EH Buyer's Scorecard: Sonos ZonePlayer S5 Wireless Music System

Sonos has been around for years. Although they aren’t quite a household name, they’ve created some good buzz by delivering good multiroom music solutions for retrofit applications.

The Sonos ZonePlayer S5 takes that concept and does something a little different. It almost makes multiroom music a solo experience — at least from an equipment standpoint. This one-box solution packs in five integrated speakers and five digital amps to deliver music. However, it’s not another box that you need to cram into your A/V cabinet. This device taps into your home network, to stream music directly from iTunes, web radio, Sirius satellite radio, and more. It can even make beautiful music from all of the digital audio files that you’ve been amassing on your computer all of these years.

What the Manufacturer Says

The S5 is a high-performance, all-in-one wireless music system that delivers crystal-clear, room-filling sound. Simply plug it in wherever you want music and enjoy. The 5-driver speaker system is individually powered by 5 dedicated digital amplifiers and includes 2 tweeters, 2 mid-range drivers and 1 subwoofer for high-quality sound that rivals much larger, more complicated audio equipment. To start playing music, one ZonePlayer or ZoneBridge must be connected to the router, then all the rest work wirelessly. The S5 is available in both black and white.
Visit the Sonos Website to Learn More About the Sonos ZonePlayer S5

Reviews and Ratings from Around the Web

Digital Trends
9.5 out of 10
“The Sonos Zoneplayer S5 is the answer to all the limitations of an iPod-centric music system. It’s the ideal combination of a network music device and powered speaker system. By connecting to the Internet, it is capable of delivering a mind-boggling amount of musical content, including all of the music on your computer – even your iTunes files.”
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Esquire
“It turns out that Sonos ($999 for two-room system with controller; sonos.com) is the most misunderstood electronic device I’ve ever tested. In fact, it sat in my closet for six months before I ran out of things to do one weekend and decided to check it out. Now I own Sonos systems in both my homes, as well as in my offices.”
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Macworld
4 out of 5 mice
“For current Sonos system owners, it’s an obvious and welcome add-on. For those just starting out with Sonos, take advantage of Sonos’ 30-day “for any reason” return policy and see if you like what you hear. I’m willing to bet you’ll keep it.”
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What Electronic House Says

Not everyone has the power (or budget) to install a whole-house audio system. For those people, we have Sonos. The Sonos S5 isn’t quite the wireless all-in-one that it claims to be. You will need to hardwire the ZonePlayers or ZoneBridge, which are sold separately. However, once you are up and running, this system can make web music sound wonderful. Also, because it uses the web, your musical options are almost endless. Really though, if the guy that directed the Men in Black franchise loves this product (see Esquire above), how can you possibly go wrong? You really can’t with the Sonos S5. The start-up price may scare you away at first, but this definitely seems to be one of those incidents where you get what you pay for.