhere. All without speaker wires... and all easily controlled from your iWhatever.
Before we got Sonos, my wife always had the television on for some background noise. Now the only time the TV is used is on the weekends to watch a movie or something.
It's really a great setup. It can get expensive; our condo has 4 speakers, but will need at least 4 more before all is said and done. The Play1 just reduced my cost by $500 or so though.
[edit] Just realized what I assumed was a line-in port is really the threaded stud support, so it is easily compatible with mounts.
Good points...I must admit, I have been looking at something like this so I can run it from an iPad Mini or my iPhone!
I would love to be listening to the White Album (full blast) while dusting and tidying. Thx! 
When there are already good ways to do it, why limit people by designing your own way?
I'll stick with AirPlay devices.
Add an Airport Express and Sonos is compatible with AirPlay.
AirPlay is great but Sonos is better for multi-room audio. The Connect:AMP allows you to use it with any set of speakers.
I would get a Sonos system if I had a multi-room house with decent WiFi traffic, despite how much I love Airplay%u2019s capabilities. I think there is room for both systems on the shelves because one size does not fit all, when it comes to use cases in audio. Thanks. (of course they might be in trouble when Apple upgrades to 802.11ac Airport devices in a few weeks.
Strange how I read these customer reviews as they're written by Sonos employees. Anyone 'feel' that as well?
Some additional pics, that I didn't even see on their own website:
They use one heck of an oddball iPhone in their marketing pic:
Anyhoo, AirPlay isn't supported, only if you hook the speakers up to an AE, so iTunes Radio doesn't work because they don't support AirPlay:
https://sonos.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1241/kw/airplay/session/L3RpbWUvMTM4MTgyMDkxMy9zaWQvdzZoWkdRQ2w=
And iTunes internet streams are not available on an iOS device, that's desktop-iTunes only.
UDP is used for AirPlay, and supposedly open source. Yet they're encrypted with AES, but hacked, and used in "ShairPort emulates AirPort Express to receive AirPlay streams" (Ars)