5 things you need to know about the Sonos One
It's got Alexa built-in plus a raft of sound upgrades over the old model
FAMOUS FIVE
A straight up replacement for the old Play:1, the Sonos One is essentially that same diddy device with Amazon’s Alexa built in. So it’s basically an Echo that’s built for music as well as all of Alexa’s many other talents. Sounds good, right? But we’re sure you’ll want to know more about the Sonos One, so we’ve decided to put together a brief explainer on Sonos’ super-slick multiroom marvel.
1) IT WORKS WITH ALEXA, WITHOUT BUTTONS
Sonos has been working on the One for some time now, and that means it’s a cut above the many Echo-like devices you can buy right now. Crucially, you don’t need a button to activate Amazon’s voice assistant, unlike cheap alternatives such as the Jam Voice or Fabriq. Just say the word ‘Alexa’ and the speaker’s six built-in microphones will work their magic. All of which means you can ask for songs, artists and albums to be played without having to dip into the (admittedly excellent) Sonos app. You’ll also be able to ask Alexa to pause, play and skip songs, and of course all of the other standard Alexa skills will work: so you’ll be able to set timers and get the news headlines, for instance.
2) IT LOOKS VERY MUCH LIKE THE OLD PLAY:1
Sonos has taken many cues from Apple’s design ethos over the years, and that once again applies with the One speaker. To the untrained eye, this thing pretty much looks identical to the old Play:1 and that’s not really a bad thing. It’s got that big wraparound grille, matte black or white colouring and classic cuboid shape. On the top of the speaker is its microphone button, volume and playback controls – just like the Play:5.
3) ITS MICROPHONES ARE HARD-WIRED TO A LIGHT
How can you tell if someone’s listening into you through your Sonos? That shouldn’t happen, but with privacy in mind Sonos has added a simple feature for peace of mind: when the One’s microphones are turned on, a light on the top of the speaker will illuminate. Better yet, the two systems are hard-wired together, so they can’t be tricked.
4) ITS INTERNALS HAVE CHANGED
We’ll update this section in a bit once we’ve squeezed some more info out of Sonos, but we’ve been told the inside of the Sonos One is completely different to its predecessor. In fact only the feet and bottom cups of the speaker are retained from the old model. What does that mean for its speaker array? Well, the Sonos One is powered by two Class-D digital amplifiers, one tweeter, and one mid-woofer. We’ll let you know more details as soon as we have them, but what we can say is that Sonos itself boasts the One will have a “surprisingly rich sound from a speaker of its size”.
5) GOOGLE ASSISTANT SUPPORT IS COMING THIS YEAR
Just as Sonos has gone to great pains to ensure its speakers are compatible with almost every music streaming service going, the same will apply to its support for voice assistants. That means Google Assistant will arrive on the Sonos One at some unspecified this year, which is undeniably good news for Android fans and anyone who’s been tempted by that tasty new Pixel phone.
