SoundTouch 20
Far more manageable in size than the giant ‘30’, less frightening to find looming over a small room, the SoundTouch 20 proved, for our money, perhaps more useful. Its rich radiofriendly sound delivers well next to the current Sonos Play:5, the Bose less spitty and equally capable of nudging up levels to deliver a sizeable output before congestion starts to creeps in. We enjoyed it particularly with our streaming presets and internet radio, where it smooths over lower bit-rates but still has the power to punch out the tunes enjoyably and musically. There isn’t the scale of larger players, of course, and the sound is powerful if not particularly dynamic — friendly not fast. Though the balance doesn’t go to the bottom octave, it balances upper bass into lower mids well, with just a bit of insistence in the upper mids and a touch of splash in the treble.