Question

Can Alexa Hear When Music Is Loud?

  • 3 December 2017
  • 6 replies
  • 4102 views

I have an Echo Dot connected to a small USB speaker. When the music is playing full volume (not really that loud) I have to shout to get Alexa to hear me. I am considering getting a Sonos One because I like LOUD music. Question is, will Alexa be able to hear me over the music?? Echo has a remote voice control which means you can talk really quietly into the remote and Alexa will hear you. I understand this control will not work with Sonos though. How have Sonos One owners coped with this? Is it a problem? Many Thanks

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6 replies

As a solution to your present problem try increasing the distance between the Dot and the speaker; this can be done easily where the connection is over bluetooth, but you can utilise the full length of the wire, if that is how you have connected the two.

From many reports here, the Sonos One doesn't do this as well as the Dot does and while Sonos has promised improvements, I doubt it will ever do this BETTER than what the Dot does. Further, even in Echo v Dot, the Dot often does this better because it can be placed at a distance from the source of the loud music and the One will have the same problem that the Echo has in this regard. So you will almost certainly be better served using a play 1 + Dot, where the Dot can be kept some distance from the 1 playing loud music.
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Another trick for Dots is to say “Alexa,” then pause a few seconds before issuing the rest of the command. This often works when the music or TV are loud, although it certainly is not infallible.
Hi, thanks for your replies. I'm not too bothered about the dot. The remote voice control solves any issues with that. The real question is can the Sonos One hear you trying to speak to Alexa when music is being played loud? Many thanks.
Haven't seen a One yet, and am open to correction, but I would say you would have to shout loudly enough to be heard above the music. Based on what my Dot does if it is too close to the speaker. And based on all I have read here about how the mic sensitivity on the One is low/poor compared to both Echo/Dot at this time.
Mmmm, very interesting. Sonos, I'll be putting my purchase on hold until this and the other issues people are moaning about (separate volume control for Alexa voice and ability to disable chime) are fixed. Let's hope they listen to their customers and address these problems soon.
Userlevel 3
Despite being one of the may to complain about One mics, I would say that it did seem slightly better when music was playing - as if the mic sensitivity was increased during playback. But that may have been my imagination. Whatever, it was only a small improvement and not enough to stop me sending it back. I'm sticking with a dot + play1 at the moment and learning to live with the ducking issues.....