Sonos Digital Music System (ZP80 bundle)

Add to my list
Print
E-mail
Share

Average user rating: 4.5 stars out of 13 reviews Back to product review
My rating: 0 stars

2 of 13

Full user review

4 out of 4 people found this review helpful

4.5 stars

"Spectacular but with some limitations"

by BjornWasHere on January 28, 2007

Pros: True multi-room stereo, easy to use for the entire family, excellent sound quality, easy to install, durable, great update service

Cons: Not useful for amplifying TV sound, Internet streaming hard to debug, some hidden limitations
Summary: This product is amazing and many years ahead of the competition. It is sometimes mistaken for just a wireless sound solution but it really is true multi-source, multi-room stereo. I have owned it for almost a year and the entire family loves it. The remote is easy to clean (kids with sticky fingers...) and seems to be reasonably rugged.

The sound quality is excellent. Note that you may want to digitize your CDs using loss-less encoding to really benefit from the sound quality (assuming that you have good speakers).

One limitation is that you cannot use it to amplify a TV so you cannot replace your TV room/living room amplification. The reason is that there is a substantial delay between the line in and the speaker out on the Sonos amplifier. You loose the lip-synch in the movies! Work-around: keep your TV amplification and get a Sonos ZP-80 to feed it with.

The Internet radio channels are easier that ever to dial in and you get a great selection of pre-loaded stations. Some streaming formats are not supported however and there are no real good debugging tools when a station doesn't work well.

There are some hidden quirks. like for example that you really should start up the systems in a particular order (the one connected to Internet first). On the other hand the service with automatic firmware upgrades are great and the quality of the firmware is rock-solid.

The long-term effect on our home is that we are gradually installing in-wall/in-roof speakers and tucking away the amplifiers in cupboards. So we get an impressive, state-of-the-art stereo in every room that takes virtually no space at all.

Thank you for submitting your feedback!

Was this review helpful? YES | NO

Report this post Email this post

Reply to this review

Write review Back to product review See all 13 reviews

Submit your reply

Where to buy

Sonos Digital Music System (ZP80 bundle): $999.99

store	price	in stock?	rating
Amazon.com Marketplace	$999.99	Yes

see prices from 1 store

Thanks for your submission!

Thank you for helping us maintain CNET's great community.

Submit your review

Sonos Digital Music System (ZP80 bundle)

ORLog in with your Facebook account

1. Rate this product:: (Mouse over the stars to rate this product and click to set your rating.)
2. One-line summary:(Summarize your review in one line. 10 characters minimum; required.): 0 of 55 characters
3. Pros:(Tell us what you like about this product. 10 characters minimum; required.): 0 of 250 characters
4. Cons:(Tell us what you don't like about this product. 10 characters minimum; required.): 0 of 250 characters
Bottom-line summary:(Explain to us in detail why you like or dislike the product, focusing your comments on the product's features and functionality, and your experience using the product. This field is optional.): 0 of 5000 characters; Submit