We’ve been satisfied users of SONOS system now for more than five years, using it almost daily with no problems with any component. I purchased it after a long search of alternative wireless ways to play my digital music collection through the house. About six years ago I converted and transferred my collection of over 5,000 CD’s to FLAC files stored on my desk top PC, but now we mostly stream our music from Amazon Music, and before that from Pandora.

This SONOS system can seem a little complicated at first, trying to figure out what components are needed. We have four component pieces that play music in three different rooms of our house, and each room could be playing different music, although we never use that feature.

Connected to our desktop PC is a ZoneBridge BR100. In our master bedroom there is a Connect Amp directly driving a pair of speakers. In our front room there is a ZonePlayer ZP90 connected to our AV receiver amplifier. On a top shelf in the Kitchen is another ZoneBridge BR100, directly connected to another pair of high quality bookshelf speakers.

I’m no audiophile, but we judge the sound quality to be the same as from a CD player directly attached to our AV receiver. Streamed audio, whether from FLAC files on my PC, or Amazon Music, or Pandora, seems quite pleasant to our ears. Audio quality never seems to suffer lack of quality, even with our relatively slow internet connection. The SONOS system broadcasts through the home on its own dedicate wireless network.

Interconnections of the various SONOS components are easy. Installing the SONOS control program or application on your desktop or portable device is easy. User interface is quite well designed and executed. SONOS issues periodic software updates to the control program and installs have always been trouble free. SONOS includes provisions to easily connect the system to all of the popular internet music streaming services. Internet radio is easily connected by way of Pandora’s free TUNED IN radio.

We love to listen to music in our home, and listen almost all day long. I can’t imagine a better wireless system than SONOS.

While we have the Zone Bridge connected to a desk top PC, SONOS has made recent changes that allow this unit to be eliminated from teh system. With the Zone Bridge installed music is broadcast through the house on a dedicated SONOS wireless network. With recent changes, the system can use your existing Wifi network and eliminate the Zone Bridge. I'm not informed about the trade offs of that choice. However, in my experience the SONOS technical support folks are very helpful and can easily be reached by telephone to explain the alternatives.

This is my first review on Amazon, because I think Sonos has earned it, and it is a way to thank Amazon and posted reviews that helped me buy and set up what is now a four zone Sonos system at my home in India.

If I could give both Amazon and Sonos more that 5 stars, I would.

That said, there are some things that a potential buyer should know, and hopefully, this review will help.

This review isn't just about the Connect, but the entire Sonos system of which the Connect is just one part.

Some background: Before Sonos, I had decent hifi systems in three rooms, with the main high end system in the living room. Music replay was via many CDs, and I wasn't aware of internet radio to any large extent. But I was well versed with high end audio equipment, having owned different systems for over ten years. There is even a turntable in the system, although it isn't used much since Sonos came into the home!

I had heard about Sonos, but did not know much about it. When I moved to a larger home a little over a year ago, I started researching Sonos and the Amazon reviews were of great help.

But what was even more helpful was the User Forum on the Sonos website, a treasure trove of useful information, with very helpful members. When I ordered the first of the many Sonos units I now have, it was without having seen or heard it, because there is no distribution in India. A leap of faith.

Since there are quite a few unhappy posters here, that aren't satisfied with Sonos, I must accept that the system may not work as advertised or sold out of the box. A certain knowledge of home wifi and routers helps. But what helps even more is the truly world class Sonos support, that is available for free as long as one needs it, and the referred forum. It is easy to register on the forum, and start asking questions, that are usually answered very quickly by other Sonos users with a lot of experience of the system. And when that fails, it is easy to invoke support from Sonos directly. In my case, I had a glitch when the system was new, a year ago, and another one a few days ago. The first was a little complex, but Sonos support did all the handholding needed to resolve it. The recent one took just one email to have it fixed. It doesn't matter where in the world the system is, as long as it is connected to the net, Sonos can "see" it, and troubleshoot. In my mind, it is these two forms of support that elevate Sonos to the rare product that fully delivers on all it promises.

It also affords the flexibility of choice, based on budgets, and the kind of systems one already has. For instance, my high end system that sits in the living room, is now driven by the Connect. This way, I hear music of the same quality as always, but now I do not need my many CDs, or the CD player. All the CDs are copied to a hard disc, which is a one time investment of time and effort that needs to be made. Having done that, I can select any of my CDs from scrolling in the Sonos controller that is an app on my ipod touch. I can make playlists, play select albums, play tracks in sequence or in random. Apart from the sheer convenience, this means that I am listening to many more of my CDs a lot more often.

Then, there is free internet radio. Many stations, that offer good quality music streams, deliver music that sound as good as CD replay. Internet music services like Pandora or Spotify aren't available in India as of now, so I can't comment on these.

What this means is that I am now listening to music a lot more often than I did before, and music from all over the world, as well as my CDs. And all in high quality stereo.

For other rooms, there are other units that are more suitable, depending on the kind of systems one has there, or doesn't have.

And one can add these to the system whenever - depending on budget availability or the mood. Once that is done, one can play the same music from the same source in all rooms in perfect sync, or, play different music in each room. In my case I now have music via Sonos in the living room and balcony via 2 connects, in the bedroom via a Connect Amp, and dining room via a Play5.

It is a year since I installed the system, and it remains a source of continuing delight.

If I were to be looking for multi room audio again today, I would buy Sonos all over again, no hesitation.

My only grouse is with Amazon. I got 6 different units from Amazon, all shipped to India, from the US. All were delivered to my home in India, within 10 days of the order click. Perfectly packed and therefore, no damages. And all of them are working fine. The grouse is that I find that Amazon no longer ships Sonos to India, and I hope that changes soon.

SONOS apparently has a great idea and excellent technology, but (at least for me, with months of opportunities for SONOS technical support to resolve the issue) it is incompatible with ATT U-Verse.

This would be a very favorable review if the SONOS system worked. However, notwithstanding months of effort, and more E-mails with their technical support than I can count, my investment in various pieces of SONOS equipment (purchased as a Christmas present for someone who uses ATT-U-Verse) has produced only expensive dust collectors. No sound. None of the time.

When I first installed the SONOS equipment, it brought all televisions (in three different rooms across the house) to a complete halt. Cable connection nuked! (Not what I had in mind when I spent more than $1,000 on this gift.) It took hours with ATT Technical support to get the cable system working (not counting the time to uninstall the SONOS equipment).

I am quite sophisticated about computers and computing (having run MIS for a 25-attorney law firm, and having been a beta tester for major software companies). I was sure I could figure it out. However, SONOS Technical support was VERY hard to contact, and singularly unhelpful. Although I sent tens of E-mails over several months, I have not solved the problem. I have also not been able to actually speak to a live person (knowledgeable or otherwise).

When SONOS E-mailed me (in lieu of live communication with a human being) I found out that one cannot just "reply." One must hit <reply> and then type whatever one wants to say between two special symbols in the SONOS message. Nothing typed elsewhere can be recognized. When I tried to type text in a word processor and paste it between the magical symbols, SONOS replied it could not read what I was saying. I stripped out all the formatting codes, pasted just the text without formatting codes. SONOS still couldn't read my reply. It is hard enough to solve technical problems. One does not appreciate having to "fight the system" to merely describe the issues one is experiencing.

By research on the internet I found a white paper by a tech guru who seemed to know why the problem was occurring. I forwarded it to SONOS, and asked them whether this could be the cause of the incompatibility problem. They wouldn't say "Yes" or "No." They just replied with the equivalent of "Well if you want to try that we don't really have a problem. Please let us know if it works."

The solution involved (a) buying a particular brand of industrial router ($250 on E-Bay, about $800 list), and (b) turning off the internal wireless network that comes with the ATT U-Verse system. I did so. It worked, but the internal cooling fans of the router (when I said "industrial" I really meant it) sound like a Cessna revving for take off. The recipient of my SONOS gift can't stand the noise, so I needed another (quieter) solution. (Though it does tend to confirm the white paper was right about the SONOS v. AT&T U-Verse conflict, which caused ATT U-Verse to stop working when the SONOS system was installed.)

I have bought yet another router. Using it, I can't even access the SONOS music library. I think this problem is solvable. Unfortunately I now can't communicate with SONOS at all, because I changed my own E-mail account. Though I sent an E-mail to SONOS in advance telling them this change would happen, the SONOS computer (which does the E-mail replies) told me it can't recognize my new E-mail address. I went back to my old address. However, the SONOS system wouldn't recognize that either. Currently SONOS rejects messages from both accounts (assuring me that this is a protection of my privacy). Gee, Thanks!

I have dealt with customer support for many tech companies since I first started using PC's in early 80's. No customer response has been as wooden as SONOS. I understand cost-effectiveness is critical, but I spent more than $1,000. Don't I deserve at least one live phone conversation? Let me be clear. Of all the tech support departments I have dealt with working with computer companies for more than 30 years, I consider SONOS to be the worst.

SONOS hardware may be great. Their technological solution may be elegant. But I DON'T recommend you buy SONOS if you use ATT U-VERSE, unless you have the patience of Job, and an electrical engineering degree from MIT. (If you are, and you do buy, after you figure a work-around, could you please contact me to help me redeem my reputation with the recipient of my gift?)

(So you can evaluate this review, I will let you know I am not just a gadfly who complains about anything. Although I have used Amazon for years, this is the first negative review I have ever posted.)

I have a huge collection of MP3s that I've been collecting over the years. I also like to stream Pandora and Rhapsody. My problem has always been: How do I get my collection of music from my computer in my bedroom to my high-quality home stereo in my family room? And how do I do it easily--with an easy-to-use interface? And how do I do this while preserving the best sound fidelity?

I've researched this topic for over a year and finally sprung the $350 for the Sonos ZonePlayer ZP90 because (although a bit more expensive) it gets the highest consumer reviews.

Here's what's amazing about this product:

1) Easy Set Up

I always assume the setup is going to be a lot harder than "they" say. Not with the ZonePlayer. Clear instructions, all the required cables, and easy software setup. I was able to point the Sonos software directly to my collection of music--which was a breeze. Then the Sonos software quickly communicated with the ZonePlayer through my home network without a hitch. Full setup took me approximately 15 minutes.

2) Nearly Endless Music Choices

Since the ZonePlayer can access the MP3s on my hard drive, my music accounts on the internet (Rhapsody and Pandora), and a slew of internet radio stations, the music possibilities seem endless. Mind you, Rhapsody is a subscription service that I pay about $15 per month for.

During setup, the software asked my what my postal code is. Why? Because besides all the free national radio stations it can stream, it has a section of my local radio stations. Open up the local radio station section and the full spectrum of local radio stations is there for me to choose from. Pretty cool.

Besides Rhapsody and Pandora, the ZonePlayer can access several other radio "services" including IHeartRadio, Napster, Last.fm, etc.

3) Folder-Tree Hierarchy

While the software shows my MP3 music collection in typical id3 tag categories (genre, album, artist, etc.) like an ipod does, it also shows me my collection in the same folder-tree hierarchy that I have on my computer. In other words, I've arranged and made my own categories for music on my hard drive, i.e., Pop/Rock, Easy Listening, Celtic, Country, Soundtracks, etc. and I don't want the Sonos software to "mix that up." For those with large, well-organized collections, this is a godsend.

4) Turns your iPhone into a full-functioning, easy-to-use remote

My iPhone automatically connects to my home wireless network whenever I'm in proximity to my home. With the free Sonos iPhone app, my iPhone becomes a fully-functioning remote! Funny thing is--you can buy a Sonos remote for $350 that is the same size as an iPhone...OR you can simply download the free app and use your iPhone as a FREE remote. With my iPhone I can access my MP3s, choose songs on Rhapsody, make and play new radio stations on Pandora, and do nearly everything I could do with the Sonos software on my PC.

The genius of all this is that my PC, the ZonePlayer, and my iPhone are all network devices on my LAN that can "talk" to each other seamlessly and instantly. I can kick back on my couch in front of my stereo system, iPhone in hand, and control all my music including volume.

5) Amazing High Fidelity

(Audiophiles will always argue at this point that MP3s are incapable of true high fidelity, but let's just talk about "normal" people, haha.) I used to work in the video production industry and I have a keen ear for sound. Let me just say that with a great pair of speakers and a good receiver/amplifier the Sonos will give you amazing sound. My music has literally never sounded better. I immediately was able to detect nuances in my music that I could never hear before (meaning that it sounded incredibly good).

6) Seamless Integration with LAN Sources and Internet Sources

Using your iPhone or the PC software you can build a queue of songs. Those songs can be a mix of song files from your computer's hard drive and internet streaming sources such as Rhapsody. With that type of scenario, the ZonePlayer won't skip a beat. It can even cross-fade the songs between the two sources. To you, it will all just sound like great music without any detectable difference between the two.

7) Set it up as a Wired or Wireless Solution.

I have not set up my network in a wireless fashion because I prefer a hard-wired solution over wireless so I can't write from personal experience on this topic. But Sonos is designed to work on its own wireless network if you prefer. This means that you can have music anywhere in your home or business where there is an electrical plug to power the device. The only part of my system that is wireless is between my iPhone and my wireless router--yet communication is immediate with no perceptible lag.

8) Multiple Music Zones are Possible with Additional ZonePlayers

I plan on expanding my system to include 2 more ZonePlayers in different rooms of my house. When I do, I'll be able to play different music in each room (and control them all with my iPhone) or sync all the music if I want to.

Summary:

Sonos nailed it with this product. It's so elegant in the sense that it works so flawlessly--with no lag--with ease--and with high fidelity.

FYI, this is my system hardware:

Gateway PC (with MP3 collection)

Netgear Router

3 mbps internet speed

Whole-house CAT5 network

Onkyo Receiver/Amplifier

JBL S38 Speakers

Sonos ZonePlayer

iPhone 4

Rhapsody subscription

Pandora account

The SONOS CONNECT is a really well thought-out and executed product. It does exactly what it needs to do, and does it extremely well. I bought it to be able to integrate my home theater setup (NAD T758 and B&W CM series speakers) with my existing Sonos setup (three PLAY:1s and one PLAY:5).

Since I love the DAC in my NAD T758, I opted to pipe out a digital signal from the CONNECT to my NAD via an optical cable. As expected, music streaming from Spotify, or any another source I'm using in the SONOS app, sounds incredible through my system.

A cool bonus feature of the CONNECT is its ability to accept a line-in signal. I have the RCA audio out from my TiVo running into the CONNECT. This allows me to pipe audio from the "big game" around the house. This sounds ridiculous, but it is actually very nice for when we have guests over to watch a game and we are entertaining throughout the TV room, kitchen and dining room (which are all open to each other). We don't need to blast the main speakers near the TV for everyone to hear the game now, no matter where in the house they might be.

Another great thing about the CONNECT for my specific application is that it lives right next to my router. The CONNECT has the ability to act like a BRIDGE unit. This allows me to hardwire into my internet connection and allow the rest of my Sonos speakers to connect via the Sonos mesh network—not putting any additional strain on my WiFi network. Sweet!

I dinged one star from this review because this product seems over priced. Sure, it's great, but $350 great? No. I bought it because it felt like a waste to have my $3000+ home theater go un-used if I wanted to use the rest of my Sonos speakers. This really feels like a $150 component. While I am still a huge Sonos supporter, I feel like they are exploiting their customers who desire a product like this. They know their system primarily appeals to audiophiles and gadget/gear heads that probably have already invested in an expensive home theater—and since there are no alternatives—we will literally pay whatever (or at least $350) to be able to use Sonos with our existing systems.

Like many others, I bought this unit to replace my Squeezebox infrastructure, which Logitech unceremoniously abandoned (now I have three Squeezebox units gathering dust). The Squeezebox platform was ALWAYS squirrely; you could never depend on it in a pinch (i.e., a party) because you never knew if this would be another day when the unit would refuse to acknowledge the local network.

Squeezebox = super squirrely. However, when it DID work, the sound was superb. That's why I stuck with it for so long. But all good things come to an end (especially with Logitech), so I selected the Sonos unit as a Squeezebox replacement.

Setup was incredibly simple and immediately successful (if you've ever set up a Squeezebox, you'll certainly appreciate the Sonos). I pointed it to my Network-Attached-Storage (NAS) device and it immediately began scanning it for music files (it currently holds around 65,000). After a bit under an hour, it finished the job, and everything appeared in the Sonos app.

The Squeezebox would sometimes object to being on Wi-Fi when the NAS was wired, and vice versa. The Sonos didn't care; it immediately made itself known on the network and it immediately recognized my NAS (a Synology Diskstation 213j with twin two-terabyte "red" Western Digital drives).

Sound quality: Others have complained about the quality of the DAC (digital-to-analog converter) inside the Sonos. I can't speak to that because I bypassed it entirely by using a digital connection between it and my Denon receiver. If your receiver accepts digital input, this is definitely the way to go.

The sound quality of the Sonos is identical to the Squeezebox -- not surprising since I used a digital connection to the Squeezebox as well. I can tell you that the digitally delivered sound is considerably better than that delivered analog-fashion via a cheap RCA cable (or even a "top of the line" audio cable). When it comes to moving digitally encoded music from source to receiver, skipping analog altogether is definitely the way to go.

Price: Way too high. I agree with others who have pointed out that there's no reason for this unit to be as pricey as it is. It's a small plastic box with electronics inside. No knobs, no mechanics (other than three buttons on the front). Nothing really justifies the cost.

Except for the fact that we keep paying it. The unit is reliable (so far), the interface is solid (so far), and it elegantly solves the problem of delivering locally sourced files to your sound system. The fact that it seamlessly integrates with other music services (which the Squeezebox did not) is also a delight. Before the Sonos, I used my Echo Dot connected via an analog cable to my receiver; now I can do the same thing digitally through the Sonos. The sound coming from Amazon music is now far superior.

An admittedly pricey solution that does its job well. Definitely recommended.

I've always wanted whole house, zoned audio. I have the necessary skills and knowledge to install it and have actually designed it about 3 times! But I'm lazy and have never put any of those designs to use. So I've been looking at Sonos for about 3 years as an alternative. Finally, I ordered a Play:1 to use as a "portable around the house" speaker and this Connect to hook up to my AVR in my media room. I received the Play:1 first, so I followed the wireless setup instructions and was connected in just a few minutes. I immediately fell in love. The sound from such a small device is great. Even though it's small, it has good weight to it, so it doesn't feel cheap either. It's great for casual listening, background listening in small to medium rooms.

I'm not familiar with the older versions of the Android app, but I have zero problems with this one. Of course, every app could be "better" if you wish you could do something that it can't or in a different way that it does (like the way you get to the EQ settings, for example), but I think it works great overall. I had a small complaint about it not supporting multiple accounts of one service, but they recently added that capability. Some hate it and think of it as a security hole, but I love the fact that I can tell visitors who want to listen to just download the app and get on my wifi. It's created a wonderful social listening environment. No one has to ask me to play something. They can just play whatever they want and we all hear the music we want.

Once I received my Connect, I connected it to my AVR in my media closet where I also have a network switch. I was afraid that it would not automatically transition from streaming over my normal wifi network to using it's own, so I had planned on factory resetting the Play:1 and starting over. But instead, I just went ahead and plugged an Ethernet cable into it, connected it to my AVR, and plugged in the power and it "just worked" after the normal simple setup of a new device. I figured out how to verify, and found out it was now using the Sonos wifi to reach the Play:1 instead of my normal wifi. Great!

Nothing else much to say about it that hasn't been said, but I definitely recommend the Connect!

I am now designing a new whole house system with various Sonos components. It's against my normal preference of building non-proprietary systems, but I have to say that I like the way they've done this one. That and based on the fact that they've been doing this for a long time, I have enough confidence that Sonos will be supporting this for a good amount of time in the future. Let's hope I'm right!

As far as the price, it seems high. But when I used it for the first time instead of my other methods of getting music from my phone to my AVR, it was instantly worth it! I would buy a lot more Sonos products right now if they were less espensive. But the thing is that I am still going to buy them, it will just take longer. Bottom line, they priced it at a point to keep customers buying over the long term instead of just buying everything right now and nothing else in the future. I can't be mad at them for that.

I received my Sonus Bridge and Zone Player yesterday. Both boxes were small, compact and thoughtfully designed. The units themselves are elegant and the start-up documentation is easy to understand. You have to attach the bridge to a LAN port on your router and plug the Zone Player into whatever it will control. In my case I attached the audio output on the Zone Player via RCA cables to the AUX input on my Tuner/Amp. Both units have to be attached to power. There are other configuration choices, but that worked for me, and I expect that's probably the most generic choice. Digital audio is also provided, if that works for you.

After hooking up, you insert the setup CD into the drive and try to run the setup program. At that point everything fell apart for me. The software attempted to update, but for some reason the updates kept timing out. I was able to contact Sonus customer service via live chat and we struggled with the problem for quite a while without resolving it. I tried downloading the controller software directly from the Sonus website, but that failed as well. In the end I made fourteen separate attempts to download the software, each one timing out after 5 to 30 minutes. I was getting pretty frustrated at that point, so I started another download and went off to bed. At 5:00 AM I went to check, and that one had failed, too. But I started another one and the download completed at a high speed in just a couple minutes. I never found out what the difficulty was - a network problem or Sonus server. It just went away.

Once the controller is up, you register with Sonus and click the connect button on the Bridge. Then you have to also click two buttons on the Zone Player. At that point you are talking to the boxes via the controller.

The next item is creating the Sonus database (index). There are some tradeoffs with the approach here. Sonus could probably have used the Mac/Windows file system or the iTunes database, but in order to make their system fast they chose to implement their own database for "instant" lookup. It is blazing fast on my system - no perceptible delay. Here's the tradeoff: that only works if you tell Sonus every time you add new music so that they can update their index file. It's easy and quick to do, but it does add another step. So now you have to manage your music in iTunes, in other files if you have them, and in Sonus as well. I also noticed that not all changes I made in iTunes were reflected in Sonus. For instance, I changed the genre on a CD from "country" to "bluegrass", which indicated correctly on iTunes, but the update was never reflected on Sonus even though I requested an index update. Probably the best thing to do is make sure you are happy with your data before telling Sonus to update. Also, I do not see all my playlists reflected in Sonus, and I like to make playlists in iTunes since they have a much more powerful query facility to create smart playlists. I'm still investigating that, but right now it doesn't work.

Those nits aside, I LOVE the fact that the system has excellent sound. There is no suggestion at all that it is wireless. I command the controller and the stereo responds. I like the user interface as well. It's intuitive and powerful. One thing that I do find to be weak is the equalization control. It just gives two ranges (bass and treble) with loudness selectable as on or off. But that's minor and you can always set the equalizer on your amplifier.

One of the best things about the system is the ease of using Pandora and other music services. Sonus also allows easy access to real radio stations all over the planet, and their built-in search makes finding them trivial.

I'm very satisfied and if you're technical enough to set up iTunes and understand the Sonus product literature (which you definitely should read before buying to make sure you're getting the correct product) then you will like it, too.

This connect worked out great! Was able to link my current 5.1 surround sound set up with my sonos play bar that I bought and put in the main living room! Now I can listen to the same music in both rooms or listen to music separately in both rooms its perfect! Yes sonos is pricey but their products are quality and software/apps work fast and snappy and it's a really easy and streamlined way to use media in your home!

Excelente, ahora puedo conectar el sonido de mi amplificador junto con las bocinas sonos.

Excelente producto, lo volveria a comprar

Great little device, hooked up to my marantz pm 7005 amp and great to stream internet radio, iphone / pod etc. or digital music from your library. Easy to setup and app control straight forward. This little unit does not have the built in amp and was $100 or so less. If you don't have a dedicated amp, you may need to pony up for the Sonos Connect AMP (or whatever they call it).

Very happy with my purchase.

Para mi casa