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Alexa Performance Deteriorating on Sonos but not Echo

  • 15 March 2021
  • 4 replies
  • 132 views
J

Hi,

 

Has anyone else noticed the performance of Alexa on Sonos products has been deteriorating in recent months? It now seems to have got to the point where the smart assistant is almost more trouble than it is worth on the platform. I’m not sure how these things break down and who maintains the Sonos / Alexa relationship (Sonos or Amazon), but it would be handy to know so I can feed back in to the right place.

 

We are finding that she responds to her initial wake word, but more and more is then simply going quiet and not responding to the request or specific query you have voiced, so you have to wake her again and ask the question for a second or third time, which gets frustrating.

 

There are also some skills that are not working particularly well, specifically Amazon’s own Audible skills via Alexa on Sonos. The Audible app appears to work fine on my son’s Echo speaker, so it seems to be an issue with the Sonos branch of the skills specifically. Alexa on Sonos doesn’t seem to recognise that a book is playing when you are listening to one, so any commands to navigate the book or speed it up etc simply result in Alexa saying ‘nothing is currently playing’. Like I say, this isn’t an issue on the only Echo speaker we have in the house, it seems to be an issue between Sonos Alexa and Audible specifically.

 

The Audible skill is also not synching properly with other speakers and apps on smartphones etc, meaning that you can go to your Sonos speaker and ask a book to start playing, and suddenly find you’re two hours further back in the title than your last heard position.

 

Anyone else found the experience has just been getting buggier and buggier of late? I wanted to feed straight back to Sonos rather than coming to the forums, but sadly it looks like they’ve discontinued their Support email address which is a retrograde step IMO. I notice the pre-sales side of the operation still gets email access, which suggests an emphasis on securing new sales over serving existing customers.

 

Thanks, Will.

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Best answer by James L. 16 March 2021, 10:56

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4 replies

James L.
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Hi @Jeredorn, welcome to the community.

 

There are a few issues you’ve raised here that I’d like to address individually.

 

We are finding that she responds to her initial wake word, but more and more is then simply going quiet and not responding to the request or specific query you have voiced, so you have to wake her again and ask the question for a second or third time, which gets frustrating.

In these instances you can check what the speaker heard by going into the voice history section of the Alexa app. Alexa should transcribe what it heard as well as any responses and also let you listen back to what it heard. If your commands sound muffled or unclear, perhaps move the speaker into a more open area and check the mic holes for dust or anything else that could be blocking them. If all of the responses sound clear but Alexa just isn’t acting on it, you can save those examples and get in touch with our customer care team who can investigate further.

 

There are also some skills that are not working particularly well, specifically Amazon’s own Audible skills via Alexa on Sonos. The Audible app appears to work fine on my son’s Echo speaker, so it seems to be an issue with the Sonos branch of the skills specifically. Alexa on Sonos doesn’t seem to recognise that a book is playing when you are listening to one, so any commands to navigate the book or speed it up etc simply result in Alexa saying ‘nothing is currently playing’. Like I say, this isn’t an issue on the only Echo speaker we have in the house, it seems to be an issue between Sonos Alexa and Audible specifically.

This is an issue we’re aware of and working with the teams at Audible and Alexa to get resolved. We don’t have anything else to share at this time.

 

Anyone else found the experience has just been getting buggier and buggier of late? I wanted to feed straight back to Sonos rather than coming to the forums, but sadly it looks like they’ve discontinued their Support email address which is a retrograde step IMO. I notice the pre-sales side of the operation still gets email access, which suggests an emphasis on securing new sales over serving existing customers.

We hear your feedback and appreciate the time it took to feed your experiences back to us. For specific technical queries we do still have our customer care team who can be contacted via phone or live chat. Instead of email, we use a chat system where an automated assistant can help people with the simpler issues, and then pass you over to a real-time conversation with an agent. From that point, should you need to get back in touch, you can call, chat or email with the reference number you’ll have been provided.

 

I hope this helps.

 
 
 
 
 
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J

Yeah that’s really useful, thanks. I’m not a huge fan of real time webchat, I feel like I’m under pressure to think faster than suits my tiny little mind, but if it works for the majority of people then I can see how it makes sense from an organisational efficiency point of view.

 

I’ll check the mics aren’t blocked, but the fact that responsiveness is down in general made me wonder if the mic sensitivity had been tinkered with again.

 

And good to hear that the audible issue is in hand, it’s a real pain in the neck so hopefully it gets sorted soon.

 

A very thorough and useful response though so thanks for that.

B

Thank you for providing great info in a long post.

M

I’ve had issues as well, to extent that Alexa echo in another room hears command I give Sonos because I’m having to talk so loud.

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