Sonos One (Gen 2) Review

SONOS is a synonym for wireless multi-room speaker ecosystem. Amongst the broad line up of devices in this ecosystem, Sonos One is the paradigm. If anyone is thinking of starting Sonos ecosystem, this is the one to start. 

Background

This is my second attempt to invest in Sonos ecosystem. The first time, I owned Sonos PlayBar for several months couple years ago but ended up selling due to part of my wireless speaker ecosystem requirement needed low latency and Sonos line had built in 70 ms delay even using direct Aux in connection on SONOS Play 5. At that time, I tried Bluesound and HEOS series and based on the lowest latency I chose HEOS.

Since then, I’ve purchased multiple Echo products to connect whole home for the convenience of Alexa driven smart home control. However, recently my interest in sound quality started to grow. One day I just thought it would be nice if I can be immersed in a high quality audio when I sleep (not loudness, but clarity of the sound). So I have recently purchased Echo Plus 2nd Gen ($149.99). This was indeed a significant sound quality upgrade over the the Echo Dot. However, this experience arouse my passion to Hifi audio. After extensive online search for “smart speaker” (for Alexa voice control), Sonos One looked very attractive with praising reviews all over for the combination of its sound quality and smart speaker feature, which supports both Alexa and Google Assistant. As holiday sales were going on, the SONOS One was discounted to $169.00. This was significantly higher than Echo Plus 2nd Gen as I got it refurbished for $89.99. However, immersion in sound was still not achieved with it, so I decided to give SONOS One a try. In fact, to get the best sound quality, I have actually ended up purchasing two Sonos One (Gen 2) for stereo pairing.

In this review, I will talk about Sonos as Ecosystem, and compare to alternative Multiroom wireless speaker ecosystems in addition to direct review of Sonos One because after all these speakers are meant to be used as a group/ecosystem; otherwise, one can always find better value speaker if standalone non-wireless is an option.

Sonos and Others

Not too long ago, Sonos was the only and the best choice for anyone looking for multi-room wireless speaker. Sonos still lead the genre by different features and certainly the most popular product line. However, in 2020, multiroom, wireless speaker world now have wider than ever, high quality alternatives. This is an ecosystem so think carefully before you dive too deep into the world of Multiroom wireless speaker ecosystem. The primary alternative considerations include Audio Pro, Bluesound, Denon/HEOS, Naim and B&W Formation series.

Hardware

Specifications

Feature	Description
Audio
Amplifier	Two Class-D digital amplifiers.
Tweeter	One tweeter creates a crisp and accurate high frequency response.
Mid-Woofer	One mid-woofer ensures the faithful playback of mid-range vocal frequencies plus deep, rich bass.
Stereo Pair	Turn two speakers into separate left and right channel speakers to create wider, deeper sound.
Home Theater	Add two speakers as surrounds for a true surround sound experience.
Microphones	Far-field microphone array.Microphone LED, hard-wired to the voice microphones for extra privacy control so you’re always aware when the microphone is active.
Voice Control	Integrated voice control.
Networking
Wireless Connectivity	Connects to your home WiFi network with any 802.11b/g/n router. 802.11n only network configurations are not supported—you can either change the router settings to 802.11b/g/n or connect a Sonos product to your router.
Ethernet Port	One 10/100Mbps Ethernet port. You can plug a Sonos product directly into your router if your WiFi is unstable.
General
Power Supply	Auto-switching 100 – 240V ~ 50-60 Hz 1A AC universal input
Dimensions (H x W x D)	6.36 x 4.69 x 4.69 in. (161.45 x 119.7 X 119.7 mm)
Weight	4.08 lb (1.85 kg)
Operating Temperature	32º to 104º F (0º to 40º C)
Storage Temperature	-4º to 158º F (-20º to 70º C)
Humidity Resistant	Designed to withstand high-humidity, like in a bathroom with a running shower. (It is not waterproof or water-resistant.)
Product Finish	White with white grille; black with black grille

Voice Control

The main reason, I’ve decided to give another try to Sonos after two years is voice control feature. The alternative ecosystems do not have built in voice control except upcoming Denon Home series.

Despite built in voice control with choice of Alexa vs. Google assistant sounded the best of all the world, these voice control features are limited version. For instance, there is no drop in nor routine support on Alexa. These are main features our family use daily.

These voice control features are limited version. For instance, there is no drop in nor routine support on Alexa.

Also, it is important to note that via App, one must choose Alexa vs. Google Assistant and only one can be active at a time. In another word, you cannot say Hey Google or Alexa and assume SONOS One switches one from another. Although app switching is easy and quick, it is not practical for anyone to keep switching back and forth. I had a hope with two SONOS One, I could perhaps have one set to Alexa and the other Google Assistant, but this was not possible when two were stereo paired.

one must choose Alexa vs. Google Assistant and only one can be active at a time.

Another slight disappointment was the voice recognition sensitivity. Although the voice activation worked well and very sensitive even from a distant when no audio was playing through the speaker, the voice activation was inferior to dedicated Echo while music was playing. I had Echo Plus and SONOS One placed next to each other and tested their voice activation sensitivity from merely 3 foot away. The music played were the same and relatively same volume. From this distance, I whispered, spoke on regular tone and raised my voice beyond normal tone. Echo Plus recognized even whisper without an issue; whereas, SONOS One needed me to raise my tone to get command activation. 

Even though Sonos One lacks bluetooth or AUX in connectivity, it is recognized as speaker device on Alexa. So one can still make SONOS as default speaker for the room and use device like Echo Dot as input and keep SONOS One as output. This setup allows fully featured Alexa and as long as one keep the Echo away from SONOS One, voice recognition may also be decent. However, at this point, built in Alexa voice control feature becomes irrelevant and this feature no longer strength of the product.

Alternatives

If one is looking for Alexa or Google Assistant built in ecosystem, soon to be released Denon Home series will have built in microphone arrays though they won’t be ready to use Alexa nor Google Assistant right away.

If one plans to setup Echo device as input, there are many other options including Bluesound, Naim, and soon B&W Formation series. Bluesound and Naim also supports Google Assistant.

No Hi-Res

Whether one believes in Hi-Res audio or not, they are now prevalent. With Amazon HD service, Hi-Res may finally be reaching to general public. If this is something you are looking for SONOS is not way to go. No-one can predict future, but SONOS said no plan for Hi-Res a while back. So if this is important feature, you need to consider alternatives like Bluesound, Naim, Denon/HEOS or B&W Formation.

Airplay 2 Support

For Apple product owners, Airplay 2 support is essentially the most versatile connection for audio streaming as long as your Apple device is Airplay 2 capable. Basically, this is as good wired Aux input, better than bluetooth for Apple users when considering one device to one speaker connection.

Airplay 2 is; however, beyond simple one-one device connection. Airplay 2 allows mixing of various wireless speakers from different brands for multi-room play; hence, one can start SONOS One and later add B&W Formation Duo. 

This setup for multi-room music works; however, from the multi-room play stand point of view, Airplay 2 is not free of limitation. For example, Airplay 2 works by streaming music from a source Apple device to speaker(s). So if you disconnect the device for whatever reason e.g. taking phone outside of house, start playing something else on the phone, those musics will stop playing on the speaker(s). Also, if one is using Hi-Res music, Airplay 2 will down-sample them to CD quality. 

This is in contrast, native streaming on speaker like playing Amazon music on SONOS using SONOS app on iPhone, the phone acts as remote control and sends command to the speaker(s) and speaker(s) will directly connect to the internet. So it won’t matter if you use the phone for entirely something else e.g. playing Youtube or even play music on the phone itself, it won’t stop those speaker(s). The device integration are also better with same ecosystem speakers so it is still better to go with single brand if you can.

No bluetooth, wired input

SONOS One has no bluetooth nor any wired input port e.g. Aux. With Airplay 2 support, this is not an issue for majority of Apple users. However, for Android user; Airplay 2 is not an option. Chromecast support would have been nice, but Sonos line current lacks this. Bluetooth is prevalent wireless connection option and many Android devices support even Hi-Res bluetooth connection (AptX HD) but SONOS One do not have any usable bluetooth connection for consumer.

*Built in bluetooth on SONOS One Gen 2 is just for setup.

Roon Tested/Not Ready

Roon is an audiophile favorite software software. SONOS speakers works with Roon but not “ready” labeled. This is not only because lack of Hi-Res support but Sonos Zones can only be grouped with other Sonos zones and not with other Roon compatible devices. Roon has an excellent interface. Perhaps what iTune should have been (digitaltrends). So in this regard, it still works but lack of multi-room support with other Roon devices and no Hi-Res, Roon might not be worth $699 lifetime or $119/yr if Sonos is primary output source you are thinking of. So if Roon integration is important, consider alternatives that are Roon Ready including Bluesound, Naim and B&W Formation.

Stereo & 5.1 Setup Potential

Besides multi-room audio, wireless speaker ecosystem often provides a capability of grouping speakers together to create stereo pair as well as home theater set up. SONOS One is capable of stereo paring with any 2 mixture of SONOS One either Gen 1 or Gen 2 and Sonos SL. The latter is essentially SONOS One without microphone built in.

For home theater setup, Sonos product line allows 5.1 system creation with Sonos One can be set up as surround speakers. As an ecosystem, it is noteworthy that Sonos line do not support Dolby Atmos, Dolby True HD or DTS even one buys HDMI built in Sonos Beam ($399).

Software

One of the best App

Sonos app (I’ve used iOS version) is one of the best in multi-room wireless ecosystem. The setup takes only 5 minutes with simple step by step instruction. One great feature Sonos built and SONOS One capable of is “Trueplay” set up. This is a feature using iOS phone, one can configure SONOS One to its environment. Since sound production can be affected significantly by room position of the speaker, this is indeed a great feature. However, this feature does not work with Android phone. This is only for initial set up so if you don’t own iPhone, you can borrow from friend during the setup.

What really stands out is search and curated playlist. Sonos allow searching music from multiple source at once and even build a playlist/queue from various sources.

Sonos allow searching music from multiple source at once and even build a playlist/queue from various sources.

This function especially shines because of the main strength of Sonos ecosystem is wealth of stream support. Sonos have by far the widest selection of streaming services including Amazon Music, Apple Music, Youtube Music, Deezer, Qobuz, Tidal, Plex, Pandora, TuneIn, Soundcloud and Pandora to name a few. Not only it supports all the major streaming services but it also supports ones that are not main stream. So if you are one using relatively niche streaming service and can’t see any other ecosystem supporting them, check Sonos listing.

Loss of local iOS audio play

In August 2019, Sonos took away capability of playing musics directly from iPhone or iPad via Sonos app (here). One may consider using Airplay 2 as an alternative/new way to play local audio files, there is; however some difference/limitation of Airplay 2 when compared to stream music to speaker via in-app. For example, in-app stream allows one to look at what’s on the queue from other device. One can stream music to speaker via in-app while watching YouTube on the same device etc.

Sound Quality

The most important part of speaker system to me is the sound quality. For its price ($199 retail, $169 on sale), SONOS One indeed have an excellent sound quality. In particular, its loudness stand out for its size. Two SONOS One paired together I was able to hear distinct stereo separation of music. 

Overall, sound quality as a single speaker; however, our family thought very similar to Echo Plus 2nd gen (retailed $149.99). I still heard slight muffled sound.

Although SONOS are favorably reviewed for its sound quality and ranked amongst the best for smart speaker, it is because of the smart feature part. Many higher audio quality speakers including Sonos its own Play 5 are not considered smart speaker because there is no built in microphone. In fact, sites that gives top rating on SONOS One tend show lack of extensive review from other wireless speaker brand i.e. selection bias.

So if you are willing to pay more and looking for pure sound quality in Multiroom wireless capable speakers, there are several other options that can undoubtedly provide even better sound quality.

From what I have gathered, for pure sound quality, if those who have had chance to listen to various brands, most would agree the best to least in following orders: B&W Formation >= Naim > Bluesound > Audio Pro > SONOS >= HEOS.

I do not consider myself audiophile and to me the Sonos are undoubtedly expensive speakers; however, from audiophile perspective, the price can go way beyond.

Basically, the quality comes with the price. For example, SONOS Play 5, which is the flagship Sonos standalone speaker costs $499. Even with stereo setup, it will be under $1000. On the contrary, Naim Muso 2, which many review sites consider one of the highest quality one box wireless stereo speaker, is over $1500. B&W Formation Duo Stereo speaker is outrageously expensive $4000. So the ceilings are certainly higher in other lines. Above products for sure will provide superior sound quality; however, the cost to sound quality ratio i.e. value of the speaker differs individually.

Conclusion

For the price, Sonos One is a great wireless speaker. If one is looking for smart speaker with great sound quality, SONOS One undoubtedly ranks amongst the top. However, there are limitations. Smartness of the SONOS One is limited i.e. no full feature of Alexa or Google Assistant. If you can afford higher price speaker, there are many higher sound quality options including the Hi-Res support that lacking in entire Sonos product line.

If this is your first entry into Sonos ecosystem or perhaps multi-room wireless speaker world, you should carefully consider alternative options before committing. As multi-room wireless speaker setup can be addictive and staying with single brand provides the best performance/function, the correct first step may save you money in long run.

However, I would not be surprised once you have done your home work and listed important features for yourself in order, Sonos One still may be the best option for many music lovers.