TechRadar Verdict
The Play:3 is an excellent multi-room option and brings the Sonos system slightly closer to the realms of the common man's bank account. Does that mean it's worth saving up for? We think so.
Pros
- +
Easy to use
- +
Excellent free apps
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Cheaper than its predecessor
- +
Compact
- +
Lots of music options
Cons
- -
Lower sound quality than Play:5
- -
Still quite pricey
- -
Software could be better
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Sonos has been leading the wireless multi-room music revolution since before anyone really knew what wirelessly streaming music was.
The idea being that you can stick a speaker in every room and wirelessly play your digital music tracks on any or all of them at once.
The company's flagship wireless speaker unit, the Play:5, is an excellent piece of kit but the one thing that it lacks is an affordable price tag.
Enter the Sonos Play:3, a speaker set offering the same great functionality in a smaller, cheaper package.
Speaking of cheap - a single Sonos Play:3 will set you back $249/£259 which may sound like a fair lump of cash, but it's fairly reasonable compared to the Play:5 units, which sell for around $100/£100 more.
The beauty of the Sonos system is that you can start with one speaker, and later add more to the system in different rooms – as many speakers as you like up to 32 (in case you happen to live in a palace).
Once you have speakers all over you house, you can control them all from the free controller app on iOS or Android.
The Play:3 comes with three speakers inside its plastic and mesh housing, where the Play:5 has five; this means you're looking at slightly less rich music playback than the bigger model while still getting a bit more sonic mileage than the Sonos Play:1 or Sonos One smart speaker – but we'll come back to that later.
It does all come in a smaller housing, though – about half the size of the Play:5, meaning its small enough to slot onto a bookshelf or into a kitchen nook, with feet on both sides so you can stand it either on its side or on its end.
There's also the wall mounting option, as the Play:3 comes with the necessary holes for a standard wall bracket (sold separately).