1
00:00:06,640 --> 00:00:13,440
with its Factory tuning and data center DNA an Intel 730 series SSD is an

2
00:00:11,599 --> 00:00:18,640
amazing choice for gamers and performance enthusiasts welcome to part two of my

3
00:00:16,760 --> 00:00:23,359
coverage of Sonos Play series of network speakers in part one which you can view

4
00:00:20,519 --> 00:00:28,000
here I covered wired setup ease of use the basics of their app and the sound

5
00:00:25,359 --> 00:00:30,560
quality of the play 1 and the Play 3 this time we're going to start with the

6
00:00:29,199 --> 00:00:36,600
wireless experience now last time because apparently I'm an idiot I hooked up every single speaker

7
00:00:34,440 --> 00:00:40,559
separately via Ethernet thinking that you needed their bridge in order to run

8
00:00:38,680 --> 00:00:45,360
wirelessly or you were stuck with wired I realize now that you actually only

9
00:00:42,520 --> 00:00:49,680
need to plug any one component in via Ethernet and it will act as the

10
00:00:47,440 --> 00:00:54,199
controller while the rest will simply join a mesh style wireless network

11
00:00:51,800 --> 00:00:59,280
automatically so you only need to run power to them so the bridge is meant to

12
00:00:56,640 --> 00:01:03,440
be a controller for folks who can't get an Ethernet cable to any of their ideal

13
00:01:01,239 --> 00:01:07,600
speaker locations to get the mesh going or for folks who want to extend its

14
00:01:05,439 --> 00:01:13,000
reach without installing random intermediate speakers between two more

15
00:01:09,960 --> 00:01:15,560
distance ones live and learn right

16
00:01:13,000 --> 00:01:20,360
anyway while generally I'm not a big fan of Wireless networking's slow

17
00:01:17,840 --> 00:01:24,920
interference ridden headache inducing terribleness music streaming isn't

18
00:01:22,400 --> 00:01:30,200
terribly demanding and Sonos is solution which runs on the same 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz

19
00:01:28,000 --> 00:01:35,399
frequencies as Wi-Fi but using as a proprietary communication protocol

20
00:01:32,079 --> 00:01:37,200
actually works just fine it is slower

21
00:01:35,399 --> 00:01:42,399
adding new speakers to the mesh adjusting settings changing volume these

22
00:01:39,840 --> 00:01:46,680
are all a little bit less responsive but it's still very tolerable and reasonably

23
00:01:44,640 --> 00:01:50,680
configurable so like if you're having interference issues you can manually

24
00:01:48,520 --> 00:01:55,040
select a channel if you want but I didn't experience any stutters hiccups

25
00:01:52,840 --> 00:01:59,640
or dropouts in my house with it on auto and I think part of the reason for that

26
00:01:56,560 --> 00:02:00,759
is they have a huge buffer on the music

27
00:01:59,640 --> 00:02:06,200
that you're playing if you're streaming off a device you can test this by playing something off your phone turning

28
00:02:04,719 --> 00:02:11,080
off your Wi-Fi and seeing how long the speaker keeps playing for so there you

29
00:02:08,920 --> 00:02:14,680
go this little white box with its two Port switch is something that I'd

30
00:02:12,360 --> 00:02:18,280
consider handy but very very optional because in most cases the wireless

31
00:02:16,480 --> 00:02:23,440
speaker experience is just as good without it so let's move on to the other

32
00:02:20,160 --> 00:02:25,720
stuff that they sent us oh yeah the

33
00:02:23,440 --> 00:02:29,400
playar speaker bar is designed to let you use Sonos gear as a replacement for

34
00:02:27,599 --> 00:02:34,160
your TV's built-in speakers or more traditional aftermarket setup but just

35
00:02:31,720 --> 00:02:39,159
like the room speakers the key here is going to be ease of setup and once again

36
00:02:37,040 --> 00:02:43,760
I was impressed the software made things basically effortless I mean compared to

37
00:02:41,599 --> 00:02:47,000
my Eno receiver and CF speakers let's get this out of the way right now sonus

38
00:02:45,200 --> 00:02:51,400
the solution doesn't sound as good and actually costs about the same as I paid

39
00:02:48,519 --> 00:02:55,319
for that but the Simplicity is very compelling and it's not just simple to

40
00:02:52,800 --> 00:02:59,239
set up but also to use the play bar can be added to your mesh to play music in

41
00:02:57,120 --> 00:03:04,799
that room like any other Sonos speaker then unlike my multi- remote setup that

42
00:03:02,720 --> 00:03:09,120
my wife constantly complains about it can be configured to automatically

43
00:03:06,840 --> 00:03:14,120
override wireless speaker functionality when it receives an optical signal from

44
00:03:11,280 --> 00:03:17,720
your TV media PC game console or whatever else so you don't have to think

45
00:03:16,080 --> 00:03:21,159
about it the setup guide walks you through all these steps including how to

46
00:03:19,319 --> 00:03:25,400
use your TV as a pass through for audio from all the connected devices without

47
00:03:23,159 --> 00:03:28,879
using its own poopy speakers and it also gives you some helpful tips on

48
00:03:27,120 --> 00:03:35,799
positioning the Soundbar and this is the point at which I know that their logo is

49
00:03:31,840 --> 00:03:38,120
the same right side up and upside down

50
00:03:35,799 --> 00:03:40,879
that blew my freaking mind anyway uh once it was set up I was pretty happy

51
00:03:39,519 --> 00:03:44,480
with it volume control is handled seamlessly through your existing remote

52
00:03:42,519 --> 00:03:49,400
and it sounds way better than your TV stock speakers ever will and the base it

53
00:03:46,640 --> 00:03:55,280
delivers is surprisingly tight and loud on top of that the play bar has a magic

54
00:03:52,760 --> 00:03:58,439
give me back some of the mid-range vocal boost button when it's running on

55
00:03:56,799 --> 00:04:03,120
optical that I wish all of their speakers had all the time because it

56
00:04:00,640 --> 00:04:06,720
really makes Sonos sound signature much more appealing to me so there's my

57
00:04:04,400 --> 00:04:09,519
feature request in this video so far so good with the play bar though but it

58
00:04:07,879 --> 00:04:13,720
gets cooler than that in the same way that you can link speakers in multiple

59
00:04:11,760 --> 00:04:18,199
rooms together to synchronize playback and create stereo pairs of matching

60
00:04:15,760 --> 00:04:22,919
speakers within one room you can add a sub to your play bar and use software to

61
00:04:21,199 --> 00:04:27,440
control Its Behavior so almost recommend standing the sub upright or laying it

62
00:04:25,360 --> 00:04:30,479
down under a couch and I'm beginning to sound like a broken record here but the

63
00:04:28,759 --> 00:04:36,080
setup is as easy as is pressing a couple of buttons and yeah it was easy with

64
00:04:34,560 --> 00:04:39,240
that said I didn't really feel like the sub contributed much to the experience

65
00:04:37,720 --> 00:04:43,840
for me if you really want to crank things then you'll appreciate it but and

66
00:04:41,960 --> 00:04:48,240
this isn't a criticism of the sub but rather an endorsement of the play bar at

67
00:04:45,880 --> 00:04:52,160
normal TV and movie listening volumes for me I found that the play bar

68
00:04:50,160 --> 00:04:54,960
delivered ample base on its own the sub isn't the only thing you might want to

69
00:04:53,479 --> 00:04:59,160
expend though you can add a couple of play ones too with some solid

70
00:04:57,400 --> 00:05:03,800
configuration options so you can have them just join in full blast or act as

71
00:05:01,960 --> 00:05:08,120
ambient music enhancers when you're playing music in that room or you can

72
00:05:05,840 --> 00:05:12,320
use them as surround speakers for movies it works as well as any of their stuff

73
00:05:10,000 --> 00:05:17,360
uh one viewer did specifically ask me to see if the play bar would work with a

74
00:05:14,120 --> 00:05:18,919
DTS 5.1 stream in XBMC and it handled it

75
00:05:17,360 --> 00:05:24,919
just fine and suround so no complaints overall but even if it works exactly as

76
00:05:21,960 --> 00:05:29,120
advertised well you can expand the play bar this way I didn't find this config

77
00:05:27,440 --> 00:05:33,080
that compelling I'm not the right customer in the the first place I don't

78
00:05:31,000 --> 00:05:37,440
have enough room behind my couch to place speakers there at all but that's

79
00:05:35,440 --> 00:05:41,880
not even my main problem even if I had space I don't have a power outlet there

80
00:05:39,880 --> 00:05:47,120
so once again I'm a bit disappointed by the limitation that Sonos has imposed on

81
00:05:44,440 --> 00:05:51,440
their gear by not giving the play ones standard speaker inputs and maybe

82
00:05:49,240 --> 00:05:55,360
putting a a beefier amp with a couple of speaker wire outputs on the play bar or

83
00:05:53,319 --> 00:06:00,479
something this would make the unit slightly less Sleek perhaps but speaker

84
00:05:58,280 --> 00:06:06,199
wire is a lot easier to to hide next to a baseboard than power extension cords I

85
00:06:04,000 --> 00:06:10,639
mean maybe to make things easier a play one enhanced skew in the future could

86
00:06:08,400 --> 00:06:13,840
have like a power pass through so you could daisy chain them with only one of

87
00:06:12,520 --> 00:06:18,560
them plugged into the wall or or something but as it is I doubt I'm the

88
00:06:16,160 --> 00:06:24,199
only one who will find a Sonos surround setup impractical however easy it might

89
00:06:21,280 --> 00:06:27,280
be to configure from a software side and I guess that's it for wireless and the

90
00:06:25,720 --> 00:06:32,520
home theater setup stuff so I'm going to conclude part two with some more General

91
00:06:29,639 --> 00:06:37,599
thoughts on having my house Sonos up it's not cheap but for me this really is

92
00:06:35,639 --> 00:06:40,960
NextGen it works the way they say it does you can stream to individual

93
00:06:39,240 --> 00:06:45,599
speakers full rooms combinations of rooms you can adjust volume as groups or

94
00:06:43,680 --> 00:06:51,919
to each individual speaker within a group expansion is easy and it all feels

95
00:06:48,520 --> 00:06:55,199
so made to go together even something

96
00:06:51,919 --> 00:06:57,160
like that veiled midrange I might not

97
00:06:55,199 --> 00:07:01,160
prefer that sound but I have to acknowledge that from the top of their

98
00:06:58,879 --> 00:07:05,240
speaker line up to the bottom they're delivering that sound signature

99
00:07:02,840 --> 00:07:09,479
consistently so at least when I order something from Sonos I know what to

100
00:07:06,840 --> 00:07:13,520
expect and a big benefit here is that as I walk from room to room it's not

101
00:07:11,400 --> 00:07:17,280
jarring to hear something the same music but playing very differently as I move

102
00:07:15,199 --> 00:07:21,720
around my house I think really at this point the only thing missing for me is

103
00:07:19,199 --> 00:07:26,240
to add more options to the lineup I'd love to see some better sounding

104
00:07:23,160 --> 00:07:27,919
speakers some more uh purpose-built ones

105
00:07:26,240 --> 00:07:32,520
like maybe a weather resistant outdoor speaker for example but that's all I

106
00:07:30,360 --> 00:07:36,840
really have to say other than that I wholeheartedly recommend sons's

107
00:07:34,319 --> 00:07:41,440
ecosystem it's not perfect like anything easy it's not the best sounding it's not

108
00:07:39,360 --> 00:07:45,479
the cheapest but it just works and I even got wife approval on it and at the

109
00:07:43,720 --> 00:07:49,400
end of the day that's the bottom line for new tech gadgets isn't

110
00:07:47,199 --> 00:07:52,159
it all right guys thanks for watching like this video if you liked it dislike

111
00:07:50,759 --> 00:07:57,039
it if you disliked it leave a comment let me know your thoughts on Sonos have you ever tried it do you have positive

112
00:07:55,800 --> 00:08:00,720
comments on it do you have negative comments on it leave leave those

113
00:07:58,879 --> 00:08:04,400
comments uh in the video description you'll find our support link where you

114
00:08:02,400 --> 00:08:07,280
can give us a monthly contribution you can buy a sweet t-shirt like the one

115
00:08:06,080 --> 00:08:12,280
that I'm wearing right now we actually have some other really cool designs right now too go check those out and you

116
00:08:10,520 --> 00:08:15,520
can change your Amazon bookmark to one that has our affiliate code in it so

117
00:08:13,639 --> 00:08:19,199
whenever you just navigate there and buy stuff we get a small Kickback that kind

118
00:08:17,639 --> 00:08:24,370
of stuff helps us out a lot thanks again for watching guys as always don't forget

119
00:08:20,960 --> 00:08:27,550
to subscribe if you haven't already

120
00:08:31,039 --> 00:08:34,039
he