I'm trying to decide between a pair of sonos ones or a pair of play:1s + an echo dot.
I understand that at the moment, it is not possible to pair the play:1s directly with a dot (because Alexa is not room aware), meaning that Alexa will talk back through the dot, rather than through the play:1s. Is the functionality to directly pair a dot with a sonos room (so that alexa replies through the sonos system) likely to be incorporated in the future?
The main reason for asking is because I will be mounting the speakers in the far corner of my kitchen, and think it may be better to go for the play:1 + dot combo so that I can position the dot more centrally for picking up voice. I'm not sure whether it is overkill going for a stereo pair of sonos ones - is it true that only one would have Alexa activated in any event?
Any guidance appreciated!
Answered
Sonos ones vs Play:1s and Echo dot
Best answer by Ken_Griffiths
I understand that at the moment, it is not possible to pair the play:1s directly with a dot (because Alexa is not room aware), meaning that Alexa will talk back through the dot, rather than through the play:1s. Is the functionality to directly pair a dot with a sonos room (so that alexa replies through the sonos system) likely to be incorporated in the future?
I don’t think this will happen, personally speaking, unless Amazon/Sonos change course. Such a change would possibly have an impact on Amazon's own line of larger echo speakers, but note this is just a guess.
The main reason for asking is because I will be mounting the speakers in the far corner of my kitchen, and think it may be better to go for the play:1 + dot combo so that I can position the dot more centrally for picking up voice. I'm not sure whether it is overkill going for a stereo pair of sonos ones - is it true that only one would have Alexa activated in any event?
Any guidance appreciated!
I think the Sonos Ones will pick up your speech in any event ... I would leave the mic enable on both speakers, as it matters-not which one receives your commands and both will work great, if used as a stereo pair, or are grouped together.
Studying the Sonos notes and comments carefully on this forum it looks like the Play-1 and Sonos One will later work with google home, but there is an inference in these same publications that when Airplay 2 comes to Sonos that it will need Sonos One to support that technology ... unless I’m reading all the messages (taken collectively) incorrectly.
So I think you would be better off with the new Sonos One's, but please kindly note this is just one persons humble opinion.
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+22I would go with the Dot
It is plenty loud for the alexa voice part. No I do not foresee a point where the alexa voice from dot would transmit through the Sonos play:1 speakers.
It is plenty loud for the alexa voice part. No I do not foresee a point where the alexa voice from dot would transmit through the Sonos play:1 speakers.
I understand that at the moment, it is not possible to pair the play:1s directly with a dot (because Alexa is not room aware), meaning that Alexa will talk back through the dot, rather than through the play:1s. Is the functionality to directly pair a dot with a sonos room (so that alexa replies through the sonos system) likely to be incorporated in the future?
I don’t think this will happen, personally speaking, unless Amazon/Sonos change course. Such a change would possibly have an impact on Amazon's own line of larger echo speakers, but note this is just a guess.
The main reason for asking is because I will be mounting the speakers in the far corner of my kitchen, and think it may be better to go for the play:1 + dot combo so that I can position the dot more centrally for picking up voice. I'm not sure whether it is overkill going for a stereo pair of sonos ones - is it true that only one would have Alexa activated in any event?
Any guidance appreciated!
I think the Sonos Ones will pick up your speech in any event ... I would leave the mic enable on both speakers, as it matters-not which one receives your commands and both will work great, if used as a stereo pair, or are grouped together.
Studying the Sonos notes and comments carefully on this forum it looks like the Play-1 and Sonos One will later work with google home, but there is an inference in these same publications that when Airplay 2 comes to Sonos that it will need Sonos One to support that technology ... unless I’m reading all the messages (taken collectively) incorrectly.
So I think you would be better off with the new Sonos One's, but please kindly note this is just one persons humble opinion.
+22I do agree that Sonos Ones future proof you a little more if your not planning on expanding Sonos In o other rooms with possibly a Sonos One later (it’s an addiction they multiply quickly like rabbits).
The play:1s are easier to mount though since they have he mounting threads on back (Sonos Ones do not)
I actually in kitchen prefer to have an Echo Show as the primary alexa device. Bring up recipes, conversions, etc on screen - very useful.
Also as I have Alexa devices in all my primary rooms and I have kids I use them a lot for intercom (which the Sonos One will not do).
The play:1s are easier to mount though since they have he mounting threads on back (Sonos Ones do not)
I actually in kitchen prefer to have an Echo Show as the primary alexa device. Bring up recipes, conversions, etc on screen - very useful.
Also as I have Alexa devices in all my primary rooms and I have kids I use them a lot for intercom (which the Sonos One will not do).
Thanks - I already have four rooms of Sonos (albeit an old system), so the addiction has already started!
In terms of this choice - I'm also aware of the ducking issue, whereby all speakers in the house will duck when talking to Alexa. Is this avoided by using Sonos Ones? Or does that problem still persist? (I.e., if I am talking to Sonos Ones, will the rest of the house still duck?). I understand that using Sonos Ones you can avoid the need for saying "in the kitchen", so wondered whether the ducking issue is also rectified.
I've read that the ducking issue may be sorted through either configuration in time, but wanted to clarify.
In terms of this choice - I'm also aware of the ducking issue, whereby all speakers in the house will duck when talking to Alexa. Is this avoided by using Sonos Ones? Or does that problem still persist? (I.e., if I am talking to Sonos Ones, will the rest of the house still duck?). I understand that using Sonos Ones you can avoid the need for saying "in the kitchen", so wondered whether the ducking issue is also rectified.
I've read that the ducking issue may be sorted through either configuration in time, but wanted to clarify.
Ducking is avoided in all other rooms using the Sonos One. It will still duck in the room you are speaking to. It would appear the ducking issue depends on the ability to map a Sonos device to a single Echo device. This appears to be addressed in the Amazon's new Multi-Room Music SDK slated for release this year. Whether Sonos can or will be able to use this SDK remains to be seen.
robmc,
Chris makes some good very valid points about the echo show and the speaker fixing brackets etc. The only advantage for the Sonos One is the future proofing aspect and that may (just may) mean the difference of being able to use Airplay 2 and definitely you won’t have access to Google Home. You will probably have both of those things via the Sonos One in the future.
I think Sonos are aware of the ducking issues and that is surely on their list of future updates to be rectified... we hope !!
The Sonos Ones does currently 'duck' when you speak to an echo dot (for example) in another area of the house. But if you are playing music in say the lounge and speak to the Sonos One in the kitchen area, the music in the lounge does not duck, just the kitchen will 'duck' as it sort of knows you are in that room.
Chris makes some good very valid points about the echo show and the speaker fixing brackets etc. The only advantage for the Sonos One is the future proofing aspect and that may (just may) mean the difference of being able to use Airplay 2 and definitely you won’t have access to Google Home. You will probably have both of those things via the Sonos One in the future.
I think Sonos are aware of the ducking issues and that is surely on their list of future updates to be rectified... we hope !!
The Sonos Ones does currently 'duck' when you speak to an echo dot (for example) in another area of the house. But if you are playing music in say the lounge and speak to the Sonos One in the kitchen area, the music in the lounge does not duck, just the kitchen will 'duck' as it sort of knows you are in that room.
+22Hopefully this ducking issue is resolved very soon. ducking has been an issue across the board from day 1 that Sonos has said they are going to address.
The voice control does work very well now, I think, but I think it will get even better with each update.
It’s becoming the primary way we control our music and playlists here at home. There’s no going back for me. My family and friends love the whole concept of smart-home voice control, music, lights, TV etc. and you can fall-back to physical hardware and software controllers at any point. What’s not to love there?
It’s becoming the primary way we control our music and playlists here at home. There’s no going back for me. My family and friends love the whole concept of smart-home voice control, music, lights, TV etc. and you can fall-back to physical hardware and software controllers at any point. What’s not to love there?
+22I still use controller 95% of the time. I enjoy the controller for music exploration and more detailed control. Voice - just a quick want a song.
Chris makes some good very valid points about the echo show and the speaker fixing brackets etc. The only advantage for the Sonos One is the future proofing aspect and that may (just may) mean the difference of being able to use Airplay 2 and definitely you won’t have access to Google Home. You will probably have both of those things via the Sonos One in the future.
I'm not sure I agree with this. For airplay2, I can see where there may be some hardware requirement that is met with the Sonos One, but not with Play:1, however that would mean Airplay 2 wouldn't work any other Sonos products either. That seems like a rather disappointing solution.
As far Google Home, are you saying that there would be no way to have voice control with Google for Sonos speakers without a Sonos One? I can't imagine that would be the case. It certainly isn't the case for Alexa. I'd be shocked if you can't get use a Google mini or any the other products to control Sonos the same way you can do with Echo products.
I think Sonos are aware of the ducking issues and that is surely on their list of future updates to be rectified... we hope !!
The Sonos Ones does currently 'duck' when you speak to an echo dot (for example) in another area of the house. But if you are playing music in say the lounge and speak to the Sonos One in the kitchen area, the music in the lounge does not duck, just the kitchen will 'duck' as it sort of knows you are in that room.
I'd guess this feature request/fix plus all the others will start coming in faster once Google voice control is on board. So if Google comes in with room assignments already in place, Amazon won't want to lose out on business because they lack the feature. I'd guess Sonos is aware that they'll be able to leverage the competitors against each other to sell more of their own products and give their own customers a better experience. I hope they realize this anyway.
I bought a Dot but haven't used it yet, from what I've gleaned a Native Amazon Dot or Echo will have more functionality with Amazon systems.
Melvimbe,
I perhaps wasn’t clear in my post. I think (from the things I have read from the official Sonos publications) that you may not get Airplay 2 if you just have the legacy Sonos devices, Play-1, Play-3, Play-5 etc... I think you will need the newer Sonos One device to obtain Airplay 2... but we shall have to wait to see if my opinion/prediction is correct, but once you have a Sonos One somewhere in your Sonos Network you will be able to use it as a source to play Airplay 2 supported apps across all Sonos speakers, even the legacy ones.
Let’s wait and see if I’m right or not.
In relation to Google Home ... I think you misunderstood my post... I was trying to say if a user has a Sonos One they could use it for Google Home rather than having to buy a new Google Home device ... like you use Sonos One now without needing an echo Dot.
My thoughts are you will be able to setup your Sonos One as a google home voice controlling device, rather than it being just an Amazon Echo device like it is at the moment. You won’t actually need to actually buy a Google Home Hub as an extra add-on ... that’s my thinking.
I perhaps wasn’t clear in my post. I think (from the things I have read from the official Sonos publications) that you may not get Airplay 2 if you just have the legacy Sonos devices, Play-1, Play-3, Play-5 etc... I think you will need the newer Sonos One device to obtain Airplay 2... but we shall have to wait to see if my opinion/prediction is correct, but once you have a Sonos One somewhere in your Sonos Network you will be able to use it as a source to play Airplay 2 supported apps across all Sonos speakers, even the legacy ones.
Let’s wait and see if I’m right or not.
In relation to Google Home ... I think you misunderstood my post... I was trying to say if a user has a Sonos One they could use it for Google Home rather than having to buy a new Google Home device ... like you use Sonos One now without needing an echo Dot.
My thoughts are you will be able to setup your Sonos One as a google home voice controlling device, rather than it being just an Amazon Echo device like it is at the moment. You won’t actually need to actually buy a Google Home Hub as an extra add-on ... that’s my thinking.
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