Amazon Echo Alexa Vs Sonos Alexa

Hey there Badgercop. For more information on bringing Apple Music to Sonos by way of Alexa, check out this topic. We will be sure to keep that up to date with information as it becomes available.

Thanks. I probably will still by Ones, but I think I need to understand them better. So what other things can’t Alexa do on a Sonos that an Echo can?

Thanks. I probably will still by Ones, but I think I need to understand them better. So what other things can’t Alexa do on a Sonos that an Echo can? I've been trying to find an exhaustive list of unsupported Alexa features and a list of planned feature support. I can't find anything from Sonos. From what I've gathered in the community posts these are some features not supported by Sonos:

• Calling
• Messaging
• Drop-in
• Kindle book audio
• Control Apple music using Alexa
• Support for Amazon multi-room music (Amazon MRM allows audio from echo devices and third party speakers at the same time but is supported by Sonos)
• Changing the Alexa wake word (This may not be possible directly through Amazon SDK so Sonos would need to use a 3rd party wake word engine)
• Turning off the audio cue when invoking Alexa (Amazon requires a cue for active listening. Most devices have visual and audio cues so they have the option to not use audio listening cues. Sonos decided not to add an LED for active listening in the hardware so they are required to use an audio cue. Re-purposing the Sonos microphone LED to indicate active listening states is not possible as Sonos hard wired the LED to the mic button.)
• An Alexa routine cannot include actions on a Sonos device

Thanks. I probably will still by Ones, but I think I need to understand them better. So what other things can’t Alexa do on a Sonos that an Echo can? I've been trying to find an exhaustive list of unsupported Alexa features and a list of planned feature support. I can't find anything from Sonos. From what I've gathered in the community posts these are some features not supported by Sonos:

• Calling
• Messaging
• Drop-in
• Kindle book audio
• Control Apple music using Alexa
• Support for Amazon multi-room music (Amazon MRM allows audio from echo devices and third party speakers at the same time but is supported by Sonos)
• Changing the Alexa wake word (This may not be possible directly through Amazon SDK so Sonos would need to use a 3rd party wake word engine)
• Turning off the audio cue when invoking Alexa (Amazon requires a cue for active listening. Most devices have visual and audio cues so they have the option to not use audio listening cues. Sonos decided not to add an LED for active listening in the hardware so they are required to use an audio cue. Re-purposing the Sonos microphone LED to indicate active listening states is not possible as Sonos hard wired the LED to the mic button.)
• An Alexa routine cannot include actions on a Sonos device

That’s extremely helpful, thanks. It would be good to get something from Sonos officially too.

I’m sure Sonos are limited by API’s etc, but it would be nice to know if these things can and will eventually be added.

When things are advertised as having Alexa built in, you expect Alexa - not Alexa Lite. That’s something that should be made clear to potential customers, it’s a little unfair on customers to find out after parting with their cash.

Now that Echos support Apple Music, I’m starting to wonder if Sonos’ are for me...

That's a pretty good list. I would add.

- Sonos One doesn't have an audio output jack, or bluetooth audio output. Perhaps not important given the quality of the Sonos One speaker, but it is a differnce
- The Sonos One is not compatible with echo gadets, such as remotes, buttons, and that clock thing. The gadgets communcate through bluetooth.
- There are 3rd party batteries avaialble with echos, making them more portable
- Echos can store multiple wifi settings. Meaning you can move them between households, without have to directly hardwire an internet connection or reconfigure wifi settings..



As far as Apple goes, I expect that to be available in the next few weeks. Don't take that as anything more than opinion though, and I'm not recommending anyone buy a Sonos One right now, if that feature is vital to you.

As for MRM, a lot of that has to do with the fact MRM is for adding single speakers into Amazon's system. It's speficially not about linking two multiroom systems together. There are some business reasons in play to, but if the two systems did ever work together, I'd expect to be something slightly different, or a different version of MRM.

And although it may be obvious, there are many feature that a Sonos One has that echos do not. To name a few
- Improve sound quality
- The ability to pair and bond with other Sonos speakers, including HT setups
- A much wider selection of streaming audio services
- The ability to play audio from locally stored drives, including your phone or tablet.
- Apple airplay 2 compatiblity
- In my opinion, a better user interface for every day use, from any music source
- The ability to play audio directly from Pandora, Amazon, Spofify, iHeart, and other apps (I don't know all of them)
- Line in audio (through other Sonos speakers)
- Goolge home integration (in the future)

The right choice really depends on what featues matter most to you.

That's a pretty good list. I would add.

- Sonos One doesn't have an audio output jack, or bluetooth audio output. Perhaps not important given the quality of the Sonos One speaker, but it is a differnce
- The Sonos One is not compatible with echo gadets, such as remotes, buttons, and that clock thing. The gadgets communcate through bluetooth.
- There are 3rd party batteries avaialble with echos, making them more portable
- Echos can store multiple wifi settings. Meaning you can move them between households, without have to directly hardwire an internet connection or reconfigure wifi settings..



As far as Apple goes, I expect that to be available in the next few weeks. Don't take that as anything more than opinion though, and I'm not recommending anyone buy a Sonos One right now, if that feature is vital to you.

As for MRM, a lot of that has to do with the fact MRM is for adding single speakers into Amazon's system. It's speficially not about linking two multiroom systems together. There are some business reasons in play to, but if the two systems did ever work together, I'd expect to be something slightly different, or a different version of MRM.

And although it may be obvious, there are many feature that a Sonos One has that echos do not. To name a few
- Improve sound quality
- The ability to pair and bond with other Sonos speakers, including HT setups
- A much wider selection of streaming audio services
- The ability to play audio from locally stored drives, including your phone or tablet.
- Apple airplay 2 compatiblity
- In my opinion, a better user interface for every day use, from any music source
- The ability to play audio directly from Pandora, Amazon, Spofify, iHeart, and other apps (I don't know all of them)
- Line in audio (through other Sonos speakers)
- Goolge home integration (in the future)

The right choice really depends on what featues matter most to you.

Good balanced post. Thanks.

That’s extremely helpful, thanks. It would be good to get something from Sonos officially too.

I’m sure Sonos are limited by API’s etc, but it would be nice to know if these things can and will eventually be added.

When things are advertised as having Alexa built in, you expect Alexa - not Alexa Lite. That’s something that should be made clear to potential customers, it’s a little unfair on customers to find out after parting with their cash.

Now that Echos support Apple Music, I’m starting to wonder if Sonos’ are for me...

My list isn't exhaustive so there may be more features not supported. All of the features I list are possible through the Amazon SDK unless I noted otherwise in brackets... like 3rd party device wake word changes needing to use a 3rd party wake word engine, of which there are many available. Doubtful Sonos would go to that extent to allow a wake word other than Alexa given they haven't implemented native Amazon SDK features such as messaging or drop-in.

I agree about expecting Alexa and getting Alexa lite. Sonos marketing makes it seem like you are getting everything Alexa can do except for three features (calling, messaging and drop-ins). I cant imagine how Sonos One early adopters felt when they had fewer features than today. They couldn't even do grouping when the One was released. It appears from community posts started a year ago that it is taking 8-12+ months for Sonos to support an Alexa feature, if it gets supported at all.

I too am deciding whether the Sonos system I bought will meet my needs or be returned.

EDIT: I agree with melvimbe's post above. There are features Sonos provides that aren't available from Amazon Echo. Sonos is worth considering for those features. But don't expect Sonos to have an Alexa experience that matches Echo or other 3rd party Alexa speakers. Sonos is deciding what they will support instead of trying to support all Alexa features available in the SDK.

I agree about expecting Alexa and getting Alexa lite. Sonos marketing makes it seem like you are getting everything Alexa can do except for three features (calling, messaging and drop-ins). I cant imagine how Sonos One early adopters felt when they had fewer features than today. They couldn't even do grouping when the One was released. It appears from community posts started a year ago that it is taking 8-12+ months for Sonos to support an Alexa feature, if it gets supported at all.
The Alexa SDK is irrelevant when a company is bound by contract(s) to Amazon. It's entirely up to the proprietor Amazon if they make certain features eligible for third-party vendors or not.

That’s extremely helpful, thanks. It would be good to get something from Sonos officially too.


That may be asking too much. Sonos and Amazon are both partners and competitors, so I don't know that either really wants to do an official pro/con comparison.


When things are advertised as having Alexa built in, you expect Alexa - not Alexa Lite. That’s something that should be made clear to potential customers, it’s a little unfair on customers to find out after parting with their cash.

The term that Amazon campe up with was "Alexa Enabled", which also doesn't tell you a whole lot. I think it comes down to how to communicate from a marketing perspective. I'm sure they want to be clear, but not too detailed or negative as to turn off potential customers unnecessarily.

Now that Echos support Apple Music, I’m starting to wonder if Sonos’ are for me... [/quote]

You can play apple music to Sonos One through the Sonos app or through airplay right now.

[quote=Sonoson]
EDIT: I agree with melvimbe's post above. There are features Sonos provides that aren't available from Amazon Echo. Sonos is worth considering for those features. But don't expect Sonos to have an Alexa experience that matches Echo or other 3rd party Alexa speakers. Sonos is deciding what they will support instead of trying to support all Alexa features available in the SDK.

Besides contacts as Smilja stated, Sonos also needs to consider costs to develop and support, balanced with all the other feature development and projects going on, like Google integration and new product development.

The Alexa SDK is irrelevant when a company is bound by contract(s) to Amazon. It's entirely up to the proprietor Amazon if they make certain features eligible for third-party vendors or not. All of us incorporating Alexa into devices or services sign the Amazon developer services agreement and must adhere to the Amazon branding and marketing guidelines. I wouldn't expect Sonos business development team to have signed more strict terms than the agreement all other companies are signing, including Sonos' competitors.

Sonos is deciding what features from the Amazon SDK they are incorporating into their speakers. We can debate the reasons why Sonos chooses to/not to support an Alexa feature but if its in the SDK they are able to use it.