The brand new Sonos Play has change into my go-to desk and kitchen speaker

I make money working from home, so I usually take heed to audio by means of headphones or AirPods. However I’ve all the time wished a desk speaker that doesn’t take up an excessive amount of area, which made the brand new Sonos Play a becoming first Sonos product to evaluate.

The Play, launched in March, is Sonos’s first new machine in additional than a 12 months. The $299 speaker is a hybrid: half residence speaker, half transportable. It sits in your desk in a pill-shaped dock, however at 1.3 kilograms, with a “utility loop” on the again, it’s simple to hold round the home or take exterior.

Whereas testing it, I usually began a podcast at my desk and carried the Play to the kitchen whereas I cooked or made espresso. The benefit over sporting AirPods is that you just stay conscious of your environment — no extra lacking what somebody throughout the room is saying. And also you don’t have to depend on voice instructions to manage playback; the Sonos Assistant and Alexa are each inbuilt.

Bodily controls are one other benefit. Skipping tracks or adjusting quantity with greasy palms is awkward on AirPods; the Play’s buttons are extra forgiving. That mentioned, the controls themselves are simple to overlook — they’re the identical coloration because the silicone prime and barely raised above the floor. After a number of days I had memorized their positions, however the studying curve is a minor frustration that higher distinction or extra tactile buttons may have averted.

The speaker is sturdy and IP67-rated, which means it may possibly deal with rain and transient submersion — I ran it beneath a faucet with out subject. It might additionally cost your telephone in a pinch, doubling as an influence financial institution, which is a welcome characteristic for outside use.

For sound, the Play depends on dual-angled tweeters, a mid-woofer, and three digital amplifiers, with two passive radiators to bolster bass outside. The result’s balanced and detailed at reasonable volumes — instrument separation is especially good. The soundstage is slim, although, which means the music can really feel considerably contained relatively than expansive, and at greater volumes the combination loses a few of its readability.

The Play is well-suited to a desk or a patio; it isn’t attempting to fill a room. For that, Sonos’s Period 100 SL — which launched alongside the Play — is the higher alternative. Two Play items may be paired right into a stereo configuration, both by means of the app or, extra cleverly, by holding the play/pause button on each audio system concurrently. It’s a helpful characteristic that makes a noticeable distinction for music, although much less so for tv audio — which these audio system aren’t actually designed for anyway.

Sonos has additionally inbuilt Trueplay, which makes use of the speaker’s microphones to robotically calibrate sound primarily based on the room. Earlier variations of this characteristic required waving your telephone across the area to tune the audio — an ungainly workaround that might have made little sense on a conveyable speaker. The brand new implementation handles it robotically.

Sonos has had well-publicized struggles with its app — disappearing audio system, glitchy quantity controls — and whereas the corporate has made significant enhancements, a number of tough edges stay. Sync between the Play and my MacBook was sometimes laggy, for instance, and taking part in or pausing audio on YouTube generally produced a noticeable delay earlier than the speaker responded.

Switching audio between audio system labored reliably by means of AirPlay however failed repeatedly within the Sonos app till I put in the Apple Music integration — and even then, the method is extra cumbersome than it must be.

The “Apply” button within the Sonos app, required to verify speaker adjustments, looks like an pointless further step. AirPlay handles the identical motion with a single faucet.

Pocket Casts integration has a resuming bug: podcasts restart from the start relatively than selecting up the place you left off.

Total, the Sonos Play is a stable speaker that largely delivers on its premise. The app points are actual however not dealbreakers, and Sonos has proven it’s prepared to iterate. If portability isn’t a precedence, the Period 100 ($219) or Period 100 SL ($189) supply extra quantity for much less cash. If you would like one thing extra rugged and really transportable, the Sonos Roam 2 or JBL Cost 6 are price contemplating. However if you’d like a speaker that works equally nicely on a desk and a again porch, the Play makes a convincing case for itself.