{"id":620585,"date":"2026-04-21T03:58:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T03:58:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/620585\/"},"modified":"2026-04-21T03:58:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T03:58:13","slug":"a-great-speaker-in-a-small-package","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/620585\/","title":{"rendered":"A great speaker in a small package"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sonos has always managed to make great products for multi-room audio (though, not necessarily always great apps). But the problem with making seemingly indestructible speakers is that the lack of planned obsolescence means that eventually, people will have enough speakers to fill their home. That is, presumably, why Sonos has spent the last few years making speakers (and headphones) for users to take out of their homes.<\/p>\n

The Sonos Move 2<\/a> is a great speaker, but one you wouldn\u2019t want to carry too far. The Sonos Roam<\/a> is a good little speaker, super portable, but not really enough to fill a garden party; it\u2019s more for those people you hate at the beach.<\/p>\n

The Sonos Play is here to be the Goldilocks of the Sonos portables. It\u2019s not too big to carry around, but not so small that it lacks the details. But, is it any good?<\/p>\n

Table of contentsFirst impressions<\/p>\n

I was surprised by how compact the Sonos Play is. For some reason, I pictured something a bit larger. It looks like someone artfully cut a Sonos Play One in half.<\/p>\n

Taking it out of the box was a pleasant experience, and it was easy to set up through the Sonos app. However, what surprised me is that there is no wall plug in the box. I can understand the justification for phones not coming with a wall plug \u2014 most people are upgrading from an old phone and already have a charger. Headphones, I can even almost forgive because they don\u2019t have to be plugged in all the time.<\/p>\n

\"SonosRemember to BYO wall plug when charging. Image: Alice Clarke.<\/p>\n

However, a speaker that\u2019s likely going to be plugged in most of the time, so people can listen to music indoors? That needs to come with a wall plug. Not including one in the box is a cheap cop out. Especially since the Play doesn\u2019t seem to easily charge on any old wall plug \u2014 my review unit has had issues with two of my plugs so far, because most older plugs cap out at 15W. This, frankly, isn\u2019t good enough on a $500 speaker.<\/p>\n

Sonos Play specifications and pricePrice$499WarrantyOne year in addition to your Australian Consumer Law rightsOfficial websiteSonos Australia<\/a>Battery24 hours battery life
Battery is user-replaceableWaterproof ratingIP67Wall plug minimum requirement18WAmplifiersThree Class-H digital amplifiersSpeaker driversTwo tweeters, one mid-wooferDimensionsHeight: 192.3 mm
Width: 112.5 mm
Depth: 76.7 mmWeight1.3kgConnectivityWi-Fi 6
USB-C (works with line-in adapter)
Apple AirPlay 2
Bluetooth 5.3<\/p>\n

All those specs look great. But I really want to highlight that the built-in battery is user-replaceable. It\u2019s not one designed to be switched out all the time, but when the lithium battery inevitably stops being able to hold a charge, you can just get it out with a screwdriver and chuck in a new battery in around five minutes, judging by the manual.<\/p>\n

Sustainability is all about not just making new landfill, and I\u2019m so pleased to see a brand that doesn\u2019t want users to just chuck their product in the bin when it starts to slow down. It\u2019s sad that a $500 device being easily repairable is something to be praised for, rather than the norm, but that\u2019s just where we are at the moment.<\/p>\n

Wi-Fi performance<\/p>\n

I\u2019m really impressed with how the Sonos Play sounds. It\u2019s such a small speaker, and yet it puts out such big, detailed sound.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re pretty versatile, too. In Wi-Fi mode, a single Play can be used on its own, it can have a line-in connected to connect a CD or record player, you can use two as a stereo pair, or you can use them as rear speakers in a home theatre system. You can also then put them in Bluetooth mode and take them outside, but I\u2019ll cover that in the next section.<\/p>\n

Going to my testing playlist, it\u2019s obvious that this is a small speaker. The bass isn\u2019t as rich as I\u2019d usually like in a $500 speaker. However, it sounds much fuller than I\u2019d expect for a speaker this size. On \u201cSimmer\u201d by Hayley Williams, I\u2019m getting enough of the emotional punch, even if I do have to turn it up really loud to get proper detail on the snare ghost notes.<\/p>\n

\"SonosImage: Alice Clarke.<\/p>\n

The song from my testing playlist that sounds best is, surprisingly, \u201cGeorgiana\u201d by Dario Marianelli. It\u2019s a piano song that\u2019s bright and joyous, and the emotion and subtleties come through beautifully.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe You Saved Me\u201d by Bad Suns & Pvris is a song full of layers, and each of them shines here much more than I\u2019d ever dare hope from a speaker this small. I can only assume Sonos has made some kind of bargain with a deity to make it work this well, and frankly, I think it was worth it.<\/p>\n

That said, it is easy to hear the difference between the Sonos Era 100<\/a> and the Play. This soundstage is much smaller, there\u2019s less bass, and the hi-hats sound tinny by comparison in \u201cParalysed\u201d by Conquer Divide, for example. If I wanted a speaker that would only stay in one place, I would save the almost $200 and just buy the Era 100. It\u2019s similar with the Move 2, and were I only taking it outside very occasionally, or not very far, and I had the cash to spend, I would get the Move 2, to enjoy the punchier bass.<\/p>\n

But for what it is and the purpose it\u2019s designed for, I think the Play makes surprisingly few audio concessions to find the right balance.<\/p>\n

Bluetooth performance<\/p>\n

As expected, the audio quality takes a bit of a dip when taken out of Wi-Fi and onto Bluetooth, because it\u2019s getting a lower bitrate version of the song. It\u2019s actually a great example of why audiophiles go on and on about CD quality and why wired and Wi-Fi are always better.<\/p>\n

The first thing I notice is that some of the layers of \u201cMaybe You Saved Me\u201d evaporate. Yet still the speaker has so much more oomph (and better tuning) than the UE Boom and Beats Pill.<\/p>\n

Again, it\u2019s a small step down from the Move 2, and an absolutely massive leap up from the Sonos Roam.<\/p>\n

Being able to group it with multiple Play and Move speakers on Bluetooth means that chores in the garden, beach parties, and backyard barbecues don\u2019t just have to have one spot that\u2019s way too loud and diminishing returns on the music throughout the rest of the space. They can be placed more evenly for better sound and happier guests. Testing it with a couple of Plays, I am extremely impressed with how easy it was to set up and enjoy.<\/p>\n

The Auto TruePlay meant that no matter where I moved the speaker to, within a few minutes, the speaker was automatically tuned to make the best of the environment. TruePlay is Sonos\u2019 technology where you set up your speakers and then walk around the space with an iPhone to calibrate how the echoes and surfaces affect the sound so the speaker can adjust for it. Auto TruePlay, which uses the built-in microphones to automatically calibrate periodically, isn\u2019t as precise, but it is still extremely effective and doesn\u2019t require you to actually do anything. And I love not doing anything.<\/p>\n

Portability<\/p>\n

The Sonos Play really does strike the perfect balance between good audio and being small enough to carry around without really having to think about it. The Sonos Roam is so easy to chuck in a bag and take anywhere, but it requires a lot of concessions for the audio. The Move 2 sounds better, but it is big and heavy and represents a commitment if you have to carry it often or a long way.<\/p>\n

Play, however, is just 1.3kg. It\u2019s a bit too heavy to carry around every day or on a multi-day hike, but not so heavy that you wouldn\u2019t want to take it camping. It\u2019s also not going to take up the whole cavity of a backpack; it\u2019s compact enough that I would feel comfortable taking it in my carry-on on a plane to use in a hotel.<\/p>\n

\"SonosThis speaker balances size and portability well enough to suit different uses. Image: Alice Clarke.<\/p>\n

The way the dock is designed, it makes it even easier to just pick up the speaker as you leave the house, and then put it back down to charge and be used as part of the general home Sonos system as soon as you get back. Wireless charging is hardly new, but it really makes sense for this product, and I\u2019m surprised not to see more portable speakers taking advantage of the technology.<\/p>\n

Who is the Sonos Play for?<\/p>\n

This is the perfect speaker for people who want to kill two birds with one stone: It\u2019s great for listening at home, and then so easy to take out and about. It is a speaker for a specific need, though. If you want a pure Bluetooth speaker for using outside the home, there are cheaper speakers with comparable sound quality. If you want a speaker purely for home use, the Sonos Era 100 is a better call.<\/p>\n

But for those who want a speaker that often seamlessly transitions from inside to outside, with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, that is actually portable, then I strongly recommend the Sonos Play. If you don\u2019t have a Sonos system yet, this is still a great choice and a perfect way to start one.<\/p>\n

The Sonos Play is an excellent portable and home speaker in the Goldilocks zone of being large enough to sound good, and small enough to actually be portable.<\/p>\n

Positives<\/p>\n

Very portable<\/p>\n

User-replaceable battery<\/p>\n

Sounds good<\/p>\n

Solid battery life<\/p>\n

Negatives<\/p>\n

A bit expensive<\/p>\n

The Sonos app is still clunky and doesn\u2019t work as well as it should<\/p>\n

Doesn\u2019t come with a wall plug in the box<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sonos has always managed to make great products for multi-room audio (though, not necessarily always great apps). But…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":620586,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[64,63,264086,105],"class_list":{"0":"post-620585","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-technology","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-sonos","11":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620585","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=620585"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620585\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/620586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=620585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=620585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=620585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}