Sonos ZP80 Digital Music System Bundle
See it at Amazon.com for $1,199.99Average Customer Rating
(5.0 out of 5)
Amazon Customer Reviews
Most Helpful First | Newest First (5 out of 5)Excellent device
Got a Sonos set up today, it's a smooth system. It can draw on a file server without software running on some PC. It's the first system I've tried that actually works (Roku, Linksys, Netgear, blah blah blah are pretty poor). It time-syncs music across "zones" (you can group and unbroup sets of players) so it sounds smooth all over the house (tuning each volume level/EQ independently). It uses 802.11, but it's own subnet, so youi don't let it in your umbrella. One station connects to 10bT and bridges from your network to its network. I gave it it's own user name with restricted rights to my network (just the music server) just in case there are holes in its security. It also has line level input at each station, so you can stream audio back out from any remote location. Will haul in internet stations with or without subscriptions.
Disadvantages:
Won't display video/JPGs to a TV (no video output)
The PC client (for remote control, easy playlist editing) won't spit out audio (so your PC is not part of the party, which is kind of lame)
The click wheel doesn't work as well as apple's
Unknown security issues
(5 out of 5)Fulfills the promise of digital music
Wouldn't it be great if you could access all of your music at any time in any room of your house and control it all with one central remote -- without rewiring your house? Well, now with Sonos you can and I have found that it works well.
The way it works is that you store your music on a computer and the Sonos system will bring it to every room in the house where you have a Sonos satellite unit. The units are wireless networking devices and amplifiers, so you plug them straight into your speakers in the rooms. They generate their own wireless network so don't worry about having a network already. (By the way, you can also plug a CD player or other source into the Sonos and route that into the speakers as well.)
In a phrase, the Sonos is like an iPod that controls your whole house.
Anyway, I feel this is sort of like a Tivo -- you don't realize you need it but once you use it and you can have access to all of your music and control your whole house from anywhere in the house, you won't want to go back for sure.
There are two ways to do it. Either you can rip all of your CD's to mp3 or if you have moved beyond CDs you can get a subscription music service (Rhapsody and Yahoo offer this now) and have that feeding your PC. Either way, the Sonos will get all of that music around the house.
The controller device (you only need one and it controls the whole house) is very convenient -- it's basically an iPod for your house. I found it very intuitive.
The set up was very easy.
I have found the sound quality to be very good. I don't feel I am making any sacrifices here. Mind you, I am not a super super audiophile running things through gold cables but it always sounds good to me.
Once in a while there is a hitch and something isn't working for a while. This is very unusal but in the interest of full disclosure it is not unknown. I personally believe this is 98% attributable to the Rhapsody system but anyway, it's not as 100% reliable as say a CD player. Anyway, the Sonos has never failed to come through on an important occasion so it's very much in my good graces.
I highly recommend the Sonos system.
(5 out of 5)Worth the price
The other good reviews cover it pretty well so I'll just add what I see missing..
As of version 2.x of sonos' software you can share music through windows media player.. So if you buy songs from an online store other than iTunes ( who doesn't work with anyone ) then you can play your DRM protected music.
One more thing I haven't seen anyone taking about... It doesn't connect to your wireless network, it creates one of it's own. So you have to plug a zone player into your wired network. Keep that in mind when concidering how many zone players to buy.
(5 out of 5)Absolutely outstanding
The ideal solution when you need a system that can be used by a technophobe. Sonos is by far the cheapest "whole house jukebox" system available. Established home automation vendors, who usually offer their wares through a network of custom installers, are scrambling to compete, because Sonos offers a system that is significantly better and easier to use than theirs at a fraction of the cost. Moreover, instead of requiring custom programming it's simple enough that it can be configured by anybody with a minimum of home networking experience.
It is more expensive than low-end network music players such as the Roku Soundbridge or the Slimdevices Squeezebox. Still, don't forget you're getting two zone players out of the bundle deal, and a remote that will make just about any gadget freak green with envy. What other system will let you browse your whole music collection (including album art) effortlessly from the comfort of your sofa? It's so intuitive that your most technophobic friend will be able to use it in under five minutes (it might be difficult to get them to give it up!)
It's great to pass it around at a party and get people to add their favorite tunes to the play queue.
Note that one limitation of the Sonos system is that the first box has to be connected to the wired Ethernet LAN. Since it was not practical in my case, I used a Buffalo WLI-TX4-G54HP wireless bridge (available at Amazon) to hook it up to the wireless home LAN. It was easy to configure and works great.
A seldom mentioned feature of the Sonos boxes is the audio input; you can use it to distribute the audio from a satellite radio, for instance. The alarm clocks are also very useful, and internet radio is great. You can also get a subscription with the Harmony internet radio service if you'd like (Sonos comes with a free trial subscription).
Despite its apparently high price, the Sonos system is an amazing bargain, because it's so feature-rich, extensible and easy to use. And if you have any technophobes in your house, there just isn't any other choice, so what are you waiting for? The only question is, wich combo do you want, the ZP-80 or the ZP-100?
(5 out of 5)Great addition to any home audio setup
I have had three other home audio servers in the past and this one is by far the best of them all. The setup was a snap in only 10 minutes and the integration with Rhapsody makes it simply outstanding.
Party mode is also great, linking all the rooms together.
The only downside is the controller will go to sleep and it takes it about 30 seconds to wake up. Not a big deal really.
Excellent unit!