New Devices/Speakers

It has been reported that the next Alexa based speaker from Amazon will have a display and will have better audio quality than the current Echo model. With the upcoming integration of Sonos and Echo products maybe it will become practical to run a mixed environment where you have the new high end Echo in locations where you want a display and your existing Sonos gear where it is better for the speakers to blend into the room unnoticed.

Apologize for the multiple posts. I kept getting an error message that it could not post and said to refresh the page and try again. I did this several times but it never worked so I gave up only to find later all my attempts have appeared long after the edit window has timed out.

upstatemike, you weren't the only one. Nothing to apologize for, in my book. And frankly, interesting data. I've not seen any of these reports that you speak of. Do you happen to have a link to such? I'd be fascinated if either Sonos or Echo devices ended up with a display, especially since they seem to be moving much more in the voice activation direction, i.e. no display needed. Kind of an interesting about face, I'd think, albeit useful for the Sonos application, potentially.

A display has utility given we are a visual species.. If I walk into my living room and curious what music is playing, I don't want to ask Echo or Sonos, I would like to look at a display. My Transporter has an awesome display including VU meter - maybe that is just audio romance but it is what I like and I'm quite certain I'm not alone. The Transporter display is available for customization as well, so when it is off, I display the weather forecast/date & time.

Please don't misunderstand me, I'm certainly not arguing against such a thing, I'm merely asking for where it was reported. I've not seen anything in any article that I've read, but then again I've not been reading every article posted, my exposure is completely random. And to my knowledge, having some experience with reporters in my past, the source is sometimes as important as the data itself.

I don't want to ask Echo or Sonos, I would like to look at a display. .
I agree; I don't want to root around for the phone and invoke the controller either, all I need is a one line what track is playing display. I don't know all the songs on all my ripped CDs to immediately know this and on streamed services/radio it becomes even more of a need. Maybe the next play unit model?

Please don't misunderstand me, I'm certainly not arguing against such a thing, I'm merely asking for where it was reported. I've not seen anything in any article that I've read, but then again I've not been reading every article posted, my exposure is completely random. And to my knowledge, having some experience with reporters in my past, the source is sometimes as important as the data itself.

Here is one of the places it was reported:

http://www.zdnet.com/article/amazon-to-release-echo-speaker-with-7-inch-display-in-2017-report/

Very interesting; if they are able to get the sound quality to Sonos levels, it may become an existential threat to Sonos, seeing the effect Echo is said to have had on Sonos play 1 unit sales.

Does Echo do the multi room thing today that Sonos does? Same music in perfect sync across and/or different music in different rooms?

Does Echo do the multi room thing today that Sonos does? Same music in perfect sync across and/or different music in different rooms?

There is a screenshot floating around the Internet showing a menu to configure synced playback (I posted it in a different thread). I don't know if it is real but the last time there was an early screenshot shared about the new "computer" wake word it turned out to be true so I guess we just have to wait and see.

Even if all is true there are still a lot of questions:

How close to Play1 fidelity will the new Amazon speaker get?

Will you be able to configure 2 Amazon speakers as a stereo pair?

Will there be an API to control them as players from third party apps like you can with Sonos?

I don't see the Echo line moving up to be a full competitor with Sonos yet but I do see folks changing their music strategy from individual Play1s in non-critical areas to an Echo or Echo Gen2 in those spaces. I still see Sonos owning 2 speaker full soundstage rooms for now but who knows? I expect 2017 is the year where a lot of this stuff gets clarified.