Microphone sensitivity for the “Alexa” wake word is low

Setup my first Sonos purchase, 2 Ones yeterday in stereo mode great sound, but as others have said unfortunately I am finding I have to shout quite loud and several times to wake Alexa up, where with the original Echo I didn't need to speak/shout anywhere near as loud. I hope this is still being worked on and can be resolved in a near future firmware update.

I put in my request to return both my Ones today. I have simply had enough of these speakers not only not working properly, but actually getting worse.

I have been patiently waiting 6 weeks for "improvements" as I purchased the Ones on launch date. While the Alexa responsiveness seemed to improve a month ago (from 3-5 screams to 2 or so), it has definitely gotten worse since then. And the final straw, the One has recently gotten in the habit of resetting the speaker volume to the loudest setting.

This sad scene has been playing out on a nightly basis: progressively screaming louder and louder "Alexa" in order to shut off the lights, and if by some miracle the One responds before I get to a scream, the One booms back at god volume "OKAY". And at any point during this process, the baby inevitably wakes up and starts crying.

Now I understand people justifying the One by its virtues as a music speaker. It is indeed great for music. I have justified my prior patience by both this reason and Sonos' reputation as a quality company. I do after all have a Play 5, Playbar, and a Sub. My buffer has run out. Sonos, if you advertise these speakers as working with Alexa, they damn well better work with Alexa. Otherwise do not ship a half-assed product. Your pricepoints do not justify half-assedness.

I have to chime in as well -- this is a very poor implementation of Alexa -- a 1st gen Echo and Dot work better to hear my Wake Word. If it's software then give us the option to make it more or less sensitive ? Kinda tired of Sonos releasing product that isn't ready yet and won't comment on when they will make it work correctly.

Yes, the Echo and Dot have some history now, but my first generation Echo had no trouble hearing me way back then. I never felt like a beta tester for Amazon's Echo or Dot, as I do now for Sonos ONE. As my refund window closes, day by day I am increasingly likely to return my four ONEs with regeret, perhaps to buy them again after they have had the two years of history you might think they deserve. I am rooting for them because the ONE is sort of a dream machine, especially with the promise of Google integration, too. But although I have the product, I am tired of shouting, and the dream does not seem to be a reality yet. I understand it's software, and I understand it can be tweaked and refined over time. I just don't want to shout any more. It's not practical, and it's no fun, either.

This is very aggravating. The whole point of buying Sonos One is for the voice controls, but that is the part that is failing expectations the most.

I've decided to return my four ONEs for a refund while I can. I suppose they'll let me buy them again later if they figure out how to have a workable voice control feature. So I'll be trading great sound with poor voice recognition, for some new Echo devices with good voice recognition and passable sound (but at a much lower price). First world problem, solved for now.