Oppo Sonica Wi-Fi Speaker Review

I recently did a preview on the Sonica Wi-Fi speaker when Oppo announced production of the compact unit back in May 2016.  Oppo makes some amazing Blu-ray players, in fact most of us at Audioholics use them in our reference systems and recently we’ve liked what we’ve seen from their headphones as well.  So when I saw a speaker like this with a variety of streaming options, built in room correction from Dirac (coming soon through a firmware update), and a name like Oppo, this compact unit earned our coveted “Gotta Have It!” preview rating. Now we get to fully review one in action and see if this small wireless speaker will live up to the hype.

 Oppo Sonica YouTube Video Review

The speaker arrived promptly from FedEx in a double layered cardboard box with plenty of corrugated cardboard inserts to help protect the speaker from damage through shipping.  At roughly 12”x6”x5” and 5 lbs. I was surprised at the weight of the football sized speaker as I pulled it from the box.

The Technology

Oppo’s Sonica speaker is set up in a 2.1 stereo configuration with four separate amplifiers. The two 15-watt amplifiers are connected in a bridged mode to drive the 3.5" bass woofer and two 3” bass radiators with a combined power output of 30-watts. Two additional amplifiers, 10-watts each, power a stereo pair of 2.5" wideband drivers.

Structurally, Sonica is molded from tough, glass-filled ABS polymer compounds, and the enclosure’s shape is designed with curved surfaces for a wider sound field. Multiple internal reinforcement ribs provide more stability. The power supply and amplifiers are installed on a solid metal baseplate that facilitates heat dissipation for cooler long term operation of the active components in the speaker.

The bass radiators are located on each side of the enclosure opposite each other designed to enhance the bass response and cancel unwanted vibrations in the speaker enclosure.  The 3.5” bass woofer features a heavy magnet system and large linear displacement capabilities. The bass radiators utilize linear suspension with optimized axial stability to avoid distortion at high volume levels, and the 2.5” wideband drivers use a high energy Neodymium magnet system with copper shorting caps normally found in higher-end speakers.

The back of the unit comes with a power cord input, Aux input, USB, and Ethernet input. The back looks nice and clean, easy to use and get to, but hidden enough to be out of the way.  One interesting feature is the 90-degree power cord with the ability to be plugged in with the cord facing either to the left or right depending on where your wall socket is located. 

On the bottom are two rubberized strips for holding the Sonica in place even during songs heavy on the bass.

Setup

Although the Oppo Sonica can be used via an Ethernet cable, the functionality of the unit lies within its Wi-Fi capabilities. With my iPhone 6 in hand I downloaded the Sonica app and followed the onscreen directions.  Set up was a breeze.  The device easily found and connected to my wireless router and once the password was entered we were ready to go!

Like many other Wi-Fi speakers in this range, two Sonicas can be set up as a stereo pair or multiple Sonicas can be set up throughout the whole house. As a pair, Sonica should deliver improved channel separation, a larger sound stage, and even more power than using a single speaker, and it should be noted that multiple Sonicas can all be playing the same song throughout the house or play different tracks on each unit. 

Using the app

When opening the Sonica app the main screen shows the playback options. These include:  Tidal, On this mobile device, Network sharing, USB, Aux in, and Bluetooth.

Note: The Sonica speaker does not come with an Aux in cable.

If you’re not familiar with Tidal, it’s a music streaming service like Spotify or Apple Music except it offers music in lossless format for $20/month.  Although Tidal is a great feature for true Audioholics, it would have been nice to see other streaming options available directly from the app. You can use other streaming services like Pandora or Spotify, but you have to use either Bluetooth or Apple Airplay to push the music to the Sonica speaker. It’s not a huge deal it, but it does mean switching between apps.

The good news is the Sonica speaker does have the ability to play and decode audio files up to 24-bit / 192 kHz from formats such as FLAC, WAV, and Apple Lossless, so you don’t have to compromise on quality. To give you a comparison, the Sonos 3 speaker system (also $299) only plays FLAC files up to 16 bit and 44.1 kHz.

The Sonica app also comes with the ability to guide the listener on how to adjust the speaker settings depending not only on the speaker placement, but also on room size and whether or not the listener wants a bass boost. There are four presets based on the answers you enter into the app; great for quickly adjusting the speaker to the room and placement, but if you’re an audiophile that likes to adjust every facet of sound coming from your system you might not like this aspect of Sonica (even if it makes good decisions for you!). 

An interesting note is that there are periodic firmware updates for the Sonica speaker and so as feedback from consumers reaches Oppo the Sonica speaker can be adjusted through these firmware updates.  In fact, as I was setting up the Sonica speaker a firmware update came through my wireless network to update the system.  It’s good to know that as technology changes so will your Sonica speaker.

Special Note:  Although the Sonica speaker does not currently come with Dirac room correction, Oppo states that they are working closely with engineers at Dirac and will make it available via a firmware and app update in the near future. With the addition of Dirac room correction technology, the Sonica system should be able to optimize the most challenging aspect of creating great audio- the listening environment!  Dirac Room Calibration for OPPO will analyze the speaker and room together, automatically making corrections to remove unwanted colorations and deliver optimized sound.

Listening Tests

To truly test the versatility of the unit I decided to use the Sonica speaker in different size rooms to test how well the “Guide me” feature in the settings section of the app worked for calibrating the equalizer settings.

There are a multitude of options for pushing music to the Sonica speaker.  In the app you can play music directly from your phone or tablet or, if your music is on another server or computer, you can pull music from there and then push it to the speaker all while using the app.  As mentioned above, Tidal, USB, Aux in, and Bluetooth are all options, but with the lossless quality of Apple Airplay over the lossy quality of Bluetooth it would have been nice to have that feature within the app itself.    

Note:  There is significant lag time while the app loads the list of music from your computer or server in the “Network Sharing” tab on the app.  The first time I tried it I thought my computer wasn’t connecting to the app. The app will show “No Content Available” for up to 30 seconds while it connects to your computer and loads content. Perhaps Oppo should change this to “Loading” instead, then if there is an issue it can display “No Content Available”.

Small Room Listening

My first test was in our small 12’ x 12’ workout room.  What better way to get moving than with some kicking beats.  In this case the speaker was placed in the corner of the room on a small table. I selected “Corner, counter top, or bookshelf” from the “guide me” menu for sound optimization and then selected “medium room size” which is 100 – 200 sf. The app recommended “Preset 4” so I chose it to calibrate the system’s sound optimization. 

My go to music for running is the new Spotify Running App which matches songs to your pace.  Just like other streaming services, the more you use it the more it tailors to your particular music tastes.

On this particular session Spotify picked Pink’s “Get the Party Started” for a warm up 130 bpm pace or about 3.5 mph.    It’s a great song for getting going and the Sonica did an exceptional job handling the fast paced bass beats.  The bass and mid bass from the 3.5” bass driver and two 3” bass radiators sounded strong for a speaker this size and even at high volume levels the Sonica didn’t distort or even muddy up the bass. The rubberized bottom kept the device in place even with the jumping punching bass from this song. I've seen other Wi-Fi speakers of this size nearly dance off the table, but the Oppo Sonica stayed in place. I was definitely impressed with the amount of low end coming out of a device smaller than a football. The mids and highs were clean and crisp although the soundstage and imaging could have been better even from a device as compact as this one, but it could have been the audio quality of the recording being pushed to the speaker from Spotify.

While sitting on the workout bench I decided to pull up some Rush: Closer to the Heart. Again I was amazed at the amount of bass coming out of the Sonica, and the mids and treble were good. Each note from Alex Lifeson’s guitar opener sounded crisp and clear. Soundstage and imaging were better on this song.

I played with the sound optimization settings on this song toggling between the 4 presets and the option for bass boost.  The system did indeed sound best on Preset 4 which is what the system recommended for this room size and speaker placement.

Large Room Listening

The Sonica Preset for a large room is anything over 200 square feet.  Our 300 square foot living room was a great environment for testing the Sonica in a larger space.  Once plugged in, everything quickly synced and I was again ready to go.   Based on the information for the room, this time the Sonica selected Preset 3 as the best option.

Beatles Love

After seeing the show in Las Vegas a few years ago with the speakers in the seat above your head it’s hard to compare this album in any other venue.  The first track “Get Back” starts with the first chord of “Hard Days Night” then quickly goes into a drum solo leading into the opener for “Get Back”.  The drum solo again was tight on the Sonica.  The unit nicely filled the space with sound for a device of its size.    The next track I played was “I am the Walrus”.  There is so much going on with this song, especially at the end, that I thought the Sonica would have issues.  The multiple layers of audio between the “chooga chooga” and the BBC broadcast of King Lear are clearly heard on the Sonica in this complex and classic song.

I moved the Sonica to different parts of the room and it performed as well in any spot.   Blackbird/Yesterday sounded great.  Paul McCartney is the only one playing/singing in the song.  His foot taps come in clean and balance well with the movements of the guitar. The lower notes in the guitar riffs came through without distortion and the extreme highs of the actual blackbird singing on the recording tempered well without a piercing shrill tone. The Sonica did an admirable job of reproducing a complex and intricate album.

Note: When switching between the app, Bluetooth, and Apple Airplay there can be significant volume changes. Sometimes they were there and sometimes they weren’t.  Usually the app played MUCH louder than the other sources.   

Conclusion

The Oppo Sonica Wi-Fi speaker is a great addition to a home or office looking for a compact device to deliver music with a multitude of streaming options. The connectivity was simple, it sounded great for its size, and streamed everything I threw at it with ease. With a crowded field of sub $300 Wi-Fi speakers from companies like Bose, Sonos, Sony, and even Amazon it might be tough for Oppo to compete, but with a product like the Sonica Wi-Fi speaker I think Oppo has a good shot!