Should I replace my hifi separates with a Sonos system?

@Paul123's advice is perfectly reasonable. But as he implies, it depends where you want to get to.

If you want all-singing all-dancing cinema surround sound, and don't mind speakers and wires everywhere, then get a AV receiver. If you just want better TV sound and a convenient way of playing music in one unit then a Playbar is a neat solution. The music sounds great but probably won't rival your separates. You should consider a traditional soundbar or soundbase as well.

You could keep your separates and DAC and use a Sonos Connect. But viewed in isolation a Chromecast is a cheaper option to "convert" your hifi.

If you want a purely Sonos music experience that gives a true audiophile experience then you need a pair of Sonos gen2 Play:5 speakers, possibly with a Sub. I have some pretty good hifi gear (Cyrus DAC/pre-amp with two Cyrus power amps and PMC floorstanders), but a pair of P:5s with a Sub is not far off it, at a quarter of the new cost. (Thankfully I didn't buy the trad hifi gear new!)

And how much of the Sonos multiroom experience do you want? Can you see yourself like me, with Sonos speakers just about everywhere? The easy multiroom control is a big plus for Sonos if you see yourself going down that route. (Actually, even if you can't see yourself doing that, once you start......)

These are just my opinions, of course.

If your thinking of tv, read all the posts on here about the playbar.
I would get a 7.1 av amp with dolby atmos inside, and google chromecasts to stream over superior wifi, just the same as sonos does.
If you want mutli-room with easy one make supplier, then sonos is what you want.

If you want a purely Sonos music experience that gives a true audiophile experience then you need a pair of Sonos gen2 Play:5 speakers, possibly with a Sub. I have some pretty good hifi gear (Cyrus DAC/pre-amp with two Cyrus power amps and PMC floorstanders, but a pair of P:5s with a Sub is not far off it, at a quarter of the new cost. (Thankfully I didn't buy the trad hifi gar new!)


Thanks John, that's really the advice I've been after. It addresses the two changes/limitations that prompt me to consider a change. One, I don't listen to stuff like I used to, sat facing the speakers and immersed in the experience. Two, having TV and music as separate entities is irritating me. A songs system seems to offer a reasonable trade off between the genuine audiophile experience and a more versatile AV/music platform. As 'furniture' too the Sonos stuff is far less intrusive and more adaptable in where it can be placed. RE multi-room, although it's an option it really doesn't feature as a key issue up front.

In that case, Sonos can meet all your needs. You will be more than impressed by how much easier and neater - in terms of fewer boxes and associated cabling - the Sonos set up can be.

You do need to have a stable home WiFi environment though; Sonos needs that as a foundation. Multi room audio may well be the classic case of the unperceived need that Sonos meets in a way that is addictive; be warned:-).

I only have 1 new Play:5 so I haven't tried an A:B comparison to my separates in my living room (Mid-tier receiver with B&W 600 series speakers). I would guess though a pair of the new Play:5's would give them a run for their money and free up a lot of wires and space.

. the monolithic old system robs me of space, dictates where I sit to enjoy it and doesn't hook up to my AV system. Multi-room isn't a priority at all for me (although I accept I might be persuaded if I get into the Sonos ethic) so Connect doesn't offer me anything much I don't have already.
Those are very similar to the reasons I ended up finally selling a SACD player+Quad amplification+Harbeth speaker set up even though the AV thing never had any appeal - my movies are in a dedicated room with a 2 channel amp and speaker pair that is very adequate for the task. But I found that I no longer wanted to be dictated to where to sit, and not listening to music for that reason did not seem to be the sensible thing to be doing! I dabbled around with Airplay before discovering Sonos in 2011 - I sold the last of my in storage legacy hifi kit in 2013/14 - and I am now listening to a lot more music, of much more variety, than ever before with no significant sound quality compromise. On the contrary: I haven't heard music sound as good as it does from a pair of play 1 units on my desktop that flank the computer, probably because the near field listening does't give room acoustics a chance to mess up things.
My learnings, apart from not having to do the tricky thing of mixing up AV and audio solutions:
1. Using a NAS for acquired music.
2. The value of subwoofer once I saw how well the Sonos Sub integrates with even the "cheap" play 1 units.
3. The contribution of "always on" to obtaining more music in the home.
4. The value of play units over even Sonos Connect/Connect Amp. The former are the logical conclusion of a move to Sonos, and one need not progress through the intermediate stages that the latter are. I have a couple of zones with Connect/Connect Amp, but if the electronics fail beyond repair at any time in the future, an appropriate play unit/s will replace it. Hopefully, someone will still want to buy the passive speakers at that time:-).
5. The usefulness of music delivery that is at a similar volume level across the space instead of too loud close to the speakers to be well heard away from them in anything bigger than a small space. Which is also a problem in a stereo set up that is limited by physics and psychoacoustics to yield the stereo image in a relatively very small part of the room. And that too from recordings where all that is needed to deliver this effect has been properly incorporated.

Others will have more to say on these lines, but I think this may be more useful than making recommendations for specific Sonos kit other than the advice to buy the kit on a returnable basis till you are sure you know what part of the range works best for you.

I'm in the same position! I've made the leap of faith though, and started dismantling and selling my extremely capable but expensive and massively compromised separates system. The amp is already sold, the monster ATC floorstanders lounging on ebay. In my case, a major standing wave problem that amount of room tweaking and adding a monster JB Audio sub could fix, so on a large suspended 2nd floor room I could feel sub 50Hz but couldn't hear it sat in my listening position. Like you, I have spent less and less time "critical listening", and find myself using Spotify more and more, and if I'm honest most of the time couldn't easily distinguish between high quality lossy Spotify and lossless FLAC streaming bit perfect. If the sonos system is similar to my old NAD and B&W 602 sound then I'll be more than happy, especially as I can move the speakers virtually anywhere in the house if I feel like a bit of that critical listening thing!

Ha. I never spent more than £50 on cables because I couldn't detect any changes when auditioning them. I'm only too well aware of the great cable debate, but once magazines start making claims that USB cables sound different it's time to lie down in a dark room. It's hard enough to distinguish between a £200 Cambridge audio dac and a £3k one from chord! It's like hi res, the only HD tracks that were superior were the ones remastered in 24 bit!

A week in... OK I have decided that unless I need (I don't) a single speaker in say my bathroom, then I am done with play 1 purchases. The 5 continues to massively impress. Midrange is exceptional, bass nice and taught and a good thump. I'm guessing this is the benefit of an active system, I'm beginning to understand what some of the fuss is about. However, I heard a devialet phantom during the week, and it's on another planet if you're an audiophool. Seriously though, it's mighty impressive but relatively the same value delta over a passive system. Can it really be down to just that..?

In other news, I ventured into the what hi fi forums after about a year away, and the vitriol and intellectual arrogance was so depressing. Don't bother unless you have a wicked sense of humour....

Would said trumpet player - or better still, with a back up of guitar and drums - playing live in a largish living room, be completely replicable by any audio system out there, played in the same room? I have my doubts. And if so replicable, is there any objective way of demonstrating this or the gaps where it falls short? Time delay and phasing ought to also be measurable by instruments if they aren't to be just more of audiophile jargon.

So, a month or so in. The big ATCs went last week, and I admit it was depressing. Years of researching and listening, wallet driven optimism and item mistaken gone in the back of a random passat estate. Just me and the 5s left. I've already dismissed the 1s as anything more than a hi fi kitchen speaker, as a replacement for a top flight separates not a chance. The 5s though are in a different league, and I'm really impressed. You can't beat a tightly screwed down box with multie small long throw drivers for fast response, I guess adding the active amplification is the final bit of the jigsaw because these things rock. OK, at gig levels they're not as clean as my old system, but they are much better than any passive system at the price. The guy that bought my speakers brought his NAD C370 and 540 CD player, which I know well as I had them a few years ago, and the play 5 was a better compromise. Slightly unfair as the NAD is not an amp to drive big ATC speakers, but that's the point. I'm a convert to active speakers.

but that doesn't mean that everyone else will.

Of course everyone won't, never said otherwise anywhere, did I? But and on the other hand, many have found it to be so, not just I. And I have still to hear any one dismiss a well placed and true play optimised play 1 pair + Sub set up as something that doesn't have a chance. Till now. Comments I have heard seem to be about a single unit casually placed somewhere and then dismissed - and in that case, rightly so.
But you miss the point - and that is don't trash a 1 pair + Sub set up without trying it out with an open mind, in a room that isn't too big for it, with True play tuning done. Which kind of mind anyone even asking the question in the thread title would presumably have, and the Sonos returns policy makes it easy to do so, for such people. And beyond that is the 5 pair + Sub. Though I am sure you will find people that will dismiss that using the exact same words that you have quoted. Probably because it can be bought on Amazon and Best Buy.

Thanks! Experiences like your encourage me to make the break with conventional separates.