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In a world where sound matters, there’s something else which plays a close second. User experience. We often talk about user experience when we’re creating web sites, mobile apps and perhaps even navigating through a theme park. But, when it comes to music; Sonos has created a beefy sound with their Play:1 product along with a very unique user experience. 

The Play:1 is the baby of the family, but you wouldn’t know it. It belts out a solid sound and can fill a standard size room or even lounge room with no issue. 

Getting setup and running with the Sonos Play:1 was surprisingly easy. You take it out of the box then download the Sonos Controller software and connect it to your home wifi network. It can also, of course, connect to and be setup via a standard network cable. I setup using my home wifi network in only a few minutes. 

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When you take a Sonos out of the box you immediately get a sense of the quality item you have just purchased. It’s heavy. Not in an old photocopier sense, but in the sense that you’ve just bought something substantial that’s made of hardened steel and not cheap plastic. I like this, and I will happily pay a premium to have things around me that are genuine and feel heavy like my grand-father might have brought home from the record store some years ago. 

You can connect your Play1 to over 100,000 internet radio stations in addition to Spotify, Rdio, Napster, Amazon Cloud Player and Last.fm. Whichever network you choose to listen through, you can rest assured it’s easy to do so via the Sonos app on your handset or tablet. While it’s a little frustrating not being able to connect it to every and any audio output, having the benefit of being able to drive your music from your phone anywhere in the house far outweighs the fact you’re unable to connect it to any audio jack in any device. But, there are other speakers for that. 

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This is the small product in the range, the baby, the little one. Until you hear it scream! I was truly amazed at the sound this little unit can produce. I was fortunate to test with two devices running in the same room, one on left channel and one on right, and was impressed with the bass that the Sonos Play:1 was pushing out. 

While it offers a fat bass for thick songs like Eminem Stan and Michael Jackson Stranger in Moscow, I also felt the delicate touch that it offered simpler tracks like The Eagles Hotel California and Christina Perri Jar of Hearts. Best though, was the sound that the Play:1 offered for classic rock tracks like Hendrix and The Stones. 

This unit offers an unparalleled music listening experience in addition to a surprisingly beefy sound. I highly recommend the Play:1 and, while my demo units have been returned, I’ll be looking to pickup a couple for my home some time in the new year. 

8 out of 10
@cunningdrew