Question

Does a Sonos One negate the need for an Amazon Echo?

  • 10 November 2017
  • 6 replies
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Can a Sonos One do everything that an Amazon Echo can do? I might get my brother either an echo dot and play:1, or a Sonos One for Christmas.

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6 replies

From all I have read here, that may be the case in the future, but it isn't so today and won't be so in 2017. The safer thing to do today is play 1+ Dot. There even are commonly reported issues with the mic sensitivity in the One, that need Alexa to be dealt with in a much louder voice. In time, these will get fixed, but exist today.
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No it cannot. I'm sure there's more, but I know that Spotify isn't ready yet, but soon they say. Also it won't play flash briefing. But if that's not a game changer, it could be. A bit buggy though
Drop in isn’t available, and other calling features, I think. Remember, the Sonos One is an “Alexa enabled device”, which apparently isn’t the same thing as an actual Alexa device.
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As Bruce mentioned, Sonos One is "Alexa enabled". Amazon does have features that are exclusive to its own Echo devices, "drop-in" (an intercom function) and calling (where you can call others with an Echo device at no cost) are two such functions. Whether Amazon will expand the availability of those functions is unknown. I would imagine that they would like to keep some features exclusive to their devices, so there's still reason for people to buy them if they want those features.

Other things - like Spotify and Flash Briefing/Sports Update - are being worked on and are expected to be available in the next month or two (Flash Briefing/Sports Update has been said to be working later this month, Spotify in December).
I agree with the others above regarding the disadvantages of going the choosing the Sonos One over an Echo Dot. However, I do see a couple advantages of the Sonos One as well.

Obviously, Sonos One is an all-in-one device. So if you feel like that is better esthetically, that may be the way to go. Also, the Sonos One promises to eventually integrate with Google's voice services, something you won't get with a PLAY:1/Dot combo. Lastly, although Sonos hasn't stated this, it is reasonable to assume that the PLAY:1 isn't going to be on the market much longer. Sonos will surely support it for years to come, but getting a matching PLAY:1 for a stereo pair in the future may not be an option.
but getting a matching PLAY:1 for a stereo pair in the future may not be an option.
A good reason to get a pair.