[Closed] Wireless speakers for music streaming

Got a cheap one from Sainsburys recently, works well enough in honesty.

One cheaper option is Chromecast Audios connected to existing speakers. This also gives you the option to incorporate a Google Home for voice automation if you're feeling fancy.

https://support.google.com/chromecast/answer/6328691?hl=en-GB

Denon have the Heos system, which is not that much cheaper than Sonos, and not that widely available.

Yamaha have Multicast which is cheaper, and not to bad. £120 gets you a WX-010 from [url= https://www.richersounds.com/product/wireless-music-systems/yamaha/wx010/yama-wx010-blk ]Richer Sounds.[/url] Added benefit is Airplay and Bluetooth.

Then there is Sonos. Like Apple it's expensive, but holds it's value. My local JL was knocking out Play 1s for £150 recently. Also, all authorised Sonos retailers, including buying direct, are doing 100 days no quibble trial at the moment. So you could buy a load, see how you get on, then send them back if not for you. This ends 28th June, [url= https://www.amazon.co.uk/b/ref=iPSUHQP?node=5572525031&pf_rd_p=1362245647&pf_rd_s=product-alert&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B00FMS1KO0&pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_r=CKVWYWW2P03FSWWJ16SD ]according to Amazon.[/url]

Are you looking for multiroom, or just a speaker for one room?

[u]not[/u] the pure jongo system, which is unreliable carp.

(the wifi connection doesn't work for more than one, track, at, a, time. which is a problem...)

not the pure jongo system, which is unreliable carp.

This is very sound (ha ha) advise. We had some and sent them back.

Sonos is epic, but rather addictive. It will play almost anything on your phone, including podcasts and radio stations. Different speakers can play different things at different volumes. My only observation is that there is no battery option, so I can't take one into the garden for barbeques etc. However, a cheap bluetooth speaker sorts that problem.

We are up to seven Play1s in the house, and could do with a few more!

lots of play 1's is fair enough, but the quality improves considerably if you have play 5's , play 3's are middle ground. You can also use the playbar for the TV as another speaker, so I have a playbar and play 5 in the kitchen diner producing a good stereo sound.

I'm not a Sonos fan as it won't work with Spotify free. The lack of Bluetooth support is silly.

I'm impressed with the Bose SoundTouch as it has Bluetooth and Wifi and you can program radio stations to the buttons on the device.

You can play direct to the Sonos from your phone in the app - Bluetooth-a-like, but its annoying its not just there. Used to hate the Sonos app, then Apple ballsed up Music so much its light relief now.

If you know now you'll be buying a few go Sonos (you do need a PC to hold your library though, unless you stream everything anyway) .. can get Play1 bundle deals, a pair of them a little cheaper.

If you just need one, wander round Curry's and try a few they are much of a muchness. Bose ones are great, but search on here, there's a cheaper one that gets much love.

Sonos [b][i]if[/i][/b] the way it works is OK for you. Our "main" music source at home is a ZP80 (predecessor to the Connect) hooked up to the hifi, then Play:1s dotted around elsewhere. Even the very old Sonos stuff still gets updates and still works fine so worth keeping an eye out for older secondhand stuff.

The speaker itself is doing all the work - the app on your phone or tablet is just telling it what to do, then the speaker goes off and streams it from your computer/NAS or whichever streaming service. This is great in some ways (chop and change between devices, the queue is always maintained on the Sonos, no notifications from your phone interrupting the music, very straightforward to use) but maddening in others.

The "play from phone" thing sort of works OK - but on iPhone at least your podcasts have to be in the native "Podcasts" app, and it just reads files - so they have to be downloaded, and it doesn't know part-played state, they always go from the start. If I'm listening to a podcast or audiobook on the way home and want to pick it up while I'm cooking dinner it's far too many steps to faff about and get it in the right place when a bluetooth speaker would take a couple of seconds.

While they support loads of music services this often come with strings attached - eg as above, Spotify free won't work, you need to be a subscriber. And you can't just stream whatever your phone is playing to it - so a concert on youtube or last week's radio show on catch-up is a non-starter unless you work around it. We have an Airport Express hooked up to the ZP80 so can get audio in that way - for current ones I think only the Play:5 and Connect/ConnectAmp have any sort of aux in.

I like it but will be watching what's going with Apple's HomePod (and there's a big market of Airplay speakers that will either get updated or new models for Airplay2) as that may be a better fit for us.

I'm impressed with the Bose SoundTouch as it has Bluetooth and Wifi and you can program radio stations to the buttons on the device.

We've got a pair of SoundTouch's - as said above, the presets are great if you just want to stick it on without having to track down a phone/ipad & open up the app.
Sound quality is great, but if I'm honest we've been a bit frustrated by the Bluetooth connectivity sometimes - that might just be me though!

I use Spotify premium on Sonos, it's so simple, so not sure why Spotify free doesn't work?

I use Spotify premium on Sonos, it's so simple, so not sure why Spotify free doesn't work?

Because Spotify don't let you. It's a "Premium" feature.

I use a SONOS with Spotify premium also, excellent bits of kit but they are very spendy.

If you're on an iPhone I would wait for IOS 11 and Airplay 2 to get something compatible so you can do multi-room easier.

so not sure why Spotify free doesn't work?

As Simon says, ad removal, higher bitrate, song skipping, offline listening and access to Spotify Connect are what they hold back to get people to upgrade.

I bought the Yamaha musiccast system and I'm quite impressed.

Sorry to thread-jack... But does anyone use an Apple Airport Express? I have an old stack set up and have been told I can link this to the set up via 3.5mm jack and my wifi and will then be able to airplay to it using my iPhone?