Sound quality: Sonos's Play:5 (2015) has very good sound quality as a single-speaker. Bass has good impact and goes deep, but is slightly prominent, and lacks a bit of detail. Midrange is fairly even but a bit etched and a touch grainy. Treble has good extension and detail but is a bit prominent and sounds slightly dry. When two Play:5s are used as a stereo pair the sound quality improves to excellent. Bass character is very similar to the single-speaker but the midrange becomes a little more relaxed and the treble is a bit less dry and prominent. As a single-speaker system and as a stereo pair it does a decent job of recovering room ambience but lacks a bit of fine detail. As a single-speaker system or as a stereo pair it can provide enough volume to fill a medium- to large sized room. No significant difference between WiFi and wired sound quality. When compared to the original Play:5 as a single-speaker the bass is deeper and midrange is smoother and fuller and looses the boxiness, constriction, and slight congestion of the former version. As a stereo pair the bass is deeper and the midrange is smoother and less congested and the treble is smoother and more extended.
Ease of use: We found the system's ease of use to be good overall. Connecting to a WiFi network was fairly easy: Download the free Sonos program on your computer or the free Sonos app on your Apple or Android mobile device and follow the step-by-step directions. Volume controls are ambiguous: There are four dots in a square pattern. But it does have good contrast, and has a max./min. audible indicator. The smart-phone app shows the volume index that tracks with the unit control. The home unit will not always be in reach, so a remote is useful with this model. Good overall; the Sonos software program provided a full-featured, easy-to-use control panel on your computer, and the Sonos mobile app for Apple or Android smartphone or tablet or iPod Touch functions has a full-featured remote control that was easy to use. But it does lack a source selector on the console. So, you must use the remote app to switch between line input and any other source. At first, the navigation of the updated app (version 6) is relatively intuitive, but makes more sense once features are discovered.
