Opinions on Sonos Amp?

Seamless experience for me

I have two of the old Connect:Amps, and replaced one with one of the new Amps. Greatly prefer the new product, for AirPlay 2 alone. It makes playing music or podcasts a lot simpler, which means I just do it more often. (It's also powering the speakers for my TV, via the HDMI ARC connection, which is something the old version couldn't do at all. That's working pretty well so far, but it's a 2.0 speaker setup, basically just replacing my TV's speakers. Going to try adding surrounds via Sonos this weekend.)

The still connected Connect:Amp is in my office, and I ended up putting a HomePod there, too, just to make it easier to play podcasts over a speaker. I'm using the HomePod a lot more, because it's easier. It's not enormous, but it's enough reduced friction that I do it more. The power of AirPlay.

So, the question comes down to, is it worth it to you? I've hesitated to spend the cash to buy another Amp for the office, to get the HomePod out of there. It is an expensive product. But it's also clearly better in pretty much every possible way.

Love mine. Exactly what I needed for 2.1 setup in living room. Now it’s fully integrated with my Sonos ecosystem AND handles TV content perfectly.

It’s been really good for me. I replaced a pretty sweet tube amp with it and haven’t looked back. If you use it with your tv it’s even better.

I bought mine for outdoor speakers. I didn't want to spend that much, so was looking for old Connects on ebay but they're not much cheaper, when you factor in the additional amp you have to buy. I also looked at used Connect:Amps. Also not much cheaper, but I was thinking about pulling the trigger on that.

Then I realized that what I really wanted what exactly what the new AMP has: dual mono. Our backyard speakers are in completely different parts of the yard and there's really only one square foot you can stand in where you can hear both. True stereo would suck. The AMP solves this.

Yeah, I could've pieced together a Connect with a Monoprice amp that has dual mono, but I don't think there's many options there. Most would require some additional wiring to achieve it without experiencing resistance issues.

At a certain point, you realize you've already spent more in time and effort trying to avoid buying the thing than the thing actually costs.

So I bit the bullet. Yeah, it's overkill for two small Polk Atrium speakers. But whatever. Works great. Super happy with it.

(chiming in late...) I have 4 Sonos Amps and had minimal issues and really do enjoy how they sound, ease-of-use and even how they look. I replaced some Marantz, Rotel and SMSL gear with the Sonos Amps. While the SMSL AD-18 is great for the price, I am appreciating the SQ on the Sonos Amp more. I use Airplay2 extensively and it's really seamless for multiroom. Even streaming over Airplay2 I can still control the room selection from the sonos app - super convenient. I use 2 Amps for the home theater in a 4.0 config, 2 fronts and 2 rears. Switching out from TV to Airplay, Spotify, etc. is so easy. I have parallel-wired two pairs of polk atrium for the deck which sound great (a little overkill as @IcyKettle mentioned). The Spotify Connect works the best with 0 issues synchronizing between rooms as the Airplay 2 has done maybe a dozen times with daily playing for the last 6 months. Just a simple pause&play toggle fixes the echo for me. All my amps are running off wireless, no wired or Sonos Boost. I was never able to get the SonosNet working with my Ubiquiti Unifi home setup (spent a good number of hours working on it). Running all the Amps off my existing wireless has worked great. If you have great 2.4GHz at home SonosNet might not be needed otherwise it's still worth the extra effort getting setup.

In sum: it's pricey, but it's been worth it to me also given the wife approves. No malfunction besides my struggle with SonosNet on my complex home wifi network that ended up being not needed.

I replaced a higher end setup - Audiolabs MDAC (Pre/DAC) and Bryston 3BST Amp driving B&W floor standers - using Squeezebox on a RPi /w FLACs + Spotify plugin.

It worked well but Squeeze is getting long in the tooth and I wanted something that supported Apple Music as I switched over to iOS and so went Sonos.

I was debating just getting a Connect and using the Bryston but went with the new Amp. Sold my Bryston and DAC and paid for the Sonos Amp with some extra cash.

I initially though it sounded a bit worse but the loudness setting defaulted to on. Not sure if it still does but ensure you turn it off. Turning that off cleaned it up so it was comparable to the MDAC/Bryston combo.

I do find the volume steps weird, not exponential like other Pre/AVRs, more a linear progression. The other negative, and its a little thing, but would it really have killed them to add a +/- for the physical volume buttons. Instead they used the 4 dots square box but its not obvious which is + and which is - as they are both the same. I use the app mostly anyway but...

I appreciate Airplay 2 and the seamlessness of it all. It just works, and works well.

Have since got a Beam and Symfonisk bookshelves for rears for my HT in the basement. Replacing a Yamaha AVR and 5.1 discrete that was a mix of Axiom and Mirage Speakers. Will eventually get the sub but loving being cord free (save the power cords).

I've had one for years and have never had any issues because it's a quality product. My biggest complaint is the high price and I'm still salty about paying it. I'm hoping Amazon adds an amp to their multi-room Wi-Fi speaker system so that I can jump ship. Imagine paying only $50 for the sub?