The Sonos Five is a sleek wired speaker that's designed for home use. You can connect it to your phone and other mobile devices over Wi-Fi or Apple AirPlay, and if you have a third-party voice assistant device on hand, you can pair it to control the speaker with your voice. Like other Sonos speakers, its built-in Trueplay room correction tool optimizes its output based on your room's unique acoustics.
Our Verdict
The Sonos Five is good for music. It's a stylish home speaker with access to Sonos's room correction feature called Trueplay, which optimizes audio reproduction based on your room's unique acoustics. With it on, the sound profile is a bit bright, so while voices and lead instruments are clearly reproduced, you get a little extra sparkle with higher-pitched sounds. If you want a different output, you can always customize its bass and treble as well.
- Room correction tool.
- Bass and treble adjustments.
- A lot of compression at max volume.
The Sonos Five is a fair choice for videos and movies. You can stream audio from your phone over Wi-Fi and Apple AirPlay, and low latency ensures that you don't notice any issues with lip-synching. There's plenty of rumble in the bass to bring action-packed scenes to life, and dialogue is clearly reproduced. Plus, you can connect the speaker to other Sonos devices like a soundbar to create a home theater setup. However, at loud volumes, there's some compression and pumping artifacts in the mix.
- Bass and treble adjustments.
- Pairs to other Sonos speakers.
- Extended low-bass.
- A lot of compression at max volume.
The Sonos Five is a fair choice for podcasts. You can stream from your mobile devices over Wi-Fi. Voices and dialogue are clearly reproduced, and you get a little extra brightness in the treble to add sparkle to higher-pitched sounds. Also, it pairs with other Sonos speakers to spread audio throughout your home. While it gets loud on its own, there's some compression at max volume, so it's better suited for listening at an average volume level.
- Room correction tool.
- Pairs to other Sonos speakers.
- A lot of compression at max volume.
- Wired-only design.
The Sonos Five doesn't support native voice assistants. That said, the manufacturer advertises that you can control this speaker via Alexa or Google Assistant while it's connected to a third-party voice-enabled device over Wi-Fi.
This wired-only speaker isn't meant for outdoor use.
Changelog
- Updated Dec 21, 2023: Minor text edits for clarity. No changes in test results.
- Updated Nov 27, 2023: Added market comparison for the JBL Authentics 500 in the Voice Assistant box.
- Updated Apr 18, 2023: Added market comparison for the Sonos Era 300 in the Bluetooth box.
- Updated Apr 04, 2023: Added market comparison for the Marshall Woburn III in the Wired box.
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Differences Between Sizes And Variants
This speaker comes in two color variants: 'Black' and 'White'. We tested the 'White' variant, and you can see its label here. We expect the 'Black' color variant to perform similarly to our test unit.
If you come across another variant, please let us know in the forums, and we'll update our review.
Popular Speaker Comparisons
The Sonos 5 is a wired home speaker from 2020. It has a sleek and stylish design, and it's easy to integrate into your existing Sonos ecosystem. That said, this speaker doesn't come with as many features as newer Sonos home speakers like the Sonos Era 300. It lacks Bluetooth support, for example, and you can only access the voice assistants through a third-party device.
See also our recommendations for the best home speakers, the best smart speakers, and the best portable Bluetooth speakers.
The Sonos Era 300 is a newer release from the manufacturer, and it's more versatile than the Sonos Five. Notably, it offers Bluetooth connectivity as well as built-in voice assistant support, whereas the Five only supports voice assistants through third-party devices. The Era 300 has a better dynamics performance. Also, it supports Dolby Atmos for compatible music and videos streamed through a paired soundbar, unlike the Five. The slightly larger Five can reproduce a more extended low bass.
The Sonos Five is a better speaker than the Sonos One Gen 2/One SL. The Five offers a bright sound profile that can produce the deep thump and rumble in low bass that's typically present in bass-heavy music like EDM. It can get louder, and you can place the speaker horizontally to listen to stereo content and vertically for mono. However, the One Gen 2 offers great built-in voice assistant support with Alexa and Google Assistant. It has less compression present at max volume, resulting in cleaner audio at louder volumes. If you own a compatible Sonos soundbar, you can even add it to your setup as a surround speaker.
The Denon Home 350 is a slightly better speaker than the Sonos Five overall, though they perform similarly. The Denon can get louder with fewer compression artifacts, and it supports Bluetooth, although it has high iOS and Android latency. It also offers outstanding voice assistant support with Alexa built-in. However, the Sonos has a slightly better-balanced sound profile and it has a more immersive soundstage.
The Google Home Max and the Sonos Five are two mid-size speakers with different strengths and depending on your needs, you may prefer one over the other. The Google has better controls and has an excellent-performing Google Assistant built-in. It also supports Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and Google Chromecast. However, the Sonos can produce more low-bass and has a better-balanced sound profile, which makes it better suited for music. It also supports Apple AirPlay.
Test Results
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