Sonos One review
Expert’s Rating
Our Verdict
The Sonos One is the best smart speaker we’ve tested. It’s more expensive than rivals but really is worth the extra for a huge difference in sound quality – not forgetting about design and build, too. Alexa and Google Assistant voice control are great – although we’d like more Sonos-specific voice controls.
Best Prices Today: Sonos One
Smart speakersare a must-have gadget for most modern homes, but many don’t offer the kind of high-quality sound you might want for your home. This is the main but not only reason to go withSonosagainst rivals. Here’s our Sonos One review.
Amazon might have kicked off the smart speaker era with the Echo but now everyone wants a piece of the pie. It’s easy enough to add smarts to a device but getting it to sound great appears to be a lot harder – the Echo 2, for example, sounds worse than the original.
The Sonos One can be set up with Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant, and now Google Assistant, too. So you get all the features of an Echo or Google smart speaker with higher-quality audio!
Note:Sonos has released a Gen 2 version of the Sonos One, with upgraded internals, includingthe addition of Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), an updated processor, and increased memory. This review is of the Gen 1 but audio quality should be on par.
There’s also now a portable version, read ourSonos Move review.
Price and Availability
The Sonos One is availabledirect from Sonos in the UKandSonos in the US. For other countries visit theSonos Shop here.
The newer Gen 2 Sonos One costs £199 or US$219, while theOne SLwithout microphones and digital assistants is a cheaper option at £179/US$199.
It’s no surprise that the Sonos One costs a lot more than some rivals in the smart speaker market – especially theAmazon Echo 2andGoogle Home. You are paying for the superior audio quality.
Alternatives from Sony and Panasonic are much more able to compete on sound quality (based on some hands-on time) so are similarly priced.
Design and Build
As expected, the Sonos One is essentially a Play:1, but with new controls and features. Build quality, as we’re accustomed to with Sonos, is exceptional.
The Play:1 is Sonos’ smallest speaker and the One looks just like it on the whole. The classy design features smooth and clean curves and will fit in with modern décor. As usual you can choose from black or white colours.
It’s bigger than the likes of the Google Home but compact enough to fit into small spaces like kitchen worktops and bedside tables.
The obvious difference between the One and the Play:1 is the control panel on the top which is flat rather than dipped.
Like new-generation Play:5, it’s got touch-sensitive buttons for playback and also a set of six microphones for that all-important interaction with the smart assistant – a quick tap will mute the mics for privacy or stop accidental triggers.
Sound quality and features
One of the main reasons to get the One over rival smart speakers is the sound quality on offer. Cheaper ones might be more affordable but you’re getting much poorer sound.
It’s no surprise that the One sounds the same as the Play:1 with room-filling sound that’s rich and detailed. Like previous Sonos devices, the bass is powerful and tight but doesn’t overpower the remainder of the frequency response.
The mid-range is solid so vocals and key instruments are given an appropriate level of importance in the mix. Thanks to a tweeter inside the One, high-end isn’t forgotten and provides brightness resulting into a well-rounded mix that works for a wide range of music.
It’s impressive how good the sound is from such small speakers and the way it doesn’t sound better when directly in front. The sound isn’t 360 but it’s close and you can make use of Trueplay to tune the device to the room it’s in. You can also link two into a stereo pair.
You could buy the Play:1 for less money but this won’t give you all the benefits of a digital assistant. Having Amazon’s Alexa built-in is a real boon, although it’s not perfect.
For starters, setting up the speaker is more complex due to needing to sign in and connect both Sonos and Amazon accounts. We seemed to need to do it all twice before it worked.
Once you’re up and running you can use Alexa to do all sorts of things, including control various smart home products you may have around or plan to get. These include light bulbs, heating systems and more.
You’ll mainly want to use it for music so you can get Alexa to play music and also use your voice to change the volume, skip tracks and the like. You’ll need to be signed up to Amazon Prime Music to play anything that isn’t in your library.
As well as the basic music playback controls you can also do some clever things if you have multiple Sonos speakers in different rooms. You can get Alexa to do things in specific rooms by using the right name – living room, for example.
Sonos One works with 70+ music services
The Sonos One supports streaming music services such as Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, Deezer, Pandora,Google Play Music,and YouTbe Music. You can also use it for services like TuneIn radio.
The Alexa skill for Sonos is still quite limited for now, though. We hoped we could group rooms together or the reverse but you can’t do anything like that at the moment which is a shame. It can only do speakers already grouped.
Despite these niggles, the One is still brilliant and will get better over time. We’re sure Sonos and Amazon will add more commands such as the ones we mentioned above.
Sonos has now added Google Assistant support to the Sonos One speaker.Google Assistant supports streaming music services includingSpotify, YouTube Music, TuneIn and Deezer.
Specs
Sonos One: Specs
Best Prices Today: Sonos One
Author: Chris Martin, Reviews Editor, Tech Advisor
Chris got his break as a reporter at infamous site The Inquirer and has been at Tech Advisor for more than 12 years. With a BA degree in Music Technology, audio is his specialism, but over the years he has reviewed all kinds of gadgets, from smartwatches to mesh Wi-Fi to coffee machines.
