The control app may not have the wide-ranging cross-platform capability of the Sonos offering, but it’s a sight more extensive and useable than the Audio Pro alternative. There’s punch when you need it, delicate tenderness when required, and a broad understanding of every type and genre in between. The overall sound of a Bluesound multiroom system is big and bold, with impressive powers of organisation and timing. But considered as a whole system, one that’s capable of handling fat 24bit/192kHz hi-res audio files without alarm, it becomes little short of compelling. Taken individually, each speaker in Bluesound’s burgeoning wireless multiroom range has its merits - the Node 2i is a particularly impressive music streamer, and the Powernode 2i amplified version is better still. Voice control: Alexa | Hi-res audio: Yes | Spotify Connect: Yes | Apple AirPlay: 2 | Wi-Fi: Yes | Bluetooth: 4.1 But that’s the biggest negative it’s possible to level at the Audio Pro range - which goes some way to reinforcing just what spectacular value for money (and what an aural pleasure) an Audio Pro multiroom system is. The Audio Pro control app is slightly disappointing, it’s true - it’s buggy sometimes, and leaving it to get at your Spotify playlists (for instance) gets quite tiresome quite quickly.
And it will make setting up a multiroom system about as straightforward as it ever can be. It will be as well made as anything else at a similar price. No matter if it’s from the Addon ‘C’ range (see below), the smaller ‘A’ range or the mighty Drumfire (again, below), it will offer prodigious sound quality for the money. The number of Audio Pro speakers able to form part of a multiroom system seems to be increasingly daily - and yet the company has managed to ensure every new model upholds its hard-won reputation as a manufacturer of some of the best pound-for-pound wireless speakers on the market. Voice control: Alexa | Hi-res audio: No | Spotify Connect: Yes | Apple AirPlay: Yes | Wi-Fi: Yes | Bluetooth: 4 Price: From £159 | Check prices on Sonos | Amazon | John Lewis Pros: Stability wide product range up-and-at-’em sound Cons: No hi-res audio support And Sonos’s policy of constantly updating, finessing and improving its offering looks likely to make it so for the foreseeable.
There’s no hi-res support here (not even the ability to downscale hi-res music files), but the range’s forward, enthusiastic and energetic sound makes this the best pound-for-pound way to painlessly and reliably fill your home with music.
Most important of all though, is the Sonos sound. Sometimes before they even realise they want it. From the wide range of products (which now includes single speakers, a soundbar, a subwoofer, a surprisingly capable amplifier and more besides), to the smooth user experience (thanks to both a bespoke Wi-Fi mesh and the clarity and useability of Sonos’ control app), it’s an object lesson in giving people exactly what they want. Sonos nailed its multiroom experience some time ago, and has been improving it ever since.