My Sonos One is going back today

  • 28 October 2017
  • 8 replies
  • 1197 views

Userlevel 1
Hi Sonos (I hope you read this)..


I'm returning my Sonos One today, but as part of the return procedure, I didn't get a chance to say why, so here are the reasons - treat is as bit of product feedback.

First of all, the Alexa trigger word rarely works properly. The One seems deaf to it most of the time and I have to keep repeating it and/r shouting at the One to get it to trigger - even in a quiet room. I had an Echo in the same place, and rarely got the same issue.

Also, when the TV is on, the One will trigger Alexa constantly. During an evening, it will 'bleep' at me 20-30 times. Alexa doesn't continue to listen, so you rarely get Alexa replying with something, but the beep is annoying. Kind of ironic that it will miss-trigger so often, but not trigger when you want it to.

All that said, the audio quality is so much better than the Echo, and I like the idea that the One becomes a speaker on my network (so I can use it with other things like SmartThings apps). So, the One is going back, but I'm going to get a PlayBase. I'm assured by Sonos Support that I will be able to use it as a speaker with Alexa, so I should get all the advantages of the speaker, without the disadvantages of Alexa miss-triggering.

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8 replies

Userlevel 3
Badge +3
My Sonos One triggers very well. I don’t have any real Dots, so don’t have a comparison.
It has beeped a few times during TV shows, though I assume that is normal.

I have two Ones. I signed up for a 30 day trial on Amazon music to get me to Spotify compatibility.
I find I’d much rather use voice control then to pull out an app for music. I am not going back.
Maybe pure Dots are better? I’m just a big Sonos fan, do I want to go on this ride.
Another benefit, when I play guitar I ask for songs during practice, pause, etc. All hands free. Really great.
I am going to get a few Dots next to fully Alexa enable my house.
Do you have to have 2 "Ones" as rears for 5.1? Was just wondering which speaker picked up voice control etc?
Userlevel 1
Nope. I just had the one One. I've got the Playbase now and it works well as an add on to the Echo, but if I'm honest, I'm not exactly blown away by the audio quality. Music is ok (although not a great stereo stage) but dialog on the TV isn't great. I'm really not sure it's worth the price tag for audio quality alone. Convenience is good though (better if I had an IR remote for the TV - that's a major pain).
Badge
Completely agree, bought a One as soon as it came out, have to go right up to it and shout to get it to do anything (often several times in different voices), compared to a Dot which can pretty much hear through walls. My Dot used to answer on behalf of the One despite being in a different part of the house (until I changed wake words).

Something I didn’t also realise is that you can’t pair a One with a Play 1 (I now understand they are very different on the inside) so if you wanted to use two Ones for stereo/surround you’d probably need to have the mic turned off (on one) permanently or give them different wake words.
Userlevel 7
Badge +16
Nope. I just had the one One. I've got the Playbase now and it works well as an add on to the Echo, but if I'm honest, I'm not exactly blown away by the audio quality. Music is ok (although not a great stereo stage) but dialog on the TV isn't great. I'm really not sure it's worth the price tag for audio quality alone. Convenience is good though (better if I had an IR remote for the TV - that's a major pain).

Have you turned on Speech Enhancement (presume it has it same as the Playbar?).
Userlevel 5
Badge +10
I don’t have any Sonos Ones, but I do have a lot of other Sonos gear and many Dots. FWIW, none of my Dots has ever beeped during a TV show, and two of them are close to TVs. The Dots hear well, but less so if too close to other objects. Unfortunately the positioning choices of the Ones will be more limited because of their need to be positioned properly as speakers.
I’m in the same camp. The Alexa stuff just doesn’t work. If you never used a Dot or Echo, I could see how this is passable. But if you have, and you wanted that all in one device, this is not it.
Same problem here. Deaf Sonos One. Just wake Alexa on 3 of 10 tentatives, requiring to shout to the device, very annoying. I replaced my Echo with the Sonos One on the exact same spot, so it’s not a positioning problem. Same solution here as well: Returned. Really sad, because I really wanted this to work. I loved the sound and design of the Sonos One, but Alexa is a must for me.