Question

Sonos Play 1 or Sonos One?

  • 2 January 2018
  • 9 replies
  • 4774 views

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Hi all, been lurking for a while and after getting a bit of money for my birthday recently and then some more for Christmas, I'm considering getting my first Sonos and was looking for some advice.

I already have an Amazon Echo plus and an Echo so looking to integrate whatever I get into this. I'm just trying to decide whether to get a Play 1 or a One. I might stretch to a pair of Play 1s or another One at a later date if I went that way but am wondering which direction to go.

Is there any benefit to a One if I already have Alexa on my Echo devices? Is the One a better speaker than the Play 1 or are they they same/similar?

I welcome your advice/opinions.

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9 replies

Heh. Ask an easier question, please.

It's a hard thing to quantify. I consider the Sonos One to be more future proof, since it's got the latest and greatest hardware in it, and will likely last longer in terms of software. That being said, so far, Sonos has never abandoned any speakers to obsolescence.

In terms of sound, I've recently replaced the PLAY:1 in my bathroom with a Sonos One. Once TruePlayed, I can't detect the difference, but I really didn't do any before/after blind testing. They both sound(ed) great.

I also have 3 echo devices, which I use in various areas of my home to control my other Sonos speakers. It's nice to have a voice activation device in the bathroom, it complements the others quite well, although I do have a different wake word for all of the Echo's, which causes me the occasional confusion in the bathroom when yelling "Echo!" several times when it should be "Alexa!"

I think it really boils down to your personal comfort level. For me, if I were to be purchasing new, I'd be going for the Sonos One, just because I think it will support other things that are in the pipeline currently, like Google assistant, potentially Siri and AirPlay 2.

But it's hard to go wrong with either one. Since you have the Echo devices already, you can easily set up to control the PLAY:1s with Alexa.
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I think of getting a pair to actually pair together as a stereo left right I would get the play:1s. If I was buying individual speakers for individual rooms I would get Sonos ones.

As above the Sonos One is more future proof. Having at least one of them assures you should be able to input airplay2 when that functionality comes out. I would recommend starting a system with at least one Sonos One or Play:5 gen 2 (which I think should actually be building block of any new system) as to be able to take advantage of any advancement going forward.
I would get the much more value for money 1 units at this time. And keep up with the faster changing front end home automation gadgets by using preferred hardware. For example, Amazon has just released Spots that have a video interface, that will be a lot cheaper in a year from now; but the One will never be able to do video display.
I have been researching this question for days now and have (almost) decided to go with the SONOS1 and Amason Dot to cover the slack (calling and texting for example) that the SONOS1 lacks .. Any comments on this? I would love some opinions on this combination. Any pros or cons? Thanks
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One additional factor to consider: At least for now, a One and 1 can't be paired together for stereo.
Userlevel 7
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Partially correct - They can be paired together in stereo just not via Sonos app. Must use ios Sonosequencer to force stereo pairing.
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Partially correct - They can be paired together in stereo just not via Sonos app. Must use ios Sonosequencer to force stereo pairing. If we are to quibble, it is SonoSequencr. Have a great day.
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thanks
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🙂