Hands-On: Sonos One with Google Assistant
- Paul Thurrott
- May 27, 2019
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Excited by the possibility of integrating Sonos smart speakers into my whole-house audio system, I purchased a Sonos One recently. But it doesn’t work exactly the way I’d like: Sonos One does support Google Assistant, but it doesn’t support Chromecast, so you can’t add it to an existing Chromecast-based system like the one I use.
Maybe this shouldn’t have been surprising. After all, Google Assistant and Chromecast are two different things. And Sonos designs its smart speakers as an integrated system, an integrated Sonos system. To play in this world, you need to use Sonos equipment only. (Or, soon, some “Sonos powered” IKEA smart speakers too.)
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But that’s not strictly true: In addition to allowing smartphone apps like Spotify and Google Play Music to control Sonos systems directly, without needing to use the Sonos app, Sonos also supports AirPlay 2. This is basically Apple’s version of Chromecast and it supports both video and audio, and in the latter case, it supports both stereo pairing and multiple speakers. In other words, whole-house audio.
I verified that AirPlay 2 works as expected by streaming, or casting, audio from an iPad (played with the Apple TV app) to the Sonos One. No issues there.
But it doesn’t work on the Google side. When I bring up the Chromecast menu in apps, the Sonos One only appears in those apps that have native Sonos capabilities (again, Spotify and Google Play Music). But I can’t add the Sonos to my whole-house audio system using the Google Home app. It just doesn’t see it.
Maybe that will happen someday. For now, what you get is a premium-quality smart speaker with both Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant support. (And, via AirPlay 2, you sort of also get Siri support if you’re an Apple user.) For those like me in the Google ecosystem, that means that it works like a Google Home: It can listen for your verbal commands and you can target it (or other speakers) with those commands.
But app and service compatibility is mixed, at least for me. I can play Audible audiobooks to Sonos using that app’s “Connect to a device” functionality. And Google Play Music can natively control Sonos, as noted. But Castbox, my favorite podcasting app, supports Chromecast on Android, and the Sonos doesn’t appear in the list of compatible devices. (I assume that AirPlay 2 support on iOS means this would work on iPhone.) I could change podcasting apps, I guess.
Aesthetically, the Sonos One is a handsome smart speaker and it offers a nice visual update over the three Sonos:1 smart speakers I previously purchased. (It’s a nice functional update, too, since those earlier Sonos speakers don’t support Alexa or Assistant either.) The sound quality is excellent, but I’ll point out again that my $99.99 Edifier R1280T Powered Bookshelf Speakers sound even better and are central to my Chromecast-powered whole-house audio system. A pair of Sonos One speakers would set you back $380, almost four times the cost.
Of course, people buy Sonos for the quality and style, and for the cachet of the brand. And those Sonos One delivers on all that. It’s just not exactly what I was looking for.
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Conversation 9 comments
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m_p_w_84
<p>The downside of Google is that the concept of ‘casting’ is so alien to other people in my home. No one has a problem with understanding how to play whatever through the sonos app. </p>