My mother ordered 4 Sonos One's, and since I own a couple Play:1s and a Play:3, I thought I'd do a simple side by side comparison of the 3. Simple setup, all 3 of them side by side, and ran Trueplay on all 3. Played a variety of songs from orchestra to rock.
I'm no audio expert, but here's a couple things I noticed about the sound quality. This may not be a surprise to a lot of people! :)
1. Play:3 obviously had more bass due to the extra driver.
2. Play:1 has more bass than the Sonos One
3. Sonos One sounds clearer/sharper than the Play:1 and Play:3
4. Play:1 and Play:3 sound clarity were very close, Play:1 maybe slightly better in some cases.
This is a side by side comparison and I probably wouldn't have known the difference otherwise (besides the bass in the Play:3.) Overall, they all sound great to me!!
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Head to your local Costco and grab a Play 5 or two, if they are in stock at your store or a nearby one (not on Costco.com as far as I could tell) the current price is a steal, then you can expand your testing while telling the spouse it was a necessary expense. Don't grin or they won't buy that excuse. 🙂
I like your thinking!! LOL
For anyone reading this post today 9/23/18...you'll see that the Play 3 is no longer available on Sonos.com. IMO something better is coming or the Play 3 is being discontinued. I hope it's the former. 
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