Sonos Five Review | 130 Data compared

The DXOMARK review ranks the Sonos Five as a top-performing wireless speaker (147 points), highlighting its exceptional audio fidelity, punchy dynamics, and controlled artifacts, supported by powerful woofers and Trueplay tuning. While offering precise spatial localization, the speaker is noted for a dark-sounding tonal balance lacking high-end presence and a limited soundstage due to its front-firing design.

The T3 review of the Sonos Five awards the speaker a Platinum Award, highlighting its warm, clear, and incredibly immersive sound that appeals to serious music lovers. The speaker boasts powerful performance with deep bass and improved internal specs for longevity within the Sonos ecosystem as key pros. A noted con is that the design is only a subtle refresh of the older Play:5, offering limited aesthetic or functional updates.

According to the What Hi-Fi? review, the Sonos Five is a powerful, large-scale wireless speaker offering an admirably spacious soundstage, punchy, controlled bass, and a 3.5mm line-in for analog sources. While delivering a dynamic, user-friendly experience within the Sonos ecosystem, the speaker lacks built-in voice control, universal Bluetooth, and spatial audio support found in newer alternatives.

The Hi-Fi Choice review identifies the Sonos Five as a powerful, updated successor to the Play:5, highlighting faster processing, enhanced Wi-Fi connectivity, and a robust audio architecture with three low-frequency drivers and three tweeters. While the speaker offers superior sound and seamless integration with the S2 app, AirPlay 2, and Sonos Radio, a notable con is that the external design remains virtually identical to the previous model.

The Sonos Five is a sleek, wired home speaker delivering impressive, slightly bright audio performance suitable for music and movies, featuring an extended low-bass response, Sonos ecosystem integration, and Trueplay room correction. While offering high-quality sound, the speaker suffers from significant compression and pumping artifacts at maximum volume, and lacks built-in Bluetooth and voice assistants, relying solely on Wi-Fi and Apple AirPlay for connectivity.

The SoundGuys review of the Sonos Five highlights it as a powerful, premium home speaker that delivers exceptional, room-filling sound quality with a rich low-end and crisp highs, while offering seamless multi-room integration and effective Trueplay room calibration. Key pros include versatile connectivity via Wi-Fi, AirPlay 2, and a 3.5mm line-in port, whereas notable cons include a lack of Bluetooth and built-in voice assistants. Additionally, the review notes a significant audio-visual lag on the 3.5mm input that makes it unsuitable for TV or gaming.

The TechPowerUp review of the $550/€600 Sonos Five highlights it as a premium wireless speaker delivering powerful, rich audio and effective Trueplay acoustic tuning, suitable for the Sonos ecosystem. Key pros include natural sound quality, a 3.5mm input, and humidity-resistant build, while cons include a lack of native Bluetooth, heavy design, potential distortion at max volume, and Trueplay calibration being restricted to iOS devices.

The Qobuz review identifies the Sonos Five as a capable, all-in-one wireless speaker featuring an intuitive app, excellent spatialization, and energetic, high-power bass. While it operates as a near-hifi system in stereo pair mode, the review notes limited physical connectivity—lacking optical or USB options—along with a, constrained, less natural, "pneumatic" bass response that may not suit critical audiophiles.

The Sonos Five delivers outstanding room-filling volume and balanced sound quality, yet it lacks Bluetooth connectivity, which limits its versatility. While Apple users can bypass this constraint using AirPlay for video audio, Android and Windows users face significant difficulties streaming from unsupported apps, making the speaker, despite its high-end performance, less convenient for mixed-device households.