I just set up a Sonos One with Alexa and the sound is noticeably better than the Amazon Echo. On the Sonos One though, each and every time I call "Alexa" it plays some kind of acknowledgement tone. When I call my Echo or Dot, thankfully there is no such tone. Is there anyway to disable it?
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Hey guys any updates on this suggestion that a huge amount of people wanted to happen to sonos one?
You're actually not far off there (in electronics/app terms, where most updates from other vendors come in days). I just posted this elsewhere, but it may help you to be aware too.. Sonos works very slowly. What would take other apps a week to push out an update takes many months, and there are rarely if ever any status updates. I don't know if they just have very small teams or it's due to having to do a lot of hardware testing, but I've learned to just check the forum when a new software update comes out. Don't check more than once a month. In the end, they usually create a good result, so I am begrudgingly patient.
Just an example. Casting directly from the Spotify app works awesome now. But it took maybe 2 years for it to be released from when Spotify put out the capability. Definitely more than 1.
The One will probably be even worse in this respect since Sonos isn't in control of the smart aspect; Amazon is.
I'm extremely impatient, but all I can say is be patient. There isn't really a better ecosystem out there if you value sound quality.
What i'm disappointed is that there is literally 0 communications between sonos developers and users. i've been reading these forums all day and when it comes to missing features or new suggestions all that the users get is something like "the team is already informed" or "We will make sure that the team is informed" and that's just it. no progress reports. no indications that whether they're working on mentioned feature/bugs or if they are facing with an issue or limitation that they're trying to go around with.
compare this to something like spotify developer blog or something similar and you'll see what i mean. zero communications.
Wow, SONOS - this is pretty appalling! 6 months later and still no fix for such a simple, and widely complained about issue? I have SONOS speakers throughout my house and love them, but this initial experience with the One is terrible.
The Alexa feedback tone on the Sonos One completely ruins the fluidity of the Alexa experience (coming from an existing Echo Dot ecosystem). It is completely unnecessary, and needs a toggle option.
Same with independent controls for Alexa’s voice, it’s a bit absurd these features were not included, as it seems the speaker has not been tested in actual day to day use.
Ryan could you actually confirm whether or not this feature will EVER be released? At this stage, it seems possible that it will not be. If that is so, please stop leading us all along, as I will be returning this Sonos One unit asap for an Echo product.
The Alexa feedback tone on the Sonos One completely ruins the fluidity of the Alexa experience (coming from an existing Echo Dot ecosystem). It is completely unnecessary, and needs a toggle option.
Same with independent controls for Alexa’s voice, it’s a bit absurd these features were not included, as it seems the speaker has not been tested in actual day to day use.
Ryan could you actually confirm whether or not this feature will EVER be released? At this stage, it seems possible that it will not be. If that is so, please stop leading us all along, as I will be returning this Sonos One unit asap for an Echo product.
I believe it is time to start a petition to disable the chime or create a toggle. I want to love my Sonos one, BUT I don't. My guess is that the rewrite of the code is so difficult for them thus costly, so they just don't want to do it.
As has been repeatedly pointed out here, Sonos must conform to Amazon's requirements in it's implementation of Alexa on the Sonos One. One of those requirements is that any Alexa-enabled devices must provide the user with an adequate notification whenever is Alexa is listening for security purposes. The Sonos One currently uses the same tone as Amazon's own Echo devices, although that sound is disabled by default on those devices as they instead rely upon the notification provided by the light ring. Whether the tiny light on top of the of the Sonos One provides an equally acceptable notification in Amazon's view is an open question.
My point is that while I fully agree with you on the need for a toggle, I seriously doubt that the delay in implementing one has anything to do with it being difficult or costly for Sonos to do. Feel free to start a petition if you wish, but I think Sonos is very aware of the widespread popularity of this request and will hopefully find a solution.
As has been repeatedly pointed out here, Sonos must conform to Amazon's requirements in it's implementation of Alexa on the Sonos One. One of those requirements is that any Alexa-enabled devices must provide the user with an adequate notification whenever is Alexa is listening for security purposes. The Sonos One currently uses the same tone as Amazon's own Echo devices, although that sound is disabled by default on those devices as they instead rely upon the notification provided by the light ring. Whether the tiny light on top of the of the Sonos One provides an equally acceptable notification in Amazon's view is an open question.
My point is that while I fully agree with you on the need for a toggle, I seriously doubt that the delay in implementing one has anything to do with it being difficult or costly for Sonos to do. Feel free to start a petition if you wish, but I think Sonos is very aware of the widespread popularity of this request and will hopefully find a solution.
If this is an Amazon requirement not much Sonos can do. It is unlikely to be that expensive to provide a toggle option. But Sonos have a long standing stance of not telling their Customers anything in advance, so we will not know what if anything they are doing about this issue until it is fixed (or not).
By all means start a petition but the is no evidence that Sonos take any more (or less) notice of a petition than they do of topics raised here. However, get a few hundred thousand to sign it and things could be different 😉 .
Its this attitude and slack response to issues like this that will kill sonos. Look at the announce feature, doesnt work on sonos one. The acknowlegement tone which in rooms that have echos causes misheard instructuons.
The latest audio quality from amazons own devices is getting on par with sonos, and unless sonos actually start fixing these issues then people wil simply start to migrate their estate to amazon hardware to ensure they get all the functionality. Ive stopped purchasing any more sonos products and new hardware for rooms will be amazon from now on.
The latest audio quality from amazons own devices is getting on par with sonos, and unless sonos actually start fixing these issues then people wil simply start to migrate their estate to amazon hardware to ensure they get all the functionality. Ive stopped purchasing any more sonos products and new hardware for rooms will be amazon from now on.
The inability to implement this feature is surprising and frustrating but the lack of clear communication from Sonos re this matter is appalling. It shouldn't be difficult, for a company of this caliber, to follow up and clarify an issue like this in this forum. I'm assuming then that they don't care much about our views. Let's see if we care about Sonos next time we have the need to buy a speaker.
It is quite possible that you are not hearing anything because this is an Amazon requirement and Sonos would be understandably reluctant to blame its partner, Amazon. No sane business throws their working partner under the bus.
It is quite possible that you are not hearing anything because this is an Amazon requirement and Sonos would be understandably reluctant to blame its partner, Amazon. No sane business throws their working partner under the bus.
All agreed, but it it does not explain the Sonos marketing blub that seems to have over promised and under delivered on Alexa functionality.
This has the potential to alienate the very market segment Sonos now wish to woo. As "andreslopez" said:- "It shouldn't be difficult, for a company of this caliber, to follow up and clarify an issue like this ..." Perhaps not in this forum but a press release or amended marketing info and POS could be more appropriate?
Gee, it seems unusual that people who have vowed to never buy another Sonos product and never update again are this interested in Sonos' future feature set and market share. :8
Now can we (well you really) get back to topic of the thread? I think the points being made by el-matt0, Master T, andreslopez and others are valid, if voice control via the Sonos One is to be anything more than a "party trick" it needs to work better.
Now as a first attempt it is not too shabby and without doubt a reasonable start. It is however not the finished article and needs further work. History shows us that Sonos will issue updates aimed at improving things and that they will not announce in advance what or when those improvements will come. The first bit is great but many posters here (like me) are less than content with the second bit. A bit of communication on the matter would be breath of fresh air but probably unlikely at this point.
Please sort this out Sonos. It is SO annoying. I also note that on the Sonos One, Alexa is much slower to respond in comparison to my echo or dot. I think this is in part because of the annoying chime. It needs to make that sound and THEN it will start listening. Rather then being able to say "Alexa, what is the time", as i do with the Dot and Echo, I need to say on the Sonos One "Alexa" (wait...) "what is the time". Otherwise she doesn't hear what I say.
Sonos is a premium product, I am not sure why Sonos is putting up with this in the first place (especially when seeing the appetite for this to be amended by their customers) or why they are not breathing down the neck of Amazon getting this fixed. The fact is, Sonos One speaker does not work as well as the Amazon speakers with regards to Alexa.
Also, the chime is just a flat out annoying sound. Please fix this!
Sonos is a premium product, I am not sure why Sonos is putting up with this in the first place (especially when seeing the appetite for this to be amended by their customers) or why they are not breathing down the neck of Amazon getting this fixed. The fact is, Sonos One speaker does not work as well as the Amazon speakers with regards to Alexa.
Also, the chime is just a flat out annoying sound. Please fix this!
Youve got to wonder how this wake sound got past any qa or beta testing. Given there is a perfectly capable multi colour capable LED on the device, then im not buying the whole "its an amazon requirement" thing, as they could have just had the led cycle colours just like on the echos and dots.
With the advent of siri and further products from google on the horizon, and amazon likely to be refreshing and updating the echo line to cater for tbose who want better audio quality, sonos are staring down the barrel here.
People can laugh and scoff at that if theh want, but the main complaints here relate to how poor and half baked the alexa implementation. So it very much is a race between sonos sorting the alexa implementation and amazon sorting the audio quality. Or some blindside from apple or google. The first one to sort this will be the VHS. The others will be the betamax.
Sonos have a headstart as they already have penetration into the home and a firmware update could fix several of the major issues. For them to ignore this for months on end, giving the competition time to fix their failings seems daft to me.
With the advent of siri and further products from google on the horizon, and amazon likely to be refreshing and updating the echo line to cater for tbose who want better audio quality, sonos are staring down the barrel here.
People can laugh and scoff at that if theh want, but the main complaints here relate to how poor and half baked the alexa implementation. So it very much is a race between sonos sorting the alexa implementation and amazon sorting the audio quality. Or some blindside from apple or google. The first one to sort this will be the VHS. The others will be the betamax.
Sonos have a headstart as they already have penetration into the home and a firmware update could fix several of the major issues. For them to ignore this for months on end, giving the competition time to fix their failings seems daft to me.
I have a feeling this issue will only be resolved by switching over to the Google voice assistant. Maybe they don't have the same requirements. But at a minimum I won't heard that annoying loud BONG every time I say my daughter's name in the same room, once the wake word is "OK Google." In the meantime my Sonos One is just a dumb speaker linked to my Echo Dot.
Wow - 164 replies so far and that represents the tip of the iceberg of misfeature haters. Hopefully Amazon catches wind of this as it is as much of a black eye on Alexa as it is on Sonos. #stopthebloop
I hate that tone. Not just the fact of it, but also that it sounds very much like an old-school Microsoft Windows error dialog. Please give us the option to disable or change it.
My wife is using Alexa less on the One than on our old Echo because this is so off-putting.
My wife is using Alexa less on the One than on our old Echo because this is so off-putting.
I'm sure if Sonos commented something about it (whether it's Amazon's requirement or something that can not be removed because of privacy), but give us an answer. All I want is to be able to change the sound in some way, or disable it, as well as if there is any way to change the wake up word. But an answer like "we are working on it and the team is now informed" it is not the best response.
The team is definitely aware of this request and has been looking into it, but it's not quite at the "we're definitely doing this" stage. I don't have any specifics I can let you in on, but it hasn't been forgotten or disregarded. The development team is working on a lot of things at the moment. I'll let you know if there are any details I can share.
I read your words Ryan S but frankly I don't believe any of it. If I were a betting man then I'd put my money on this being down to the relationship between Sonos and Amazon, and it's Amazon that want the 'Boing' retained such that a Sonos One is less friendly than an Amazon Echo. As has previously been mentioned, you already flash the top LED when "Alexa" is detected so why does there need to be a 'Boing' at all? An Echo Dot flashes the light but there is no accompanying sound - why can't the Sonos One behave in a similar way? I think we deserve a clear and honest answer on this matter and not "The team is definitely aware of this request and has been looking into it"
Just got the Sonos One and the beep drives my dog crazy the same way a thunderstorm does. If this continues it has to be returned.
Vumad,
I think you are being a bit unfair in your accusation here against Ryan. It’s clear from his reply, that the Sonos team are aware of this issue, but clearly Ryan cannot say any more about it. It’s quite common knowledge that on June 6th the company announced the new Sonos Beam and in the course of that announcement it was said that AirPlay 2 would be released on Sonos sometime in July (though not necessarily at the same time as the Beam launch date) so I reckon the developers and testers are working on the AirPlay-2 issue at the present time.
It’s clear Sonos can’t provide anything further on the 'voice audio feedback' sound, or 'Boing' as you call it in your post... it probably is a collaborative thing with Amazon, as you say, and these things may need agreement and testing on both sides, but I think it is clear from the announcements made on the 6th, that AirPlay-2 is likely to be the priority at the moment.
I think this calls for a tiny bit of patience, rather than trying to 'shoot down the messenger'. I’m sure Ryan is being as truthful as he can be right now. It’s rather a shame that you don’t believe any of it, particularly when we all know that other 'already announced' things are coming down the track.
I think you are being a bit unfair in your accusation here against Ryan. It’s clear from his reply, that the Sonos team are aware of this issue, but clearly Ryan cannot say any more about it. It’s quite common knowledge that on June 6th the company announced the new Sonos Beam and in the course of that announcement it was said that AirPlay 2 would be released on Sonos sometime in July (though not necessarily at the same time as the Beam launch date) so I reckon the developers and testers are working on the AirPlay-2 issue at the present time.
It’s clear Sonos can’t provide anything further on the 'voice audio feedback' sound, or 'Boing' as you call it in your post... it probably is a collaborative thing with Amazon, as you say, and these things may need agreement and testing on both sides, but I think it is clear from the announcements made on the 6th, that AirPlay-2 is likely to be the priority at the moment.
I think this calls for a tiny bit of patience, rather than trying to 'shoot down the messenger'. I’m sure Ryan is being as truthful as he can be right now. It’s rather a shame that you don’t believe any of it, particularly when we all know that other 'already announced' things are coming down the track.
Politely +1, would love to disable this sound/tone
Please also voice your concerns to Amazon. They have a deserved reputation for acting on customer feedback and I can speak from experience (I used to work there, although not in the Alexa/Echo teams) that Amazon's product managers & engineers care more about customer feedback than any other input.
Use the feedback form in the Alexa app/web interface, let them know that you dislike the sound, and what you'd prefer instead (e.g. option to disable, or to choose a less "error condition" sound). For maximum impact be clear and constructive. You don't have to be brief, but it helps not to obscure your point with waffle.
Bear in mind they may already have a change planned, or at least in their roadmap, but not everything gets to the front of the queue. Volume of feedback is a major way to get a change prioritised.
Use the feedback form in the Alexa app/web interface, let them know that you dislike the sound, and what you'd prefer instead (e.g. option to disable, or to choose a less "error condition" sound). For maximum impact be clear and constructive. You don't have to be brief, but it helps not to obscure your point with waffle.
Bear in mind they may already have a change planned, or at least in their roadmap, but not everything gets to the front of the queue. Volume of feedback is a major way to get a change prioritised.
Agree with all the others Please provide an option to turn off the tone and also adjust Alexa voice level. WAF has plummeted due to these issues.
This is extremely disappointing. I’ve had the device for 2 hours, and I hate this feature. How can this many people have the same issue for 6 months and it not be resolved?
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