Sonos Debuts Cloud-Connected Play:5 Wireless Smart Speaker With Trueplay Room Tuning
It's a tough life being an audiophile. Not only is it expensive -- prohibitively so if going all out -- but it will also test your patience when it comes to finding the perfect speaker placement and sound calibration. Sonos is hoping to change that with the launch of a new flagship speaker and tuning software.
The new PLAY:5 from Sonos sports half a dozen custom-designed drivers with dedicated Class-D amplifiers. There are three mid-woofers and three tweeters to cover a full range of audio from "deep, rich bass" to "crisp and accurate" highs, and if you opt for two of the PLAY:5 speakers, you can use them as separate left and right channels or stack them for "a focused and intense sweet spot."
To get the best sound from the PLAY:5, Sonos introduced new speaker-tuning software called Trueplay. It's an iOS app that uses your iPhone or iPad to measure how sound reflects off walls, furnishings, and other surfaces in a room. Trueplay then calibrates your speaker based on the sound profile of your room.
"Trueplay is a revolutionary system that gives music lovers confidence that they’re hearing what their favorite artists labored to produce, independent of the room’s acoustics and speaker location," said CEO John MacFarlane. "Finally there’s a simple, reliable process that delivers studio-quality listening experiences in each room of the home."
The Sonos PLAY:5 speaker will be available sometime later this year for $499 MSRP. Trueplay will be a free download, though as of this moment, it doesn't work with iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus devices.
The new PLAY:5 from Sonos sports half a dozen custom-designed drivers with dedicated Class-D amplifiers. There are three mid-woofers and three tweeters to cover a full range of audio from "deep, rich bass" to "crisp and accurate" highs, and if you opt for two of the PLAY:5 speakers, you can use them as separate left and right channels or stack them for "a focused and intense sweet spot."
To get the best sound from the PLAY:5, Sonos introduced new speaker-tuning software called Trueplay. It's an iOS app that uses your iPhone or iPad to measure how sound reflects off walls, furnishings, and other surfaces in a room. Trueplay then calibrates your speaker based on the sound profile of your room.
"Trueplay is a revolutionary system that gives music lovers confidence that they’re hearing what their favorite artists labored to produce, independent of the room’s acoustics and speaker location," said CEO John MacFarlane. "Finally there’s a simple, reliable process that delivers studio-quality listening experiences in each room of the home."
The Sonos PLAY:5 speaker will be available sometime later this year for $499 MSRP. Trueplay will be a free download, though as of this moment, it doesn't work with iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus devices.
