Review & Comparison: Sony SRS RA3000 + RA5000: do they NEED to be this big??

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Find SRS-RA5000 USA: https://amzn.to/3wSuISI


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More of us are opting for quality multi-room speakers in our homes. These speakers are easily moveable, they can pair up to multiple speakers in rooms all over the house, but do need to be plugged in to operate. Sony’s foray into this type of speaker is the SRS-RA range.

Let’s take a look at the common features of each speaker, then we’l break down where they differ
Sony SRS-RA3000 and SRS-RA5000 Bluetooth speakers: common features
Both these speakers will connect to Google and Alexa if you want to add digital assistant smarts. They can be grouped together, paired in stereo pairs, and they have support for 360 audio. You can also connect either one to your compatible Sony Bravia TV for better TV sound. They will both use Bluetooth, Wi-Fi or hardwired connections.
Where they differ is in size and design, price and power.
The SRS-RA3000 is smaller and looks a little more like a traditional Bluetooth speaker with a cylindrical design. It comes in either black and gold or white. When I say smaller, it is smaller than ther 5000, but this is still a sizeable speaker. It measures 5 3/4 x 9 3/4 x 6 1/8 inches. And it is heavy.

Set up:

Getting the speaker set up was pretty easy—well, one of them was. You just need to plug in the power and turn it on. Then download the Sony Music Center App. The app will walk you through getting it connected to Wi-Fi, and can also link you up to Google Assistant, the Google Home, or Amazon Alexa. It took me just secconds to pair to the RA3000 and get access to the Sony Music Centre app. Then I was able to use my voice assistant to stream music directly to the Sony RA3000 speaker.

When I went to add the RA 5000 however, it did not go so well. While I was able to get a direct Bluetooth connection from my phone, I was never able to add the speaker to the Sony music Centre app after half a dozen attempts at adding it, I gave up, since I was still able to play music to it.

No matter where you set up your Sony speakers they’re designed to calibrate themselves for your space. Just turn it on, play music, and it automatically calibrates for optimum audio performance using an internal microphone and unique Sony algorithm. With the RA 3000, Sony says There’s no manual measurement or “annoying test tone” (that’s totally a dig at Sonos)—just perfectly positioned ambient room-filling sound, says Sony.


Ambient room filling
Speakers purport to be room according to Soni's market and. For this size, they should be able to fill just about any space, and in my testing that seems true. These speakers are both powerful and get plenty loud; you’re definitely in for noise complaints from the neighbours with these.
360 audio support
Both speakers have support for 360 Reality Audio.
Sound quality
At this price point, either speaker should sound really great… and I’m happy to say they do.
The RA5000 is the biggest and most powerful of the duo with seven —three of them upward firing speakers. , but the RA3000 despite its smaller size is still able to crank.
Both have a well balanced sound, and the RA5000 in particular has killer bass. I listened to a bunch of different music on these and I was pretty happy with how everything sounded.
Voice Control:


Which to choose?

Slight design differences aside, which of the speakers will come down to your budget and the size of the space you want to fill. If you need more power in a bigger room, opt for the RA 5000. If you're trying to shave something off the budget and trick out a smaller room, the RA3000 will probably get the job done very well for you.

Overall review
Overall both of these are very great sounding and capable speakers. They get plenty loud, can easily fill any space, and are easy to connect to and use with mobile devices.

When it comes to the downsides, both seem needlessly large. Particularly compared to a Sonos Play, they’re huge. I also had difficulty connecting the RA 5000 to a Sony music centre app, so I was not able to get all of the functionality.

Even so I was still able to use and enjoy the speaker.

These speakers are not inexpensive.

The Sony RA 3000 sells for about $299USD while the RA 5000 is a whopping $699US. Evaluating these two side-by-side on price alone, you'd probably be just as happy with the thousand and saving yourself hundreds of dollars.

I can definitely recommend either of these two Sony powerhouse speakers for you if you're looking for a large room filling speaker.