February 08, 2005
Sonos Digital Music System Review
The first Sonos Digital Music System reviews are trickling in and on the whole they have been positive. My main issue is incompatability with Apple's iTunes, but this is not Sonos' fault. Also it doesn't seem anyone has really reviewed the audiophile characteristics of the 50-watt amplifier using loss-less tracks. My gut tells me it won't win any Stereophile awards. However the core demographic market probably doesn't care and just wants iPod-like convenience for multiple rooms in their homes. At this, it seems like Sonos works fine.
Unfortunately, DRM-protected files, like those purchased from Apple’s iTunes Music Store or any Windows Media music service (such as MusicMatch, SonyConnect and MTV), are not currently supported... As the above description makes pretty clear, the ZonePlayer is an impressive piece of hardware; it also looks attractive and feels solid. The functionality I’ve described so far is likely what you’d expect from a system like this, but where the Sonos system truly shines is in its zone management. Using the Zone Menu, you can easily combine zones into linked zones that play the same music in sync. The easiest link is “Party Mode,” which combines all zones into a single uber-zone, but you can also create smaller, independent linked zones.
