Play:1 sound quality

I got a single Play 1 for a bedroom this morning.

As usual 2 minutes to setup and I played my reference Steely Dan material through it and was very impressed with how good this thing sounds. The music has so many nuances and layers, yet I was able to pick out pretty much everything.

The thought of a stereo pair came to me straight away, but now I'll wait and see for other comments.

I bought a Play 1 today and was very disappointed. When I put on some music it sounded like something was loose within the speaker. I immediately returned the unit. I cannot believe this is Sonos quality so I think something went wrong in the production process.

I'll try to be fair and unbiased:

I think anyone who already owns a SONOS product would eventually be disappointed if you attempt to compare it with a higher-end models. This simply cannot be done. Indirectly, you're asking SONOS to produce a product which sounds better; is cheaper and smaller...

What most reviews did, which I tend to believe, is just comparing any comparable product. And, in that range, the SONOS Play:1 appear to make a marvelous job.

I have a Play:5, Playbar, SUB and now two Play:1 and to be honest to I did feel disappointed when I first listened music on a standalone Play:1 but what could I expect after being used to a Play:5 and a Playbar with a SUB?
Even the Play:3 which I tried at a store felt like a disapointment when I had the chance to listen to it.

Nonetheless, after pairing the Play:1's in stereo, I was very pleasantly surprised and liked the sound they produced. By any means, I'm no hardcore audiophile but I strongly insist that you are trying to compare apples with oranges and that debate upon the Play:1's performance against higher-end models is a non sense.

I bought a Play 1 today and was very disappointed. When I put on some music it sounded like something was loose within the speaker. I immediately returned the unit. I cannot believe this is Sonos quality so I think something went wrong in the production process.

So, did you exchange it or just return it?

I bought a Play 1 today and was very disappointed. When I put on some music it sounded like something was loose within the speaker. I immediately returned the unit. I cannot believe this is Sonos quality so I think something went wrong in the production process.

Or it could have been dropped in transit, not really fair to blame Sonos for that. I've been listening to my new play:1 for about 4 hours straight today and frankly it's remarkable for its size.

No rattles or distortion on any tracks either, so any unit exhibiting either of those traits is clearly damaged and needs to be returned for an exchange.

This morning when I started this thread, I only had the opportunity to shortly listen to some music (mainly internet radio) on my stereo pair of Play:1’s.

This evening though, I tested them for several hours.
After tweaking the equaliser settings (turned loudness off, increased treble with 3-4 steps and bass with 2 steps), I did get a sound quality which I enjoyed.

I played several songs converted to relatively high quality (+320 kbps) with a lot of variety in tone, depth and spectrum, and I must say I changed my mind: I am impressed by the sound these little speakers produce.

I guess the speakers do have difficulties to reproduce correctly in some situations (I have the impression full loaded, high volume recorded music with the full spectrum of tones present), but this evening, I did not encounter the issues I first had difficulties with.

Celestian02 certainly touched a point in that we cannot expect these speakers to reach the level of the bigger Play’s. Although I have no point of comparison for similar sized and priced speakers, they do are impressive in depth and volume they can produce!

So after all, a happy owner of a stereo pair of Play:1 ;-)

Next step is adding a Sub (which will certainly improve the experience significantly) and ultimately a Playbar to connect to the TV and to create the surround set-up.

Or it could have been dropped in transit, not really fair to blame Sonos for that. I've been listening to my new play:1 for about 4 hours straight today and frankly it's remarkable for its size.

No rattles or distortion on any tracks either, so any unit exhibiting either of those traits is clearly damaged and needs to be returned for an exchange.

I have 2x play3 with a sub. I also have a zoneplayer for years. I am very satisfied with these. I bought the Play1 at a webshop and I didn't hear the play1 before I unboxed my purchase. I think something is wrong with the unit because i definetly could hear something being loose in the unit or it sounded like that. I will go to a shop nearby next week to check in the store the sound of the play1. If i do not hear the loose "thing" I will buy one for sure.

I've had a Play 5 for about a year (plus a Connect) and bought a pair of Play 1's at UK launch last week.

I'm very pleased with the Play 1's. I think a pair of Play 1's is superior to a Play 5 if you have the right location. If I was adding a room I'd go for another pair of 1's again, instead of a P5. However if you needed line in or out, then you would need a P5.

Users who have been disappointed with their first trail, may have forgotten that most speaker need to be 'run in' for a few hours before they start to reach optimum performance and can often sound quite tinny out of the box.

On a personal note, I have been pretty impressed with what I've heard from the Play:1. But even as a stereo pair, it will never reproduce the same quality in middle and middle-to-low frequencies that the Play:5 does. It will give you nice room-filling sound though.
Again, personally, it is now the Play:3 that I find to be the weakest link. It's not quality sound like the Play:5, and it's not an affordable (well, to me) speaker like the Play:1 is. To me, Play:1 compares better to Play:3 than Play:3 compares to Play:5. Play:1 is sooo suited to multiplication in different rooms... :-p

One caveat of the Play:1 is in its form. As it has plastic on top, placement is very important. Place it too high or too low compared to ear-heighth and the perceived sound quality might be too weak.

I would agree with Humberbart. I really like the power of the Play:5 but in an apartment for example, it is not something that one might require.

At the moment, my Play:5 is in my bedroom and its power is above what I would need in my 10/12 sq. meters bedroom. In my living room (20 sq. meters), I really found the Play:1s (stereo) to be enjoyable in stereo providing me with enough power to fill up the room with sound to an extent that would not annoy my neighbors.

Nonetheless, if you live in a house and can turn up the volume way up. I can understand a Play:5 or 2 Play:5s are something more enjoyable but at a reasonable sound volume, the Play:1s are fit for the job.