Sonos vs wired speakers

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Sonos vs wired speakers

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Content:

• Wireless vs Wired Surround Sound Speakers
• Compare Sonos Play 5s with wired speakers
• Bluetooth vs. Wi-Fi vs. Wired Speakers: What Works Best?
• Choose between a wireless and wired Sonos setup
• Soundbar vs. speakers: Which TV audio system is best for you?
• The new Sonos Amp is coming to save your old speakers
• Guide to Wireless Speakers For Home Theaters
• The Complete Sonos Buying Guide: Every Speaker, Soundbar and Amp Explained
• Sonos’ first wired speakers are all designed to be paired with the Amp
• Connect a Sonos Speaker to a Wired Network

WATCH RELATED VIDEO: Full Sonos Arc Surround Sound System: Is it Worth It?

Wireless vs Wired Surround Sound Speakers

We use affiliate links and may receive a small commission on purchases. Read more about us. Wireless speakers have become the quiet juggernaut of the audio industry. Ever since features like Bluetooth and WiFi became commonplace, manufacturers have been tinkering, slowly freeing us from the chaos of wires and ceiling speakers and making their products better and better. But wired speakers still dominate, with proponents saying that they offer audio quality that wireless ones will never be able to match.

One of the most frequent questions we get asked is whether someone should buy wired speakers, or wireless, and we thought it was about time we talked about the pros and cons of each. The accepted knowledge, ever since wireless speakers first became available, was that wired speakers simply offered better sound quality.

The reasoning for this was quite simple. It was much, much easier to transmit greater amounts of electrical data down a physical wire than it was to send it on a wireless signal. Thus it was. Thus it was ever supposed to be. Well, that was a while ago. And while you could still make a pretty convincing argument that wired speakers deliver better audio fidelity, especially when extremely high-quality components are involved, you look a bit foolish if you denied that wireless systems weren't starting to sound pretty incredible themselves.

The gap is a lot narrower than it used to be. The difference between a high quality wireless signal and that transmitted over a wire is starting to get to the point where you have to work quite hard to find the difference. A couple of things have made this possible. Firstly, we are now able to transmit sound over WiFi, which means that we can handle a lot of data, which will improve the quality of the sound.

Secondly, Bluetooth standards have been creeping higher and higher — the latest protocols, like Bluetooth 4. Thirdly, speaker design has improved, and continues to do so. Enhanced driver technology, better power management and the like allow wireless speaker makers to more than match their wired counterparts.

None of which actually answers the question you are probably desperate to know the answer to: which is better? Wireless, or wired? There are many, many things to take into account — from room acoustics to additional components to the type of material to the quality of the cables. But while we were putting together this guide, it occurred to us that we should backup our arguments with a little bit of a test.

But we controlled what we could, relying on the same sound source, positioning them in the same place in our testing room, and playing identical tracks. We also did a blind test, getting the friend who lent us their HD6s to play the material. In addition, the speakers have very similar construction - both are roughly the same size, are constructed from the same material, and both have 5. They also have an identical frequency response.

One speaker set - later revealed to be the HD6 wireless pair - had a little bit more low-end presence, while the passive bookshelf speakers delivered a touch more detail. In both cases, the sound was perfectly acceptable.

The biggest advantage of wired speakers actually has nothing to do with sound quality, whatever audiophiles may say. No, the biggest advantage is about control. Put simply, wired speakers offer you a level of control over the finer aspects of the sound than wireless speakers do. Every digital sound system - by which we mean one where the source is digital file, streaming audio or a CD, rather than, say, vinyl records — needs two things between the source and the output device.

It needs a digital-to-analogue converter DAC , to convert digital 1s and 0s into an analogue signal that we can actually hear, and it needs an amplifier , to boost that analogue signal to acceptable levels.

They are housed within the speaker itself — they have to be. With a set of wired speakers, you have full control over these. While it does mean, of course, that you will need to buy a separate amp and DAC although there are plenty of solutions that contain both in a single box , you also get to control the ones you buy.

You may decide to go for a tube amp, to fatten up the bass on your soul and hip-hop collection, or you might opt for a solid-state amp if you want clean, digital clarity to make sure that the guitars in your rock tracks bite hard. You get to choose. With wireless speakers, that choice has been made for you. The other advantage is that wired speakers are very easy-to-use. All you need to do is connect them to an amplifier with a length of speaker wire, which a moderately intelligent chimp could probably figure out how to do.

That doesn't mean they don't have downsides. Chief among these is that you will have to deal with wires — obviously. For some, a collection of snaking cables can be a real annoyance, an annoyance which can be multiplied if you happen to be setting up are full surround sound system.

The second major downside is that you will need to do a little bit of calculation when making your purchase, to ensure that the speakers are correctly matched to the power level of your amplifier.

For us, this is absolutely the best reason to own a wireless speaker. It is so unbelievably easy. The other advantage is that a wireless system can be incredibly versatile.

You can have a single speaker, or multiple speakers dotted around the house, all talking to each other. You can, with clever software innovations like PlayFi , get speakers from different manufacturers talking to each other — something that is possible with wired speakers, where you could use two different sets of speakers on a single system, but not advised due to sound mismatching issues.

Of course, the main disadvantage is as we alluded to above: you get zero control over the amplification and conversion. Once you commit to a wireless speaker, it can be very difficult — though not impossible — to connect external equipment to it. This is by design. Admittedly, many manufacturers like SONOS and Paradigm have comprehensive sound tweaking apps available, which largely dispel this disadvantage.

That being said, the quality of external amps is generally far greater than the ones used in wireless speakers. So where does that leave you? When would you buy a wireless speaker? Well, you go for one or several if you want an easy, efficient sound system that will fit seamlessly into your existing gadget ecosystem, without any hassle or additional equipment.

They are ideal for multiple rooms, too, even in small homes. Like any audio product, different speakers have different values, as well as different prices. You are, after all, going to be buying more than one of them, and so there are a few things you need to bear in mind. The first thing, very obviously, is sound quality.

Like any audio product, there will be differences between models. Check our in-depth speaker reviews here , or our roundup of the best wireless speakers , or our take on the best bookshelf speakers here.

The second is loudness. Essentially: how loud can a speaker go? Sensitivity can be tricky, as not all manufacturers have the exact same testing standards, but they will give you a rough idea.

In this case, the PW is likely to be a little louder than the Primes, assuming the volume is the same. For wired speakers, this is pretty straightforward. Where are you actually going to put the speakers? Is your house open plan? Could two rooms conceivably be serviced by a single speaker? A good guide would be to think about how much time you spend in each room, and wherein the room you spend it.

Take the kitchen. For most of us, your writer included, the kitchen in our home is quite small. We probably only need one speaker to do the job. On the other hand, if you have a large kitchen, or into cooking, and on moving around a lot doing very noisy things with casserole pots and blenders, then two speakers may be required.

Ditto if you like having lots and lots of people over. A crowded living room with loud conversations needs a couple of well-placed speakers. Admittedly, this is more advice for wireless speakers, but hey ho.

One of the beautiful things about multiroom systems is that, as they become more and more efficient, so have the means of controlling them. They should be easy to setup, too.

You should be able to connect them to the WiFi in under a minute, and be playing music a few seconds later.

A lot of systems used to rely on built-in screens and buttons, which could make things tricky, but it is now far more common to do all the connections via an app. This should, in theory, be a breeze. Then you need to think about what the speakers look like. Normally, a good-looking speaker is a nice perk, but we are far more interested in how they perform and how easy they are to use than their aesthetics. People look at them once, and then never think about them again. Color is a big one.

Do you want your speaker to stand out, or blend into the background? You could quite conceivably get a bunch of speakers that match the colors of your house, with very little effort.

You also need to think about shape. Do they echo the surroundings, or jar with them? This is a pretty big one. That being said: we can offer some very general principles in the meantime. If you want a more in-depth look, we recommend the one put together by the folks at SVS , who make some outstanding speakers. For two-channel, wired speaker hifi systems: Put a little bit of space about a foot between the speakers and the wall.

Compare Sonos Play 5s with wired speakers

The Sonos wireless multi-room system helped revolutionise the way many of us listen to music at home. It made a whole home music system a convenient and affordable reality, delivering music to every room in your house — whether playing in unison, or separately in different zones. Sonos may not have been the very first option — and it's certainly no longer the only one — but it was the class leader for a long time thanks to its winning combination of usability, functionality and sound quality. Sonos kickstarted the idea that your music system was no longer restricted to one room or by pesky cables. You can now stream your music from a range of devices — phone, laptop, NAS drive — to multiple speakers around the home using your home wireless network. There are plenty of manufacturers offering this multi-room experience, such as the cheap-and-cheerful Audio Pro and hi-res-supporting Bluesound , but Sonos continues to be one of the leading and certainly most popular players with its long-established and well-developed multi-room family of products, from wireless speakers to soundbars, amplifiers to portable Bluetooth speakers. Here, we'll guide you through everything you need to know about Sonos and help you set up your own Sonos multi-room system

Bluetooth vs. Wi-Fi vs. Wired Speakers: What Works Best?

Your Sonos system can be configured in either a wireless or wired setup. This article will cover the difference between the two types of setups, as well as scenarios where a wired setup may yield better performance. Sonos can be configured in either a wireless or wired setup. This article will cover the differences between the two setups and provide recommendations for which setup best suits your system and home network. If you are switching between setups, see our article on switching between a wireless and wired setup for more information. Use a wireless setup if you have a strong WiFi connection that reaches all the rooms where you want Sonos. In a wired setup, at least one of your Sonos products will stay wired to the router with an Ethernet cable to create a dedicated wireless network specifically for your Sonos system. Use a wired setup if your home WiFi network is slow, unreliable, does not meet our system requirements , or does not reach all the rooms where you want Sonos.

Choose between a wireless and wired Sonos setup

We use affiliate links and may receive a small commission on purchases. Read more about us. Wireless speakers have become the quiet juggernaut of the audio industry. Ever since features like Bluetooth and WiFi became commonplace, manufacturers have been tinkering, slowly freeing us from the chaos of wires and ceiling speakers and making their products better and better. But wired speakers still dominate, with proponents saying that they offer audio quality that wireless ones will never be able to match.

Soundbar vs. speakers: Which TV audio system is best for you?

We use cookies to allow us and selected partners to improve your experience and our advertising. By continuing to browse you consent to our use of cookies. You can understand more and change your cookies preferences here. In this article. For example, all home wireless speakers will have a wire connecting the speaker to the mains for power, and most portable models currently need you to plug in a cable to charge them when their built-in rechargeable batteries are depleted. This is particularly useful for connecting older non-wireless devices such as your old record player or CD player to your new wireless speaker.

The new Sonos Amp is coming to save your old speakers

Your WiFi signal is broadcast by your wireless router, which can only handle so much traffic at any given time. If the other wireless devices in your home are very slow to load web pages or stream video, your Sonos products will be competing for attention from your already busy router, and you may experience dropouts or audio interruptions unless you have a good quality router. You can avoid these issues by buying a powerful router and investing in the higher speed tiers of your ISP. To overcome the limitations of a wireless network and perhaps save a bit of money, you can keep one of your Sonos products physically connected to your router with an Ethernet cable. This will put your system in a Wired Setup. If you find yourself increasingly fighting for bandwidth on your wireless network, for example, streaming movies or gaming is choppy or slow and it isn't the fault of your ISP, you'll want to use the Wired Setup option.

Guide to Wireless Speakers For Home Theaters

When it comes to purchasing a speaker system, the options seem endless these days. From smart systems to simple car radios, the way we enjoy our music and viewing entertainment can always be enhanced by a great sound system. But with so many options, how do you choose the best speakers for your needs?

The Complete Sonos Buying Guide: Every Speaker, Soundbar and Amp Explained

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Sonos’ first wired speakers are all designed to be paired with the Amp

We really do. Like Apple products, Sonos speakers sell at a premium. But which ones should you buy? Read on for my recommendations. Here are my favorite aspects of Sonos:. The Sonos app guides you through the process of starting a new system, or adding speakers to an existing system. Easy Streaming: The Sonos app supports almost every streaming service in existence, and many apps, like Spotify, let you stream to Sonos speakers within them.

Connect a Sonos Speaker to a Wired Network

You want in on the multi-room audio action but you're not keen on binning those still-perfectly-good-but-old hi-fi speakers that you paid a heck of a lot of money for back in We get it. The good news is, if you're looking to go down the Sonos route, then it's super simple to get your old speakers in sync with the latest and greatest Sonos speakers. In fact, Sonos began life as a company that made devices called Zoneplayers to enable multi-room speaker setups; it didn't make speakers itself, at all, for years.