Contributor III

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Difference between a multi-room alexa and a sonos setup?

Forum|Forum|8 years ago
January 27, 2018
16 replies
3035 views

I currently have 5 rooms in my flat, each with an Alexa dot connected to a powered speaker. I get multi-room audio such as "Alexa play Jazz in the kitchen".

What additional features do I get if I invest in Sonos? I don't see the difference, please help me understand the buzz!

Thanks

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Best answer by upstatemike

If I was making the comparison I would consider the following:

Sonos:
Wireless stereo pair for good sound stage
Wireless Sub option
Can play music from your local library that is not available on streaming services
Can do gapless playback when playing an album
Can be used with many automation systems not just for control but also broadcast of announcements etc.
Can play many rooms in sync but can be VERY finicky about network issues and groups are not persistent
Can be voice controlled using Beta software but that has a lot of issues at this time
Can accept wired input from other devices on some models but not the most popular ones
Has headphone jack on some models but not the most popular ones
Does not have built-in Bluetooth but can support wired input from adapter on some models
Good PC user interface... Phone and tablet apps available but not as nice to use
No option to use as a speaker phone or intercom
No option to display music lyrics
Does not work with Audible
Does not work with YouTube

Echo:
Cannot pair wirelessly but most models have line out for wired speaker pairs
No Sub option unless you do something third party using the line out
Can play from local library using 3rd party skill but only to one unit to a time.. Not to groups
(No longer supports upload of personal music to play on Echo from Amazon Music)
No gapless playback
No option to be controlled by automation at this time apart from broadcasting announcement from Bluetooth
Can be configured for PERSISTENT multi-room groups but this does not work with Bluetooth and 3rd party skills
Is not as sensitive to network issues.. Echo groups often work on networks where Sonos struggles
Voice control is excellent
No wired input option to interface with other devices
Most models have line/headphone jack (the Show does not)
Has built in Bluetooth but it cannot be used with multi-room groups so not very useful
Alexa app is similar to Sonos PC app so easier to use than Sonos phone and tablet apps
Many excellent phone and intercom features
Ability to display music lyrics on Show and Spot models
Works with Audible
Screen models work with YouTube

chicks

A lot fewer wires, to start. Stereo pairing sans wires. Tidal, Deezer, Apple Music, Google Play Music, dozens of others not available via Echos. SonosNet, for vastly superior mesh networking in larger homes. Wireless 2.1 setups with the Sub and a pair of Ones. Play files from your local PC or NAS. Upcoming support for Google Assistant and AirPlay 2.

Echos are great, but they’re like a Yugo to Sonos’ Mercedes.

R

rob101Author

Contributor III

Thanks, a sub in the network is a very good point, although with a dot I could just connect that to an amp with a stereo pair and sub, couldn't I?

Can I recreate the same voice functionality between rooms with the sonos one and an alexa dot? I read a few months ago that amazon won't allow sonos devices to group.

Essentially I just want voice control over high end speakers in each room. E.g. "Alexa play Jazz in the kitchen" or "Alexa play rock everywhere".

K

Kumar

If the speakers you use with the Dot meet your requirements of sound quality, then you do not need anything more than what you have.

There is just a little Alexa quirk to take into account. If you have grouped all the Dots together into one group called, say, Group, asking Alexa in the kitchen to play music will play it just in the kitchen. If you however ask Alexa to play music in the Group, it will play across all speakers, in perfect sync if your speakers have no in built DSP that delays the music. Which is all good, but here is the quirk I came across, from the so called learning ability of Alexa. If you play in group mode often enough, Alexa will assume that is what you want even if you do not say play music in Group because you want the kitchen Alexa you are talking to, to play music only in the kitchen. And the entire group will still play the music.

The work around to that probably is to not have all speakers powered on except when you want them to play.

chicks

Thanks, a sub in the network is a very good point, although with a dot I could just connect that to an amp with a stereo pair and sub, couldn't I?

Sure, with a lot of wires and cost. A huge advantage of Sonos is the simplicity and very high WAF. A stereo pair of Ones can blend right in to the room, while sounding excellent. The sound quality of Sonos us as good as many pricier monitors, without the complexity, difficulty of hiding all the wires, etc. They're very easy to place in any room, with amazing performance for their size.

K

Kumar

They're very easy to place in any room, with amazing performance for their size.

+1 to that; don't make the mistake of thinking that they are not high end speakers.
But you have a problem if you replace with Sonos in just one room and still expect music play in sync across all rooms as you can get now. To allow this across all Sonos speakers, every Sonos speaker puts out sound with some lag and you will get out of sync music if you mix groups even with a Dot wired to a Sonos 5 that has the jack to accept the wire.
Of course if sound does not leak across the rooms, this does not matter.

R

rob101Author

Contributor III

Thanks everyone, this is really helpful. I am essentially starting from scratch so trying to build the right system rather than adapt my current one.

@Kumar - could you possibly explain what you mean by Sonos putting out some lag? How would the music be out of sync, I don't follow?

Thanks!!

K

Kumar

Sonos speakers are designed to play in perfect sync with each other; so when one of them gets a source signal, it is delayed by some milliseconds to allow for this sync to happen with the other Sonos speakers, even if there is only one Sonos unit in the set up. So when a Dot/Echo plays music, that music starts that many milliseconds before any Sonos speaker starts to play the same music from the same source.

R

rob101Author

Contributor III

Ah, right. So it's either all Sonos or no sonos if I want the same music in sync in all rooms?

U

upstatemikeAnswer

If I was making the comparison I would consider the following:

Sonos:
Wireless stereo pair for good sound stage
Wireless Sub option
Can play music from your local library that is not available on streaming services
Can do gapless playback when playing an album
Can be used with many automation systems not just for control but also broadcast of announcements etc.
Can play many rooms in sync but can be VERY finicky about network issues and groups are not persistent
Can be voice controlled using Beta software but that has a lot of issues at this time
Can accept wired input from other devices on some models but not the most popular ones
Has headphone jack on some models but not the most popular ones
Does not have built-in Bluetooth but can support wired input from adapter on some models
Good PC user interface... Phone and tablet apps available but not as nice to use
No option to use as a speaker phone or intercom
No option to display music lyrics
Does not work with Audible
Does not work with YouTube

Echo:
Cannot pair wirelessly but most models have line out for wired speaker pairs
No Sub option unless you do something third party using the line out
Can play from local library using 3rd party skill but only to one unit to a time.. Not to groups
(No longer supports upload of personal music to play on Echo from Amazon Music)
No gapless playback
No option to be controlled by automation at this time apart from broadcasting announcement from Bluetooth
Can be configured for PERSISTENT multi-room groups but this does not work with Bluetooth and 3rd party skills
Is not as sensitive to network issues.. Echo groups often work on networks where Sonos struggles
Voice control is excellent
No wired input option to interface with other devices
Most models have line/headphone jack (the Show does not)
Has built in Bluetooth but it cannot be used with multi-room groups so not very useful
Alexa app is similar to Sonos PC app so easier to use than Sonos phone and tablet apps
Many excellent phone and intercom features
Ability to display music lyrics on Show and Spot models
Works with Audible
Screen models work with YouTube

Local music library with carefully constructed playlists - no shuffling!, Integration with Homeseer Automation, No touch screen devices, No streaming services, No Apple products ever

K

Kumar

Ah, right. So it's either all Sonos or no sonos if I want the same music in sync in all rooms?

Correct. Also, no Sonos and also no AV receiver like amps that have a DSP in them that can mess up the sync, unless they have a direct or pure stereo mode as well. Or stereo amps, that almost never have such DSP in them.

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