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Microphone sensitivity for the “Alexa” wake word is low

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262 replies

A
I gave up. I just replaced my Sonos One with the Echo Dot. It's an extra hassle to say "play music in the living room" to get music playing on the Sonos One but it's definitely less annoying than having to repeat every command twice because the Sonos one didn't pick it up.

I'm really dissappointed. I definitely understand that Sonos has other priorities but if you sell a "premium" product, you also need premium features and Sonos is not delivering with its voice recognition on the One.

Now that is an option, but will you then lose your Airplay 2 functionality as this is the sole reason I bought the Sonos One to be able to drive my Sonos Play 1s I have?
B
Userlevel 5
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There has been much Alexa talk on UK forums about what it will and won’t do and when features will be available.
The UK, and EU, are now under the much stricter privacy law that GDPR has established.
Any developemnts for global release, Sonos being a global company and not wishing to fragment its OS, must be aware of and be compliant with local legislation and proposed future legislation (info of which is reaily available by looking in the right place which legal depts do) of which voice control is a “big thing”. Ensuring that devices only listen when commanded to and then stop is a big “if” at present. Devices continuing recording without command fall foul of EU legislation and can attract a HUGE, and I mean HUGE, fine.(IIRC something like 4.5% of turnover)
Master T
Userlevel 6
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If you're yelling at your Sonos One, then something isn't right. While the sensitivity used to be quite poor, it's improved to the point now where I use a low speaking voice, even across the room when music is playing at a nominal volume. One suggestion is to cycle the mic button on top of the unit on and off, as that usually restores any loss of sensitivity that has built up over time with the Sonos One. Sonos is aware of this issue, which is frankly overdue for a fix, as this can be inconvenient for those of us who have mounted our speakers higher in the room. Fortunately, in my experience anyway, the mic button doesn't need to be cycled very often.

Sonos has said that Google Assistant will be released in November or December of this year, in time for the holiday sales season.
R
If you're yelling at your Sonos One, then something isn't right. While the sensitivity used to be quite poor, it's improved to the point now where I use a low speaking voice, even across the room when music is playing at a nominal volume. One suggestion is to cycle the mic button on top of the unit on and off, as that usually restores any loss of sensitivity that has built up over time with the Sonos One. Sonos is aware of this issue, which is frankly overdue for a fix, as this can be inconvenient for those of us who have mounted our speakers higher in the room. Fortunately, in my experience anyway, the mic button doesn't need to be cycled very often.

Sonos has said that Google Assistant will be released in November or December of this year, in time for the holiday sales season.

i have pressed that mic button a couple of times and it doesn't help. I have to be max. 2 meter from the One for it to hear me and for this to work i have to speak into the direction where it's plased. I have 2 Ones in 2 different rooms and it's the same problem with both of them. Furthermore if it's playing music (Medium level) I have to raise my voice a lot for it to pick up the magic Alexa word...
R
i have pressed that mic button a couple of times and it doesn't help. I have to be max. 2 meter from the One for it to hear me and for this to work i have to speak into the direction where it's plased. I have 2 Ones in 2 different rooms and it's the same problem with both of them. Furthermore if it's playing music (Medium level) I have to raise my voice a lot for it to pick up the magic Alexa word...
As Master T suggests you must have something wrong with your devices. I have an echo Dot and Sonos Ones in several rooms and the Sonos One is far more sensitive and responsive. I only have to speak in a normal voice from across the other side of the room. It sounds like yours are not behaving as they should be. Have you tried calling and speaking to Sonos Support.

As far as I’m aware, any existing Sonos One mic issues have been resolved. I’m most certainly not getting any issue where I have to shout or stand next to the device for it to hear me.

I have submitted a request to sonos. But i know others have the same issue. Try to watch this video from an Echo device

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7ZJQ0H48sw

This behavior is WAY BETTER than my Sonos One. The guy can speak from 10 meters distance and also whisper, and still the Echo recognizes the "Alexa word" and commands. The Sonos One is nowhere near capable of doing this..
Master T
Userlevel 6
Badge +9
The Sonos One is nowhere near capable of doing this..

Yes, it is. Mine does. Call support.
C
Yes mine is pretty also bad...!

And just bought 6 of them for the whole house, and all of the suffer :-(

Using the "Alexa Broadcast" skill also plays at a very low volume and with at lot of white noise, so understand why the wake word fails to do it's job...

I'm afraid it is the hardware it self that are crappy, else a software fix should have happen a long time ago...

All of mine have Hardware Version: 1.21.1.8-2 so maybe it has been fixed in a later batch?

Have a small Google Mini and that is just plain superior, - never have to raise my voice.

Hope there is a fix or my $$$ investment seems to be wasted and never ever coming back to Sonos!

/CU
Master T
Userlevel 6
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I have six Sonos Ones, four of which were purchased upon or shortly after release in October/November of last year. The other two were purchased months later. None have the issue described and, in any event, Sonos has always insisted microphone sensitivity issue is a software issue. Proof of that lies in the fact that when I first purchased mine, they were absolutely terrible. Now, several firmware updates later, they are very nearly equal to all three of my echo devices.

If cycling the mic button on each of the Sonos One doesn't improve sensitivity for you, contact support. You should not have to stand next to your Sonos Ones or yell at them to get their attention unless there is a whole lot of extraneous background noise in the areas where you have them.
K
all she knows is the thing I bought is more of a PITA to use than thing it replaced and it’s not going over well!
If a significantly louder voice is needed as you say, I am not surprised that it isn't going down well; this isn't just a feature one can get to learn, but a permanent irritation. Perhaps a short term workaround can be placing it a little closer to users. Or, use it with a Echo/Dot as if it was a play 1 - can that be done?
PS: Does it help if you change the wake word to an available alternate?
melvimbe
I really hope the solution ends up being an adjustable setting for mic sensitivity. It's not hard to imagine there being scenarios where you want both high and low settings. For example, if you have a stereo pair setup, you may want them set lower so they don't 'compete' with each other. Or perhaps set one high and the other low.

I don't have the One yet, but I currently have issues with my dots for similar reasons. The dot in the kitchen/family room will sometimes have trouble hearing. If I speak too lould, a dot in another room will hear me. particulaly annoying when you're trying to set an alarm.
Danny
Z
Userlevel 2
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Interesting... I've had the opposite experience. I was having issues with my Echo Dot hearing me. I had the dot placed right next to my Play:1 (which may have been part of the issue) on a shelf in the kitchen. I replaced the Dot and the Play:1 with the Sonos One and I find that the Sonos One can hear me better than the Dot could.
M
Kumar, thanks for your reply. I have an Echo Dot in my office just outside the living area and had to change the wake word on the Dot to Echo so both devices wouldn’t go off at the same time. Is the Echo system smarter than Sonos? My Echo Dot will recognize “my” voice from another room but the Alexa commercials don’t set it off. If I say the wake word or something similar it may.
This may be a deal killer on Sonos until it gets smarter. I’ll give it some time and experiment with some additional locations.

Thanks again for your reply!
K
Is the Echo system smarter than Sonos?
No idea, frankly. Only Amazon/Sonos know for sure and I doubt they will comment. But these are things that can be tweaked to existing hardware and Sonos has openly said that their Alexa integration is a beta, so expect improvements.
M
Good point. I have been a Sonos fan for a while and have come to expect great customer service.
K
No one would; I bet this is a request to only rule out reasons by doing this on a temporary basis.
C
My one seems to be going off at the slightest thing ?! It is close to the TV though so could that be a problem, it went off when someone said “makes a ...” on the Tv earlier. Would love it to be a sensitivity setting if it’s software based.

I have the same issue. Anything with an “x” triggers Alexa when the TV is one but doesn’t trigger when I try and replicate it with my voice. Seems something about the TV triggers Alexa. What I want to do is change the command name like what the echos do. I can’t find an option for the Sonos Ones. In the update, it will be handy to have that option.
K
I certainly did not pay $200 per speaker to be their product quality tester. That said, Sonos does have great support and hopefully this gets fixed soon.
Note that the Alexa skills part of Sonos One has been officially labelled as a beta by Sonos. Expecting rapid improvement to the experience would therefore not be out of order, but some patience may be called for.
R
So, I'm switching back to my Echo Dot for now. Beta or not, I use a lot of smart home features and it's simply getting too annoying. Hope that nice looking Sonos One won't be collecting dust for too long.
K
Hope that nice looking Sonos One won't be collecting dust for too long.
What will stop it from playing music of high sound quality?
C
Same here, while all my other Echos (even in other rooms) pick up the wake word...my One doesn’t. Pretty frustrating.
P
Just set up my Sonos 1 speakers, I was actually looking at how to change the Wake word since it is different on my other units but looking at the answers here I think I will leave the speaker's wake word set to the default Alexis and leave my other units set to a different wake word, then they won't get confused about what system I am speaking to
C
Just thought I’d pile on here. Switched from a dot to the One and am getting really frustrated with the incostsant response from the One. Will likely return the One if the issue is not fixed soon.
JBL123
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Also experiencing the need to speak a little louder, but it's not a showstopper.

What's more annoying to me is the "I'm listening" beep. Way too loud for my taste, and it gets even louder when the music volume is turned up. A setting to adjust that beep volume would be appreciated.
E
Userlevel 1
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I can agree, i have to practically shout at the player. Where the original echo picks it up from three rooms further, sonos one doesnt even hear it when im 2.5m away without getting irritatingly loud. if possible, please adjust asap. I think if its software, allow people to set the sensitivity themselves in the room settings of the player would be the best option.
T
+1 to this frustration. After using an Echo for over a year, it's annoying to have to yell at the Sonos One. I've bought two for a small room, and at 2 meters away the One will still have a 50% wake rate.

Really looking forward to the software update, but also considering returning until that time.
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