WiFi Speaker are now a truly big deal for household electronics. The Sonos Brand has been a leader in this are of Wifi speakers. As a tech-enthuses, these devices has had my attention from early 2013 to present.
So finally, I got to play and understand the way this WiFi system works:
The Sonos system operates ( at time of writing 2014) as an internet radio ( that is the best i can say). Basically you plug this little white "bridge" into a router. This will enable a wifi and also provide Internet to this Bridge.( big limitation, why can i just connect directly to my sonos from my laptop or smartphone)
Once the bridge is connected - it creates a Hidden network - one that only the other Sonos speakers will be able to detect and join. ( using mesh technology of course).
To get things to operate you either use your laptop or smartphone. Remember Please the bridge is a little Wifi Box, sending out its own network signal, so dont be fooled into thinking that your regular home (Wifi) network is part of the setup.
All in all you plug you first speaker in close range to the Bridge. ( you can get Play 1, Play or Play 5) They sound great - best sound I every heard.
So now you have a sonos network setup in your home. Here is where the radio part comes in.
Run to your computer or smart phone, open the sonos app and there you go, play some stream from one of the many services provides such as sportify or pandora, etc.
Or load some music from your computer - into the Sonos app, and get this to play. ( This is anologe to the days of pushing a CD into the cd player)
Yes you read me correct, you dont just play the music as you are accustom, you cant play you media player, itunes or youtube or other services on your computer - hoping that the sounds goes to the speakers - This is not possible! You need to load to the sonos app.
However, the speakers are great.
Here are my hickup on these devices and the designer should have take a hint from day 1.
1. the idea of someone having a speaker mean that they can play what ever they like on their device and hear this in their speaker. In the past we used a medium that connected into the AV port and into the speaker box. When you say wifi we are ( at least I am ) thinking that i no longer will be using a cable from my laptop to the speaker. Yes just as the bluetooth speakers, but with Wifi.
2. If you are designing a device which uses only your app to play, then this mean your technology is "closed" and very propriety. This is great - but why not at least design each of the speakers with an AV port /interface to accommodate the regular ways of operation.
3. Youtube - someone once said that business is driven by information and data. In the case of sonos - I dont think you have been looking at the data when it comes to the use of Youtube as either primary source of music and sound. To this date there is no way to use the play 1 and a bridge to play yourtube audio into this system.
Conclusion:
If you are looking for modern internet base radio, which can also accommodate the modern CD player with great sound quality, then Sonos is your pick.
However, if you are like me, looking for a regular pair of speakers that can either connect wireless or with a A/V cable to look at Youtube, or a movie from your laptop. DONT event think about sonos.
Please see my article on the Pioneer's wireless speakers, they have captured in essence what a customer is expecting from a speaker, without the wired connection.
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