Question

Play music on SonosOne and Amazon Echo at the same time

  • 27 November 2017
  • 27 replies
  • 28929 views

Apologises if this topic has been covered elsewhere, but have looked and nothing similar has come up.

I have an Amazon Echo Plus (plus bit is irrelevant I think), and a Sonos One.

I can play music on the Echo or the One, but not both at the same time.
I have a group for both the Echo and the One, however Alexa on the Echo, does not recognise this group.

Can anyone assist me in getting my One and Echo to play the same music at the same time?

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27 replies

Userlevel 7
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Hi

At present Sonos do not support Alexa groups and Amazon don't yet support grouping of third party speakers. So sorry this isn't possible with a Sonos One and Echo device at the moment.
Hi

At present Sonos do not support Alexa groups and Amazon don't yet support grouping of third party speakers. So sorry this isn't possible with a Sonos One and Echo device at the moment.


Thank you for the update, spent hours trying to find the answer, now I know 🆒
hi do we know if this is in the pipeline to support both ways?
Same issue here.
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I am also waiting for this integration. It is promised in 2018, the question is, how long to wait? I have not seen anything new on the internet. Hope it will be well advertised/talked about etc
Userlevel 7
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Even if the Sonos One will support Alexa Groups in the future, I struggle to see why you would want to output audio on Sonos and sub quality Echo speakers at the same time. And also as Sonos buffers Audio to ensure smooth multi room output, how will the two Audio streams be synced?
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Its not an echo speaker, but a £500 vita unit that I use on Aux with the Echo...maybe it wont happen with the syncing issues then....
Userlevel 7
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It may but I just don't see why Sonos would want to invest development effort so that you can use someone else's equipment instead of theirs. :?
I am also waiting for this integration. It is promised in 2018, the question is, how long to wait? I have not seen anything new on the internet. Hope it will be well advertised/talked about etc

Though an SDK to allow grouping with 3rd party speakers was announced by Amazon as coming in 2018, I would not take that as a "promise " of anything with regards to Sonos. There are a few more things at work here, the first of which is that Echos and Sonos utilize very different syncing techniques. Also, would Sonos really allow you to sync with another brand of speakers, thus cutting into sales? Fact is, nobody yet knows what Sonos' has planned.
Userlevel 2
It may but I just don't see why Sonos would want to invest development effort so that you can use someone else's equipment instead of theirs. :?mostly because customers want it and sonos will be left behind if they don't support it. they've just had their one competitive advantage removed now alexa can play multiroom and at a tenth of the price. they need to get with the program or be left behind
Userlevel 7
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I don't think Sonos are competing in the same speaker market as Amazons Alexa. I have an Alexa Show and previously the Echo, neither of which are even close to single Play 1 from Sonos. There is a reason why it is cheaper(and it's more like a half the price rather than a tenth). If you like quality Music playback then you tend to invest in Sonos throughout your house, even in the rooms where an Alexa speaker is present. Multi room playback on my show and a couple of dots is not a pleasing listening experience. No stereo for a start!
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I got an Echo for Christmas then bought a Sonos One before discovering that they can't play music simultaneously. I contacted Amazon to complain, they refunded the Echo (in gift vouchers) without quibble and I've put the refund towards a second Sonos One. I can now ask Alexa to play on one speaker then use the Sonos app to play on all of them, including my Playbase.
Userlevel 1
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It may but I just don't see why Sonos would want to invest development effort so that you can use someone else's equipment instead of theirs. :?

I have a couple of grands worth of surround sound speakers connected to my av unit in the lounge and an Echo Spot in there, I can connect that Spot to those speakers via Bluetooth and then happily command Alexa to play my choice (or hers) of music, I'm not about to get rid of those speakers in favour of Sonos, so it is in Sonos interests to play nice with my kit if they want me to buy more of their kit and I do want some more Sonos speakers for multi-room sound and I want it fairly well synced.

It would be a nice addition if this could be achieved though.
Hi

At present Sonos do not support Alexa groups and Amazon don't yet support grouping of third party speakers. So sorry this isn't possible with a Sonos One and Echo device at the moment.


This has actually helped me tremendously to decide not to buy a Sonos system for my home.
This has actually helped me tremendously to decide not to buy a Sonos system for my home.
What tremendously interesting news.
This has actually helped me tremendously to decide not to buy a Sonos system for my home.
What tremendously interesting news.


It actually is very valuable news. There will be many like me who want to sync Sonos with Echo Show or other Echo device, to maximise all available sound outputs. I quite like the quality of sound from my Echo Show and would not wish to replace it given its location. However, I'd quite like a Sonos in another room, and I'd like everything to sync up so I can walk from room to room. But it's not possible so I won't be buying Sonos (and neither will anyone else in my situation). So therefore Sonos marketing (And Echo marketing) might take note.
[...] So therefore Sonos marketing (And Echo marketing) might take note.
Did you take note of this?

Though an SDK to allow grouping with 3rd party speakers was announced by Amazon as coming in 2018, I would not take that as a "promise " of anything with regards to Sonos. There are a few more things at work here, the first of which is that Echos and Sonos utilize very different syncing techniques. Also, would Sonos really allow you to sync with another brand of speakers, thus cutting into sales? Fact is, nobody yet knows what Sonos' has planned.
[...] So therefore Sonos marketing (And Echo marketing) might take note.
Did you take note of this?

Though an SDK to allow grouping with 3rd party speakers was announced by Amazon as coming in 2018, I would not take that as a "promise " of anything with regards to Sonos. There are a few more things at work here, the first of which is that Echos and Sonos utilize very different syncing techniques. Also, would Sonos really allow you to sync with another brand of speakers, thus cutting into sales? Fact is, nobody yet knows what Sonos' has planned.


Erm ...this gives nothing to the debate. There are people who want the sync between Sonos and Echo. Sonos is marketed heavily with Alexa/Echo. No sync, no sale. Simple. They need to do it or lose sales.
Erm ...this gives nothing to the debate. There are people who want the sync between Sonos and Echo. Sonos is marketed heavily with Alexa/Echo. No sync, no sale. Simple. They need to do it or lose sales.
Do you think? Not all of those people may be determined to put up with the... underwhelming sound quality of the Echos.
Userlevel 5
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I didn't think it would be surprising that different brands of speaker would not sync properly with each other. Surely it would be more surprising if different brands did sync?
Erm ...this gives nothing to the debate. There are people who want the sync between Sonos and Echo. Sonos is marketed heavily with Alexa/Echo. No sync, no sale. Simple. They need to do it or lose sales.
Do you think? Not all of those people may be determined to put up with the... underwhelming sound quality of the Echos.


Like I say for a room where you may not spend much time it’s absolutely fine. The Echo Show is fairly decent with 2 speakers. To expect people to give up hardware they’ve paid for in order to get a sync between rooms is uneconomical and impractical.
Like I say for a room where you may not spend much time it’s absolutely fine. The Echo Show is fairly decent with 2 speakers. To expect people to give up hardware they’ve paid for in order to get a sync between rooms is uneconomical and impractical.
No. To expect different brands to play in sync is unrealistic. Amazon and Sonos are kind of competitors, after all.
Like I say for a room where you may not spend much time it’s absolutely fine. The Echo Show is fairly decent with 2 speakers. To expect people to give up hardware they’ve paid for in order to get a sync between rooms is uneconomical and impractical.
No. To expect different brands to play in sync is unrealistic. Amazon and Sonos are kind of competitors, after all.


You are wrong and really are a bit disconnected in your thinking, aren’t you. Some Sonos devices are marketed with Alexa built in. So these brands are symbiotic. They want you to use them together. Do you understand this? If Sonos wanted to be distinct it wouldn’t integrate on that level. Both Amazon and Sonos want you to use these brands together. That’s a symbiotic branding. Do you understand this word “symbiotic”? Google will help. In short, you’re completely wrong.
You are wrong and really are a bit disconnected in your thinking, aren’t you. Some Sonos devices are marketed with Alexa built in. So these brands are symbiotic. They want you to use them together. Do you understand this? If Sonos wanted to be distinct it wouldn’t integrate on that level. Both Amazon and Sonos want you to use these brands together. That’s a symbiotic branding. Do you understand this word “symbiotic”? Google will help. In short, you’re completely wrong.
Yes, you're right and I'm completely wrong. Amazon is withholding DropIn, Routines, even the ability of changing the wake word for reasons of their symbiotic level of partnership with Sonos.
You are wrong and really are a bit disconnected in your thinking, aren’t you. Some Sonos devices are marketed with Alexa built in. So these brands are symbiotic. They want you to use them together. Do you understand this? If Sonos wanted to be distinct it wouldn’t integrate on that level. Both Amazon and Sonos want you to use these brands together. That’s a symbiotic branding. Do you understand this word “symbiotic”? Google will help. In short, you’re completely wrong.
Yes, you're right and I'm completely wrong. Amazon is withholding DropIn, Routines, even the ability of changing the wake word from Sonos for the reason of their symbiotic level of partnership.


They still both market together and both like to emphasise their connectivity with each other. But you’re right. There are problems with the relationship. And this has resulted in a far from perfect system, e.g. no sync. So I won’t be buying.