Sonos PLAY:3 unboxing

by Volker Weber

UPS guy brings a big box. Let's look inside.

The always handy USB thumb drive and a sticker.

Black T-Shirt, size L. That's very much inbetween mr and mrs vowe. :-)

New packaging. All black. I like.

Same goes for the inside.

Look. Another one. Black packaging as well, but a white PLAY:3.

The two PLAY:3 side by side. In the dark they sound exactly the same. In daylight, the black one is more badass.

On the back you see the threaded hole you can use to wall or ceiling mount the speaker. Of course you still need power. And Ethernet, if you have no other Sonos component connected to your router.

Comments

Looking at those wall mount holes I wonder if it's possible to use two of these as rear speakers in a 5.1 surround setup (or with two more as front speakers). I mean additionally to their use as part of the sonos setup.

Oliver Regelmann, 2011-07-21

I believe Sonos is thinking like you. But so far, you can't do that.

Volker Weber, 2011-07-21

I want that too, but it didnt work for me. 5.1 would be a plus, but stereo would be good enough for me for the moment.

I guess that Sonos is playing back audio with a (slight) delay, so that they can do buffering and keep the audio in sync across multiple players. It is just a short delay, but it is noticeable that the lips on the screen and the spoken audio is not in sync then.

Mabye this can be fixed by delaying the video playback, but I wasnt able to set it up with my tv and even if I could enter the delay, I think it takes a finer pair of eyes/ears than mine to find the correct value.

Mariano Kamp, 2011-07-21

Mono music? Seriously?

I looked at Sonos as looks indeed do it for me, yet failed to find a hub similar to Airport Express (just the renderer). Had a lot of issues lately with my AE so would fancy a dedicated tool for my music. One that my wife does not need to provide a password to in order to reduce the volume (IPad remote to Mac to Amp). Could try that jumbo volume button, perhaps, if it were Bluetooth...

Did I miss the basic ingredient in the Sonos scala?

Maikel Maes, 2011-07-26

Yes, you did

Volker Weber, 2011-07-26

Thanks Vowe, did not spot that entry. I finally I get it. ZP90 + Sonos controller, basic setup due to the need of a physical, dedicated controller. As you put yourself; reading vowe.net can be expensive.
Since I am getting tired of the glitches in my wired Airport Express, I only have one option...
Good thing I had my place wired with Ethernet before the tiles and floorheating were put in : )

Maikel Maes, 2011-07-29

Volker, wenn du prozentuell angeben müsstest, um wieviel der Play:5 besser klingt als der Play:3, was würdest du sagen?

Ich hab den Play:3 mittlerweile ausgiebig getestet, aber ganz überzeugt hat er mich nicht. Vor allem bei wirklich leisen Lautstärken kaum keinerlei Power rüber.
Der Play:5 ist sicherlich die bessere Wahl, aber er gefällt mir vom Design nicht so. Diese große fast quadratische Front wirkt einfach etwas grob. Da gefällt mir der schmale Play:3 schon deutlich mehr, vor allem bei hochformatiger Aufstellung.

olaf lubanski, 2011-12-16

Ein Play:5 ist ungefähr so gut wie ein Play:3 Stereo Pair. Der Play:5 ist dabei transparenter und produziert tiefere Töne, das Play:3 Stereo Pair hat mehr "Breite". Sind halt zwei.

Mit anderen Worten: der Play:5 ist sehr viel besser als ein Play:3. Aber nicht so hübsch. ;-)

Volker Weber, 2011-12-16

Hmmh, meine S5 hören sich prima an. Das S3 eher wie ein Kofferradio aus 1974, aber vielleicht ist es auch nur kaputt?

Mariano Kamp, 2011-12-16

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