It bears repeating: For a fairly chunky accessory that some people like to leave out - or center - in their apartments, aesthetics can be important. The Sonos Five looks really, really good. But if you’re like me, you appreciate your Sonos sitting in the corner of your room, behind a couch and just out of reach - the fact that I can control every different facet of the Sonos’ sound through my smartphone has been game-changing. That might be jarring if you’re someone who prefers to have your hands on your controls. It has no physical buttons: My phone controls it completely, from song choice to volume. If I want to, I could connect it directly to the music streaming service of my choice. After I hooked it up to my phone, it’s simple to access my music through the Sonos app. It’s very easy to control, a mixed bag for some. It felt fresh and exciting to hear music in ways I hadn’t before. Its sound was clean and crisp, and the voices on each track I played separated themselves neatly from the instruments that reverberated in the background. The Sonos Five’s sound filled up various apartments I’ve lived in across Brooklyn - it worked as well in a massive living room with 20-foot ceilings as it did handling the smaller living space of a studio apartment.
Notably, the Sonos Five does not pair via Bluetooth and only via Wi-Fi. And it’s earned 4.7 stars from more than 600 reviews on Amazon. It can connect to your phone, tablet or computer via Wi-Fi. Sonos offers support for more than 100 streaming services, too, including the big dogs: Amazon, Apple Music, Google Play, Pandora, and Spotify. It’s about 6 inches deep by 14 inches wide and 8 inches tall, and weighs 14 pounds - you won’t be running around with it anytime soon (unless you’re creative with your fitness). The Sonos Five is the largest in a family of five home speakers, all of which prioritize similarly high design and high fidelity.
While I wouldn’t call myself an audiophile, I also feel confident telling you the Sonos Five sounds - in a word - gorgeous. And now, three-and-a-half years after setting it up at home, I can tell you it was (and is) worth every dollar I spent. At the time, experts and friends alike recommended the Sonos Five.
I knew that if I wanted a good home speaker, one that would sound beautiful, look attractive and fit into my modern apartment design - better yet, one that didn’t even rely on a battery - I would want to put money into it. I mean, imagine: You bring home a date and can’t unwind with a glass of wine because, of all reasons, your Bluetooth speakers have run out of battery.
Shopping Why I treasure my paper shredderĪfter an era of cycling through inexpensive, portable Bluetooth speakers that I ultimately found irritating to constantly charge (and which eventually died altogether), I wanted an improvement. But it doesn’t stop there: If I’m at home cooking, entertaining or scrubbing the tiles of my kitchen floor, I’ve also got a soundtrack accompanying the moment playing on my speakers. If you see me in public and shout my name, I won’t be able to hear you - my earbuds are blaring my latest musical obsession, the volume (almost) all the way up. I always have songs playing in my ears, and those songs come with me - in my wireless earbuds - wherever I go: on runs, on the subway, in the grocery store. Before the pandemic, I was going to live concerts monthly. Music, and listening to it, is a big part of my life. In other words: Sure, we might have to invest in some of the things we buy, and that’s okay - as long as it’s an investment we plan to continue using. When I started shopping for an upgraded speaker a few years ago, I remembered a question I was advised to ask myself as I started reviewing products: If you take the total cost of the product and divide it by the days you’ll spend using it, does that daily cost feel good to you? If so, it’s worth splurging.