Wireless speaker shootout: Sonos Play: 1 vs. the Bose SoundTouch 20 and Samsung Shape M7

Can these challengers unseat the reigning Wi-Fi speaker champ? Find Ratings

For the last decade, audio has often taken a back seat to video. It was overshadowed by TVs with ever-bigger screens, the explosion in streaming movie and TV services. and the emergence of mobile devices, such as smart phones and tablets, that let you watch your content on the go.

But thanks to these mobile devices, there's a booming demand for wireless speakers that let you easily play audio content—everything from music to cell-phone conversations—in almost any room in the house. Bluetooth systems are popular, but they tend to limit you to speakers that are in only one room. Wi-Fi speaker systems, on the other hand, let you stream music to several rooms in the house, and many can work together to work in a multichannel setup.

We recently decided to test the new Play:1 speaker from Sonos—the company that essentially invented the category—against new Wi-Fi speakers from Bose (the SoundTouch 20) and Samsung (Shape M7) to see if they were credible challengers to the Wi-Fi speaker throne. Here's what we found.

Sonos Play:1, $200

Sonos not only helped to invent the wireless speaker category, the company also set the bar for performance, ease of use, and flexibility. But its speakers tended to be pricey, especially for a multi-room system, or a multichannel system with a subwoofer. With the new Sonos Play:1 speaker, priced at $200, though, Sonos now has a model for the masses. The question is whether it's still able to deliver the sonic goods at that lower price.

The Play:1 speaker is a small, stylish, and solidly constructed mono Wi-Fi speaker, offered in either black or white cabinets with a silver-colored, nonremovable metallic mesh grille. Like the larger Play:3. $300, the Play:1 delivers very good sound, with bass that while not extremely deep is well-balanced and more extended than expected given its small size. Like other Sonos models we've tested, it's also very easy to use.

Also like other Sonos speakers, the Play:1 sounds great on its own—but when you pair it with another Play:1 speaker in a stereo configuration, you get a richer, more detailed sound with a wider soundstage. You can also add a Sonos-powered subwoofer ($700) and the Sonos Playbar ($700) speakers to create a full 5.1-channel multichannel system, or use it with other Sonos speakers to form a wireless multi-room sound system.

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