****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
This is my first review on Amazon, because I think Sonos has earned it, and it is a way to thank Amazon and posted reviews that helped me buy and set up what is now a four zone Sonos system at my home in India.If I could give both Amazon and Sonos more that 5 stars, I would.That said, there are some things that a potential buyer should know, and hopefully, this review will help.This review isn't just about the Connect, but the entire Sonos system of which the Connect is just one part.Some background: Before Sonos, I had decent hifi systems in three rooms, with the main high end system in the living room. Music replay was via many CDs, and I wasn't aware of internet radio to any large extent. But I was well versed with high end audio equipment, having owned different systems for over ten years. There is even a turntable in the system, although it isn't used much since Sonos came into the home!I had heard about Sonos, but did not know much about it. When I moved to a larger home a little over a year ago, I started researching Sonos and the Amazon reviews were of great help.But what was even more helpful was the User Forum on the Sonos website, a treasure trove of useful information, with very helpful members. When I ordered the first of the many Sonos units I now have, it was without having seen or heard it, because there is no distribution in India. A leap of faith.Since there are quite a few unhappy posters here, that aren't satisfied with Sonos, I must accept that the system may not work as advertised or sold out of the box. A certain knowledge of home wifi and routers helps. But what helps even more is the truly world class Sonos support, that is available for free as long as one needs it, and the referred forum. It is easy to register on the forum, and start asking questions, that are usually answered very quickly by other Sonos users with a lot of experience of the system. And when that fails, it is easy to invoke support from Sonos directly. In my case, I had a glitch when the system was new, a year ago, and another one a few days ago. The first was a little complex, but Sonos support did all the handholding needed to resolve it. The recent one took just one email to have it fixed. It doesn't matter where in the world the system is, as long as it is connected to the net, Sonos can "see" it, and troubleshoot. In my mind, it is these two forms of support that elevate Sonos to the rare product that fully delivers on all it promises.It also affords the flexibility of choice, based on budgets, and the kind of systems one already has. For instance, my high end system that sits in the living room, is now driven by the Connect. This way, I hear music of the same quality as always, but now I do not need my many CDs, or the CD player. All the CDs are copied to a hard disc, which is a one time investment of time and effort that needs to be made. Having done that, I can select any of my CDs from scrolling in the Sonos controller that is an app on my ipod touch. I can make playlists, play select albums, play tracks in sequence or in random. Apart from the sheer convenience, this means that I am listening to many more of my CDs a lot more often.Then, there is free internet radio. Many stations, that offer good quality music streams, deliver music that sound as good as CD replay. Internet music services like Pandora or Spotify aren't available in India as of now, so I can't comment on these.What this means is that I am now listening to music a lot more often than I did before, and music from all over the world, as well as my CDs. And all in high quality stereo.For other rooms, there are other units that are more suitable, depending on the kind of systems one has there, or doesn't have.And one can add these to the system whenever - depending on budget availability or the mood. Once that is done, one can play the same music from the same source in all rooms in perfect sync, or, play different music in each room. In my case I now have music via Sonos in the living room and balcony via 2 connects, in the bedroom via a Connect Amp, and dining room via a Play5.It is a year since I installed the system, and it remains a source of continuing delight.If I were to be looking for multi room audio again today, I would buy Sonos all over again, no hesitation.My only grouse is with Amazon. I got 6 different units from Amazon, all shipped to India, from the US. All were delivered to my home in India, within 10 days of the order click. Perfectly packed and therefore, no damages. And all of them are working fine. The grouse is that I find that Amazon no longer ships Sonos to India, and I hope that changes soon.
