Microphone sensitivity for the “Alexa” wake word is low

I can agree, i have to practically shout at the player. Where the original echo picks it up from three rooms further, sonos one doesnt even hear it when im 2.5m away without getting irritatingly loud. if possible, please adjust asap. I think if its software, allow people to set the sensitivity themselves in the room settings of the player would be the best option.

+1 to this frustration. After using an Echo for over a year, it's annoying to have to yell at the Sonos One. I've bought two for a small room, and at 2 meters away the One will still have a 50% wake rate.

Really looking forward to the software update, but also considering returning until that time.

+1 for this. Just got mine set up and from about 10 feet away I have to shout to get it to recognize me and I'm not a quiet person. Good to hear a fix is coming...

I'll pile on. I love how the sonos one sounds, but the mic is the worst. If I knew for a fact this was going to be fixed in a week or two I'd hold on to it. As it is I'm returning it for an echo. Dumb me thought at least the voice recognition would be decent so I splurged for the better sound.

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.
I just can't get my head round this. The Echos and Dots, I believe, detect the wake word using the microphones and processing on the device itself (we are assured nothing is sent to the cloud until the wake word has been recognised and the lights come on) so I assume it's the same on the Sonos One. Surely Sonos tested the Sonos One in a few people's homes before releasing it to make sure that the microphones and the software, etc on the device worked. So how is it that lots of people are experiencing wake word detection to be so much worse than the Echo devices? And how can we be sure this can be fixed with only device software (not hardware) updates?

If we bought our Sonos Ones from Sonos then we have the option to return them in 100 days if this doesn't get better, but if we bought them elsewhere we may have only 30 days or less for this.

Hope this microphone problem fixes soon, otherwise I will send back my Sonos One. My echo dot is so much better....

I’m having the same problems. Poor wakeboard performance. Please fix asap

I just can't get my head round this. The Echos and Dots, I believe, detect the wake word using the microphones and processing on the device itself (we are assured nothing is sent to the cloud until the wake word has been recognised and the lights come on) so I assume it's the same on the Sonos One. Surely Sonos tested the Sonos One in a few people's homes before releasing it to make sure that the microphones and the software, etc on the device worked. So how is it that lots of people are experiencing wake word detection to be so much worse than the Echo devices? And how can we be sure this can be fixed with only device software (not hardware) updates?

If we bought our Sonos Ones from Sonos then we have the option to return them in 100 days if this doesn't get better, but if we bought them elsewhere we may have only 30 days or less for this.
The listening is done at the player level of things, the microphones don't send anything up until the wake word is detected. However, software updates with the data of what the wake word sounds like go from the cloud to the player. Basically, the cloud trains the player on what to be listening for. That learning happens over time, and therefore it's a gradual process, one that's been taking place for over a year on Echo devices. There probably isn't going to be a single update that says "microphones fixed". They will get better over time.

The microphones on the Sonos One can be quite sensitive. I had an early test version that picked up just about anything with an "s" sound as a wake word. It's gotten a lot better. Picking out what is and isn't a wake sound is all about pinning down excess noise and figuring out accents, tone, and pitch, all while sorting through background noise.

+1 on this. Pleased it will be resolved though. I don't want to send my Sonos One back.

+1 here also. Would be good to get some certainty around a fix date as others have mentioned here.