Sonos launches Radio HD paid subscription service

If you own a supported Sonos speaker, you know that Sonos Radio is a free music streaming service exclusive to you. But now the wireless home audio giant has launched a paid subscription service called Sonos Radio HD which raises the audio quality of the radio stations you’re listening to. You also get new, exclusive stations and content as well as more artist-curated stations. You will also have features not available on the free version like skipping songs and putting them on repeat.

If you’re particular about the quality of music that you’re listening to, you’ll like Sonos Radio HD. It will be streaming original stations in 16-bit/44.1 kHz lossless CD quality which is way better than the 128kbps of the free Sonos Radio. It will also have more in-depth artist-curated stations, starting with Dolly Parton’s Songteller Radio and five more new stations similar to this to arrive early next year.

Those who will subscribe will get more exclusive content like soundtracks for home while you’re cooking, working, or relaxing, stations that will specifically be about mindfulness, productivity, and relaxation. There will be six new sleep stations with white noise, pink noise, brown noise, rain, rainforest, and piano sounds. You will also be able to skip songs or repeat them on the streaming radio but only for Sonos stations and not the global stations.

There are of course some things to consider before thinking of subscribing. First, it will only be available in the US and the UK, even though the free Sonos Radio is available in 16 countries. The paid subscription will only be accessible through the Sonos S2 app so only those Sonos speakers that have support for the platform can have access. The free radio app meanwhile supports Sonos S1.

So if you meet those two criteria, you can subscribe to Sonos Radio HD for $7.99 a month. Meanwhile, you can try it out for free first for 30 days. Needless to say, it will only stream on your Sonos speakers and not on other devices.