Contributor I

Question

Why I'm returning / selling my brand new Sonos Play 1

122 replies
6250 views

Just bought a Sonos Play 1 today.
I'm not happy with it to say the least.
I was expecting by it's description and it's reviews to produce really high quality sound.
I have to say I like the tone of the audio on some songs, others are to be desired, but whats rubbing me the worst is the actual quality of the audio. There seems to be a blotchy-ness with it that makes it sound almost low-res. There seems to be a lack of harmonic detail, any brass on the drums tends to sound like bad static more then a physical ringing instruments that they are. Something that really shocked me was when I was listing to "The Best You Never Had" by Leona Lewis. There's a synth tune that plays about 0:32 in the song, I like the tune, I tend to hum it when the song comes up, however whats strange is that my Sonos Play One the synth melody is almost inaudible! Then it got me thinking; "If I can't hear that, then what else can't I hear!?" There really is a shocking lack of detail in this speaker. I described it at one point as a sounding almost as a "supermarket speaker".

The sound quality isn't my only issue. It's also support. I understand you only support iOS and Android. The thing is I'm a hobbiest Windows 10 UWP App developer and my smartphone of choice is a Lumia 640 for it's affordability and decent spec and construction. Microsoft Lumia smartphones are officially unsupported by Sonos. Sonos does however support UPNP playback and so I can use that right? Well for about 8 hours of trying my Lumia 640 wasn't connecting to my Sonos. Totally frustrating! It somewhat works now, although I can't adjust the volume. I surprised to see that the Play 1 doesn't have bluetooth connectivity. It's something so common that I just thought it was given and that it a real bummer for me.

One of the only reasons I bought the Sonos over other brands of speakers was the True Audio technology. It made the speaker sound almost atomically customizable. Although I don't have a supported phone, my dad has a Galaxy S4 which he said he would let me borrow to set up this feature, which Is when I found out after I bought my Play One that it only works on Apple smartphone's and tablets, something which highly annoyed me as I don't own one (I'm not THAT rich or technically competent).

I bought my, what I think is a considerably expensive Sonos Play One speaker on the grounds of it having a really great audio quality, being vastly customizable, being able to tailor tune it to my room, being somewhat compatible with my phone, supporting bluetooth connection (Which is my fault really, although their is literally no information on the box and the website is just as cryptic).

What I believe I got is a well made, powerful, low-res wireless speaker that fails to accurately produce the entire frequency range of audio, that contains a shallow app (Using my Windows Laptop) with lack luster configurable options, that is sold under false pretenses to I'd imagine ~70% of customers whom don't own an Apple products, including myself.

Start to finish for me buying, unpacking, using and configuring this product I've had nothing but annoyances (Which I'm probably passing on my irritation to you, for which I apologize.)

I like the Sonos brand. I think the product line needs an update and I'm getting my money back be it via a refund or private sale on a popular auction website.

Thanks for you time and patience.

Nathan.

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S

Stever750

Avid Contributor I

Your opinion on SQ is valid, as only you can judge how us feel it sounds. Your other points just appear to be a lack of research before buying. Seriously though, what did you expect for £150?

T

The LHC

I think you have a duff speaker as I don't recognize your description of the audio quality, the rest of it is basically just down to your lack of understanding of what the system offers. I don't know what "atomically customisable" means but Trueplay is not user adjustable, it does its thing and that's it, you either leave it on or you turn it off, there are no extra user adjustments that can be made to it on that front. Additionally Sonos does NOT support upnp, so your understanding is just completely wrong there. As for "I expected it to have Bluetooth", maybe you should have done some basic research? Your erroneous assumptions do not make it a bad product, it just doesn't make it the right product for what you want to use it for but it is the right product for many people.

Every criticism you have made is down to the fact that you didn't research the product properly. Sonos have never claimed any of the features that you believe it should have, so accusing them of lying is just idiocy. It's blindingly obvious that the system doesn't support Bluetooth for the simple reason that Bluetooth is not mentioned anywhere on the packaging, website or advertising blurb, so why would you assume it is? Similarly there's no mention of being "highly customisable", this is just another fantasy you've concocted out of nowhere and are now pissed off at yourself for getting so completely wrong, so just take it back for a refund and buy a Bluetooth speaker, which is what you wanted in the first place.

K

Kumar

I think you have a duff speaker as I don't recognize your description of the audio quality, the rest of it is basically just down to your lack of understanding of what the system offers.

I agree. There is enough out there about the play 1 beyond just the subjective good opinion of many people with hifi kit exposure, that suggests duff speaker in this case. And that can be said with even more conviction if your conclusion is after Trueplay tuning.
It is perfectly ok to return the product if it does not meet all your expectations, even misguided ones. If that wasn't the case, I would have suggested exchanging the unit for another new play 1.

J

jdag

Prodigy III

Just bought a Sonos Play 1 today...I'm getting my money back be it via a refund or private sale on a popular auction website.

I find the start and then end of the post conflicting. If you bought it today, why would selling it on an auction site be an option?

N

ninjabob

Chromatic Producer I

I have five Play1s dotted around the house and the sonic performance for their size never ceases to amaze me.

You do not really say in your post what source you are feeding to the speaker?

busy trying to edit the queue

K

Kumar

I have five Play1s dotted around the house and the sonic performance for their size never ceases to amaze me.

I have four and I agree. Very early after buying my first copies, I did a test comparing them against Harbeth C7 speakers that confirmed my initial impression of how good they are, so either the OP is listening to something defective or smoking something I'd stay away from.

chicks

My reference speakers are QUAD ESL-63's. For their size, price and capabilities, the Play:1s are simply unbeatable, IMO. The OP must be used to colored speakers, like Bose. The Play:1s are quite accurate above 70hz

N

nathanielbennett456Author

Contributor I

Yes I agree it was down to my lack of understanding, but I don't believe my lack of understanding is entirely my fault. When reading about trueplay, nowhere did It suggests It requires an Apple smartphone or tablet to use the feature. It was only when I discovered that the trueplay button described in the manual didn't exist within the app, when I went onto this forum and read about how one guy was complaining about when the feature was coming to android did I relies it was only for Apple Devices.

As for Bluetooth, I had been reading up about a myriad of different systems; most of them support Bluetooth some even NFC. I kinda took it as a given and I understand it's my fault for not reading up about it properly.

As for find my post conflicting, I'm unsure what you mean. What I meant was that I had bought it from a Currys store today, took it home, listened to it. Unhappy I'm either looking for a kind refund from either Sonos or Currys or if I can't get a refund, to sell it some via Gumtree or eBay.

P.S In the style of Apple products, the original box really does have no information apart from the barcode and color information. I also found the website is unhelpful in instructing what the device is and isn't compatible with.

chicks

I'm quite certain Sonos would love for Trueplay to work with all devices. Unfortunately only the Apple devices have consistent microphones.

K

Kumar

I will concede that there is merit in your arguments about incomplete information about what the play 1 cannot do - and Sonos may have not realised the kind of user profile that will buy a play 1 at its price point, as compared that which bought/buys its more expensive products, that tend to be bought after more research.

Good luck with getting the refund - I think the comment you refer to was based upon the fact that most places that sell Sonos have a liberal and easy returns/refund policy.

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