In traditional Sonos style, the Five is not interested in a shy, retiring sound – it's here to bring the bass and make you feel it, and we're not complaining. However (and we've said this before) it's important to note that we like it more if you can use TruePlay tuning, and not everyone is granted that privilege. The only other controls on the unit itself are a touch-sensitive play/pause button and two little touch-sensitive panels for volume control that flank it on the front of the top panel. You might actually find you’ll never touch these controls, because you can control everything from Sonos’ simple, exhaustive app. Head into the dropdown menu at the top of the screen labelled ‘Room Settings for’ and choose the speakers you’d like to pair Sonos was created upon the belief you should never have to choose between quality sound and an easy way to access all your music at home," said John MacFarlane, CEO, Sonos, Inc. "The PLAY:1 makes getting started with Sonos even more accessible to music lovers than ever before."

PLAY:1 comes with all the unique benefits that can only be found in a Sonos Wireless HiFi System including Sonos PLAY:3™, Sonos PLAY:5™, Sonos PLAYBAR™ and more: If your Sonos runs old firmware, or if the app struggles to find your Play:1, you just need to plug it into your router using an Ethernet cable to get started. There’s such a cable in the box. Either way, setup takes just a minute or two.

The Sonos Play:1 is the most accessible Sonos speaker. It offers all the convenience of its streaming brothers in a smaller, cheaper form. Although it's about the size of a large shoe-box (and heavier than it looks, at 6.36kg) the Sonos Five isn't quite a cuboid since its grille portion is slightly bigger than its rear end and the baffle is slightly bowed out and angled upwards too, to aid with sound dispersal. For more information about Sonos or to locate an authorized Sonos dealer in your area, please visit www.sonos.com or call 877.80.SONOS. Do bear in mind, though, this width can be helped or hindered by the size, shape and furnishings of your room, because this is a system that relies upon bouncing sound off walls.

In our dedicated listening room, it does little to the sound, but move the speaker to a less ideal location – a kitchen or a corner for example – and the difference is audible. It tightens up any boomy bass, adds clarity to the midrange and really cleans up the sound from top to bottom. You’re unlikely to have kit that won’t do this - almost every modern TV will pass through 5.1 these days - but getting it to actually do it can be a head-scratching voyage through menu upon menu. Others take a different approach. For example, the Riva Arena sounds a lot more detailed and refined than the Sonos Play:1 at low volumes. It has a more hifi-like timbre, and greater finesse. For sound quality, the Sonos Five actually isn't just good value, it's absolutely great value. But it's a case of different strokes for different folks; if Bluetooth streaming is important to you and you own an Android phone, you should look elsewhere. In fact, rival soundbars and soundbases that accept almost any signal via HDMI and then send the video to your TV are arguably more simple, as they don’t require you to particularly think about the sound formats being used at every link in the chain.Head into the drop down menu at the top of the screen labelled ‘Room Settings for’ and choose the speakers you’d like to pair

However, if you’re going to listen at low volumes you might also want to consider the more refined, slightly more flexible Riva Arena. Verdict

Treble is a little soft, without the piercing clarity you often get with a dedicated tweeter. However, I take this as a sign Sonos has done its best to work with the compromises of a relatively small speaker, to make it sound as big and satisfying as possible. Podcast fans may find their app of choice isn’t supported. Sonos’s solution is TuneIn Radio, the most popular internet radio app and also a good way to listen to podcasts. It comes ‘preinstalled’ in the Sonos app.

That's not to say it's bass-heavy overall though. Listen to Fontaines D.C.'s Skinty Fia and you'll hear a low-end that, while impactful and unwavering, never bloats or muddies other musical passages such as accordions, drum riffs, angered vocals and keys. Sonos’ support technicians are very helpful (we know, we had to call them), and one way or another you will get up and running in the end, but in our experience it’s not always the super-simple process that Sonos sells it as. Add more PLAY:1s or combine with other Sonos wireless speakers or components around the home for the ultimate, multi-room HiFi system.This is an attractive and well-made app, but many find the restrictive Sonos approach annoying. It also has worse music discovery than the average streaming app. Spotify users can now stream directly from the Spotify app, though, as you would with a Bluetooth speaker. If your computer or smartphone won’t allow you to play music files on your speaker, you may need to configure your firewall.