IKEA's Sonos Speaker Has a Secret

When IKEA launched its own line of smart speakers in collaboration with Sonos, many wondered how they were able to sell them for such low cost. I tore one down and discovered the answer.
Sources and more information:
Main CPU: MCIMX6X2EVN10AC, www.nxp.com/part/MCIMX6X2EVN10AC
RAM: Nanya NT5CC128M16JR-EK, www.nanya.com/en/Product/4115...
Ethernet PHY: Maxim 78Q2133, www.maximintegrated.com/en/pr...
Audio DAC: TI PCM5101A, www.ti.com/product/PCM5101A
Flash memory: Winbond W29N02GVSIAA, www.winbond.com/resource-file...
Amp: TI TPA3116, www.ti.com/product/TPA3116D2
iFixit Play:1 teardown: www.ifixit.com/Device/Sonos_P...
Play:1 FCC filings: fccid.io/SBVRM009
Play:1's original PowerPC-based CPU: www.nxp.com/part/MPC8314VRADDA
Play:1 switched to ARM-based CPUs: / 2015_vs_2017_play_1
---------------------------------------­------------------------------------
Please consider supporting my work on Patreon: / thisdoesnotcompute
Follow me on Twitter and Instagram! @thisdoesnotcomp
---------------------------------------­------------------------------------
Music: "Heartache" by Dan Mason (danmason.bandcamp.com).
Additional music by Epidemic Sound (www.epidemicsound.com).
Intro music by BoxCat Games (www.box-cat.com).

[@ThisDoesNotCompute]

An interesting note that I cut from the video for time, but still worth sharing: The Play:1 doesn't support AirPlay, but Symfonisk does. If they share the same internal components, why is this? It all comes down to that FCC filing for the Play:1 -- the PowerPC CPU originally used isn't powerful enough, but the ARM chip that Sonos switched to is dramatically faster. Sonos *could* technically offer a firmware update for newer Play:1 models to add AirPlay support, but likely won't as it would confuse owners of older, PPC-based Play:1s ("why does my speaker not get the update, but other people's do?"). I'd love to see someone with embedded systems experience figure out how to dump the contents of Syfonisk's boot media and write it to a Play:1, preferably over the network (partially because I really want AirPlay on the Play:1 I bought to tear down for this episode).

[@steinarnie]

This Does Not Compute Poly Fill is used in an enclosure when the woofer is in an enclosure that isn't large enough.

[@T00LF00L]

The new Play One does support AirPlay

[@innnlove]

are you sure it's connected via pcie and not usb?

[@77numerouno]

Great video 👍

[@ErebuBat]

T00LF00L the Play:1 (no airplay) and the Play One (airplay + alexa) are not the se product. It wasn't clear which This Does Not Compute has frrom the video, but the FCC filing he showed was for the Play:1

[@dempleon4791]

I work for an Ikea CDC and they gave all the employees a symfonisk speaker for Christmas. I love it.

[@abeautifulmindispoetrydefi5323]

One of the best tech strip downs that I have watched in a long time. You know your stuff, and you are excellent at bringing it down to the level of the average joe, who just wants to know whether it's the ticket or if it's a dud. Keep up the good work.

[@donwilson]

Such a high quality video and teardown

[@mob1235]

for such low quality speakers

[@GlacialLake]

with such a clickbait title.

[@TheRailroad99]

@@GlacialLake I agree, review was amazing, title not. There is nothing secretly bad about this as the title suggests. @mob1235 I don't think they are that bad. Don't get me wrong, of course there exist better ones but the design seems to be of good (build) quality (Except those CapXon caps). The audio quality won't be the best, but decent enough for the average consumer. The only thing I can't understand is why people in General want those mono "intelligent" speakers at home. Even a rather cheap stereo/5.1 system sounds a lot better if set up correctly in the room.

[@koshu4]

It's presented well but riddled with technical errors and incorrect assumptions. The conclusions are completely wrong. Enjoy the pictures, ignore the commentary.

[@noorazmi2329]

Beware. Outside beautiful. Inside rotten

[@vapingwithjames3370]

I’m really like the lamp/speaker idea, especially for people who don’t have lots of space for conventional speakers. Great video

[@monroe2245]

Channels like these are performing a real service. Keeping the Big Co's transparent and the public informed one teardown at a time. ;) Thank you for all your hard work!

[@lucasrem]

real service? or just entertainment? what items you have opened, all gear in house?

[@shifty2755]

@@lucasrem He wants him to cover vibrators next. 👍

[@Chimera_Photography]

"Keeping companies transparent" .. Wow... That's what you got from this you WOKE toolbag?

[@minmogrovingstrongandhealthy]

Another reason why soon almost everything will be glued shut and it will have the worst parts possible.

[@juzzlookin]

Wow! What a great review, the best I've ever seen, great depth and camera work, and proving every point. Brilliant. I doff my hat sir.

[@jasonwalsh9211]

I would imagine this is becoming more common for manufacturers to share components rather than each design and manufacture from scratch.... it's been a common practice in automotive for some years now. Thanks for the video, always interesting to see what's inside.

[@smitthone]

Ikea sales volumes and distribution is something sonos would have never achieved alone

[@aritakalo8011]

Yeah. Also easily explains the price drop. When one is buying on the Ikea scale for their global store network, one gets to tend bulk discounts even Sonos sized company never could dream off. Sonos was big in USA with retail deals.... Ikea is big Everywhere. It brings whole different scale. Plus Sonos previously mostly sold to audio interested people ordering online or specifically going to electronics/audio stores..... The Symphonisks..... next to the lamps in Ikea on the corridor everyone has to walk past to get to check out. Ikea masters of the "you are in our buying maze and don't walk out without something in shopping cart." Plus well Ikea is privately owned and plays the long game. So they can run smaller but still decent margin, since there is no investors and shareholder to please with high margins to keep the stock price high. While paying royalties etc. to Sonos.... Who do have to keep the stock market happy and the speakers where their only business, so those must have pretty healthy margins. The Kamprad family has been wealthy beyond their ability to spend all that money due to Ikea for decades.... So they have no need to start suddenly trying to make a quick big buck. As long as the Ikea corp stays healthily profitable overall, the Kamprad don't care. These private family companies operate in completely different mindset compared to public stock companies. Kamprads and Ikea, Meyers of Meyer Werft so on and so on. They play the long game. The now past Ingvar Kamprad was also known to live very frugally and be cost conscious. So not only they had money beyond to spend, they spend pretty much none of it. Don't know if the tune has changed since Ingvar passed. Probably not, if he raised his children to same frugality mentality.

[@germedia4369]

@@aritakalo8011 and there is one other thing.. Symfonisk is cheap, but you will never see this thing in sale.. Ikea can push their price more aggressiv because they always know their profit

[@mamba109]

@@germedia4369 depends on your Ikea. Here there is an "As-is" section where they sell customer returns and I've seen these speakers like-new and heavily discounted.

[@Tylenol514]

@@mamba109 That has to do with warranty, IKEA cannot repackage and sell as new once opened. Most of them are only opened boxes and in brand new condition too!

[@Raven3one]

I wish every product review was like this

[@unboxedtravels]

Me too !!!

[@cncgeneral]

Wadding will generally reduce bass level but increase extension while smoothing midrange response. However, it's unlikely that the amount in the non-Sonos speaker was enough to affect sound, especially not for the target audience

[@660hp]

As always I really enjoy this teardowns, even if are products that I probably never going to buy it. The research on every chip, every component to really understand how everything works is very interesting and the production is very good, that's why I take a moment this time to leave a comment, thank you and keep with the good work.

[@TekGeekHD]

Not sure how I've never heard of this channel. This was a brilliant video - Definitely earned my subscription! :)

[@adyandrey23andrey]

Such a calming and pleasing to watch video. Thanks!

[@jerrywolsztyniak8834]

Probably the best review and teardown of the Symfonisk (ahem Sonos) (AHEM GGEC) on KZbin. Nicely done.

[@mavicosbeautypersonalcare5645]

Fantastic teardown video with detailed review of components, I think you have set benchmarks of how teardowns should be done!

[@inmatejason]

This was an awesome review, I love details and tear downs, thanks

[@AAndinoPhoto]

Hard to not click with that title Killer job dude. Well put together and attention to detail was great!

[@TheOzthewiz]

Kind of reminds me of Scotty Kilmer's click bait, DON'T..............then shows a picture of a new Toyota!

[@Oystein87]

Bigger magnets than I thought.. That's a pluss👍 The damping material don't help with bass response but helps to remove resonance in the box👍

[@OrenArieli]

Excellent teardown and analysis. You're a true credit to the KZbin community.

[@Watcher3223]

For those wondering about the BB symbol on the PCM5101A, that's the logo for Burr-Brown, which is a Texas Instruments subsidiary.

[@CuChiKat]

Anyone remember Quadrasonic Systems ? They were hot during the seventies, they even had Quadrasonic vinyl albums. It was like a double stereo system and required 4 speakers, ah the good old days !

[@MDSilverstar]

I like the sound of the big eneby alot more than that of the sonos/ikea collab! That bigger enclosure really gives the speaker much more to work with.

[@Collateralcoffee]

Thanks a lot. This is a REALLY THOROUGH video!!! Lots of explanations, and my technical geekness is entirely satisfied.

[@Turnbull50]

Always great interesting video's, I really enjoyed the turntable video you did.

[@donaldscheer5206]

Very Well Done Tare Down Review! You know your stuff!

[@codydowling1120]

This was a *fantastic* teardown. Excellent job from a new subscriber.

[@shadiajjan1618]

Without any doubt , your explaining is amazing and this is exactly what i want to watch thank you for the information you provided in this video.

[@ParadoxlnABox]

Do you know if the Sonos Play:1 and Sonos One use the same low quality CapXon capacity or if they use something a little higher grade?

[@TerjeMathisen]

Using those designed-to-fail CapXon capacitors is actually quite interesting seeing that in IKEA's home Scandinavian market we have a minimum 5-year warranty on all non-moving electronics parts, i.e. we have a Supreme Court ruling in Norway stating that a TV remote control has to last at least that long, unless it is the buttons that fail, in which case normal 2-3 year warranties apply. I've just verified that Symfonisk is in fact available in my local Oslo IKEA stores, so this means that they are most likely just taking a chance, since I don't believe it would make sense to have a different version here.

[@minmogrovingstrongandhealthy]

Thank on the insight, didn't know this so It sure seem is a gamble but then again on the other side we have plenty of idiots in the world who will buy this and either forget and lose the papers when they bought it or don't even care just buy another garbage in a row ... Think the people who will file for warranty will be a minimal number of people for whom the replacement or striking another deal or credit in shop will be a easier way out and overall not that much of a big problem anyway. Pay us X amount of money and you will get a new ''better'' model. The customer gets another device and they still made some money on it even with a discount. Since these are dirt cheap to produce anyway. They make money on these no matter what.

[@lolilollolilol7773]

Even more surprising is the fact that they didn't use MDF for the enclosure, given it's literally what they do best. I have the feeling that IKEA only gave a price point to SONOS and that was it. It's a bit disappointing, as IKEA has all the power and process to sell a much higher quality speaker system at sensible prices.

[@oahupc4688]

Masterful video! The production value is amazing.

[@freeelectron8261]

Nice tear-down and market analysis. Thanks TDNC!

[@QoraxAudio]

The PCB comparison Symfonisk and Play1 is quite the revelation. They even use the same cheap caps.

[@jakew3]

Great video, very informative and awesome production quality! Thanks for sharing

[@3ull]

Awesome review. This is the right format for us techie guys. Lets get some home speaker reviews going!

[@johnsmith12421]

Great teardown and very informative. Sub & a thumb from me, looking forward to more of your presentations in the future :)

[@porkrinds9572]

Excellent level of quick, informative detail to your tear-downs. I’ve always passed up your videos because most of them seem to be on silly consumer “toy” gadgets (which is still in opinion). However, I am quite pleased by your clean & informative approach to your videos & will be very open to viewing them in the future. Perhaps maybe even a subscribe...? Also, big up for the GGEC mention! Details like that go a long way for those whom need to know. Cheers

[@DeputatKaktus]

Who made this RAM chip? - Nanya Business. 🤪 (Sorry)

[@theAnniJoe]

I chucked and had to look it up myself...😂 Nanya means South Asia in its original Mandarin.

[@alexandriaoccasional-corte1346]

I thought it was Speed Ltd. 😁

[@Bishka100]

I thought he said 'Narnia' not 'Nanya'....I was quite disappointed, I always wanted to have tea with Mr Tumnus.

[@ThisNewZealandGuy]

“Comedy gold”

[@RennieAsh]

Bishka100 you can have roast lamb with him, aka ram 🐏

[@BatesonBen]

Brilliant tear down, and analysis, thanks mate!

[@PeterMIcedVoltage]

Great review, I appreciate the in-depth look.

[@Uninfluenceable]

not having AUX input in the lamp shade speakers is such a missed opportunity. I would have loved to use them as "dumb" speakers on either side of the couch in my 7.1.2 Atmos setup

[@arraybytes]

I would be curious if you found a compatible network card with bluetooth could you get bluetooth streaming on the IKEA speakers.

[@MiCoopRS]

you'd need the App to pair the bluetooth then? its not total magic and does not say...if it could talk, OH look! Bluetooth, let me hook it up for.... DAVE... that is if it was HAL in 2001.....

[@GraysonCarr]

But why? Wi-Fi is better... lower latency, higher bandwidth, further range. It’s kind of the whole point of Sonos speakers. There are a million Bluetooth speakers out there, and Sonos work better BECAUSE they use Wi-Fi. It’s like complaining that your Tesla doesn’t have a gas engine...

[@amibami]

You are such a pro ,best review I've seen and the last weeks i looked for

[@NhatLinhNguyen82]

I forgot to thank you. Thanks to you now I have 5.1 with Sonos. I was putting off buying 2 back channel speakers but with this bargain, they were perfect.

[@adyandrey23andrey]

I actually have two of these and tried putting them in an "ideal listening position" for stereo. The sound stage was quite impressive! Stereo separation and immersiveness were amazing for 100$ speakers that don't have audiophile aspirations. If you do have an apartment, do not hesitate to give tyem a try. You might end up amazed. I am trying to save for buying a Sonos Arc for that atmos. Coupled with the Symfonisks I believe I would get a pretty nice cinematic experience in my small 17^2 meters (180ft) living room. Give the Symfonisks a try, they are beefier than they look 😂

[@tatjanavidenic2389]

Totally agree with what you say, and what you have in mind, mean by it... I also gave it a try. Firstly out of curiousity and practicality. As its purpose makes it a sensible choice to use it in a layout most common in appartments of 30-55m2. I added a second unit to try the pair of them and so on. I realy did not expect the result and I simply cannot being amazed enough!

[@minmogrovingstrongandhealthy]

1st of all this doesn't cost 100$ 2nd of all for two you will need almost 300 Euros. For that money I can buy a proper stereo sound system with speakers included that have much more functions and life in it then this garbage ... Even if this would cost 100$ for two is too much money for what it is.

[@policeofficer1866]

@@minmogrovingstrongandhealthyactually in the US the speakers are 99 each

[@Zanzibar2Far]

When you look at the dirt cheap bill of materials and simple construction, it amazes me this costs as much as £99.

[@evshrug]

Bill of materials + China labor + factory manager + supply chain + design royalties (pay Sonos?) + shipping + IKEA store overhead... and then to stay in business, your margins need to be like 4x the cost of manufacture. As the narrator to this video says, this speaker probably has an unusually low margin in the hopes that customers buy accessories and other IKEA products. Almost a “doorbuster” product.

[@JonasWilms]

Also the design looks like it's a mass produced prototype, mini PCIe in a Speaker to support Wifi, are you kidding me?

[@dirtfriend]

@@JonasWilms but it's ~swedish~ and ~scandinavian~

[@TheOzthewiz]

@@dirtfriend BUT, built in China! Where else?

[@cmbunton]

Excellent research and teardown. Loved the video!

[@sst85og]

Excellent presentation and analysis in this one! Your videos have made me interested in the speaker actually.

[@stp22]

Good way for Sonos to get rid of old stock parts clogging their warehouses.

[@redtalks9094]

True

[@futura555]

Usually companies like these are not holding the pieces of a device in their warehouses. They are manufactured to order, so the GGEC, which is known in audio manufacturing world, produces the parts, orders some parts from third tier suppliers and assembles it all for Sonos or other brand, according to their specs and design. Unless Sonos chose to go with pre-designed audio stacking, and relies more on software to tune the sound to their signature. That would explain the similarities. It's perfectly normal in industry to rely on readymade ( so called off-the-shelf) solutions that are tested and provide good enough quality.

[@moclan582]

No way. IKEAs sales volume is way higher than what Sonos could have ever achieved

[@compunerd]

My guess is that they used the same board from the sonos play 1, since it was already being manufactured and didn't cost any startup costs on sonos' part, and the drivers on the smaller eneby matched perfectly with the sonos boards capabilities.

[@Rcschim]

awesome ammount of detail in this video. nice to see it gets enough views to justify the work a bit. greets

[@BrownKnight011]

I've never seen a more detailed tear down of an electronic product until this video, subscribing 👍. By the way this video popped up on my recommended videos 😅, I guess because I'm subscribed to LGR.

[@studioxxswe]

"this doesn't sound like a whole lot of RAM" - Yea it sounds massive!

[@alextirrellRI]

So I go back and look and see that 256MB of ram was standard for our desktops around 2001, but then I realize that was almost 20 years ago. 😮

[@0tispunkm3y3r]

Alex Tirrell I remember my TinyPC had a 833mhz pentium 3 or something and 128mb of ram. This has a dual core cpu with the main processor running 1GHz and has double the ram! I know it’s not comparable to a slower x86 cpu, but the numbers make for funny comparison.

[@Scodiddly]

My first work computer had a whopping 12Mb of RAM. And that was after it was upgraded.

[@CaveyMoth]

Is that a LAMP SPEAKER?! Holy crap. I'm going to need some lamp subwoofers to go with it!

[@funylee547]

@@Trialnerror agreed

[@elissitdesign]

How about a bed subwoofer with 2 x 15s 🤣 The ladies live it (click)

[@CaveyMoth]

@@elissitdesign That sounds like the beds from Max Payne.

[@umloginqualquer]

I just imagined a lamp rattling and jumping frantically until it drops itself from the table onto the floor.

[@NoafUckinway]

I love lamp

[@yimeng1883]

Thank you! Your video is professional and very detailed!

[@spewter]

Incredible journalism! Thank you

[@kquote03]

2:36 Is that an mPCIE WiFi card ? If so, then try to connect a graphics card to it using an exp gdc Because I make good ideas

[@chrisakaschulbus4903]

well, dump the bootrom, rewrite large sections of the os and the gpu driver, implement an user interface and install the gpu driver and you should be good to go... some of those steps might take a couple of hours though and aren't as straightforward...

[@-----REDACTED-----]

The capacitors are not just cost cutting but also likely part of the measures taken for planned obsolescence

[@TheOzthewiz]

Cost #1!

[@westelaudio943]

Physical obsolescence isn't even needed with this type of device, it's enough to have one of the next generations of "smart" phones to just not support the standards those operate on anymore. It's an opportunity for us DIYers to hack an analog input (with op-amp line lvl crossovers) into them though, or even turn them into passive speakers altogether, which run with any small amplifier or trusty receiver (from the 80s that still works perfectly of course :) ...) The drivers themselves look pretty good actually.

[@addypearce]

Really great video and very useful information. Thanks so much!

[@peterroycroft]

Fascinating video. Thank you for such thorough sleuthing!

[@BilisNegra]

What strikes me the most, regardless of the discussion at hand, is how people now conceives mono sound as something absolutely normal.

[@jackwilson5542]

Another reason to go with headphones over a speaker.

[@klaasj7808]

yes weird shit

[@HerreDePerre]

@@jackwilson5542 that’s not a reason to go headphones over speakers. Its a reason to buy decent stereo speakers.

[@seymansey]

So the SYMFONISK has airplay 2 support, but the play:1 doesn’t. Given that we have seen the hardware is the same, I wonder if you can hack the SYMFONISK firmware onto the play:1 in order to get support.

[@agentmarky5493]

Gerrit You could use a willem programmer with tsop adaptor to flash that winbond chip that stores the firmware.

[@agentmarky5493]

Gerrit Yes you could use the willem to read the winbond then just clone it. Those ic's have been used for many many years now the most common use was bios on computer mother boards, now they are in everything car ecu's, cable boxes, roku boxes, Xbox's. I'm surprised they use the tsop version rather than the more modern solder ball mounted package. lol it's a hackers first port of call, many examples exist for instance the first Xbox exploit.

[@maxnankervis8246]

Buy symphonisk pull apart, remove board, fit into Play:1 , fit play:1 board back into symphonisk, return to ikea.

[@agentmarky5493]

Tom Skarabis Only one real way to find out .. From this video I was under the impression the main pcb was practically the same, if thats the case they probably just left some components off the cheaper version. I don't own either of these speaker units can't say as I ever would. Was just passing on some hobbyist suggestions.

[@maxnankervis8246]

Tom Skarabis Ikea speaker is beigng compared to a Play:1 not a One (there is no such thing as a Play One) The new Sonos One SL is the replacement for the Play:1 and probably shares most components with the Sonos One, while the SYMPHONISK seems to share all the electronics from the Play:1

[@doktor6495]

Very good tear down ... again! Thanks! I left a subs! Greetings, Doc64!

[@adrianlinge6285]

Tusen takk :) Dette var veldig bra!

[@negritorican]

At one point I thought this review was going to reveal my social security number. The amount of research done here is insane.

[@TheOzthewiz]

All for something that's going to find it's way to Goodwill's Electronics aisle in about 3years!

[@Syntax.error.]

The lamp version is a Sonos one with a lamp. I live next to IKEA and have checked them all out.

[@abelincoln7473]

You live next to an IKEA, man I feel bad for you bro...

[@eldafint]

@@abelincoln7473 Why?

[@jimwilson7322]

I'd be interested in hearing how different the frequency response curves are between the different speakers. I'm guessing the Symfonisk has better bass extension because of the larger enclosure (therefore lower f3) so not only is it cheaper it possibly sounds better too.

[@stileshumphrey4195]

Nice dissection of both speakers!

[@TechBuilder]

Cool!

[@cillianmurphy8652]

🤖

[@jonstechchannel]

A PowerPC CPU?!?! Sweet

[@HuAwei-eq4cq]

it can be your secret web server :-)

[@TheWalkmanBlog]

Always to see proper teardowns and analysis of what is inside. Would love to see some Sony teardowns in the future.

[@ThisDoesNotCompute]

I’ve got something like that in the works, but not quite so in-depth on the specific components.

[@akumarification]

Hey superb tear down and analysis!

[@BizzleByron]

I use a couple of these as rears for my Sonos soundbar as I think the Sonos 1’s are a bit overkill. They do the job admirably

[@volvoracinggermany]

So it's not Ikea to blame cutting the costs down but Sonos, as they are also using CapXon caps in their "premium" products.

[@nodd85]

I saw that, the Sonos Play:1 is also using the CapXon capacitors.

[@JoshWitte]

They were equally involved in the creation process, with Ikea likely having the final say

[@volvoracinggermany]

@@JoshWitte , but Ikea weren't involved when Sonos layed out the Play1. They already used CapXon on their own products, that's what I say.

[@JoshWitte]

@@volvoracinggermany ah, gotcha. Well that's unfortunate 😕

[@esk8spirit362]

Nope, it's always Trump's fault...

[@eltelturbo]

Hi Colin, what brand do you recommend for home cinema sub £500? I was considering a Sonos soundbar and Symfonisk to go with it. Is the Symfonisk good value for money?

[@Raku777]

Interesting break down of the internals...do you think batting could be added to the Sonos to make it work better (would it cool okay or is cooling even an issue)?

[@skyak4493]

Great job on the teardown -you do a fine job identifying all the hardware, it's origin, and the implications on performance and quality. You seem to be a little fuzzy on branding, pricing, and other BS -like you never worked at a company that makes these things. The short explanation for all your questions is that engineers DON'T run these companies. For every value proposition they create there is pile of business and marketing executives that justify their high salaries by raising price, changing names, cutting cost, and generally making customers pay as much as possible for as little as possible. Ikea is a major "channel" and brand -thus negotiate a lower price for essentially the same product. Sonos obviously could charge less for it's speaker, but will not because that would "dilute the brand". Still don't see the logic? Well, that's why you (and the 99%) don't make the big bucks executives do! Here is the only logic there is -a bunch of executives at Sonos will justify being paid more by doing this deal with Ikea. They "expanded the ecosystem" while not "diluting the brand" they "raised margins" and "increased tax efficiency". WTF does that mean? The production of the ikea speaker is invisible to Sonos's financial reporting. Only "licensing" payments will be paid by Ikea to the "intellectual property holder" of Sonos in an offshore tax haven. The brilliant management of Sonos has eliminated all payments to anyone that designed, built delivered or protected the world in which this good could be delivered and made it into a refined pure profit that they can use to justify payment to... THEMSELVES! But if Ikea is selling the same speaker for 50% less, won't the expensive Sonos speakers lose sales? YES! and that "share loss" will be used to justify cutting the pay or limiting the pay of engineers, and all the producers of Sonos speakers! Another win for brilliant management!

[@daytonde]

you nailed it. plus: i don't think,that ikea pqys "extra". they simply buy these things in 1000s what lowers the price per unit.

[@TheOzthewiz]

They are called the "bean counters", call ALL the shots!

[@sevsnk3043]

They don't sell this seperate for you to put together?

[@ThisDoesNotCompute]

soldering iron sold separately lol

[@andrewsharp7805]

Play the video in reverse

[@Nicholas.T]

No, it’s pre-assembled. Isn’t that such a bonus !!

[@RunarMagnussen]

Very interesting! Is the wifi card also the same on both the Symfonisk and Play:1? I have one of each, both very new, and the Symfonisk struggles with wifi dropouts. They're in different rooms and when I tried to put the Play:1 in the same room as Symfonisk ut had zero issues. If the wifi is the same on both then I think it's a good sign of my Symfonisk having some technical difficulty.

[@Turkentorque]

I think its fun that IKEA have kept our swedish words for their products🙂

[@jml7429]

Great tear down. Highly technical. Way over my head. I was waiting for a “don’t buy this because it’s crap” (I’m a simple man) recommendation but it never came. I get the feeling it’s crap (and SONOS as well?) but am left scratching my head 🤔.

[@felixt1470]

I was hoping same but you're right. This video is a bit too technical for the general public. Having said that, I have a Sono AMP and it is good. Not surround sound but very powerful.

[@TheOzthewiz]

Don't buy because it has CRAP-on caps!

[@afterarrival8169]

You are like batman for the techworld. Going all out on detective mode.

[@STOPH3R01991]

The dust cap on the play 1, points more towards SQ, which will have a very different output sensitivity.

[@JT-re5ec]

Great video, thank you for making it. Very well done :)

[@agevenisse3252]

Using CapXon capacitors is probably a way to make sure it doesn't last more than 2-3 years...

[@PackardKotch]

Ageve Nisse damn, straight to the point

[@davidperry4013]

After a couple years when they do die, take it apart to check the capacitor values, order higher quality replacement capacitors with correct capacitance values and same or higher voltage rating from digikey, than bust out the soldering station and replace them.

[@WinterCharmVT]

@@davidperry4013 You know that 99.9999% of people will buy another. Planned obsolescence is disgusting.

[@SocialSpit]

Ageve Nisse floor sweepings... those types of capacitors are generally the first thing that blows in any expensive electronics circuit including computer motherboards. I’ve been able to replace some but without Radio Shack being down the street anymore it’s harder to find the parts. There is a Mouser out in El Cajon somewhere I think they have mail order too.

[@timotheusbojarowski4673]

still running here after 6 years of everyday use, so nah, keep your accusements to yourself.

[@wilfriedkaiser]

If course the best advice would be to buy neither to not support throwaway electronics. Thanks for discovering that.

[@imfuctifino]

good luck finding any manufacturer that doesn't support TaE. everythings built to a pricepoint noawadaysw not to give end users longevity

[@fanoscharalambous2098]

Great insight and information, thanks. Keep up the great work 👍

[@dtsdigitalden5023]

Very nice detective work. How interesting to learn about the source of the components. Great work as always!

[@broderperdurabo]

You can google every part more or less.

[@hillie47]

What's really disappointing is the fact that Sonos, the so-called "premium" connected speaker manufacturer, is also using crap caps.

[@0ace0hitta0]

Yes I thought that as well... But is 150$ really premium??

[@hillie47]

@@0ace0hitta0 compared to the cheap alternatives, yes.

[@JurajMarkoSK]

@@hillie47 Hi. Can you please tell me about some cheaper alternative? I'm looking for some cheap multi-room wifi audio system and I was not able to find anything cheaper then sonos one. Thanks a lot.

[@hillie47]

@@JurajMarkoSK for the connected stuff the Sonos play one is probably the cheapest option, but there are some budget not connected speakers you could use. Sonos is premium in the sense that prices go up rapidly from the play one. And to be honest $150 is a lot of money for a simple box with a cheap little amp and speaker. But that seems to be the starting price. Too high is you ask me.

[@wishandwatch]

the only premium in sonos is the price ;)

[@mrkrunch4340]

This speaker has better cable management than my PC.

[@Rainbow__cookie]

It basicly has a pc inside lol

[@UNSCPILOT]

I like the Cyberpunk aesthetic, so of course that's why my PC is a mess of cables, tubes, and LEDs inside totally not because I'm lazy

[@BDESAI777]

One of the best explainer video. Amazing and descent

[@tubical71]

Great review, i usually don´t watch stuff like this, because usually they keep focussed on the consumer point of view.

[@MultiReinforced]

Where’s AVE review of this?

[@blu0065]

Kind of crazy to see an IMX6 processor in a smart speaker. It's close to the functional equivalent of a raspberry pi in your smart speaker.

[@handlesarefeckinstupid]

Maybe the old pi's. The pi4 is a quad core at 1.5ghz. And has way more on board. Still a fair amoumt of processing power for a speaker though, probably cheap to get a hold of these now as they are obsolete for their true purpose.

[@blu0065]

@@handlesarefeckinstupid you are correct... Were they (imx6) originally intended for infotainment systems and the like?

[@wturkesteen]

How could we improve the sound quality of the bookshelf speaker compared to the table lamp speaker?

[@antoinelifestyle]

thank u a lot for this video ! nice work ^^

[@TheIdiotPlays]

Oh god CapXon... So many bad memories dealing with them..

[@hoilst]

"Their driver components are very similar". Except for, you know, the cone and dust cap on the Play 1 woofer.

[@hoilst]

@@Ascoundrel No one who has ever built, sold, worked with, or enjoyed audio would ever agree with you.

[@noodlesstyx3564]

Thank you very much for this video!

[@Ali_Shafai]

Great video! Are there any options to add rear surrounds to Sonos where the speakers run on battery power? I have an open floor plan we’re plugging into power is not convenient nor aesthetically pleasing.