Sonos One review: The One you should try

Name: Sonos One Gen 2 Smart Speaker
Item: Sonos One Gen 2 Smart Speaker
Author: Himani Jha

Sonos One offers an incredible sound quality along with smart technologies like Alexa and Google voice assistant. Check out what I have found after using it for weeks.

By: HIMANI JHA
| Updated on: May 31 2022, 11:19 IST

smart speaker comes with better audio quality. (HT Tech/Himani Jha)

While looking for a good smart speaker, we often have to choose the trade off, either between smartness or audio quality. For example, some of the speakers pack all the cutting-edge IoT stuff but they lack the sound quality that you expect from a high-end big speaker. But Sonos One doesn't force users to choose between smart technology and excellent sound quality. I have been using it for weeks now and I can say that Sonos One is certainly one of the best smart speakers on the market for the price it sells. The smart speaker is effectively the same as the Sonos Play:1, however, it comes with the added benefit of a microphone array that allows users to use it with a voice assistant. As I spent time with it, I was consistently impressed with the sound quality. Check out my experience with Sonos One Gen 2 speaker here

Design

The design of Sonos One is based on the company's existing Play:1 smart speaker, however, it offers a number of improvements. The top of the speaker has a touch-sensitive surface that allows you to swipe right or left, skips forward and backwards through your current playlist. You can even play and pause your music by tapping in the center of the surface as well as raise and lower the volume.

Sonos One a touch-sensitive surface to increase or decrease volume. (HT Tech/Himani)

image caption — Sonos One a touch-sensitive surface to increase or decrease volume. (HT Tech/Himani)

The physical controls are pretty nice when you want to quickly skip a track and adjust voice.

Sonos has equipped the speaker with six internal microphones that can hear you even at low voice. You just need to ask ‘Hey, Jude' just one more time. Moreover, the speaker also got a power-indicating LED alongside a small light to let you know when Alexa is listening.

The Sonos One is a real treat to use on a daily basis. With the Sonos app installed on my phone, I've scheduled it to play music during a fixed time. For example, I have scheduled it to play music in the morning at 8 am to wake me up and from 10am onwards, I set it to switch to some lo-fi beats. From 5pm to 7pm in the evening, the playlist has been set to play some jazz music to soothe the mood after a hectic day's work.

With the Sonos app installed on your phone, you can schedule it to play music during a fixed time. (HT Tech/Himani Jha)

Voice control too works great as it can also act as a hub to control all your other smart home devices in your home, while paired with Google/Amazon.

Portability

It is a multi-room Wi-Fi smart speaker, so it works differently from Bluetooth speakers. Despite its smaller-size, it isn't portable. This Wi-Fi-enabled smart speaker is designed for use indoors because of its wired design. You'll need to connect the wire to an outlet for it to work and hence you can't bring it outside with you.

Sonos One is designed to use indoors. (HT Tech/Himani Jha)

Device Setup

Setting up the Sonos One is a breeze. After taking it out of its box, it took me only a couple of minutes to set it up by connecting it to WiFi. To start using the speaker, you will need to download the Sonos app, turn on your speaker, and the app will discover the compatible Sonos speaker in your home. Next, press the Wi-Fi button on the back of the speaker for pairing them up and assign the speaker to the room where the speaker is placed. I have placed the Sonos One in the bedroom.

The Sonos One also has Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant built right in, so you can also activate a voice assistant to your Sonos One in the settings via the app. From providing general information and answering questions about weather, sports, unit conversions, and translations to playing streaming music from a variety of services; and controlling smart home devices, the voice assistant support works pretty well. You'll just need to say their respective wake-up phrases like "Alexa" and "OK Google" and ask your question or give your command to get started.

Setting up Sonos One is quite easy. (HT Tech/Himani Jha)

Sonos has also added Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) support to Sonos One Gen 2 smart seeker, however, it can only be used as an option for setting up the speaker. Bluetooth audio streaming isn't supported on this speaker.

Audio quality

Sonos One speaker has a very rich and pleasant sound with great isolation. Despite only being just one speaker, it delivers a tonne of power, and can go really loud. On the high volumes, the bass is extremely impressive without any rattle or crackling and the mids are awesome for amazing vocal performance while lows are low.

Sonos One delivers a very rich and pleasant sound. (HT Tech/Himani Jha)

The Sonos One is already an amazing speaker with great sound quality and ease of use and on the top of all, the Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant support made the speaker a whole lot better.

Final verdict

Priced at Rs. 21,999, the Sonos One speaker packs a real smart punch and hence, it is definitely at the top of our recommendation list of smart speaker systems for home. The audio quality of the Sonos ecosystem will make you add more Sonos speakers to your home. Honestly, I have enjoyed having the Sonos One in my house. Google Assistant works great. It has made it easy to complete simple tasks and listen to music without touching my phone. After using it for weeks, I can say it is well balanced when it comes to size, smartness, and supreme audio quality. The speaker with all the right ingredients remains one of the best wireless speakers in the market at the price it comes.

Rating

4 out of 5

Price

INR 21,999/-

Product Name

Sonos One Gen 2 Smart Speaker

Brand Name

Sonos

Pros