[Closed] Talk to me about Sonos

A genuinely awesome bit of kit.
Some Richer Sounds stores have a demo, with a few zones, set up. Worth popping in there for a play around.
BTW, dont buy the remote. Use the iPhone/Ipod Touch app instead.

I was going to say - nowadays if you're a bit technical (not complete geek but just can usually install and get software working together), there are free products out there that will allow you do do this though you may need to buy some hardware depending on what you're actually planning.

Second the idea of using a smartphone for control. I do that with my computers round the house.

Ehh ! a smartphone....I'm still using a Motorola Razr 8)

OK, thanks for the heads-up on Richer sounds. I've called them & they have a load of kit set up in store.

I'm going in !

if you only want ot stream spotify to 1 room, Sonos might be over kill. A PC/laptop and AirPort Express would be a much cheaper option.

Sonos offers loads more like internet radio streaming, zone-synching, playlists, NAS support etc. You'll def find Sonos a lot more benificial if you have a NAS with all your music, podcasts and playlists available.

NB: you can only stream from Spotify premium one location at a time. i.e. Spotify/Sonos streaming on Sonos will be paused if you start streaming on iPhone/Spotify at the same time (unless you are in Offline mode). Also, the Sonos/Spotify interface is exceedingly basic.

Thanks t_i_m

Checking this out now 😀

Sooner or later spotify are going to have to provide a streaming option from the spotify client (or other add on) to compete against having the physical media. I'd imagine only for the paying subscribers, but if you are paying for it you want to be able to stream it to all your devices just like if it is an mp3 on a network share.

Agree with the overkill comment... we've got Sonos throughout the house which we've built up over the last 2-3 years. A great bit of kit, couldn't be simpler to set up and the ipad / iphone app is actually better than the dedicated controller (the old ones at least).

We use it with a Napster subscription which (although it's been a bit flaky recently) is usually excellent... About £5 a month I think.

Also, if you've got a decent hifi already, use one of the small boxes (ZR90's I think), stick it through a DAC and it's practically CD quality.

Got a Sonos S5 and Zonebridge, using the ipod app controller. Great bit of kit, have it playing tunes off my NAS but have also been using the 1 month trial of Napster and it's very good.

Spotify Premium is a tenner a month, whereas Napster is a fiver.

meesterbond, Spotify streams at a higher bit rate that Napster.

The Spotify servers seem pretty solid where as the Napster ones have been slow or dropping connections since November.

Spotify premium also lets you download 3000 tracks to 3 different devices (like an iPhone) for offline listening, which is very good. Just need to connect to WiFi within 30 days to validate your lisence.

NB: you can stream Spotify to multiple Sonos zones simultaneously.

Benefit of Spotify Premium over Napster is you can use it on your phone or ipod touch (I think)

I use it on my Desire HD and its ace 🙂

Bazzer