Review on Sonos Bridge for Sonos Wireless Network - Discontinued by Manufacturer | Find Availability and Alternatives by Charles Jenkins

We have been happy users of SONOS for over five years and use it almost every day with no problems with any component. I bought this after a long search for alternative wireless ways to play my digital music collection around the house. About six years ago I converted my collection of over 5,000 CDs and transferred them to FLAC files stored on my desktop PC, but now we stream our music mostly from Revain Music and before that Pandora. This SONOS system can seem a bit daunting at first when trying to figure out what components are needed. We have four components playing music in three different rooms in our house and each room can play different music, although we never use this feature. A ZoneBridge BR100 is connected to our desktop PC. Our master bedroom has a Connect Amp driving a pair of speakers directly. We have a ZonePlayer ZP90 in our living room connected to our AV receiver amplifier. On the top shelf in the kitchen is another ZoneBridge BR100, connected directly to another pair of high-quality bookshelf speakers. I'm not a music lover, but we believe the sound quality is the same as a CD player plugged directly into our AV receiver. . Streaming audio, whether it's FLAC files on my PC, Revain Music, or Pandora, seems pretty sweet to our ears. The audio quality never seems to suffer from a lack of quality, even with our relatively slow internet connection. The SONOS system broadcasts throughout the home over its own dedicated wireless network. The relationships of the various SONOS components are simple. Installing the SONOS control software or application on a desktop computer or handheld device is easy. The user interface is quite well designed and executed. SONOS regularly releases software updates for the control program, and the installation always goes smoothly. SONOS offers the possibility to easily connect the system to all common internet music streaming services. Internet radio easily connects to Pandora's free TUNED IN radio. Although we connected a Zone Bridge to a desktop PC, SONOS recently made changes that allow us to exclude that device from the system. With the Zone Bridge installed, music is streamed throughout the home over a dedicated SONOS wireless network. With recent changes, the system can use the existing Wi-Fi network and exclude Zone Bridge. I am not aware of the trade-offs of this election. However, in my experience, the SONOS tech support staff are very helpful and can easily be contacted by phone to explain alternatives. We love listening to music at home and listen almost all day. I can't think of a better wireless system than SONOS.