SONOS vs Bluesound

[joeling]

 

 

House is under construction. I will have multiple area with music replay capability. So, the question is which system should I install ? Some criteria :

 

1) Multi-room capable up to 10-15 nodes (15 maybe overkill)

2) while I have many area with LAN cable, capability to operate via wifi is a consideration

3) Ease of use that even a non tech savvy person like my wife can access (top criteria). No point to have the best system but no one else in the household will use

4) Stable & not going to crash every other day (second criteria)

5) decent sound quality (which system has better sound ?)

6) capability to stream my own library (third criteria)

7) This is for casual listening / background music and not for critical listening

 

I did have SONOS in my other house many years ago (7-8 years) & it was not a good experience. Drop outs & unstable system & updating was a nightmare. Legacy devices no longer supported & basically I threw all of them out. Multiple modules and even a sound bar were ditched. I do not have much experience with Bluesound except for a NAD M10.

 

On the other hand, I do have lifetime subscriptions to ROON.

 

Your insights will be very much appreciated.

 

Edited January 24, 2024 by joeling

[Guest]

2 hours ago, joeling said:

I did have SONOS in my other house many years ago (7-8 years) & it was not a good experience. Drop outs & unstable system & updating was a nightmare. Legacy devices no longer supported & basically I threw all of them out. Multiple modules and even a sound bar were ditched. I do not have much experience with Bluesound except for a NAD M10.

You have answered your own question !  

 

BluOS is very easy to use and covers all your criteria. It is updated regularly.

 

While you have not mentioned it, the BluOS eco system has some good audiophile components.

[joeling]

Yes, for the longest time I have shut myself out from SONOS but they seem to be very popular and I see them at JB and online and here and there and the company doing IT for my house rebuild is a dealer and kept recommending it. So, I thought if the company is still around perhaps I am the odd one out and others may have a different experience. 

[Guest]

Sonos is doing well, but can you overcome your own poor ownership experience?  Both Sonos and BlueSound will tick off your criteria, ease of use, stability and stream your library.

 

Let's look at other criteria.  From a support perspective, both are good.  BlueSound is ahead in the App, but the Sonos is by no means poor.  While I do not rate the stereo pairing of my still running 10 years old Sonos Play 5's, the sound quality is decent in a multi room setup.

 

If I was start afresh now, I will pick BlueSound/ NAD because they give me more options.  Aside from multi room, can have a "traditional" stereo setup with NAD components delivering excellent sound quality e.g. NAD M33, M66.  There are also NAD home theatre options.  

[Hi-Fi Whipped]

I’ve used both.

 

i use Sonos everyday over wifi in three zones around the house and to the most part it works perfectly, my only gripe is I can’t get Spotify or Apple Music playlists larger than 500 songs to work consistently which is a PITA but may be a local issue??

 

The Sonos eco system is much bigger with more speaker options and more cost effective but if you are happy with the bluos hardware offering and cost it’s well worth consideration and works with what you already have in the M10 so can get the wife to trial it before buying.

 

Sonos app is very easy to follow btw.

 

 

[joeling]

Time for a revisit to this. I have appointed a system integrator for all my IT & Multiroom audio / video setups. I am just wondering if I can have some rooms with SONOS while other rooms Blusound all managed via CONTROL4 ? Anyone has any experience ?

[POV]

35 minutes ago, joeling said:

Time for a revisit to this. I have appointed a system integrator for all my IT & Multiroom audio / video setups. I am just wondering if I can have some rooms with SONOS while other rooms Blusound all managed via CONTROL4 ? Anyone has any experience ?

Why would you want to have both systems running.  Surely makes more sense to pick one and be consistent.

 

Having used both, my view is Bluesound is superior in almost every way.

[Dolphy]

10 hours ago, POV said:

Why would you want to have both systems running.  Surely makes more sense to pick one and be consistent.

 

Having used both, my view is Bluesound is superior in almost every way.

Agree with POV 100%. 
Regardless of what brand you chose, stick with one. Try to keep your system simple. With the single brand you'll be able to synchronise all of your rooms. 

I am running one BS Node and I have three unused Sonos Connects, one Sonos Amp (patio) and a P5. I've kept the Sonos because the resale value isn't great and as long as it still works, I won't change my mixed setup. 

 

[joeling]

Thanks all.