Paving the way for an Amazon powered Sonos?

Apologize for the formatting. Didn't post the way it looked in the editor.

Did a quick comparison chart to get a feel for the overlap. They are different enough that I don't think Sonos looks at it as a directly competing product:


Interesting.

If the Echo reached sound quality levels of the 1 and could be stereo paired, which system would you buy, assuming what can reasonably be assumed for the Alexa integration?

Interesting.

If the Echo reached sound quality levels of the 1 and could be stereo paired, which system would you buy, assuming what can reasonably be assumed for the Alexa integration?

For me it is no longer a question of "system" (a very 2016 concept) but rather one of use case.

Anyplace I would use a single Play1 or Play5gen1 such as the kitchen or a bedroom I expect will convert to a single Echo Show.

Any rooms that need to be regularly grouped together for entertaining I would expect to keep using pairs of Play1s and just add Dots to the rooms to provide control. Amazon would need to introduce some sort of multi-room functionality before that use case would change.

Areas that are grouped for convenience instead of entertainment such as Office, lab and workshop are really up in the air depending on what is delivered this year. I assume these would also use grouped Sonos players with Dots for voice integration but these areas likely will utilize the extended features of Alexa such as reminders, intercom, etc. so we have to see how these features work with the Sonos integration. These areas could also be grouped using a Dot feeding a multi-zone amp if that gives a better balance of music and Alexa features.

More critical listening areas will likely say at 2 Play1s + sub or a Connect Amp plus some speaker/sub combo. These areas can use a Dot or Echo for control but probably don't benefit as much from other Alexa features. Hopefully the integration will work well in these locations.

Outside it does not matter if those amps and speakers are fed from a Connect or a Dot but I'm not likely to change the current setup until there is a compelling reason to.

Did a quick comparison chart to get a feel for the overlap. They are different enough that I don't think Sonos looks at it as a directly competing product:


Interesting.

If the Echo reached sound quality levels of the 1 and could be stereo paired, which system would you buy, assuming what can reasonably be assumed for the Alexa integration?

I doubt that the Echo will ever really go for the sound quality or for pairing. I don't think they want to really compete with Sonos in sound quality for one thing. It feels like they just want to be good enough so it can stand along with having to buy something else. As for pairing, you then have to handle the microphone issue. Do you turn one of the mics off? Maybe have them work in pairs somehow?

Besides that, I think Amazon has plenty of competition already with Google, Apple, and Microsoft looking to take some of the market. I think they're best course of action is to make sure they at least keep pace with new voice control functionality. Personally, I want to see them put a mic and camera on a Fire TV, so that it does everything a Show does, accept using your TV for video and sound system for sound. Basically, Show...only bigger.

I agree there is no reason at the moment for Amazon to create a product that competes with Sonos because their real competition is Google Home, and Essential Home and next year Siri and Cortana. The goal is to get into as many households as possible to build the infrastructure that feeds the real revenue generator... using the tech to drive sales on Amazon.

For now the integrations with Sonos and Play-Fi should answer the challenge presented by Chromecast. On the other hand if the integrations do not work seamlessly enough with the non-music features or if for some other reason they perceive Google still has an advantage in music delivery that impacts their competitive edge I'm sure Amazon will not hesitate to up their game by building higher fidelity solutions (or buy out an existing multi-room music player company and add Alexa technology to it).

I also think the Dot went a long way towards taming the impact of Chromecast. The price point is good and you can connect it to a pair of AudioEngine or similar powered speakers for a significant improvement over the sound from an Echo. I also think if the Show sounds decent in addition to providing access to YouTube and providing a local display/control that there won't be any urgency for Amazon to go develop their own high fidelity products.

Slight correction: Alexa can do multi-room, in the sense that each device can play different music. What it can't do is play the same music on different devices.
Multi-room................................Sort of..........................................Yes

Slight correction: Alexa can do multi-room, in the sense that each device can play different music. What it can't do is play the same music on different devices.
Sorry, no. "You can own more than one Echo and have them in different rooms doing different things" does not make it a multi-room system. Multi-room can only mean grouped sync'd playback.

You can't even achieve this with Bluetooth to multiple Echo units. I've tried, the latency is unpredictable, even with a tool like Airfoil you're constantly adjusting the buffering & delay which is unacceptable UX for a home system.

Can't use HTTP streaming either, the Echo's onboard Tunein client doesn't accept custom URLs.

The best outcome for me would be if Amazon bought Sonos and integrated the Sonos player into every Echo.

is multi room coming to amazon echo?
http://www.aftvnews.com/amazon-echo-whole-home-audio-testing-complete-and-ready-to-be-released/

Just sharing.....

http://variety.com/2017/digital/news/sonos-microphone-speaker-coming-1202532771/

Having read the new Privacy Statement I am eagerly anticipating some Sonos product refreshes this fall. My money is on a design update of the PLAY:1 that incorporates a microphone array for voice control. You never know, there maybe another update in the works for the PLAY:3 as well.

To peak your interest, Amazon have a roadshow running through the fall showing off all that Alexa can do in the smart home. Sonos are a partner and according to the copy on the Amazon developer site "More Alexa-enabled products, smart home devices, and Alexa skills will be added and demonstrated over the course of the tour." Here's the link for more info:

https://developer.amazon.com/blogs/alexa/post/8e2af64c-e4f5-4358-bb27-a16a7d82cd8a/amazon-alexa-and-intel-hit-the-road-with-the-smart-life-roadshow.

I think it's going to be an interesting few months.