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Sonos One
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For Sonos fans and music fans seeking a smart speaker that delivers excellent sound quality for its size, the One is unrivalled.

- Britta O'Boyle, Pocket-lint 


If your dwelling isn't full of speakers already, you should certainly consider the One for single or multi-room music playback.

- Antonio Villas-Boas, Business Insider 

Specs / Features


Wireless
Wireless Inputs Airplay
Warranty (Months) 12 months
Release date 24-October-2017
Size 16 x 12 x 12 cm (6.3 x 4.7 x 4.7 in)
Weight 1850 grams
(65.31 ounces)
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Reviews summary section

What's good

  • Intuitive interface
  • Easy setup
  • Excellent audio quality

What's bad

  • No Bluetooth connection
  • Not Zigbee enabled

Move over Amazon Echo, there’s a new smart speaker out there—the Sonos One! While Amazon might have cornered the smart speaker market for a couple years, Sonos has a following in the high-end wireless speaker market.

But can they compete in the world of smart speakers? Let’s see what the reviewers have to say!

If you’re familiar with the Play:1 speaker, the Sonos One build and design won’t come as any surprise. It features the same rounded rectangular shape, but adds in a flat top that doubles as a touch control panel as seen on the Play:5.

You can tap the center to pause or play songs. Tap the right or left side and volume increases and decreases. Sliding right or left will move forward or backward through playlists. While the controls are not groundbreaking in terms of design, reviewers appreciated its sleek simplicity.

Besides speaker controls, there’s also a microphone button that turns the voice assistant features on and off. While the Sonos One launched with Alexa only in 2017, they plan to add Google Assistant support in 2018.

Sonos carries the simplicity over to its setup process. Experts found it easy to connect to their favorite music streaming service through the Sonos app as expected. They were also pleasantly surprised with how easy it was to set up the virtual assistant. All they needed to do was download the app and their speakers were ready for configuration.

Perhaps the only drawback of setup is that it’s through Wi-Fi only. Most smart speakers, like Google Home or Amazon Echo, connect with your phone and other speakers via Bluetooth. While critics had no issue with the Wi-Fi connection, they wish it also offered a Bluetooth option.

So how does Alexa work on the Sonos One? Experts give it two thumbs up. They note the microphone array system is sensitive enough they could issue voice commands over loud music or from the other room.

They also point out it’s great for homes with multiple Sonos speakers as they could easily play music or even podcasts in different rooms with intuitive commands. In addition to playing music, it can also perform other virtual assistant tasks like providing the weather, reading the news, and even controlling the same smart home devices as Amazon's Echo or Dot.

It has limitations though. For one, it does not have Zigbee integration. This means it cannot control Philips smart bulbs or other Zigbee-based devices without an external hub. You also cannot make Alexa enabled calls as you would with the Amazon Echo.

Its main function is as a speaker, so how does it sound? Reviewers were very impressed with the overall audio quality. Most found the sound identical to the Play:1. Despite its small size, they found it delivered weighty, full-bodied audio with plenty of volume. They add the bass was deep and solid with treble “clear and sparkly.” Some called it the best sounding smart speaker of 2017.

Despite some limitations, most experts highly recommend the Sonos One. Engadget states, “The Sonos One is a great way for most people to significantly upgrade their audio setup while also getting the convenience of voice control.” Digital Trends adds, “If you want all the convenience of Alexa along with Sonos’ intuitive system and excellent sound quality, the Sonos One is the only speaker of its kind.”


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