Sonos makes some of the most popular paired speakers at the moment. While not cheap, they tend to have excellent fidelity and seamless integration, including platforms like Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. To keep them burning on all cylinders, you may (potentially) want to invest a little extra cash in a Sonos Boost.
Related: The best smart speakers
What is a Sonos Boost?
A Boost creates an additional Wi-Fi network for your Sonos devices. It does not replace your existing Wi-Fi router – in fact, to install one, your router needs an open Ethernet port. Instead, a Boost bridges your Sonos speakers with your main Wi-Fi network and the Internet.
What is the benefit of this? It’s crucial that Sonos speakers have a solid Wi-Fi connection, especially in multichannel settings, where interrupted signals can cause channels to out of sync or stop playing altogether. A Boost reduces congestion on your main Wi-Fi network no matter how many Sonos speakers you use. In some cases, it may improve range or connectivity, as the company claims power “comparable to enterprise-class Wi-Fi routers.”
Will a Sonos Boost improve the quality of my Sonos setup?
Possibly, but for most people, probably not. Here’s why.
If you, like many people, have a single Sonos speaker, there might be no point at all. Possibly a Boost can help solve serial problems, but otherwise you just replace one Wi-Fi connection with another and actually set delay where it was not before. It may not be much, but it does not make sense to pay for the privilege.
Even if you have multiple Sonos speakers, many Wi-Fi routers are perfectly capable of handling it on top of the rest of the devices in your household. Streaming high quality audio from services like Spotify or Tidal is definitely going to consume bandwidth, but not as much as 4K video or large file downloads.
The only time it’s worth considering a Boost is if you have multiple Sonos speakers and there are obvious networking issues with them – whether it’s delay, downtime, or an inability to broadcast media. Even then, delays sometimes have other causes, and these can be signs of larger network problems that require router upgrades. For example, if you are using a Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac) router, you may need to switch to Wi-Fi 6 to increase your simultaneous connection limit. If one or more of your speakers is too far away, you could benefit more from a mesh router than anything Sonos-exclusive. Although a Boost is typically cheaper than a new router, the network router will improve connectivity for all devices.
See: The best mesh routers
where to buy
As a real accessory, the Boost is harder to find than Sonos speakers. However, it is worn by a number of online retailers – check out some of your options below.
Read more: The best Wi-Fi routers