With so many smart speakers hitting the market, many are available from companies who are great at the “smart” part but not necessarily the “speaker” part. Sonos has always and only had a focus on producing great speakers that sound great and get out of the way.
Their latest product announced today in New York is the Sonos One. It is a familiar looking speaker to the Play 1 however the inside has been completely redesigned to now encapsulate voice.
Six microphones are spread across the top of the device to hear you from anywhere in the room. You’ll initially be able to use Amazon Alexa on the device however Sonos have not committed to only being compatible with one voice assistant. Their goal is to be the one smart speaker you will ever need and will support future voice assistants in a short period of time. In 2018 the Sonos One will support the Google Voice Assistant.
With Sonos supporting over 80 audio services (including Apple Music and Spotify) there isn’t a speaker that also can support multiple voice assistants with the current count at two. Whether Apple will allow Siri to work on the Sonos One itself remains to be seen.
The Sonos One will easily integrate into your home with the typical smart home controls you expect from any assistant. If it works with Alexa or Google Assistant then it will be seamless through Sonos. The main difference here is the audio quality you’ll get from a Sonos speaker vs a Amazon or Google speaker. Using the Sonos One will also allow control of other Sonos speakers so if you have an existing ecosystem then it will all still be very connected, just minus the voice control. Joy Howard, CMO at Sonos, made it clear that “if you like music, this will be the only smart speaker you ever need”.
The Sonos One will also support AirPlay2 which is a huge new feature from Sonos. This will allow two way control and audio streaming across the mix to enable you to listen to a YouTube video playing on your iPhone through your Sonos speakers. Something that couldn’t be done before.
The Sonos One can be preordered today via Sonos.com and will be available October 24 for $199 in the US and $299 in Australia.
Geoff Quattromani travelled to New York as a guest of Sonos.
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