There’ve been quite a few threads on here about Sonos and I’ve noticed a few comments that there are alternatives which give superior sound quality.

Our Bose sound dock has died so need something we can stream Spotify from (if I can get my head around how that works!) and play our existing iTunes library in some way.

Can anyone recommend anything? Only requirements are that it can be controlled off an iPad and it needs to be plug & play simple! I don’t have the time/knowledge/interest in the tech side to faff about.

Cheers

Denon Heos looks like a good alternative.

The Pure Jongo range is a more affordable version. I considered getting a couple of them, but the reviews mention iffy sound quality and set-up not being the simplest.

I got a Bluetooth speaker earlier this year, which is so handy I gave up on the wireless networked speaker idea for a while.

Sonos sound quality can be as good as you want depending on budget and setup, if you don’t need an all in one box. Sonos Connect plugs in to your choice of amp and speakers.

A pair of Play 1s will probably surprise you and sounds great.

It’s not cheap though.

If you have an existing good stereo, Google Chromecast Audio does similar to Sonos Connect but only £25. Reviews are promising.

For iTunes library, have a read about Google Play Music. Sync your library with their online service and chose a streaming device that supports Google. Sonos and Chromecast Audio will both do this.

Airport Express into an ordinary amp and speakers.

Google chromecast audio? It doesn’t do multiroom yet but will with an update in the future. Edited: See posts below

And they are cheap.

EDIT: Ah just seen gravity-slave has already said this!

I don’t have one yet but will do once I have my Christmas money 🙂

ive got a squeezebox touch for sale if youre interested. for a lot less than the price on amazon thats for sure!! 🙂

I thought Chromecast Audio multi room support had been added as an update this week?

I thought Chromecast Audio multi room support had been added as an update this week?

So it has – excellent! – I’ll edit my post.

The multi room update is out now, Sonos will be watching very carefully!

http://chrome.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/even-more-to-love-about

Might add one to my Sonos line in and expand that way.

Edit – too slow! 🙂

Sonos Connect +1

Mine is hooked into a pair of AVI active speakers (via built in DAC) and subwoofer.

It sounds immense.

We use iTunes. Because we run it from an iMac I just use an Airport Express to stream to. This is then connected to the hifi amplifier.

We also have iPads and iPhones in the house, so can stream to those, stream from those and use them as remote controls for the iTunes library.

Naim Mu-So. Its big, heavy and expensive but the sound is awesome.

I have a B&W Zeppelin, when I bought it I listened to sonos, Bose etc and to be honest there’s nothing to touch the B&W. They’ve just brought out the new version which is apparently better still.

If you want a freestanding audio player there are lots of devices around with Airplay built into them and they should all do Spotify as well (though there’s a difference between things that play through your phone/iPad and things that play Spotify natively and are remote controlled by your iPad/Phone)

Airplay wont do different audio in different rooms from a server but you can play stuff from the server in one room and direct from your phone or iPad in another. It’s a bit less responsive than Sonos but not by much and you can get much better sound quality for the money.

I’ve finally connected my Yamaha DAB AV amp to a network (needed a cable connection and wasn’t worth it until I moved) – http://www.rgbdirect.co.uk/Products/Home-Cinema/Separates/YAMAHA/RXV500D Discontinued
The Airplay and Spotify functions work really well so I suspect any other Yamaha device with ‘network’ functions will be running the same software.

A load of manufacturers have their own Sonos competitor products now but then you’re buying into another ‘closed’ ecosystem that locks you into their devices everywhere.

Google chromecast audio? It doesn’t do multiroom yet but will with an update in the future. Edited: See posts below

Does the chromecast have optical or SPDIF out?

Yep (Chromcast Audio does anyway).

I’m amazed by the quality of Google Chromecast audio for £25 though my 20 year old Denon amp.
Only works through Spotify though or anything through your browser – I can’t get it to work with my iTunes for e.g.

iTunes – use Google as the middle man.

Upload/sync tracks from your computer to Google Play Music and then use the Google Play app with Chromecast Audio – works on the free account too.

https://support.google.com/googleplay/answer/1075570?hl=en

I went and listened to Sonos and the alternatives in John Lewis & Richer sounds and came away with a pair of play 1’s. The sound quality is excellent when paired in stereo listening to Deezer in high quality…but they aren’t that cheap (£299)..

I thought I’d take a chance on the pure jongo system.

It wasn’t hard to set up, and it worked ok for a while, but then we were sent a new bt home hub, which it turns out doesn’t work with the jongo system.

So for us, the jongo system doesn’t work at all, if it worked badly, with terrible sound quality, that would be an improvement.

Yep (Chromcast Audio does anyway).

Good stuff, I’ll give it a go. 🙂

I got a couple of Cambridge minx – great sound.

Naim Mu-So. Its big, heavy and expensive but the sound is awesome.

🙂 Thanks for the plug, it is indeed awesome..

+ for the mu-so its awesome love mine. demoed a few its was a clear winner.

Firstly, thanks for all the comments. I’ve no idea what some of you are talking about, but appreciate the intention.

Secondly, why is this all so **** complicated? I’m really can’t be arsed with hours of endless research, so I’ll probably just take a punt on a Sonos 1 and hope for the best.

Do these tech companies not realise that their biggest barrier to sale is the fact that they’ve made it all so bloody complicated people are frightened to actually by their stuff? Obviously my kids probably get it, but they’re still at school, so don’t have the disposable income to buy this stuff. I’d happily spend 2 or 3 times the cost of a Sonos 1 but….

It wasn’t hard to set up, and it worked ok for a while, but then we were sent a new bt home hub, which it turns out doesn’t work with the jongo system

…..balls to that!

+1 for HEOS. I’ve got the 7 and the sound is awesome. I’ve had a play with some others including the Mu-So, but it was too expensive and not that much better, though this may have been down to the small room size.

Also worth considering is the JBL Authentics L8, sound scape on that is brilliant and will give a very clear two channel audio, was the only thing slightly letting down the HEOS.

SONY have got a couple as well, but the sound is poor on them depsite coming in more expensive.

I’ll happily get another HEOS if i need to.

Legoman – the SONOS stuff is a doddle to setup, it really is simple. I bought a pair of play 1s recently and I’m really impressed; the sound quality is great, especially given the size of them.

Just go for the Sonos. It really is a good system. I have a connect linked up to my stereo amplifier and some kef ls50 speakers. The sound quality is amazing.
Yes there are plenty of other options but most just seem a bit rubbish and half arsed in comparison to Sonos.
Sonos just works and works well.

I’d happily spend 2 or 3 times the cost of a Sonos 1

Then buy a Sonos 5, or two 1s.

they’ve made it all so bloody complicated

They’ve really not, the Sonos is exceptionally simple.

You asked for alternative to Sonos and a lot of answers aren’t really that. Well, they might be once you get passed the geekery of it all.

There are numerous companies doing wireless systems, as I mentioned in my first post, the Denon Heos stuff looks to be a very credible alternative.
Panasonic do some too, as do LG and Samsung. The Panasonic ones seem to fare fairly well in reviews, the LG ones don’t appear to have great sound quality.

My brother-in-law has got a Sonos 1 in the kitchen and a 3 in the living room. They sound pretty good to me. My brother has got a Sonos 5. It sounds good, but too my mind was a bit bass heavy and boomy. I suspect this is maybe something you can tune out with an equaliser setting.

The thing that puts me off Sonos is partly the cost, but also the connectivity. As far as I am aware, it’s wi-fi or nothing. Most other options have a 3.5mm jack and/or Bluetooth as well.

Yes, SONOS is great very simple, imports iTunes library easily and keeps up to date on it’s own. Good customer service I hear, never used them myself though. They are quite good at training their sales people in the outlets which they sell through. The SONOS rep was in John Lewis when we bought ours and he was training the JL chap up. We have a Play 5 and Connect through an old amp and speakers. We listen to way more music than we did when we had the Air play system the SONOS replaced. Air play was total cr@p in comparison.

I initially thought Sonos was expensive, but compared to similarly priced alternatives they really are not, not when you consider the quality. A Sonos 1 is £169 each (cheaper per unit if you buy as a bundle) which initially sounds expensive but you can spend that or not far off that for a Bluetooth speaker which is not even in the same league. I got a UE Boom to take on holiday – sounds great for a portable BT speaker but was £90 reduced from about £130 or something. It’s really good as far as portable BT speakers go but not a patch on a Sonos 1 in terms of quality considering it’s only about £40 cheaper.

I’ve always liked the Zeppelin, but is it really better than the Sonos 5 which is £50 less? and does it have all the features and flexibility of Sonos if you have other speakers dotted around the home?

Sonos is not the only gig in town, but pretty difficult to beat all considered.

I’ve got some Logitech stuff which took some faffage to get working and is now offline again, I CBA sorting it.

I too am confused as to why no one makes something similar that you can just use with a network drive thing that iant expensive.

“Air play was total cr@p in comparison.”

Why? I’m genuinely puzzled. The Sonos App doesn’t seem anything special, the sound quality is limited by your MP3 source. The SIL has some incompatibility between her Somos and Orange hub so it continually needs resetting.

What does Sonos actually do better than AirPlay?

I’ve got one of these and I’m amazed at how useful / easy to use it is for something so cheap*. It runs off Airplay, but will use other protocols (DLNA) if you’re on PC / Android etc*. Plugged into my old Hifi separates which were sitting in a cupboard unused, it works with anything my PC or phone can throw at it. So it’s not limited to my own iTunes library, it’ll also play audio from any app (I use it for Deezer, or the iPlayer radio app, podcasts etc).

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00O0U37HO?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00

*It’s inexpensive, it also feels very plasticky and lightweight. You can hide it though.
**I’ve only used it with Airplay

EDIT if you’re having issues with Airplay / DLNA access / dropping out etc then try rebooting your router. My cheap Plusnet router can’t seem to cope with too many things going on at once and Airplay is the first to go. This is also the case with my iPhone–>Apple TV so it’s not an issue specific to the Neet hardware.

The thing that puts me off Sonos is partly the cost, but also the connectivity. As far as I am aware, it’s wi-fi or nothing. Most other options have a 3.5mm jack and/or Bluetooth as well.

Mostly because if you have wifi you don’t need the others, what device will you be using that doesn’t have a wifi connection? When I get enough rooms the ones will be in them, the idea of plugging stuff into the speaker or connecting your bluetooth to the speaker direct rather than the group seems to be outdated.
If you really want it the Connect has a line in
http://www.sonos.com/en-au/shop/connect#panel2-2

Sonos has Ethernet as well which is what ours run off.

To the OP just get a Sonos. OK it costs a bit more and OK the sound quality isn’t true HiFi (none of its competitors are HiFi either) but its a close miss and the Sonos system just works.

Sonos has Ethernet as well which is what ours run off.

To the OP just get a Sonos. OK it costs a bit more and OK the sound quality isn’t true HiFi (none of its competitors are HiFi either) but its a close miss and the Sonos system just works.

I have the bose soundtouch 10. Very pleased with it.

Ah, TBF I had AirPort express, which didn’t work reliably, ever 😳