I must admit, I was quite confused as to what Sonos is trying to accomplish with this new product. Yes, it has more power than the Connect Amp and I know it’s aimed at custom installers (I am one), but what else does it offer and is there a wow factor for homeowners? I did an A-B comparison of the new Amp and the old Connect Amp to see if I could hear the differences. Let’s see if the new Amp is worth the $100 premium over the old Connect Amp.
125 watts @ 8 ohms
HDMI ARC & Optical (Optical with adaptor)
RCA
2.52 x 8.54 x 8.54 in.
4.6 lbs
116dB
>0.1%
$599
Setup is easy, like any Sonos product; unbox it, connect all the wires, then open the Sonos app and follow the instructions. The unit is designed to work right out of the box with banana connectors, you just slide them into the slots. If you have bare wire or spades there are optional binding post adapters. I would have preferred however to just have five-way binding posts and not deal with extra parts.
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I created a simple setup for the test using a pair of Bowers and Wilkins AM-1 outdoor speakers. I played both amps at full volume with the same playlist. I honestly couldn’t hear much difference in sound or even volume level. I will say the Amp sounds more effortless than the Connect Amp, but that’s about it. Distortion seemed lower as well, but again, the difference was small. Although there is only a $100 price gap, I feel this represents just a minor revision of the Connect Amp, not an upgrade or serious improvement in sound and volume. The Amp is more squarely aimed at the custom integration market with its rack mount and cooler running temperature, but that’s where the differences end.
Great question. For most homeowners, the Amp is not really worth the extra cost over the Connect Amp. I don’t recommend running out to replace all your Connect Amps with the new Amps. For people that need multiple zones of audio in a rack mounted setup though, the Amp is definitely the way to go. I don’t understand the need for HDMI ARC in a two-channel configuration since you’d give up the dialog speaker. I would miss that. Another interesting reason to use the Amp is it can handle two speakers per channel, for a total of four speakers driven. It can also drive speakers down to four ohms. Both of those features are more useful to a custom integrator and most homeowners won’t have to drive four speakers or drive a 4-ohm load. For custom integrators, the Amp is a good successor to the Connect Amp and as an integrator myself, I welcome the new Amp to Sonos’s lineup for large whole house audio projects.
I think the odd part of the new Amp is the fact that it has ARC with only two channels, so there is no center channel. If the amp had three channels it could be a very useful unit with ARC+Alexa. You could pair it with a set of Play:1s to act as amps for the surround speakers. I just don’t like listening to TV and movies in stereo, the center channel is key for dialog reproduction and the 5.1 configuration is tried-and-true for even basic home theaters. The Amp can also turn a 5.1 signal into a 4.1 signal, creating a phantom center. This is an interesting concept, but I would rather have my Playbar in three-channel and two Play:1s as surrounds for a five-channel setup any day. Also, the power increase is nice, but I don’t think it’s enough. I’d really have liked to see something more like 200 watts of power to really let me crank it up loud.
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I expect you’re now thinking, “But I don’t need that much power to drive in-ceiling speakers,” and that’s true, the Connect Amp does the job just fine with 125 watts. But Sonos is showing off the Amp as an amp to drive your front speakers in your main setup. 125 watts just doesn’t cut it for larger tower speakers and some bookshelf speakers. I also was disappointed that the amp can’t really play louder than a connect amp. The sound difference to me is only minor and most listeners would never know the difference between a Connect Amp and an Amp in the average system.
I would say this is in a step in the right direction for Sonos to meet the growing custom integration market, but I feel it’s a bit too little to late here. It finally hits the points installers have been asking for but doesn’t really break any new ground into what could have been an awesome and exciting product. Had we have seen more power, three channels, Alexa, and perhaps a phono stage, that would have been cool. The ability to add a turntable as a source into any Sonos system without a phono pre-amp would be awesome. Sure, it’s new and slightly better, but other Sonos products have really been pushing the boundaries of new and exciting, like the new Sonos Beam. As a custom integrator it leaves me feeling like I finally got what I asked for years ago, but as a homeowner the new Sonos Amp leaves me feeling just feeling “meh”.
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View Comments
Well that was a poor excuse for a review.
You missed a lot of important and obvious things about the AMP.
Do you even know it's capabilities? It doesn't sound like it.
What did he miss. Let us know. By doesn't it have a center channel?
What did I miss?
These are not full reviews. Just short blogs.
It seems the reviewer missed the whole point of the product...to replace a home theater receiver in a bedroom, office or apartment where a full 5.1 isn’t wanted or needed. The reviewers assertion that a center channel speaker is necessary for dialogue isn’t correct...due to 5.1 being hard/impossible to implement in apartments many people have gone back to traditional 2.1 system and really buy first class stereo speakers and these do, in fact, not only provide great dialogue but, in many cases, throw a “fandom center image” (I’m doing it with a 10 y.o. Mid-line Denon AVR-889 and Monitor Audio Silver RX6’s and it sounds more believable than any center I’ve had through the place as it’s not low frequency limited like a traditional center channel).
I find that most people who don't want to do 5.1, will at least go 3.1. 2.1 is fine for music, but having a center is a big improvement over just 2 channels.
I knew this review would be a bit more controversial, but in my experience with Sonos, this is probably one of their weakest new releases in a while. If you disagree, let me know why or why not.
Do they BlueSound, MusicCast, Heos, or PlayFi amp-like units have a center channel? Aren't they what this would be compared to?
Sure, those would be Sonos's top competitors, but I wouldn't want to see them all making the same products. Heos has the Drive which has 4 zones in one unit, Bluesound has the Vault 2i with a built in hard drive for ripping CDs and MusicCast has a lot more features than what Sonos offers.
I really feel Sonos dropped the ball on the new AMP, lots of interesting directions they could have taken it, phono input, 3.1 channels, etc to make it different, to make it better, stand out and make it a better value for you and I. Look at Apple struggling with the current iphones, they lack innovation. Let's hope Sonos doesn't follow that path.
Hi and thanks for your review. I was looking forward to get the Sonos AMP in combination with some mid-sized tower speakers, but you mentioned that it might be too weak. Do you have any recommendations for good HiFi speakers in combination with the Sonos AMP? (Getting an Amp at that price and than just connect some tiny speakers to it seams like a waste of money.)
Depending on your price point there are lots of options for a small 2-channel system
Sonos Connect + Emotiva amp + B&W 700 series
Mcintosh 252 + B&W 805s or Monitor Audio Golds
nad integrated amplifier + Sonus Faber Veneres
Really just depends on what you like and what you are looking for.
I was hoping to just get the AMP with some mid-sized towers like the B&W 704 but I’m not sure if that’s a good combination. If I end up with some smaller bookshelf speakers, I might go straight for two Play:5, shouldn’t I?
I would think that would be underpowered for 704s. I have heard Play:5s in stereo and I wouldn't recommend it.
You can always pick one up and try it, just return it if you don't like it.
Thanks for your advice!
Once again Sonos has dropped the ball. In canada 800 dollars for this. Then buy speakers on top of that. Then go back to having a wired system that is only two channel at best. I moved away from wired in my living room. Do you really think I will spend 800 for this and then another 800 for a pair of their new speakers. So 1600 for what? To go back to doing what I did 10 years ago? Who thinks of this stuff for them? Did I forget to say that's with out a sub. I can buy a lot system for that money and be wireless and cover a lot of movie sound formats. At the end of the day , I want to have Great sound when I listen to music and when I watch TV/Movies. I bought into their products 6 years ago, Every time I want to buy their new products, I get disappointed only to return them because of Meh performance. Why spend that kind of Money for Meh over what I already have. Times have changed for products like these and if they continue to fail to bring real performance then they will be laying off more people. Right now they are depended on the loyalist. Sorry Sonos I really keep hoping but you just keep disappointing me in your new product lines and with your pricing as compared to other products. I wanted to buy playbase...yup compare to my playbar. I wanted to buy beam, marginal over TV sound. Sonos is good at marketing like Apple. But there is another company that brings emojis as a reason to upgrade to highly expensive phones. Sad sad sad
Really you deleted my post!!!