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Microphone sensitivity for the “Alexa” wake word is low

K
I still have to use either, but here is the Stuff magazine take on this, from their review:
"Finally, Alexa seems to be less responsive on the Sonos One, at least compared to the Echo, meaning you have to speak a little bit louder for it to hear you. Considering my Echo will sometimes pick up an unintended ‘Alexa’ reference while I’m chatting in another room, this probably isn’t as significant a shortcoming as it sounds.
Read more at https://www.stuff.tv/sonos/one/review#RDh9IciKOQwAQ2K0.99

But something that is a concern that Sonos ought to look at, if what you say is more applicable.
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Best answer by Ryan S 20 December 2017, 23:30

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262 replies

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.
chickentender
I hope an update for the sensitivity comes quite soon. It was just curious at first but after 2 days of use it's genuinely becoming quite irritating. I have to repeat my wake-word more than once more often than I do not. Sometimes 3 or 4 times and always must raise my voice considerably approaching a shout depending where I am relative to the ONE.
G
Both Sonos Ones I received seem to be highly temperamental. I either have to scream at it or give up altogether. This is highly frustrating given that the Amazon Echo and Echo Dot usually get it on the first try.

Call-in customer support told me to move it to the center of the room. Now who on earth would put a speaker in the center of the room?
K
No one would; I bet this is a request to only rule out reasons by doing this on a temporary basis.
K
Picked up three SONOS ONE tonight and wanted to replace my house full of Sonos Play 1's and Echo dot's sitting on top -- but yes the mic sensitivity is TERRIBLE, with no music playing i still have to shout at it or be 3 feet away. Product says it has 6 mics and intelligent voice detection - did they forget to turn this on!? I'm going to have to return these and keep echo dot's on top if it isn't fixed quickly!
M
Add me to the list that thinks the mic is not nearly sensitive enough and looking forward to software update (maybe user controlled sensitivity? ) When I first go an Echo and Dot I used to bark the wake word loudly until my wife pointed out what I was doing and how annoying it was. Spent some time training myself to talk more naturally to Alexa - which her mic picks up wonderfully (except when playing music). Now I'm back to barking loudly even when a few feet away. I had read that Sonos would have better noise cancellation logic that would make it BETTER at hearing me when music is playing - but I can't tell because I have to be so loud even when there is no music playing.
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.
S
Userlevel 1
Badge +1
Im happy with the sensitivity on my 2 ones, Echo is overly sensitive in my opinion, but you cant please all people all the time
G
No one would; I bet this is a request to only rule out reasons by doing this on a temporary basis.
You’re right, and pardon my frustration here. I replaced the Echo with the One in the exact same position. I think there’s a fine line between being a patient early adopter and expecting a paid-for product to do what it says it should. 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.
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.
A
Agree with all, I find myself shouting at the One (even when there is no music playing) - something that I've never had to do with Echo's or Dots, and it often doesn't pick up Alexa. Hopefully the updates fix this bug
Ryan S
Userlevel 7
Badge +26
Thanks for sharing everyone. The team is constantly working with gathered data around the microphones as we tune the Sonos One and Alexa to improve the microphone’s ability to pick out just the right sounds. This’ll get better over time as Alexa and the Sonos One learns.
Mark good posts by pressing the like button, and select the best answer on questions you've asked to help others find solutions.
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.
D
Userlevel 3
Badge +4
Thanks for sharing everyone. The team is constantly working with gathered data around the microphones as we tune the Sonos One and Alexa to improve the microphone’s ability to pick out just the right sounds. This’ll get better over time as Alexa and the Sonos One learns.
So, are we talking days, months, years? Will the improvement be before the 100 days return window expires? I'm close to sending 3 Sonos Ones back now.
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?
K
Will the improvement be before the 100 days return window expires?
Now that is what I would call an excellent question.
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
S
I also “upgraded” from a Play:1 with Echo Dot to a Play One and can confirm the mic sensitivity in the Play One is terrible. I have to basically be in front of the speaker and be speaking loudly for it to hear me. I’m hopeful that a software update will fix this.
Ryan S
Userlevel 7
Badge +26
So, are we talking days, months, years? Will the improvement be before the 100 days return window expires? I'm close to sending 3 Sonos Ones back now.
Though the microphones work great in the majority of homes and setups, we're at that point where we're collecting more and more samples and fine-tuning the microphones. Voice control improves in stages, so I'd expect to see improvements as releases come. There isn't just going to be one update, but several that continue to tine the microphones and the Sonos One in general. One top of the microphones, you'll see the Alexa skill get better too, improvements on that may be as quick as every couple weeks, you might not notice what's changed though, depending on what it's targeted at. Those updates would largely be handled on the cloud side of things, so it wouldn't be a software update on your system (those will come too though).

My suggestion would be to keep using the Sonos One. If you do have a lot of trouble with it hearing you, see if there's anything that might be causing a lot of background noise right next to it. That would help in the short term.
Mark good posts by pressing the like button, and select the best answer on questions you've asked to help others find solutions.
B
Yes - this is a really annoying bug. I switched back to the Echo after two days of yelling "Alexa" into the void with no response. I can live with some of the Alexa software features not being ready for launch, but this kind of bug should have been sorted out before the product shipped. If there's no software fix in the next week or two I'll definitely be returning it.
K
I don't know that this is strictly a sensitivity issue -- after some more testing, I can stand 3 feet away from the ONE, without changing pronounciation, volume, or tone, and say Alexa multiple times. It will pick up, at best, every other "Alexa". I expected the speak to play features to be beta, but just hearing the wake word is the most core of features the ONE is purchased for!
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
Badge
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.
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