Sonos Play:1: Babysteps Into The Ecosystem

Tech By on Oct 17, 2013

Sonos’ home audio products are all about creating a cohesive system of quality speakers throughout your house. But up until now, getting that project going took a little bit of a leap into the financial deep end of the pool. The Play:1 ($200) lets you wade in from the shallow end. It’s a stylish and sturdy wireless speaker that supports most streaming music services and plays anything from your phone, tablet, or PC. Plus now through Dec. 31 you’ll also receive the Sonos Bridge (normally $50) free of charge. That device lets you build a connected army of Sonos speakers in your home.

MORE: Home Audio & Speakers, Tech

Samsung Shape M7: Disdain For Wires? Check It Out

Tech By on Oct 7, 2013

One of the tech lover’s ultimate goals in life is to reside in a wireless house. While we all anxiously await the first mainstream cordless toaster, lets focus on the increasing wireless home audio options, shall we? While Sonos may be the king of the hill right now, Samsung is ready to take a crack at it. The Shape M7 speaker ($399) features a funky wedge design and can sit horizontally or stand vertically. Each speaker plays nice with Bluetooth, NFC, and dual-band Wi-Fi, and when paired with Samsung’s Hub ($49), you can fill multiple rooms with the sweet sounds of say, the 20 worst songs of the ’90s.

MORE: Home Audio & Speakers, Tech

Sonos Playbar: Flat Panels Need Fat Sounds

Tech By on Feb 14, 2013

TVs have grown thinner than DJ Qualls. That’s good. But they’ve also lost the ability to pump out quality audio. That’s crappy. The Sonos Playbar ($700) is raising its hand to help. Souping up the standard sound bar, the Playbar wirelessly streams music and plays anything that’s plugged in to your HDTV: cable/SAT boxes, Blu-ray players, and game consoles. Of course how it actually sounds is the key question here, but with 9 speakers (three tweeters and six mid-range drivers), Sonos says this thing will kick ass.

MORE: Home Audio & Speakers, Tech

Sonos SUB: Wireless Subwoofer

Tech By on May 24, 2012

Sonos is good doogsi sonos. That is our only attempt at writing this post entirely as a palindrome. Sonos, the palindromic company behind the Play:3 and Play:5 wireless speakers, brings you the non-palindromic SUB ($700). Aside from its heinous lack of being a palindrome, the SUB does what subwoofers do best: woof subs. And play music. Most importantly, it contains force-canceling speakers that prevents annoying rattling, but doesn’t change the fact that the SUB could have easily been named SUB BUS and therefore be a palindrome. Despite its disregard for the joy of palindrome-ness, the SUB’s one button setup and wireless capability make up for it (barely). Lion oil.

MORE: Home Audio & Speakers, Tech