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Sonos announces $200 speaker with Alexa, Google Assistant, AirPlay 2, and smart home

This is what I thought the Amazon product announcement was but it looks like they made Sonos announce it themselves. I have a Google home so this wouldn't work for me but I hope the existing Sonos I have are able to tap into home.
 

giga

Member
No Spotify Alexa support and only 2.4ghz WiFi b/g what?! 2.4 is an absolute mess in my condo complex.
 
I have a whole bunch of Sonos speakers and 2x Amazon echo dots around the house and will possibly get an Echo show later in the year, I also use Google Play Music (and have been using it for longer than the other devices)....will the new Sonos allow me to control my play music with Echo or am I screwed and need to scrap play music for Amazon music?
 

Juice

Member
Thank god they're adding Airplay. That's half the reason I want a HomePod--sick of their dig through their shitty app to find music to listen to and then again to adjust volume from any of my iOS devices
 
I have a whole bunch of Sonos speakers and 2x Amazon echo dots around the house and will possibly get an Echo show later in the year, I also use Google Play Music (and have been using it for longer than the other devices)....will the new Sonos allow me to control my play music with Echo or am I screwed and need to scrap play music for Amazon music?


I don’t think Alexa will voice control Google Play music. You have to wait for the Google assistant update for the new Sonos 1 in 2018. Of course that would make your Echoes useless.
 

giga

Member
Spotify voice support is supposed to be coming soon but I’m still in shock over its lack of modern WiFi. Isn’t sonos itself streamed over WiFi? They should be putting the best WiFi hardware. It’s your core function ffs.
 

jts

...hate me...
Spotify voice support is supposed to be coming soon but I’m still in shock over its lack of modern WiFi. Isn’t sonos itself streamed over WiFi? They should be putting the best WiFi hardware. It’s your core function ffs.
Ethernet > *
why would they adopt HDMI into their products? They're products are WiFi based, and offer no video.
They have a soundbar.
 

captive

Joe Six-Pack: posting for the common man
Thank god they're adding Airplay. That's half the reason I want a HomePod--sick of their dig through their shitty app to find music to listen to and then again to adjust volume from any of my iOS devices

except that the airplay protocol sucks ass. But Sonos is so rock solid id expect that they only added it if it works well.

also why is their app shitty? I find it works fine, its consistent acros iOS, android and windows PC. I have zero problems finding music or selecting playlists. I have my sonos created playlists as well as my itunes imported playlists.

They have a soundbar.

yes i have the sound bar, how many TVs actually have HDMI out? There's nothing wrong with Toslink out you're going to get the same audio quality. If you need Dolby TrueHD or DTS HD you need a proper receiver and proper surround sound.
 

giga

Member
Ethernet > *

They have a soundbar.
Yeah no I don’t need Ethernet wires running through my kitchen.

except that the airplay protocol sucks ass. But Sonos is so rock solid id expect that they only added it if it works well.

also why is their app shitty? I find it works fine, its consistent acros iOS, android and windows PC. I have zero problems finding music or selecting playlists. I have my sonos created playlists as well as my itunes imported playlists.
Airplay 2 is supposed to be good. App is shitty because I’d rather use Spotify’s app than Sonos’.
 
This seems really compelling. I appreciate that companies like Sonos and Roku are trying to include any and all ecosystems in their stuff. It's refreshing in our current era of ecosystem wars.
 

Luschient

Member
Wish this was battrery-powered vs needing to be plugged in all the time. Looking to add a couple of speakers like this on my fireplace mantel but have no desire for power wires to be running everywhere.
 
I don’t think Alexa will voice control Google Play music. You have to wait for the Google assistant update for the new Sonos 1 in 2018. Of course that would make your Echoes useless.
So Sonos have released their beta Alexa controls to the public now, anyone can try it out by going to the beta section in advance settings in the Sonos app and update to the latest app (you'll then need to enable the skill and link accounts in Alexa).

Seems you can launch a song directly via voice in Amazon music/unlimited if you have that and tell it which speaker to play on which is quite nice. I have some songs in my Amazon music library so I've tested this out.

But to control a service that's not supported by Alexa, you'll need to start playing via your respective app (Google Play Music in my case) after which you can then control via voice to skip songs, play/pause or put the volume up/down. It's not ideal but better than nothing.
 

TechnicPuppet

Nothing! I said nothing!
So Sonos have released their beta Alexa controls to the public now, anyone can try it out by going to the beta section in advance settings in the Sonos app and update to the latest app (you'll then need to enable the skill and link accounts in Alexa).

Seems you can launch a song directly via voice in Amazon music/unlimited if you have that and tell it which speaker to play on which is quite nice. I have some songs in my Amazon music library so I've tested this out.

But to control a service that's not supported by Alexa, you'll need to start playing via your respective app (Google Play Music in my case) after which you can then control via voice to skip songs, play/pause or put the volume up/down. It's not ideal but better than nothing.

I'm on holiday just now, any idea about Audible?
 
Wait, so it will eventually work with both Alexa and Google Assistant? So it'll respond to either "Alexa" or "Hey Google"? That's pretty cool. My Echo really only ever gets used to play music, so this is tempting.
 

emag

Member
This is honestly the most attractive smart speaker option in my mind. Far superior audio to the Google Home and Echo/Echo Plus (presumably) for not much more money, but greater compatibility with multiple services.

I'm partially invested in multiple ecosystems -- Google mail/calendar/Chrome/Chromecast, Amazon shopping/Prime services, Apple phones, Microsoft/Windows desktop -- but not ready to entirely commit to a smart home system. The Sonos One allows me to continue sitting on the fence, which I appreciate.
 
I bought a Play:1 like a month ago. Fuck.

Edit: didn't read, they're apparently adding Airplay 2 to all their speakers. Awesome.
 

Ominym

Banned
I bought a Play:1 like a month ago. Fuck.

Edit: didn't read, they're apparently adding Airplay 2 to all their speakers. Awesome.

You can return it if you bought it from their store as I think they do 45 day returns.

That said, I bought two. I'm already heavily invested in Sonos and while I'll admit this product is very needed competition-wise I was hoping for something a bit more exciting.
 

entremet

Member
except that the airplay protocol sucks ass. But Sonos is so rock solid id expect that they only added it if it works well.

also why is their app shitty? I find it works fine, its consistent acros iOS, android and windows PC. I have zero problems finding music or selecting playlists. I have my sonos created playlists as well as my itunes imported playlists.



yes i have the sound bar, how many TVs actually have HDMI out? There's nothing wrong with Toslink out you're going to get the same audio quality. If you need Dolby TrueHD or DTS HD you need a proper receiver and proper surround sound.
With AirPlay you don’t need to worry about Sonos missing services like audible or even some podcast apps. They recently added pocketcasts which is great, but you can’t do double speed like you can in the native app. With AirPlay you don’t need to worry about that, you can use the original native app and use whatever controls you want.

For that reason I prefer AirPlay, I don’t need to worry about Sonos dragging their feet on services.
 

emag

Member
No Spotify = no buy

The fuck these guys thinking?

Spotify has had Sonos support for some time now -- it's just that the Alexa bridge for voice control of Spotify on Sonos One isn't yet ready. Airplay support and OK Google functionality are also not ready at the moment.

Unfortunately, the 2.4 GHz b/g-only networking can't be patched.
 
airplay 2 is only supported on the One and Play 5 2nd edition.

I bought my pair sonos play 1 this summer, i don't feel bad it's my most expensive clock radio i ever bought.

If everyone else's products sound as good as Sonos, Sonos is in trouble.

I don't expect them to sound as good as Sonos.
 

toohectic

Member
airplay 2 is only supported on the One and Play 5 2nd edition.

I have four Play:1s in my house. I wonder if you can add a new One to the system and use that as an AirPlay 2 receiver to distribute the Airplay audio to the old Play:1s. I hope so. I know a Play:5 can already serve as a source from the line in on the back, so hopefully it (and the new One) can serve as AirPlay sources too.
 
Oooh, nice.

My biggest complaint with my Echo and Echo Dots is that the voice search stuff sucks compared to Google Search/Assistant.
 
airplay 2 is only supported on the One and Play 5 2nd edition.

I bought my pair sonos play 1 this summer, i don't feel bad it's my most expensive clock radio i ever bought.

If everyone else's products sound as good as Sonos, Sonos is in trouble.

I don't expect them to sound as good as Sonos.

Seriously? That's some bullshit.
 
Oooh, nice.

My biggest complaint with my Echo and Echo Dots is that the voice search stuff sucks compared to Google Search/Assistant.

Hmmmm, not surprisied although isn't Alexa meant to be amazing?

But yeah, Siri is terrible at this too. Their voice pattern recognition is pretty poor. Even Googles isn't that good but once its filtered through their search engine it pretty much can guess what you meant accurately everytime.

My speakers are still very good and high end, but looking forward to getting a high end smart speaker system eventually.
 

emag

Member
Reviews are up for the Sonos One, including:

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/201...r-sounding-echo-with-some-holes-left-to-fill/
https://www.cnet.com/products/sonos-one/review/
https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2017/10/18/16490866/sonos-one-speaker-review-alexa
https://www.whathifi.com/sonos/one/review
https://www.wsj.com/articles/sonos-...red-speakers-never-sounded-so-good-1508299261 (paywall)

The general consensus appears to be that it's equivalent (maybe slightly better with tuning) to the Play:1 in terms of sound quality (much superior to current Home/Echo devices), but that the Alexa functionality (particularly the setup) isn't perfect.

I'm almost certainly buying one for my kitchen/dining area next week, primarily as a WiFi speaker. The additional Alexa (and forthcoming Airplay and Google Assistant) functionality isn't my primary motivation, but it does help sell the product.
 
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