I've had all my music ripped for years and having recently made the move to Spotify in favour of buying CDs, I needed something that would allow me to connect to all my ripped music that I’ve uploaded to Google Play Music as well as Spotify and my Amazon Auto-rip music. Bluetooth speakers are OK but they are limited and Sonos takes it to another level altogether with their Wi-Fi speakers.



I definitely recommend buying two PLAY 1's and pairing them together in stereo mode. Using one by itself is adequate but playback sounds flat. Pairing two together gives you the sound quality equivalent to that of a good mid-range amplifier and speaker setup. I’ve been using my speakers for four months and unlike with Bluetooth, I’ve not had a single dropout. Music is seamlessly streamed over my Wi-Fi and it sounds fabulously clear.



They’re heavy and very well built and they ooze quality and understated style, with some basic control buttons on top of each speaker. There is no 3.5mm input and it does not have Bluetooth functionality. Setup is straightforward and it’s all done via the recently overhauled app.



There are lots of music services available to add. Amazon Music, Google Play Music, Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, Tidal, TuneIn Radio and loads more that I've never heard of. The ones I use integrate perfectly.



The app is easy and intuitive to use and when installed on a device it acts like a remote control. It allows you to add 'Favourites' (playlists, songs, radio stations, artists, etc), control room settings if you have multiple Sonos speakers, adjust the EQ, Add or Remove services, set alarms and all sorts of other things that you can tailor to your exact personal preference. Both the Apple and Android apps occasionally lag. I can also control my speakers from my Windows 10 PC.



Finding and playing back music is a breeze. If I search for an Artist, Album, Track, etc it shows results from the various providers I’ve added (Google Play Music, Amazon Music and Spotify) as well as from my Network Attached Storage (when it’s switched on) and the particular device I’m using. I can then add tracks from all of those sources into a playlist if I want and the speakers play it back seamlessly.



Sonos are going to face competition from Apple and Google with their forthcoming Wi-Fi speakers but in the meantime, I highly recommend the Sonos PLAY 1 speakers.



Update 18/10/17: Amazon Alexa - It is now possible to connect Sonos speakers wirelessly to an Amazon Echo or Echo Dot.