Joining the Sonos Echo/Alexa beta

Ok yes I see where yes it wouldn't pause music without you saying so.

So far as far as amazon echos go one dot can't control another dot (i.e. Can't tell one dot to play music on another dot or can't tell two dots to play the same thing). That should currently be a big Sonos advantage telling any dot to play any Sonos unit. Of course I would think amazon would at some point get to one echo controlling another echo or grouping echos. It would be short sighted to think that wouldn't be an eventual amazon goal.

Of course no echo unit compares in sound quality to a Sonos unit (and I even have the new echo show which is supposed to have the best sound of all their units).

I am wondering if the ability for one Echo to control another might not be released at the same time as the Sonos integration. it seems like the core code will exist at that point and it just has to be applied to Echo devices as well as Sonos ones. I am less optimistic about Echos playing in sync... I just don't know if they have the processing power to implement that.

As for quality, I think Amazon has side-stepped that whole question by coming out with the Dot. Just like with Sonos and the Connect you can use an Echo Dot with as fancy a receiver or powered speaker as you like. Instead of comparing a Play1 to an Echo Show it is probably fairer to compare a pair of Play1s to a Dot feeding a pair of Audio Engine or KEF powered speakers.

Just from a personal experience. I didn't particularly enjoy my dot hardwired to my play:5 from a usability standpoint overall. Even though that was a better case then a normal system as I could at least group other Sonos speakers to that Play:5 for multiroom.

I haven't heard any rumors yet on amazon doing multiroom itself in the short term.

I doubt it. Echos are basically dumb devices, all their logic and processing power is in the Cloud. Since they were designed as standalone devices, I'm not sure they have the horsepower and special timing necessary to accomplish adequate syncing.

I don't know, they run a pretty solid (although single core) ARM chip at >800mhz. The Sonos by comparison seem to be able to do it with much less processing power.

Bigger question, would Amazon really want to build this into the echo? Seems like a weird use case. I love my echo, but the speaker is nothing to write home about.

Google home uses similar arm chip I believe and does multiroom audio. So being a direct Amazon echo competitor I would surely assume it is on their radar.

Most likely a reason amazon jumped on partnering with Sonos as that gives them a multiroom platform to compete until they develop their own version.

ETA?

ETA?

Sonos doesn't state ETA. They schedule by testing goals accomplished, not calendar says elapsed. They have said that it is on track for release this year, but that does not mean it won't come sooner than Dec. 31, 2017.

jgatie is correct. If there is a private beta going on now from what leaks here seem to say. Historically betas have lasted in the order of 60 days. So my uninformed opinion would be we wouldn't see general release until the September time frame. With the anxiety behind this release it may be possible they release a more rare public beta in the middle of testing ... that would mean maybe mid-August. Just going by what we have seen in past and assumption they are currently testing.

I wonder how HEOS is doing with their version slated for release 1st Quarter this year --- crickets ---