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Tuesday October 20, 2009
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Sonos reps stopped by the PCMag office today to demo the brand new Sonos ZonePlayer S5. In case you missed our post last week, the ZP S5 will be available in early November for $400, easily making it the most affordable way to entire the Sonos wireless home audio world. A Sonos starter bundle, which features two "zones" that stream music from your PC and Internet-based services, will cost you $1,000, and that doesn't even factor in the extra cost of speakers. The ZP S5, on the other hand, is basically nothing but a speaker unit, and it is controlled by either the Sonos remote, which costs $350, or an iPhone or iPod touch running the free Sonos app. So now, any iPhone or iPod touch owner can now enter the world
of Sonos wireless audio streaming for $400. Sure, that's not cheap, but
compared to all sorts of iPod docks out there, it's only a bit more
expensive and can do a lot more. More info and pics after the jump.
Within seconds of getting the network set up, we were streaming audio from DC101, a radio station in Washington, D.C, that I listened to as a kid. Just as easily, we toggled between a shared music library and Pandora. The demo actually consisted of two ZP S5 units working in different zones, but you need only one to get started. If you have only one zone, though, that zone needs to be connected via Ethernet cable to your router--all subsequent zones can be wireless. Regardless, the ZP S5, as controlled by either your iPhone, iPod touch, or Sonos remote, offers quality audio performance from a wide variety of streaming services, including Rhapsody, Sirius, Pandora, and Napster.
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With five drivers dedicated to three different frequency ranges, the ZP S5 offers a pleasant audio response with plenty of low-end and, at least during our demo, no distortion. PCMag will run a full review of the ZP S5 in early November. For now, you have these pictures and the knowledge that our demo was impressive. Any iPhone or iPod touch user considering buying a speaker dock ought to hold out a few weeks and see if the ZP S5 is a better option. It may not be a "dock," but it accomplishes the same thing (aside from charging your iPod) and streams from a variety of sources, not just iTunes.
Posted By:
Tim Gideon
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