SONOS is the best system for moving digital audio around the home

Michael Gartenberg | February 21, 2006, 11:15 AM

When I was growing up, my Dad was an audiophile and he had a strero system that looked like it came right off the set of a SciFi show. Receivers, amps, cassette and reel to reel tape decks and phonographs all provided a wonderful experience for listening to music. These day, my music is mostly digital and lives on my iPod on the road, but at home, there's been a lack of a good listening solution that would let me access my music library as well as internet and sattelite radio stations.

Folks like Jeremy Toeman over at Slingmedia and Sean Alexander at Microsoft have both been raving to me about the Sonos system. Short review their raves are correct, the Sonos stuff is simply the best solution I have ever seen for getting digital music around the house.

One of the reasons it works so well is that Sonos takes responsiblity for the end to end setup and uses a separate network for making it all work. The ssetup was simple and required very little in terms of tech skills. First step is to connect the speakers (there's a newer version of the Sonos out that lacks the built in amp and is designed for places where you want to integrate into and existing audio system). Since the room I was testing didn't have a great audio system, I just used the standard Sonos ones. Getting the sofrware working was alos a joy. It's clear process that only takes a few steps to access and build a music index. The best part was the networking. Even with my PC in the basement and unit in another room. connecting was totally painless. Simply press two butons on the unit and stand back. No network IDs, no WEP enxpytion, NO NOTHING. It all just works. Once configured you can control the system with the PC software or the using the remote control. The remote looks like a big iPod with a nice color screen that displays album art if you have it. You can also connect to Internet streaming stations. I had no problems adding a few of my favorites as well as a few of the XM stations that I like.

So what's the downside? There's a few things. First, it's not the cheapest device on the market. That's not a knock but it does mean this unit isn't for everyone. The new units sans amp are priced much lower and that will help with mass appeal. Second, you need at least one unit connected by wire to your router. Often, that means the first device is going into a room where your music is likely stored and is a bit of a waste. There's an un-supported method for bypassing this but given network complexity here, it didn't work for us. Finally. forget DRM content for now. No iTunes or Plays for Sure support so if you're heavy into those types of servcies, this isn't the system for you.

Despite these issues, Sonos delivers what many have tried but failed to deliver. A simple method and high quality way of enjyoing and accessing your audio around the home. I can't wait to see what these folks have planned for video :)