The Sonos Five is the largest and most powerful wireless multiroom speaker the company offers. Coming in at $550/€600, it is also the most expensive "traditional" speaker in Sonos' portfolio, surpassed only by the $900 Arc (soundbar) and $750 Sub (subwoofer). Thanks to the raw power delivered by its six Class D amplifiers tasked with driving the three mid-woofers and three tweeters, the Five is fully capable of filling a large room with rich, punchy, highly entertaining sound. As long as a power outlet is available, it is also a viable option for outdoor parties.

While an excellent wireless speaker on its own, the Five really shines when combined with other Sonos products as a part of the Sonos multiroom system. By using the Sonos S2 mobile and desktop app, controlling the speaker becomes exceptionally easy. The app lets you quickly and intuitively play music from your favorite streaming services, radio stations, and local media servers or shared folders, but also easily group and ungroup various Sonos speakers around your home, control their volumes, play content from different music, and radio services on each individually, and so on. The Sonos multiroom experience is better than anything any competitor offers, which is unlikely to change any time soon.

The sound of the Sonos Five can be "personalized" by using the so-called Trueplay technology. It measures your room's acoustics and adjusts the speaker output to its characteristics. Unfortunately, this feature is only available on iOS/iPadOS devices, so if you're running Android, you're out of luck. By performing Trueplay calibration, I was able to make the Five sound more natural, smoother, and even more expansive. That only makes the absence of the technology on Android devices that much more painful for future owners.

For a more traditional powered bookshelf speaker setup, you can get two of these and wirelessly combine them into a stereo pair. This could be an interesting option for anyone looking to upgrade their home audio system while staying in the Sonos multiroom ecosystem. Two Sonos Fives in a stereo pair sound even more powerful and grandiose than a single unit, and you can still perform the Trueplay calibration to better adapt them to your personal space.

If you're looking for an audiophile hi-fi experience, you're likely aware that's not an area Sonos focus on. The Five is tuned to be an instant crowd-pleaser, and that's exactly what you'll get in truckloads if you decide to buy it.