Sonus faber OMNIA all-in-one speaker Review

The OMNIA is a 4-way speaker featuring 7 drivers with 490 watts of amplification, and a wide offering of connection options including Apple Airplay, Bluetooth, Chromecast, and Wi-Fi builtin. And for ease of streaming, OMNIA provides seamless integration with Tidal and Spotify, and it is also Roon-Ready. And for the vinyl lovers out there, OMNIA even houses a built-in phonopreamplifier. If your perception of all-in-one systems is that they’re simply a “lifestyle” product that plays music without emphasizing high-fidelity playback, then you haven’t heard the Sonus faber OMNIA.

This is not Sonus faber’s first go-around with producing similar music systems. Way back in 1980, Franco Serblin, Sonus faber’s founder created an all-in-one product named Snail. And then in 2016 was the Sf16, which looked a bit like a combination of the original Snail, and the current OMNIA. Now in 2022, Sonus faber has created the OMNIA that offers many more features than any of their previous projects, and they’ve done it at a price point that many more people can afford.

If you’ve paid any attention to the audio market over the last decade, you’ll notice a big push for simple all-in-one systems for those who are looking for a way to enjoy music without all of the equipment, space, and technical knowledge required to get the most out of their system. Some people simply want to turn on the power and press play. My main system is just the opposite of this as I need to physically turn the power on to no less than 7 different components each time, I want to fire it up, and some of them even require more time to go through a warm-up before they work.

But with the simplicity of many of these devices, they don’t offer a lot of features or connectivity options, nor are they necessarily designing them with “hi-fi playback” in mind. With the Sonus faber OMNIA however, their design team’s goal was to offer a very simple to use system with a lot of features, and one that produced a high-quality music playback that would make just about anybody happy.

And speaking of features, the Sonus faber OMNIA packs a lot into their simple (yet stunningly beautiful to look at) package. For starters, the designers decided that instead of creating their own app that people have to learn, why not utilize something that they’re already used to? With that, the OMNIA works with Apple AirPlay, Bluetooth, and has Google Chromecast built in. As for applications, the OMNIA is set up for Tidal connect, Spotify, and is Roon-ready (a big plus for me!). I personally use Roon for my main system, my secondary upstairs system, and my office system, so having this will definitely be important for those who are looking for more than a simple plug-and-play single-box solution.

Not only does the OMNIA have a full suite of wireless connectivity, but it also has some additional wired connections as well. First up is an analog input for use with a turntable. Yes, it even has a built-in MM phono stage! Additionally, you will find an HDMI ARC (Audio Return Channel) that allows connection with a modern television.

As I previously stated, the OMNIA is a beautiful piece of industrial design that will look proper in any environment. It looks, feels, and sounds like a luxury item. The majority of the front, back, and sides of the unit are wrapped in a black cloth that covers the 6 main drivers, with the bass driver facing down on the underside. On top, you will find a stunning finish available in either Walnut or a satin black that they call Graphite. My review sample was in Walnut, and it was a spot-on match with a new Walnut media center that I recently had built for my upstairs system. It literally looked like they were made at the same place, although my new furniture was made here in Ohio.

At the top of the OMNIA, you will see a series of horizontal illuminated lines that are what Sonus faber calls SENSO. This is a touch-sensitive interface that allows direct control of the system, and they indicate OMNIA’s mode, which streaming service is in use, and which input is in use. You can also turn the unit on or off, as well as adjust the volume with SENSO. It did however take a bit of time for me to figure out the right amount of time to place my finger on the lines to get it to turn on and off. If you try it too quickly, nothing happens. If you keep your finger in place too long, nothing happens. After a little practice, I finally found the Goldilocks timing to get it to activate.

My usual review components from Sonus faber have been large and heavy speakers that I have to bring through the garage, snake through the house, and take down a flight of stairs to my media room. With the smallish box that the OMNIA arrived in though, and only weighing in at just under 17 pounds, it was a welcome change for sure.

Not only was the OMNIA packed extremely well, but they also paid a lot of attention to how it is removed from the box, making it a very easy task. If you’re like me and save every package for audio equipment, then you’ll like that nothing gets torn or beat up in the unpacking process.

Once out of the box, the setup couldn’t be any easier. Simply plug it in and follow the relatively simple instructions for connecting to Wi-Fi. The number of streaming services you use will dictate how many processes you need to do in this initial setup, but once they’re all up and running you no longer have to worry about it.

As a reviewer who is used to auditioning equipment that is designed for a much more particular playback and audience (think expensive separates!), it can be tough to enter into a review for an all-in-one system. If I use a $100k system as my reference, then a $2k box probably doesn’t have much of a chance. Conversely, however, if I try to lower my perspective to that of someone who has never heard anything better than a $40 Bluetooth speaker, then I’m not giving it justice either. Reviewing gear can be very challenging, particularly when you’re looking at such a wide variety of products.

When I was contacted about reviewing the OMNIA, I didn’t even give it a second guess, despite the fact that it was way different than what I am used to working with. In the end, it’s about music reproduction, so how could I not enjoy my time with it?

One of the biggest challenges that a single, small-box solution faces is how it handles space. What I mean by that is with a traditional 2-speaker system, you normally have them spread out a bit so that you can enjoy a large soundstage and stereo image where the music goes from speaker to speaker, and in many cases beyond in height, width, and depth. But with a single box, you’re literally limited by simple physics (OK, so physics isn’t simple by any means, but I think you get my point here). How can you possibly get a small box to create a larger soundstage?

Fortunately for the music-loving community out there, the design team at Sonus faber tapped into their vast experience with designing, engineering, and manufacturing some of the highest performing audio equipment in the market to make a small box sound big!

The two main features within the OMNIA that allow it to play big are its side-firing wide-range drivers on each side of the unit, along with CRESCENDO, their advanced signal processing system. These together help to create a greater sense of dimensionality and immersion so that the playback produces a soundstage more commonly associated with a traditional 2 speaker system than a single box.

So, what does all of this mean for playback? A lot! On tracks like Make Us Stronger from Vini Vici, the soundstage is so big and enveloping on a regular 2-speaker system that you would swear that it’s being played back in a Dolby Atmos theater setting. Granted the OMNIA couldn’t pull the disappearing act that I am used to with my big system, but it still projected a very wide and tall soundstage that was better than I would have thought that it could. Color me impressed.

Creating a big soundstage out of such a small piece of audio equipment is fun and all, but the OMNIA is no one-trick pony for sure. Whether it was reproducing the big baritone voice in Any Place by Bahamas, to Lisa Gerard’s (Dead Can Dance) haunting chants in Yulunga (Spirit Dancer) from Into the Labyrinth, the OMNIA was able to perform with a high level of realism and musicality.

One more key feature of the OMNIA was its ability to play bass. No, I’m not talking subwoofer level bass, but the level that makes you sit back and wonder how in the world they were able to get that much out of a single 6.5” driver. I was really impressed when I first turned it on and started to play music, but I let the unit play in the background quite a bit for the first few weeks before I really turned it up. OMNIA was sitting on my very sturdy, well-built custom walnut media center that I spoke about earlier as I thought that would be a great place for it. But when I gave it a lot of volume while playing Sing Sang Sung by Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band, I literally thought that I broke OMNIA. I heard rattling, knocking, and all kinds of bad noises that you don’t want when playing music. After inspection, I realized that everything inside my walnut media center was rattling because of the heavy bass output that OMNIA was creating. I never saw that one coming! So, at that point, I moved the unit downstairs in my main media room and placed it on top of my Massif Audio custom rack that was braced with a 100lb McIntosh amplifier at the bottom, and 2 other heavy pieces of equipment on the middle shelf. With this sturdy setting, everything about the music playback became tighter, fuller, and more dynamic. So, my cautionary tale to anyone interested in the OMNIA would be to make sure that it has a sturdy place to reside to get the most out of it and to make sure that it doesn’t rattle every loose item in close proximity.

The Sonus faber OMNIA all-in-one speaker ticks all of the audiophile boxes, in a small, beautiful, easy-to-use package.

What Sonus faber has created with the OMNIA is a feature-rich all-in-one component that is capable of sound reproduction traditionally limited to separate component systems. For the person interested in a simple to use piece of audio gear that produces great sound, and does it while taking up very little space, the OMNIA is the proverbial no-brainer. And for the audiophile who is looking for a secondary system for their living area, kitchen, office, or bedroom, the OMNIA would not leave them wanting for more.