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Play:5 (gen 2) versus Sonos 5

C

Hi,

I have just bought a Sonos that says on the box Play:5 Gen 2. The first disappointment was that it wouldn’t play my apple hi res music. So I have deleted Apple Music and gone back to Tidal. 
This Play:5 was priced at €579. My worry is that I have bought old stock and that there is a newer model called the Sonos 5 which is the same price on the Sonos site. I can’t get any clear information on google. Also information very sketchy on exact specs. How do I know if I got the latest model. It was the last in the shop, a display model, so maybe I got the wrong box. What are the differences between Play 5 and 5. NB, it is definitely not a Gen 1, and all I can get is comparisons between Gen 1 and 2. 

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Best answer by Ken_Griffiths 24 July 2021, 13:20

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13 replies

Ken_Griffiths

The new speaker is called a "Sonos Five” whereas the older gen2 model is called "Play:5” - the model should be stated on the label where you will also find the MAC Address/Serial Number. The Sonos logo on the front is the easiest thing to look for as the newer model has a darker/discreet logo. See this YT video:

 

C

Thanks very much. The shop were not aware there was a newer model replacing the Play 5 and happily agreed to return it and gave me a full refund. Especially as the newer model is selling at the same price. 

G
Userlevel 7

FYI… Sonos speakers cannot stream hi-res music on TIDAL either. With a TIDAL HiFi subscription, streaming quality maxes out at 16bit/44.1kHz on Sonos speakers. If you only have TIDAL Premium, it maxes out at 320kbps.

https://support.sonos.com/s/article/3096?language=en_US

"Receive with simplicity everything that happens to you." - Rashi
C

Thanks very much. I am on a quest to listen to hi res music but remain totally confused. I can really tell the difference between tidal and Spotify in my car all the same. 

K

Based on what audio engineers widely know: there is no audible difference to be heard between hi res and standard even in a quiet listening room, if no other differences exist. In a car that is noisier in comparison, even more so.

No differences includes no difference even measured on test instruments sound levels. Because, as all stereo salesmen should know, and good ones do, even a slight louder always sounds better. 

All you usuallyneed  to do if one sounds not as good as the other is to bump up the volume controls a tad.

I have found that hi res is a red herring, as have many others; I suggest picking the streaming service whose sound you like best in places you listen to, including on the new Sonos speaker, and focus on just enjoying the music.

C

That’s very interesting thanks. I certainly found the Apple Music app to be very unuser friendly and didn’t like the interface. I find that Tidal works better and it is easier to search for the music I like. Interestingly, when in the car, I am off parked in a quiet place and the car is very well sound insulated.  The stereo is upgraded and I genuinely perceive a much fuller sound on Tidal versus Spotify. Spotify sounds very thin. I would be very interested to learn more about the measurable differences or lack of, and would be grateful if you could give me some sources or links to information about it. I find it strange that so many people are paying for hi res services as most in my experience are fairly careful with their money. We have a family sub to Spotify as well, so I would be delighted to be proved wrong and save some money. I am certainly going to do some more comparison listen tests. Thanks. 

K

 I find it strange that so many people are paying for hi res services as most in my experience are fairly careful with their money.

But the art of marketing is to get such people to part with their money for psychological benefits. This is a universal phenomenon, and goes way beyond just home audio.

As for Hi Res audio, there are reams of it on the net, but here is a link to a recent summary:

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/opinion-analysis/300312969/is-highres-audio-streaming-just-a-gimmick

You will also find many discussions on the subject on this site as well, if you have the time to search!

If you are going to do some comparison listening tests, there are some pitfalls to be aware of - sound levels from the samples being compared have to be close to each other to +/- 0.2dB. And of course, you have to be blind to what is being played. Finally, both have to be the same music from the same master recording. Under these conditions, not many have successfully picked Hi Res out in such a test.

C

Yes, I totally agree on the marketing. I will pick some albums, so presumably they are the same recordings, and get my daughter to run some tests for me.  If I can save myself €20 a month, I will be delighted. I am not sure I am getting full hi res through the DAC on my iPhone or iPad Pro. As I said originally, I am on a quest to listen to hi res, and maybe it is a fool’s errand! 

buzz

Chrisps,

Even if the music starts from the same master recording, processing along the way could be different. It is surprisingly difficult to brew up a valid comparison. Commercial releases tend to be highly compressed. In a noisy environment such as in a car or on a busy street, compression has advantages. In a quiet home environment on good equipment, compression is a drag. It is possible that the Spotify and Tidal tracks that you used were processed differently along the way. Some ‘Hi-Res’ junk is simply up-sampled regular junk. This is about as effective as displaying a 1950’s vintage TV show on a 4K display.

Belly M
Badge +20

@Chrisps 

Trust your own ears, if something sounds better for you then go with it.

K

@Chrisps

Trust your own ears, if something sounds better for you then go with it.

No argument with that. It is just that before plonking down more money, be sure that how it sounds can't be matched by just nudging the volume control upwards!

Belly M
Badge +20

@Chrisps

Trust your own ears, if something sounds better for you then go with it.

No argument with that. It is just that before plonking down more money, be sure that how it sounds can't be matched by just nudging the volume control upwards!

The OP did not state if he had a Tidal HiFi subscription as this would certainly be the reason why he prefers Tidal over lossy Spotify listening on a 5.

K

I can’t speak to Tidal, but what I hear from Spotify at home over my Sonos and Quad/Dali/KEF speakers is no different from what I hear from the same albums ripped lossless and streamed from my local NAS. Or downloaded in AAC 256 kbps format via iTunes to the local NAS.

I do know that I have to adjust volume levels when I move to playing from Spotify to local NAS to get the sound levels I am accustomed to for my listening.

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