New Sonos Gear is Smaller, Cooler
by John Biggs on August 4, 2008

Sonos just announced smaller receivers and players. The ZP120 - with amp - is 43 percent smaller and the ZP50 - without amp - is a standard receiver. Both use MIMO for increased range and link quality. If you’re familiar with the current Sonos line-up you’ll be doubly impressed by the size of these little buggers.

The entire kit, along with the LCD-based remote, connects to PCs and Macs and can stream audio to multiple rooms or zones. The real draw of the Sonos system is the zone system which allows you to play different music in different rooms. For example, my living room could be the drum and bass room while the basement could be the chill out room. The bathroom could be full of whale-song.

Pricing is still unannounced for the U.S.

Comments

I know its not related but the amex ad below is a dead link because someone miss typed it, that made me laugh

 
 

Nice, but their controller still doesn’t have a touch screen, which sure would help…

 

Has nobody told Sonos that black is the new black? Personally, I think their stuff looks really ugly.

 

Slight nitpick - it’s a ZP90 not a ZP50.

US Pricing below:

ZP90 - $349
ZP120 - $499
BU150 Bundle - $999 (1 x ZP90, 1 x ZP120, 1 x CR100 Controller)

 

Pricing is announced:

The ZP120 will retail for $499 individually. It is also included as part of the Sonos Bundle 150 (see accompanying press release) for $999.

The ZP90 will retail for $349 individually. It is also included as part of the Sonos Bundle 150 (see accompanying press release) for $999.

 

Anyone else think Sonos is ridiculously overpriced?

You can *basically* do the same thing with the Remote app on the iPhone / iPod touch and a couple of Airport Expresses.

“basically” you can. If you’re doing it for yourself and you don’t mind messing around and occasionally rebooting devices and waiting for stuff to wake up and everything else of course you can. Sonos is worth the money because it just works in the way that Soundbridge, Slimdevices don’t.

Sonos is a rare thing. It’s a bit of DIY consumer electronics that works well enough to be considered a piece of Custom Install grade equipment. It’s that good and that reliable. Remote is fine, it’s a bit of fun consumer electronics but it’s limited. The UI however is another thing. A work of art, it’s better than iPod really. Couple that with the level of reliability and availability that is needed in multiroom and you’d have a real killer solution.

 
 

I totally agree - I have two Airport Expresses, one in my living room and one in my bedroom, each hooked up to my stereo in that room, and using Apple’s rockin’ Remote iPhone app, stream music wirelessly throughout my house. Can I play different music in different rooms? No. Is that feature worth $1,000? You decide…

 

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