I’ve always been a big fan of Sonos gear. Over the years, my home has become full of these impressive connected speakers, which offer a seamless way of filling rooms with sound. Then, back in 2024, everything changed. The launch of the ill-fated new Sonos app made my whole music system feel almost unusable overnight due to annoying connection issues, frequent crashes, and playlists that simply wouldn’t play.

After months of problems, I simply gave up. In fact, for the past year, I’ve been using a humble Echo speaker in my kitchen to play radio stations, and I switched to a Beats Pill for those times when I want to take my playlists on the move.

So, when Sonos got in touch to ask if I’d like to review its latest Play speaker I wasn’t sure I could face going back and putting myself through a whole lot of pain again.

After some thought, I said yes to the test, and I’m so glad I did. This new device is simply brilliant and has rekindled my love affair with these audio products.

It honestly feels like Sonos has gone right back to basics and made sure the user experience comes first.

Right out of the eco-friendly packaging, the Sonos Play is incredibly simple to set up. In fact, it took less than five minutes from the courier knocking at the door to this speaker belting out my favourite tunes.

The Sonos app, which I haven’t touched since my last nightmare, seems to be well and truly fixed, doing all the hard work, such as linking the speaker to my Wi-Fi and to other Sonos devices. It also took me seconds to set up and install the Alexa smart assistant which means timers can be set and playlists played via voice search.

There’s even the option to use clever Sonos Trueplay technology, which ensures the sound settings are perfectly suited to the room where the device is placed.

Once up and running it’s hard not to be impressed by the way the Play sounds. Everything is rich, full of detail and booming with deep bass. For such a compact device, it really does punch well above its weight, and it will easily fill a large room with enough noise to get a party started.

Thanks to its slimline design, it also looks really good and blends in nicely with the room rather than sticking out like a sore thumb.

There is another bonus of buying the Play. Tucked under its shell is an in-built battery pack, which means you can pick it up and move it around the house or even take it out on the road. There’s even a little carry strap included to make it easier to handle.

Thanks to its premium and water-resistant design, it won’t be affected by the British weather and the battery lasts for up to 24 hours before needing a refill.

Once it has run out of juice, you simply place it back on its neat charging stand for a top up.

It’s like getting two speakers for the price of one: it feels like a permanent addition to the house but is fully capable of delivering music on the move.

There’s honestly not much wrong with the Sonos Play.

Admittedly, the touch controls on the top of the speaker aren’t very clear, and I’d rather the designers had spent less time worrying about making it minimalist and more time on the actual user experience.

There’s also no access to Google’s smart assistant, and for some bizarre reason, Sonos only includes a charging stand and cable, but no plug in the box.

Other than those minor niggles, this is a truly brilliant speaker.

It’s simple to set up, sounds incredible and is incredibly versatile thanks to its portable design.

For the first time, Sonos is also allowing its speakers to be grouped together via Bluetooth. That means you link up a bunch of these boomboxes and create your very own mini-festival.

Since the Play arrived, it’s hardly been switched off, and the Echo and Beats Pill are now feeling a little redundant.

So it sounds like Sonos is firmly back on the map. And yes, this is now one of the best speakers I’ve tested in years.