One box, several ticks
Never heard of Sonoro? Neither had we, but then a cursory browse on its website enlightened us. This is a German audio company that produces a snazzy ‘lifestyle’ range: four products, all radios but varying in features and, curiously, each designed for a specific room in the house.
Each to its own
As Sonoro sells it, the ‘room-sensitive’ products have ‘functionality customized for specific living environments’. The firm’s water-resistant GoLondon tuner is aimed at the bathroom and kitchen, while the compact SonoroRADIO is meant for the bedroom. And so on. Of course, they won’t self-combust upon crossing the threshold into another room – you can put them anywhere you like.
Here, we’re concerned with the SonoroSTEREO, the flagship, made for living rooms but just as suited to a kitchen worktop or (large-ish) bedside table. Combining its siblings’ specs and bringing in a few tricks of its own, it makes for a tempting all-in-one system. Your one-stop solution for music playback, if you like.
Let us break it down for you: there’s FM and DAB/DAB+ radio, a slot-loading CD player, and a host of connections around the back: a pair of RCA plugs and single 3.5mm for hook-ups to laptops and portable devices, and a USB socket that supports MP3 and WMA playback (from a key or drive up to 32GB) and can, according to Sonoro, charge any smartphone.
It might not be everyone’s cup of tea. Audiophiles who have their hearts set on high-res audio will need to look elsewhere. And network features such as DLNA and internet radio have been left off the list. What you can do is stream songs offline via aptX Bluetooth.
It would be an injustice to miss off its miscellaneous features, which include time and date setting, comprehensive alarm functions and sleep timers. Then there’s our favourite: ‘relax sounds’. Exactly what it says on the tin, it’s an assortment of tranquil sounds from birds to whales, wind chimes to crackling fire. Soothing, indeed.
A visual treat
Roughly the size of a shoebox, the Sonoro is a block of beauty and would no doubt incite a few ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ from visitors to your house.
Its solid-wood housing is dressed to impress in a stylish glossy lacquer (available in your choice of red, black or white) which meets a smart, clean frontage.
The brushed-silver front panel features a quadrant of soft-click buttons, a responsive dial and an easily readable (and dimmable) display, all of which make the system a real pleasure to use. The rather plush remote is in keeping with the unit, too, both aesthetically and practically.
Either side is a mesh grille, in each case hiding an 8cm driver. A down-firing 10cm subwoofer underneath the unit also plays its part to bring low-frequency grunt.
Before we go any further, know that there’s a series of self-explanatory sound modes to experiment with: ‘treble’ offers a bright listen in which the overpowering top end is a little uncomfortable, while ‘bass’ is a bit boomy and ‘voice’ sounds harsh and forward. Default mode ‘stereo’ produces the clearest, most tonally balanced sound, and those looking for greater low- or high-end presence can adjust treble and bass levels.
We pair our LG G3 smartphone over Bluetooth and let the STEREO try to make a positive impression. It does so valiantly. The first thing that hits us about the sound is how big and open it is – this is an audio performance we’d normally associate with a much larger machine. You can tell it’s been designed with a view to filling large rooms. We don’t often hear such a mature, multi-talented sound from a product of this sort, so are pleasantly surprised.
Tonally balanced and intricately detailed, its presentation is very listenable, the unit delivering a good sense of space and weight. Hit play on Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Snow (Hey Oh) and the dense production never sounds jumbled or unclear.
Keeping a sense of balance
Fed a heavy track like this, the STEREO can feel a little strained at high volumes, but it does stay clear and balanced.
There are clear hints of dynamic aptitude as the drumming builds to the chorus, and admirable rhythmic drive and energy when it finally arrives. The forceful drumbeat is taut and the string-plucking is rendered with pace and enthusiasm.
It’s a fun, musical box – athletic and agile, it has a sense of life about it that makes it very hard to sit still when you’re playing an even remotely lively track (we tried).
While the clear, insightful midrange and deep, agile bass throw up very few complaints, the same can’t be said for the treble. In need of more refinement, it stings as cymbals pierce the soundstage, failing to die down even after a weekend’s run-in.
And as much as we like the STEREO’s forward, go-getting stance, we’d welcome more subtlety and variation to its delivery for a full star-set. Even mellow music, Sufjan Stevens for example, feels a little ambushed at times.
It’s good news for CD advocates. Slot in Drake’s Nothing Was The Same CD – the mechanism barely whirrs as it loads – and the presentation is analogous in character to that played wirelessly from the LG, but (as you’d hope) cleaner, clearer and more cohesive, tying the various strands of music together more convincingly. The album’s arresting beats pound through the system with punch and potency, the upbeat rhythms sounding agile and explicit.
A viable alternative
All things considered, £500 isn’t a big ask for a classy-looking system that can play music from a host of devices – and play it pretty well. It might not do enough to rule the roost in this sector, but for those who don’t have the room or the budget to build a decent system of hi-fi separates – the cost of even the most modest amplifier, source and speaker set-up would put a larger dent in your pocket – the SonoroSTEREO is a very attractive alternative.
A laudable idea and a decent all-in-one proposition from Sonoro.