It makes using Sonos feel much more natural, particularly if you, say, use Spotify on your phone on the way to work. You can also set alarms using the app, although as there’s no snooze function you’d better be good at getting out of bed.

The Sonos Five is a hefty beast with a smart, slightly curved grille on the front. (Image credit: TechRadar)Assuming you do get the intended spacious sound, you’ll find it’s combined with bass that’s punchy, authoritative and energetic. The bass here is far more natural and tonally expressive than that of the Playbar, which feels as though it’s compensating hard for its diminutive chassis and sounds a little artificial as a result.

Sonos has tweaked its software over the couple of years since the second-gen Play:5 release (and it will be getting the controversial Sonos S2 update in May 2020), but set-up is as simple as ever. In traditional Sonos style, the Five is not interested in a shy, retiring sound – it's here to bring the bass and make you feel it, and we're not complaining. However (and we've said this before) it's important to note that we like it more if you can use TruePlay tuning, and not everyone is granted that privilege. Treble is a little soft, without the piercing clarity you often get with a dedicated tweeter. However, I take this as a sign Sonos has done its best to work with the compromises of a relatively small speaker, to make it sound as big and satisfying as possible.Control your favorite music sources and listening experience with the free, intuitive Sonos Controller apps for iPad® iPhone®, Android™, Mac and PC. The rear of the Sonos Five reveals its power cable, Ethernet and 3.5mm ports –so your turntable is catered for too. (Image credit: TechRadar) Sonos Five review: Features In fact, rival soundbars and soundbases that accept almost any signal via HDMI and then send the video to your TV are arguably more simple, as they don’t require you to particularly think about the sound formats being used at every link in the chain.

Do bear in mind, though, this width can be helped or hindered by the size, shape and furnishings of your room, because this is a system that relies upon bouncing sound off walls. Take two identical speakers – the Sonos One, Play:1, Play:3 and both generations of Play:5 are all stereo compatible

At least everything else about the setup process is simple, with the Sonos app having a step-by-step guide complete with simple instructions, diagrams and even videos. During the process you’ll assign the Playbase to a room of your house, program it so the volume can be controlled via your TV’s standard remote and, if you’re an iPhone user, tune the sound to your room using Sonos Trueplay. See those little feet –on the side?! It can be positioned upright too, you see, to create a stereo pair comprising two Fives or as part of a home theater system with a Sonos Arc, say. (Image credit: TechRadar) Sonos Five review: Sound quality For more information about Sonos or to locate an authorized Sonos dealer in your area, please visit www.sonos.com or call 877.80.SONOS. One more consideration and we'll move on, we promise. It's just that if you were looking to buy a second Sonos Five to create a stereo pair, the KEF LSX stereo speaker system (and brand new LSX II) is closely priced and boasts a more comprehensive connectivity spec-sheet and hi-res capabilities out the box. For sound quality, the Sonos Five actually isn't just good value, it's absolutely great value. But it's a case of different strokes for different folks; if Bluetooth streaming is important to you and you own an Android phone, you should look elsewhere.

Head into the drop down menu at the top of the screen labelled ‘Room Settings for’ and choose the speakers you’d like to pair The Sonos Play:1 is easily the most accessible speaker Sonos has made, though. It’s the prettiest, the smallest and the cheapest. This is an attractive and well-made app, but many find the restrictive Sonos approach annoying. It also has worse music discovery than the average streaming app. Spotify users can now stream directly from the Spotify app, though, as you would with a Bluetooth speaker. For the replacement, Sonos lost the port and went for a sealed architecture, increasing the acoustic volume to allow it to go louder and lower in the bass. Sonos says the Play:5 is capable of deeper, cleaner bass than even the Playbar– quite an achievement for a product around one-third of the size.

Sonos' biggest wireless speaker is kind of a big deal generally

The Sonos Play:1 is a great little speaker. We have no hesitation in recommending the Play:1 if you find the Play:5 too pricey. It works just like any other Sonos Play-series speaker, and offers excellent sound for both the size and price. In the early days of the Sonos system you had to buy a bridge to connect your speakers to your home Wi-Fi. But now it’s much more like a standard wireless speaker. Sonos is also less closed-off than it used to be. Until 2016, all music selection for your Play:1 had to be done through the Sonos app. You don't get any built-in voice assistant here, unlike the Sonos Beam or Sonos Arc. No Alexa, no Google Assistant, and no Sonos Voice Control. That is because there's no mic at all, which seems a little bizarre given Sonos' recent focus on its proprietary Sonos Voice rollout, but there we are. The other major advantage that the Playbase has over almost any other rival (barring the Beam or Playbar of course) is that it’s got the full breadth of features that you’d get with any other Sonos speaker, namely seamless, simple multi-room integration and almost limitless musical options.