If you have listened to First Ring Daily for any length of time, you’ll know that I am deep into the Sonos ecosystem with no signs of slowing down. When the company offered up two Sonos Ones for $349, I jumped on the deal and here is a quick review of the hardware.
For Sonos fans, this device has been a long time coming. The company promised integration with Amazon’s Alexa (Google Assistant support is coming in 2018 according to the company) and this device delivers it in the best possible way. Previously, I was running an Echo Dot into my Play 5 via the line-in but it never worked as well as I had hoped which is why I ended up buying the One pair.
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This speaker, which has far-field microphones built in, is essentially a Play 1 but with a refreshed look and more functionality. Setting up the device is simple; open the Sonos app and follow the instructions on the screen. Once it’s setup, it works just like any other Sonos speaker but you can now scream at it and it will follow your commands.
But it’s not perfect, as the Alexa voice only comes out of the speaker that is receiving the command. I have speakers spread across my house and I would prefer to hear the audio response come out of the entire network but that’s not possible at this time.
And by far the most annoying thing that I can only conclude is Sonos’ ignorance in hoping you buy more speakers is that a Sonos One and a Play One cannot be combined for a stereo pair. What this means is that in my kitchen where I have the One, I also have a Play 1 and each speaker is set up in mono output as you can’t pair them to create stereo separation.
Why Sonos has this artificial limitation, I don’t know, the speakers sound nearly identical and are the same size. The company, I suspect, wants me to replace all my Play 1s with Ones but that’s not going to happen if I value my marriage.
Also, this speaker does not have a line-in option or Bluetooth support.
Aside from the Alexa difference, the physical play and volume buttons have been removed in favor of touch sensitive controls. I’m not sure if this is a big deal for you, I rarely touch the speaker and this change makes it look more ‘modern’ but I fully understand why some prefer buttons instead of this implementation.
For sound quality, I quite like the One audio profile it creates. The mids sound warm but the highs can be a bit thin. The lows are lacking but are good enough for a speaker of this size that you will be satisfied with its performance. It’s rare to find someone who doesn’t like the audio quality of Sonos but there are many who will complain about the price (myself included).
At $349 for two speakers, I do think the One pair on-sale right now is a good value compared to the typical price of $400. That being said, you will spend far more than $349 because with Sonos, it’s either all or nothing.
If you buy a Sonos speaker, you get locked into their ecosystem and will likely end up buying a Play 5, a sub, or a Playbar at some point down the line as it integrates into your speaker ecosystem. It makes no sense to buy a Sonos One and then 8 months later to buy a Google Max or a HomePod.
Once you invest in Sonos, it’s all or nothing. For me, I’m ok with that as I like the idea of having a speaker that will eventually support multiple AI assistants (Cortana maybe one day too?) but the idea of being locked in isn’t too appealing.
There is hope on the horizon though, Sonos said that they will support Airplay 2 which means, in theory, you could eventually expand your Sonos system to include other non-Sonos speakers. The problem here is that Sonos software development and deployment happens at an anemic rate; don’t buy today expecting this functionality to arrive anytime soon.
If you are comfortable with these limitations, I can say that if you do buy one of these speakers you will be happy. It works as well, has a solid audio profile, and Alexa works quite well with no issues of being recognized when shouting commands from across the house.
In our house, we have music playing for several hours per day and the Sonos setup works wonderfully well. I have no regrets about making this purchase but I do hope the company can move faster in developing its software.
Stooks
<p>I do not really see the point of 3rd party solutions that have limited support for other service providers.</p><p><br></p><p>I think the best experience is going to be to choose one of the three ecosystems (Amazon, Apple or Google) and dive in and do not look back.</p><p><br></p><p>We tried a full size Echo and its sound quality compared to the Bose Sound Link BT was just not there. We have both Amazon Prime Music (limited to whatever that is) and Apple Music since everyone at my house uses iPhones. With Amazon Prime Music the Echo fit better. With Apple Music the Echo was just a BT speaker and inferior one at that compared to the Bose. The "Assistant" part was fun activity for my kids for about a week to 10 days. Now the Echo is a dust collector in my youngest kids room. I think he uses in BT mode with Apple Music.</p><p><br></p><p>We will be trying a Home Pod next and see how it compares to the Bose. From what I have read in reviews it should be as good or better when it comes to sound and for our very limited "Assistant" needs Siri should be just fine at this very early time in the world of "Assistants". </p>
Stooks
<blockquote><a href="#244224"><em>In reply to petrolemo:</em></a></blockquote><p>Google…"Sonos Alexa Limitations". You will get lots of hits. I have not had success here linking stuff and my posting just spins.</p><p><br></p><p>Sonos with Alexa cant do everything that a Echo can do. First link I found states…</p><p><br></p><p>""<span style="color: rgb(26, 26, 26);">I agree with you. There are quite a few features like drop-in, flash briefings, voice calls unless you hook up through your home phone line, etc that do not function. When purchasing the one, I assumed I was getting an upgrade in sound, not losing functionality of Alexa. Not sure that trade-off is worth it, especially when Amazon has just launched devices with better sound.""</span></p>