Sonos has unveiled its latest music player in the form of the Sonos Play:3, a smaller, lower-priced edition of its popular Zoneplayer S5 speakers.
The Play:3 is so-called because it incorporates three integrated speakers (the S5 has five, as you may have guessed) and three digital amplifiers.
It features three Class-D digital amplifiers and three drivers - one tweeter, two 3-inch mid-range and one passive, rear-firing bass radiator for rich sound.
Playtime
Like the S5, the Play:3 can play music wirelessly via the Sonos Player software, which integrates Spotify as well as digital radio and your own MP3s; there are also free Android and iOS apps to control the music from your phone or tablet. You'll need a Sonos Bridge (sold separately) to connect your router and the speakers, however.
Coming in at a UK price of £259, the smaller wireless speakers open up the world of high-quality Sonos music playback to those of you on a somewhat restricted budget.
Sonos gave TechRadar a demo of the new speakers, which valiantly filled a large room with a nice sound, providing a much richer playback than we'd expected from such small speakers.
Stere-ere-o
You can opt to have just one Play:3, but they work nicely in tandem creating a stereo sound, or you can pop one in each room for multi-room music playback.
Designed to slot into small spaces, the Play:3 can be wall mounted, and has feet both on the long side and the short side so you can position it portrait or landscape as your feng shui dictates.
Meanwhile, the Zoneplayer S5 has been rebranded to the Play:5 to fit with the jazzy new range. Existing Sonos users will also see an update to the Sonos Software which simply adds Play:3 support and some minor updates to the Android app.
