Nearly made a huge mistake!

[Bumrah]

After being bought a Sonos Play 3 last year for xmas i have spent the best part of the last year listening to it in my main room (lounge) and singing it's praises for convenience and sound quality. Anyway i thought very seriously about selling my separates and maybe adding a 2nd Play 3 in stereo or a pair of Play 5's, even spoke to a couple of dealers and got approx part exchange prices.

Anyway the wife refused to let me sell the gear due to the "heartache and expense" i went through buying them in the first place. She is referring to auditioning and struggling to make decisions on what to buy!

I have a lot to thank her for as i have spent the best part of the last week listening to my CD player and PS3 to DAC combo abd can't believe how much better they sound compared to the Play 3. Don't get me wrong, the Sonos has it's place but you can't really compare the two for sound quality, i know they are completely different price brackets so that wouldn't be fair anyway.

Anyway i am eternally grateful that i never sold the kit and have fallen in love with it all again. Gonna by a Sonos Connect and get the best of both worlds i think!

 

[MajorFubar]

You're right, they have their place, as do HiFi components. At first (when I joined here and saw people praising Sonos) I didn't understand about Sonos Connect, my only experience was with the Play:3 and Play:5 wireless players that I'd demo'd (very, very informally) in a local branch of Curry's. It did worry me for a while that people were recommending that we got shot of our HiFis and bought this mono speaker thing which sounded about as good as the Dansette record player I had in my bedroom as a kid. By and large what they were really talking about is Sonos Connect.

 

[Bumrah]

You're right, they have their place, as do HiFi components. At first (when I joined here and saw people praising Sonos) I didn't understand about Sonos Connect, my only experience was with the Play:3 and Play:5 wireless players that I'd demo'd (very, very informally) in a local branch of Curry's. It did worry me for a while that people were recommending that we got shot of our HiFis and bought this mono speaker thing which sounded about as good as the Dansette record player I had in my bedroom as a kid. By and large what they were really talking about is Sonos Connect.

What whas intersting to me was how quickly i "decided" Sonos was great, i think it was based on the convenience of the app with the iphone etc rather than the sound quality, which is stupid given that i have spent £0000's on my hi-fi over the years.

My wife funnily enough who has never heard the difference between my old Arcam stuff and current Curus gear (chalk and cheese) noticed immediately and said "ooh this sounds loads better" referring to the Cyrus/Cyrus/ and Cyrus/DAC combo.

Strange what your ears get used to after a while!

 

[The_Lhc]

You're right, they have their place, as do HiFi components. At first (when I joined here and saw people praising Sonos) I didn't understand about Sonos Connect, my only experience was with the Play:3 and Play:5 wireless players that I'd demo'd (very, very informally) in a local branch of Curry's. It did worry me for a while that people were recommending that we got shot of our HiFis and bought this mono speaker thing which sounded about as good as the Dansette record player I had in my bedroom as a kid. By and large what they were really talking about is Sonos Connect.

I'm not going to suggest a single play:3 will sound better than all that Cyrus gear, that would be ridiculous, but I've got a dansette and the play:3 sounds a lot better than one of those.

Also a stereo pair of play:3s is a significant step up in quality, more so if you add the sub, although you're getting into significant amounts of money at that point (less than the system mentioned though).

 

[Bumrah]

You're right, they have their place, as do HiFi components. At first (when I joined here and saw people praising Sonos) I didn't understand about Sonos Connect, my only experience was with the Play:3 and Play:5 wireless players that I'd demo'd (very, very informally) in a local branch of Curry's. It did worry me for a while that people were recommending that we got shot of our HiFis and bought this mono speaker thing which sounded about as good as the Dansette record player I had in my bedroom as a kid. By and large what they were really talking about is Sonos Connect.

I'm not going to suggest a single play:3 will sound better than all that Cyrus gear, that would be ridiculous, but I've got a dansette and the play:3 sounds a lot better than one of those.

Also a stereo pair of play:3s is a significant step up in quality, more so if you add the sub, although you're getting into significant amounts of money at that point (less than the system mentioned though).

Yeah i'm quite intrigued as to how good a pair of Play 3's, or indeed 5's would sound.

 

[BluePotato]

Wow, must admit I've been toying with selling my system and buying a B&W A7 (and pocketing the difference). Many small reasons talking my thoughts in this direction namely:

- still feel I spend as much time 'analysing' the sound as enjoying it, will I ever be happy - still not convinced this system is showing me its true potential and that nags!

- If I keep the system I'd like to add a turntable (RP3/RP6) - not really a priority for my money right now and starting my music collection in vinyl from prettym much scratch whilst exciting would be expensice

- Wife not keen on floorstanders and system dominating the dining room with her and kids not daring to go near the Spendors

- Heard a B&W A7 at a friends, would say it was 80% there in terms of clarity and room filling sound for a lot less money - albeit no stereo seperation

- live in a semi, theres a limit to how loud I play the system

Have ummed and arrrred over this delemna for a good few weeks now. The theory is with an A7, family friendly, sound will still be good and maybe because it is what it is I'll 'enjoy' the music more because there is no infinite range of upgrades - the vinyl dream however becomes more distant :wall:

Dilemna |(

 

[Bumrah]

Wow, must admit I've been toying with selling my system and buying a B&W A7 (and pocketing the difference). Many small reasons talking my thoughts in this direction namely:

- still feel I spend as much time 'analysing' the sound as enjoying it, will I ever be happy - still not convinced this system is showing me its true potential and that nags!

- If I keep the system I'd like to add a turntable (RP3/RP6) - not really a priority for my money right now and starting my music collection in vinyl from prettym much scratch whilst exciting would be expensice

- Wife not keen on floorstanders and system dominating the dining room with her and kids not daring to go near the Spendors

- Heard a B&W A7 at a friends, would say it was 80% there in terms of clarity and room filling sound for a lot less money - albeit no stereo seperation

- live in a semi, theres a limit to how loud I play the system

Have ummed and arrrred over this delemna for a good few weeks now. The theory is with an A7, family friendly, sound will still be good and maybe because it is what it is I'll 'enjoy' the music more because there is no infinite range of upgrades - the vinyl dream however becomes more distant :wall:

Dilemna |(

Sounds quite similar to my situation, although i'm really happy with my system, especially after sorting the slightly bright presentation to my CD8x out. If you're like me and have invested time and money into a system that you love (albeit there is always upgraditis) then i would think very long and hard before you sell it all.

I was enjoying my Play 3 as it offeres a good overall sound however after having listened to the Cyrus/Rega for some time again, i can now appreciate the limitations of the Sonos. Needless to say the Sonos has not neen used since!