That’s not to say the Play:5 isn’t capable of plenty of detail. Play Diana Krall’s Peel Me a Grape and the soulful vocal is articulate, richly textured and full of sass. There is clarity in the midrange no matter what you play, which ensures vocals are always pushed to the front of a mix and never overshadowed.

The Sonos Play:1 is not like most other small wireless speakers. It doesn’t use Bluetooth, is not portable and won’t even take a 3.5mm plug to accept a non-wireless source. PLAY:1 comes with all the unique benefits that can only be found in a Sonos Wireless HiFi System including Sonos PLAY:3™, Sonos PLAY:5™, Sonos PLAYBAR™ and more: Everything works seamlessly together over WiFi. Start with one room and simply add more when you're ready.It looks and feels different to the original, but fits in perfectly with the company’s other more recent additions, such as the Sonos One and Sonos Beam. Sonos was created upon the belief you should never have to choose between quality sound and an easy way to access all your music at home," said John MacFarlane, CEO, Sonos, Inc. "The PLAY:1 makes getting started with Sonos even more accessible to music lovers than ever before." Play The Weeknd’s Earned Itand the Play:5’s command over dynamics is clear. The dramatic strings intro, punctuated with sudden drum strokes is delivered with both fluidity and punch, rising and falling on queue with timing that’s on point. One more consideration and we'll move on, we promise. It's just that if you were looking to buy a second Sonos Five to create a stereo pair, the KEF LSX stereo speaker system (and brand new LSX II) is closely priced and boasts a more comprehensive connectivity spec-sheet and hi-res capabilities out the box.

The result is unquestionable – this is a speaker that could fill even the biggest room of the house, and yet for a single box it sounds huge. Any speaker the size of the Play:1 has to deal with a compromise or two. But Sonos has nailed it here. Make the move to stereo (with a second unit) and the sound is even bigger, with a solid stereo image. You can choose to place them horizontally or vertically in this arrangement, and while horizontally will certainly offer a wider sound, we preferred it when vertical. PLAY:1 is a smart speaker that features hardware and software designed by Sonos to ensure the best possible performance for the size. A custom-designed mid-woofer and tweeter deliver deep, rich and surprisingly big sound. With a powerful low-end and crisp mids and highs, new smart processing technology pushes Sonos’ drivers further than ever before, minimizing distortion even at full volume. Plus, PLAY:1 projects a wide field of sound, delivering a great listening experience no matter where you are sitting in the room. And since the Sonos wireless network is devoted to streaming music in HiFi sound, you’ll enjoy smooth music wirelessly without dropouts anywhere in your home.

On its own the Sonos Play:1 is an excellent small speaker, offering pretty much class-leading sound quality for a wireless speaker of this price and size. Even at high volumes it keeps a lid on things, never sounding loose or flabby. Similarly with Drake’s Hotline Bling, where the original Play:5 struggled to deliver a clean bass line, the current model is clean and solid. The only other controls on the unit itself are a touch-sensitive play/pause button and two little touch-sensitive panels for volume control that flank it on the front of the top panel. You might actually find you’ll never touch these controls, because you can control everything from Sonos’ simple, exhaustive app.