The Sonos Play is the third portable speaker in Sonos’ lineup, joining the Roam 2 and Move 2 as the brand builds out a proper away-from-home range. Sonos Play retails for S$549, available through TCAcoustic, the Sonos flagship store at Wheelock Place, or from official Lazada and Shopee stores. Sonos Play slots between its portable siblings with clear positioning – bigger and louder than the S$329 Roam 2, while more portable and cheaper than the S$799 Move 2.
Build quality and design
Sonos Play doesn’t look like your typical “portable speaker” as it’s shaped more like an elliptical cylinder than your typical pill-bottle shaped Bluetooth speakers. The Play comes in three colours – Black, White, and Sand; with my unit being the white variant. Build quality wise, this is as good as any Sonos speaker. The material feels premium and great to the touch. This matte plastic does seem to attract more dust and lint though, but fingerprints are kept mostly at bay. Being designed as portable speaker, Sonos Play carries an IP67 rating, which is a better than the Move 2’s IP56, meaning it can handle tougher water and dust elements.
Sonos Play is a fairly dense portable speaker at 1.3kg, measuring roughly 19cm tall by 11cm wide. Pick it up and you immediately notice it’s heavier than its size suggests. The rounded curvatures of the speaker does offer a really nice grip for your hand. There’s a removable silicone utility loop on the side for extra grip or for looping your finger in to carry.
Round the back, there’s a physical mic switch that fully cuts power to the microphone hardware, which is nice privacy addition for any concerned about an always-listening speaker in a bedroom. The USB-C port does more than getting the speaker charged. If you have the Sonos Line-In Adapter, you’d be able connect the Play to a device that only supports lined connection. This also is great for longevity as the speaker won’t be obsolete if Sonos stops supporting it in the future. Sonos Play can even double as a power bank to top up your phone’s battery in a pinch. The top of Sonos Play offers convenient media controls of play/pause, back/forward, as well as one to call your assistant.
Battery life and connectivity
Sonos rates the Play for 24 hours of battery life, which is around what I mostly experienced before needing to dock it on the included charging base. If you play music at really loud volumes (for eg/ outdoor gatherings) then that number is expected to go down. The charging base is a great addition as it makes it really convenient to charge the Play, and has a large anti-slip base to keep it stable. On this topic, Sonos should have included the power adapter in the box since the charging base requires at least an USB-C PD compliant 18W power adapter to work – and not every house has one spare lying around.
Another plus point on longevity is that the battery is user-replaceable. This allows you can extend the Play‘s usable life instead of tossing the whole unit once the cell degrades. Can’t seem to find a listing for it on TCAcoustic page but I’m sure the replaceable battery is available for purchase.
Sound quality
Inside, you get two angled tweeters and a single midwoofer, driven by class-H amplifiers tuned to the speaker’s shape. Not that this isn’t a true 360-degree speaker so positioning still matters if you want it sounding its best. Having said that the Sonos Play holds up reasonably well from most angles in a room.
Out of the box, the tuning leans smooth rather than aggressive. There is good separation between bass and mids with good amount of clarity and detail in vocals, which delivers a clean sound signature that doesn’t fatigue over long listening sessions. Bass is actually really good for its size, and has an impactful punch that doesn’t feel too weak. You do start to lose a bit of that bass depth then you start cranking up the volume. I don’t have the Sonos Era 100, but given the larger size vs Play – I’d think the Era 100 will deliver a more rounded and powerful sound, with bass retaining the level of oomph at higher volumes.
App and other features
Setup runs through the Sonos app, same as the rest of their lineup where you can do standard customisations EQ. What’s unique on the Sonos Play is the Automatic TruePlay (this requires the microphone to be switched on) where the speaker listens to how sound bounces around whatever room it’s in and quietly re-tunes the EQ on its own, no waving your phone around required. It’s a small thing, but it means the Play consistently sounds decent whether it’s sitting on an open kitchen counter or tucked into a corner of your living room.
Another solid feature is Bluetooth grouping which allows you to group more than two or more Play speakers together and have them play in unison. While at home on Wi-Fi, if you own two Play speakers you can setup a proper stereo pair.
Using your Sonos Play as surrounds
With the new Sonos 27 update, you can now use Sonos portable speakers (Play or Move) as surrounds in a Sonos home theatre setup. This is a much welcome update and makes the Sonos Play such a versatile speaker. I only have one unit of the Sonos Play so I can’t exactly test the overall experience out but given how the Play sounds I think it will do the job well. Not every house have the flexibility the install a pair of Era 100 or One due to the need of power cable, so the ability to use a portable Sonos Play as surrounds gives you the option to create a temporary home theatre setup whenever you are watching movies. For me, this feature alone makes the S$549 price tag a little more justifiable especially when you compare it to the Era 100 at S$369.
Conclusion
At S$549, you will be paying for portability premium for the Sonos Play. Whether or not the Play is for you depends on your lifestyle habits. If you believe you will regular move speakers around the house or bring it outdoors, the Sonos Play versatility is probably worth paying over the cheaper (and probably better sounding) Era 100. Moreover, with its new ability to be used as surrounds in a Sonos home theatre setup, the Sonos Play might actually be the better option for those who value flexibility.