Sonos Play: The Versatile Speaker for Home and Beyond
I work from home, so I usually listen to audio through headphones or AirPods. But I’ve always wanted a desktop speaker that doesn’t take up too much space, which made the new Sonos Play the first Sonos product to review.
The Play, launched in March, is Sonos’ first new device in over a year. The $299 speaker is a hybrid: part home speaker, part portable. It sits on your desk in a pill-shaped holder, but with a weight of 3 pounds and a “utility loop” on the back, it’s easy to carry around the house or take outside.
Image credits: SonosImage credits:Sonos
Portability Meets Practicality
While testing it, I often started a podcast at my desk and took the Play into the kitchen while I cooked or made coffee. The benefit of wearing AirPods is that you stay aware of your surroundings – you no longer miss what someone is saying from across the room. And you don’t need to rely on voice commands to control playback; Sonos Assistant and Alexa are both built-in.
Physical checks are another advantage. Skipping tracks or adjusting the volume with greasy hands is annoying on AirPods; the Play’s buttons are more forgiving. That said, the controls themselves are easy to miss: they’re the same color as the silicone top and barely raised above the surface. After a few days, I had memorized their positions, but the learning curve is a minor frustration that better contrast or more tactile buttons could have avoided.
Image credits: Ivan MehtaImage credits:Ivan Mehta
Rugged Design and Sound Performance
The speaker is rugged and IP67 rated, meaning it can withstand rain and brief submersion – I ran it under the tap without issue. It can also charge your phone in a snap, doubling as a power bank, which is a welcome feature for outdoor use.
For sound, the Play relies on dual-angle tweeters, a mid-woofer, and three digital amplifiers, with two passive radiators to boost bass outward. The result is balanced and detailed at moderate volumes — instrument separation is particularly good. The soundstage is narrow, however, meaning the music can sound somewhat contained rather than expansive, and at higher volumes the mix loses some of its clarity.
Seamless Integration and App Experience
The Play is well suited to an office or patio; it’s not about trying to fill a room. For this, the Sonos Era 100 SL, launched at the same time as the Play, is the best choice. Two Play units can be paired in a stereo setup, either via the app or, more cleverly, by holding down the play/pause button on both speakers at the same time. It’s a useful feature that makes a noticeable difference for music, but less so for TV audio – which these speakers aren’t really designed for anyway.
Image credits:Sonos
Sonos has also integrated Trueplay, which uses the speaker’s microphones to automatically calibrate the sound depending on the room. Previous versions of this feature required waving your phone in space to adjust the sound — a tricky workaround that wouldn’t have made sense on a portable speaker. The new implementation handles it automatically.
Sonos has had some well-publicized struggles with its app — missing speakers, faulty volume controls — and while the company has made significant improvements, a few rough edges remain. Syncing between the Play and my MacBook was sometimes slow, for example, and playing or pausing audio on YouTube sometimes produced a noticeable delay before the speaker responded.
Switching audio between speakers worked reliably via AirPlay, but repeatedly failed in the Sonos app until I installed the Apple Music integration – and even then the process is more cumbersome than it should be.
The “Apply” button in the Sonos app, necessary to confirm speaker changes, seems like an unnecessary extra step. AirPlay handles the same action with just one click.
The Pocket Casts integration has a resume bug: podcasts restart from the beginning rather than picking up where you left off.
Final Thoughts
Overall, the Sonos Play is a solid speaker that more than delivers on its promises. The issues with the app are real but aren’t deal-breakers, and Sonos has shown it’s willing to iterate. If portability isn’t a priority, the Era 100 ($219) or Era 100 SL ($189) offer more volume for less money. If you want something more rugged and truly portable, the Sonos Roam 2 or JBL Charge 6 are worth considering. But if you want a speaker that works just as well on a desk as it does on a back porch, the Play makes a compelling case.
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