Sony SRS-RA5000 360 Reality Audio Premium Wi-Fi / Bluetooth Wireless Speaker, Works with Alexa and Google Assistant, Black

The design of the RA-5000 was what initially caught my eye. Looking like a contemporary sculpture with its upturned mini speakers encircled in beautiful copper. Giving it the appearance of an art sculpture or piece of furniture. The setup: The RA-5000 requires the use of the Sony Music Center application (android only) to install the speaker for use and audio configuration. The RA-5000 utilizes Bluetooth to make the initial connection. You can use NFC to make a quick connection. The unit supports both 2.4 and 5ghz WiFi networks. Google’s Chromecast is built-in, so think of a name for your speaker. This name is how you will find your new speaker. After the speaker is installed. Click on it and navigate to ‘settings’, ‘sound’. Under “Equalizer” select ‘custom’. You will be presented with a graphical equalizer to tailor the sound to your particular taste. (Extremely important the default settings are horrible!) note. – remember to set the “Immersive Audio Enhancement” and the “Auto Volume” to {ON}. Here you can the “Level” for the up firing speakers on top. Under "Settings", "System" - make sure the "network standby" box is checked. Here you can also check the firmware version. The current version is 1.70 as of 12/23/24. If you are running an older version of the firmware the speaker will not perform correctly! The 5000 can be added to Google Home or Amazon Alexa to enable voice control and add it to your smart home. The 5000 unit does not contain an internal microphone. It can only be accessed by voice via an external smart speaker with a microphone like the Google Home mini or Amazon Alexa speaker. This speaker supports music encoded in Sony’s 360 Reality audio. I tried three music services that supported this audio format. Amazon Music Unlimited is only provider offering full voice integration for the play back of Sony’s 360 Reality Audio format. The audio format when played back through the 5000 unit is superb! It is like having a front row seat to a live performance. The main selling point for me was the Hi Resolution audio playback. Spotify is popular but it does not support high resolution tracks. I signed up for Deezer because it was supported by my Google connected smart 🏠 I loved this speaker so much that bought 3 and am thinking of purchasing a fourth. The unit is comprised of 7 individual speakers. Three tweeters on top 3 mid-range and a subwoofer wrapped with a cloth covering. Only pick up the unit with 2 hands from the bottom.

I am not an audiophile, but I do really appreciate excellent audio. For reference, my audio gear are as follow: 1) The best speakers on a phone so far is my Samsung Note 20 Ultra. 2) For headphones I have enjoyed the Sennheiser HD700, HD650, HD600, HD598 and other 500 series, and for Bluetooth I am using the Sony WH-XM4 and the WF-XM3 truly wireless earbuds. 3) For speakers, I have used many Harman Kardon speakers (Soundsticks 1 & 2, Onyx 4 & 6), and am currently testing this Sony against the Harman Go + Play 2 and the Harman Aura Studio 3 The apps I used was Apple Music, and Tidal HiFi. I did not use the specific 360 Reality Audio files because I wanted a level playing field against the Harman speakers. For this Sony, there is the simple stereo sound, and then with the surround sound function on. I like to quantify ratings so readers can have a clearer picture. 1) Stereo sound: Crisp highs - 7 out of 10; strong mids - 8/10; weak lows - 6/10 2) Surround sound: This feature boosts the highs, and especially the mids. It works about 60-70% of the time, meaning it affectively adds to the immersion and experience at that rate. On other songs, it turns it into a weird hollow audio experience that washes out the song. Compared to the Harman speakers: 1) Stereo sound - after testing, I have found that the sound which best fits my ears comes from the Go + Play. The way the woofer disperses is much more agreeable than both the Sony and the Aura Studio 3. It sounds more meaty, and hits you at the right spot. The Aura Studio actually has a bigger woofer, but because the tweeters are smaller, the overall sound lacks the meaty mids of guitars and the overall affect of vocals. As for the Sony, the mids is where it shines, but because my listening preference is more bass-heavy (not anything as heavy as EDM or rap, but I enjoy most pop and specifically Asian modern pop), it lacks the punch at higher volumes. 2) Surround sound - here, the reverse is true. The Go + Play is the most front-sounding of the three speakers. The Aura Studio 3 does a better job since the tweeters are dispersed throughout its circumference. While the Sony beats them both while on surround sound mode. For the songs that works, anyways. The effect is quite dramatic. The most effective speakers are the three up-firing tweeters. If you use the accompanying Sony app, you can also change its frequency output, so that it fires out highs or lows (the default is mids). You can play around with it, but for me, the best experience is leaving it at outputting mids. And even with the surround sound effect off, the overall surround sound from the Sony still sounds best. Now, don't get me wrong, I think OVERALL, the Sony actually does have the best sound. Even without the surround sound, its sound is the most balanced. But I chose to award the overall sound to the Go + Play 2 based on the totality of the package: It is portable, so you can place it on many surface styles to change the outcome of the sound. Want something crisp? Place it on a glass surface? Want to add more mids? Change to a wood surface? And want an overall warm and lower-frequency effect? Put it on your couch or bed. As great as the Sony is, it is meant for the middle of your room where the sounds can be dispersed fully, and for it to just stay there always and forever. But most of all, is the $700 price. At that price, I would have expected something much much more. This is more of a experiment meant for early adopters and Sony loyalists. I mean I am almost one for all the Sony gear I own, but in the end even I couldn't justify the price. At most, this is a $500 speaker. I expect the price to reflect that for Black Friday, so maybe save your money and wait for then.

After extensively trying these out for a few weeks, I conclude that this is a poorly designed product. The software, hardware, and platform teams are just doing their own things and made this frankenstein monster that doesn't do anything particularly good. The RA5000 has 1 primary focus: 360 reality audio. Which isn't that great to begin with. The rest of features are all horribly implemented. It's just not worth it. I'll say what I like first: 1) Looks kinda sleek, with black mesh and warm, copper grills. HOWEVER it looks like a Phillips razor from top. And it's kind of a running joke of the audio community. 2) For genres that works with 360 reality, it's not too bad. You can have this 1 speaker sitting in the middle of a room, or a corner, and play light, background music, and it'll fill the space and sound like it's coming from all around. HOWEVER this is the only thing the speaker is good for. Now what I hate (strong word but accurately describes how piss poor this thing performs): 1) Horrible connectivity. On paper it has everything: bluetooth, wifi, 3.5mm. But it's poorly implemented. Everything's tied to the app which is designed to make you set up Tidal and Alexa. And it all has to sync through Chromecast. 1.a) You cannot proceed to use app without setting up chromecast. The message will pop up EVERY SINGLE TIME, even if you click "do not show again". Unless you download Google home, Chromecast, and pair it. So if you distrust google and don't want anything Google on your phone, too bad. You have to install the biggest trojan horse and most evil thing mankind has created in 5000 years of civilization history, on your personal phone. Make no sense 1.b) Even after you pair, it works very poorly. It works as well as 1% the experience of Airplay2, which the speaker does not support. 1.c) It's constantly confused about which connection you have, bluetooth or wifi or w/e. And you have to constantly use the physical touch-sensitive buttons on the side to toggle. There is no remote and the app, like I said, is a horrible advertisement for Google services that they shove down your throat. 1.d) since these are passive when connected through 3.5mm, you need something with powerful amp to push it. When you do though, and you have the 360 Audio turned OFF, then the speaker sounds like it has potential, if it could be paired in stereo pairing - which it cannot, because they wanted this to be only for 360 Reality Audio. 2) Sound - like I said before, it's only good for the kind of music, and the kind of usage that puts the music in the ambiance, in the background. So like, doing house chores, this speaker is great, because no matter where I move around to, it'll sound like it's coming from all around me. But only for certain music that doesnt' emphasize vocals, rhythm, or bass. You can turn off the virtual surround. You'll get a taste of the true fidelity packed inside these speakers. Sony put quality speakers in here. You can tell by its bass and treble response when properly amped and have the virtual surround turned off. However since it's in 1 unit and you cannot stereo-pair, it s moot, and you are better off just turning on virtual surround and play Enya or Yani on it, in the background. 3) For the terrible connectivity implementation, horrible App interface, and terrible mix of service, platform, UI, and design choices - by foregoing industry best practices and go 100% all in on Reality Audio, what you get is an awful product in a Shaver-look-alike package. This thing is a waste of space and I would not keep it even for $200.

I’m connecting the RA5000 and RA3000 together, and I’m filling my entire apartment with great crystal clear sound. The only thing I wish Sony allowed you to do was party connect these two speakers through the Sony Music Center app, much like they do with their other speaker types. The only way to do it at the moment is to use Alexa or Google Assistant. The problem I have is I have Apple music. When trying to play from my library it’s playing the music on my Alexa speaker. The only way to play the two speakers together is using Amazon music or Youtube music. I’m sure Apple is to blame, but I’ll give an update once I try Spotify or Tidal.

The sound is good of course I live in an apartment and my living room isn't big this could be something for someone like me if you had a really big living room I don't know. 1 thing that all sony speakers seem to have in common is if you don't have any sound going through it, the speaker disconnects from the Bluetooth

I have a pair of Sony headphones with excellent sound quality. I hoped for similar quality with the SRS-RA5000. I am not an audio fanatic but this speaker sounded dramatically bad on first listen to both my wife and me. I spent quite a bit of time researching potential fixes and went on u-tube where others had exactly the same opinion. Sony designed this speaker a few years ago for music which was supposed to be recorded in what they call 360 sound. That never really took off and it is almost impossible to find music recorded in that format. On music you can find and actually listen to the SRS-RA500 has a tin can high and mid range and very feeble bass. Sony was concentrating on its esthetic ( and it does look very cool ) and the hope that the 360 thing would take over the music business. I returned this a few days after getting it.

Nice sound,easy to transport. Has a breaking period and can adjust to your room.

Limited volume… you’re not going to rock the house 😝 Base range could also be better