Sonos Play:3 network music player

The best starter streamer bar none?

Multi-room ready

Take a Play:3 apart - impossible to do but use your imagination - and you will find a tweeter and two 3in mid-range drivers firing forward, and a passive bass radiator at the back. Each driver is individually powered by a dedicated Class-D amplifier.

No phone? Then run everything from your PC

How does it sound? Rather good. In fact, for something so diminutive, extremely good. There’s plenty of volume on tap - Sonos is keeping mum about actual power outputs - and what comes out is detailed, solid and very composed, even at maximum volume.

Compared to my now discontinued Squeezebox Boom, the Play:3 is sonically superior in every way. The only vaguely similar device I’ve heard that offers more to the ears is the Arcam rCube dock which will set you back a further £200.

It’s worth mentioning that in over a week with the Play:3 I didn’t experience a single hiccup, pause or drop-out in my listening. Everything just worked, reliably.

Well designed for any room in the house

If one speaker isn’t enough, you can add a second Play:3 to a room and set them up to work as a stereo pair. This being a Sonos system, speaker units and wireless bridges can continue to be added until you run out of money or rooms.

Verdict

Sonos has at last built a wireless music box for the less well-off - and built a rather good one too. The Play:3 is physically small enough to be easily sited in any lounge, office or bedroom but produces a big enough sound to act as a primary stereo. The facility to pair units up as stereo speakers and use your smartphone as a remote is the icing on the cake. ®

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