Sound quality: Ikea's Symfonisk Bookshelf (gen 2) had Very Good overall sound quality - although it has some noticeable sonic quirks, this model reproduces music and dialog very well. With Trueplay room calibration and the bass and treble controls in the Sonos app set for the most even tonal balance bass has good impact and goes fairly deep, but is a bit boomy. Midrange is fairly even, but is a bit grainy, constricted, hazy, and edgy. Treble is fairly extended, but is a bit prominent, sizzly, smeared and dry. Does a decent job of recovering room ambience, but is a bit congested. This model can be positioned vertically or horizontally, orientation has no significant effect on sound quality. Provides a decent volume level in a medium sized room. When combined with a second unit to form a stereo pair they provide stereo separation and a wider and somewhat taller sound stage, overall scores remains in the Very Good range.
Ease of use: We found the Ikea Symfonisk Bookshelf (gen 2) ease of use to be very good overall. WiFi setup: Is good overall: Follow quick setup guide to connect the unit and install app on mobile device then follow app instructions. May or may not require exiting app to select WiFi network and return to app to continue setup. DLNA Setup - included instructions makes no reference on how to set up the DLNA server on the network, however, instructions can be found on Sonos website. Controls are obvious (good contrast, marked +, - , no index markings but has an audible min and max indication (LED also turns green on min) on unit, smart phone app index that tracks with unit control. Source selections: Requires app to be installed, app installation is straight forward. Once app is installed switching between sources within the app is fairly intuitive. Content on Android mobile devices can be streamed directly using Sonos app. Content on Apple mobile devices can't be streamed directly using Sonos app but can be streamed using Airplay 2; switching to Airplay 2 to stream content from Apple mobile devices requires leaving the app.
