Introducing the New Sonos One

Related products: Hardware News

Available on October 24th, Sonos One is the smart speaker for music lovers. It’s everything you expect from a Sonos speaker, and now with built-in Alexa and microphones, you can control your entire Sonos system with your voice.









With seamless control, you can start music with your voice, add songs to your playlist from the Sonos app, and even start playing music from the Spotify app in a different room. Amazon Alexa comes built into the Sonos One, and we’re working hard to include more voice assistants in the future. First up will be Google Assistant.



Sonos One delivers rich, room-filling sound in a compact size. Two Sonos One players can be stereo paired, or become rear surround speakers in a 5.1 set-up. They’ll also be able to control the music on PLAYBASE or PLAYBAR while being set up as surrounds in the home cinema.



Some more details on Sonos One:

  • We use echo cancellation technology, created by the same engineering team that worked on Trueplay, which allows the speaker to still hear you over the music – even if it’s cranked up to 11.
  • The volume will intelligently lower, or “duck” when you speak to it so you don’t feel like you have to shout over the music.
  • The speaker includes a six-mic array that forms a beam and focuses on the person speaking to help make sure Alexa understands everything clearly.
  • Since this is a Sonos speaker, you can use TruePlay on an iOS device to easily tune Sonos One to sound great no matter where you place it in your home.
  • Capacitive touch controls on top, like Play:5 gen2 and the PLAYBASE, that you can tap and swipe. There's also a Mic button that can be tapped, to easily enable and disable the microphones.
  • Features a Join button and an Ethernet port on the back of the player.



Security and Microphones

Your security and data are very important to us, as we said in our blog here. With Sonos One we are keeping to that.



Sonos One is designed with extra security: An illuminated LED indicator light ensures you always know when your speaker’s microphones are active, or turned off. You can tap on the microphone symbol to enable or disable the microphones, the light is always tied to the microphone’s status. For security and privacy reasons, it’s impossible to disable the LED when the microphones are turned on.





Pre-order today on Sonos.com in stunning all black or all white for $199 US (€229 EUR, $299 AUD, $269 CAD, ¥1,680 RMB, 1,699 DKK, 1,999 NOK, 1,999 SEK, $4,999 MEX), available worldwide starting October 24.



Sonos One is voice-ready in the US, UK, and Germany. It’s everything you’d expect from a Sonos speaker to start with, and future-ready for when Sonos and a voice service launch together in your region if you’re located somewhere else.



While you wait, check out our community thread here to get yourself ready for the new Sonos One. Already have Alexa devices in your home? Check out our thread here.
would you be able to pair a One with a Play:1? I don't think I need to have all speakers to have the microphone, would be nice to mix it up.
would you be able to pair a One with a Play:1? I don't think I need to have all speakers to have the microphone, would be nice to mix it up.


Great question, Mugenabe. The Sonos One will only pair with another Sonos One, for the purposes of creating a stereo pair or a surround sound setup. You can use a Sonos One in a household with any and all Sonos players. The Sonos One can issue commands to them all, and control what's playing. But if you're looking to made a stereo pair or surround sound setup, you'll need two Sonos Ones.





I'll make sure to pass on to the team that you're interested in seeing this at some point in the future, but there aren't any plans to share at this time that this might happen.





Edited for clarity.
Ryan are there technical differences that would drive that decision? It's surprising to me that it's not currently planned for.
Hi Ryan





I was wondering in terms of sound quality if there is much difference between the old and the new? My play 1's literally arrived today so am considering sending them back if the sound quality is better. I am not too interested too much in the voice control
Ryan are there technical differences that would drive that decision? It's surprising to me that it's not currently planned for.


There are some big reasons for this, it's not on the scale that the PLAY:5 gen1 vs gen2, but definitely some differences. Besides.... they'd look funny side by side 🙂
I was wondering in terms of sound quality if there is much difference between the old and the new? My play 1's literally arrived today so am considering sending them back if the sound quality is better. I am not too interested too much in the voice control


The sound quality is at the same level, so I wouldn't worry about swapping them out because of that. In the off chance that you're interested in voice one day, you may be interested in looking into it though. You can always turn off the microphones until then.



There are some big reasons for this, it's not on the scale that the PLAY:5 gen1 vs gen2, but definitely some differences. Besides.... they'd look funny side by side :)



You're so mean to them. Why can't you love them the way they are?








Thanks for the response 😉.
I wanted to be excited about this but I'm not. Alexa isn't very good at speech recognition, not that Siri is much better, but Alexa is really limited in what it can do. I certainly don't trust Amazon with my personal information.





Its not worth an upgrade so I'll leave it at that. Still waiting for Airplay and Homekit support, but I'm sensing that Sonos doesn't want to go down that path and its time to start re-considering my wireless speaker choices. Time will tell.
Will the Play 5 have voice responsiveness in the future? I was planning on purchasing one in November but I'm wondering if I should hold off.
I'm surprised to see that there doesn't appear to be a threaded mount on the rear of the speaker. This very much limits the options for stand mounts or wall mounts (under kitchen cabinet in my case). Will there be any mounts (wall, ceiling, or stand) available?
I'm surprised to see that there doesn't appear to be a threaded mount on the rear of the speaker. This very much limits the options for stand mounts or wall mounts (under kitchen cabinet in my case). Will there be any mounts (wall, ceiling, or stand) available?


Simply put, there just wasn't room for the mounting socket. That said, we've worked with Sanus and they have a bracket for mounting purposes, available here.Will the Play 5 have voice responsiveness in the future? I was planning on purchasing one in November but I'm wondering if I should hold off.





Will the Play 5 have voice responsiveness in the future? I was planning on purchasing one in November but I'm wondering if I should hold off.


The microphones that were in the PLAY:5 gen2 at launch aren't suitable for voice control. The Sonos One has full array of 6 microphones, versus the 2 in the PLAY:5 gen2. We don't have any specifics to share on any changes there, but we'll let everyone know if it does. Also, you can always use another device to control it with voice, like an Amazon Echo Dot, or even a Sonos One in a different room.





I wanted to be excited about this but I'm not. Alexa isn't very good at speech recognition, not that Siri is much better, but Alexa is really limited in what it can do. I certainly don't trust Amazon with my personal information.





Its not worth an upgrade so I'll leave it at that. Still waiting for Airplay and Homekit support, but I'm sensing that Sonos doesn't want to go down that path and its time to start re-considering my wireless speaker choices. Time will tell.



Alexa is just the start, we're also working with Google Assistant to bring them to Sonos One. Take a look here for some news on what's next, including Airplay 2 support.
Still waiting for Airplay and Homekit support, but I'm sensing that Sonos doesn't want to go down that path and its time to start re-considering my wireless speaker choices. Time will tell.





Airplay 2 support was announced this morning... Coming 2018.





https://www.theverge.com/2017/10/4/16418944/sonos-airplay-2-support-apple-ios-siri-2018
Will pre-ordering be available on Amazon? I have gift card money I can use there...
Not in love with the monochromatic color schemes. Play:1 pair in white with metal looks awesome, wish this hadn't changed. Maybe when the Bluenote One comes out, I'll get lucky, lol. The Bluenote Play:1s sell for a small fortune on fleabay.
I wanted to be excited about this but I'm not. Alexa isn't very good at speech recognition, not that Siri is much better, but Alexa is really limited in what it can do.





That's an unusual take. Alexa is regarded almost universally as being significantly better than Siri. Wired doesn't even think Siri is better on Apple devices:


https://www.wired.com/2017/03/siris-not-even-best-iphone-assistant-anymore/





Its not worth an upgrade so I'll leave it at that.



When you say "it" are you referring specifically to the Sonos One? The Sonos v8 is a free update, so there's not any investment there.





I'll reiterate a point I've made elsewhere. I strongly believe, as obviously Sonos management does, that attempting to compete directly against Amazon/Google/arguably-Apple is a fool's mission. The plan they've laid out is the best one I've seen from any vendor, and the only question is whether or not they can pull it off in a timely fashion.
I'm surprised to see that there doesn't appear to be a threaded mount on the rear of the speaker. This very much limits the options for stand mounts or wall mounts (under kitchen cabinet in my case). Will there be any mounts (wall, ceiling, or stand) available?


Simply put, there just wasn't room for the mounting socket. That said, we've worked with Sanus and they have a bracket for mounting purposes, available here






That's a bit disappointing. It really limits the mounting options available. No disrespect to Sonos, but the Sanus mount for the play one with the cable strapping is heinous. Hopefully some other third party companies come up with a better solution.
I was wondering in terms of sound quality if there is much difference between the old and the new? l


The sound quality is at the same level.






Sigh.





The biggest issue I have with the 1 is the sound quality. Oh well.. Here's to hoping the 3 receives the same upgrade in sound quality as the 5.
On the website the new Sonos 1 is listed as suitable for use on an outdoor patio. Does this mean that we've finally got a outdoor rated weatherproof speaker?
On the website the new Sonos 1 is listed as suitable for use on an outdoor patio. Does this mean that we've finally got a outdoor rated weatherproof speaker?


It's humidity resistant, so it's ok as long as it has shade and doesn't get direct water on it. I wouldn't go so far as to say "outdoor rated weatherproof", just humidity resistant.
I'm really excited for the Sonos One. I'm actually looking at purchasing instead of an Apple HomePod since I already have the play one. That being said, can I still control both speakers in the app and have the two speakers (the One and the play one) play the same music or different songs (they are in different rooms)? And then put the One in the room where I would use Alexa the most (bedroom most likely)? I accept the existing Play One couldn't share Alexa support but can I play and use the speakers for music networked together with App and wifi?
Do my existing speakers Sonos speakers work as a Alexa microphone source?
No, your existing speakers don't have the necessary microphones. Even the PLAY5 gen 2 doesn't have enough mic's in it to work as a Alexa microphone source.
I'm really excited for the Sonos One. I'm actually looking at purchasing instead of an Apple HomePod since I already have the play one. That being said, can I still control both speakers in the app and have the two speakers (the One and the play one) play the same music or different songs (they are in different rooms)? And then put the One in the room where I would use Alexa the most (bedroom most likely)? I accept the existing Play One couldn't share Alexa support but can I play and use the speakers for music networked together with App and wifi?





Certainly. You can even tell the One to play something in the Play:1 room and the Play:1 will start playing. Grouping still requires the app, but then both will respond to voice on he One.
Will I be able to buy this at an Apple Store in Canada when it launches? We currently don’t have Amazon Echo in Canada and this will be the first Alexa enabled device. I kinda want to compare Alexa with Siri using a demo.
I'm really excited for the Sonos One. I'm actually looking at purchasing instead of an Apple HomePod since I already have the play one. That being said, can I still control both speakers in the app and have the two speakers (the One and the play one) play the same music or different songs (they are in different rooms)? And then put the One in the room where I would use Alexa the most (bedroom most likely)? I accept the existing Play One couldn't share Alexa support but can I play and use the speakers for music networked together with App and wifi?


You're messing with my head... it's PLAY:1 or Sonos One 🙂... Long day :)





Anyway... The Sonos One will function just like every single Sonos player right out of the box. On top of that, it also has the ability for the voice stuff. You can group it with the PLAY:1, play the same music, adjust the volumes, separate the groups, all that good stuff. And you can use the microphones with the Sonos One to change what's playing, and start music on either or both speakers. (You can't make groups with voice, but if a group exists it'll play to it).