Sonos One review: Seriously great-sound with a serious caveat
Pros
- Phenomenal sound quality
- Plays nice with other Sonos speakers
- Supports the most streaming services
Cons
- Still lacks Google Assistant
- Voice integration can be clunky
Bottom Line
Sonos' promise to deliver the service-agnostic smart speaker hasn't quite been fulfilled here but things are off to a strong start.
-
Price
$ 299.00 (AUD)
-
Best Deals (Selling at 1 store)
The Pitch
Much like the explosive growth of the smartphone market in the late 2000s, the smart speaker category is now in its own period of rapid expansion. And like the rise of the smartphones, it’s not a free-for-all - it’s a proxy war.
Sure, everyone is in it for their own financial gain. However, a lot of tech brands are going to end being mere foot-soldiers here. The real battle isn’t over who gets to make your smart speaker but who gets to make the software powering the experience. Amazon’s Alexa, Google’s Assistant, Samsung’s Bixby, Microsoft’s Cortana and Apple’s Siri are all racing to reach critical mass adoption and the brands in-between are more-than-happy to partner with these established players if it means they can have their slice of the pie.
It shouldn’t surprise anyone that Sonos are playing that game. However, for Australians at least, the company’s new Sonos One smart speaker is a bit of a unorthodox proposition.
In essence, it’s about trust. With the Sonos One, Sonos are betting that - no matter your AI assistant of choice - you’ll still be interested in great sound quality. More than that, they’re betting that you trust the Sonos brand enough that you’re willing to buy in even without the smarts up-front.
Specs
The Sonos One smart speaker is Wi-Fi-based connected speaker with two Class-D digital amplifiers, one mid-woofer, one tweeter and six far-field microphones. It’s controlled using the new, redesigned Sonos app (iOS and Android) and, at this time, only compatible with Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant - which isn't available in Australia yet.
Sonos say that Google Assistant support will be coming sometime in 2018, as is support for Apple's AirPlay 2. They’ve also indicated to us that Bixby or Cortana support is also a possibility further down the line as well.
Where to buy
You can pick up the Sonos One through Sonos' own online storefront or Amazon.
Brand Post
Most Popular Reviews
- 1 Dell U3223QE review: A winning debut for an IPS Black monitor
- 2 HP Spectre x360 16 review: The right 2-in-1 at the wrong time
- 3 Acer K242HYL review: An affordable monitor for any occasion
- 4 GeForce Now review: You bring the games, Nvidia streams the hardware
- 5 Asus ProArt PA279CV monitor review: The go-to for content creators on a budget
Latest News Articles
- You can now rock out to Apple Music on Roku devices
- Complete guide to the new AirPods Pro 2
- Apple Music adds DJ mixes in spatial audio
- Friday Night Baseball on Apple TV+ will be free for the first 12 weeks of the season
- Apple TV+ makes history at wild Oscars ceremony
Resources
Macworld
What's new, plus best mac-related tips
and tricks
Business Centre
The latest business news, reviews, features and whitepapers
Videos
Watch our video news and reviews from around the world
Guides
Comprehensive buying guides, features, and step-by-step articles
PCW Evaluation Team
Pedro Peixoto
Aruba Instant On AP11D
Set up is effortless.
Cate Bacon
Aruba Instant On AP11D
The strength of the Aruba Instant On AP11D is that the design and feature set support the modern, flexible, and mobile way of working.
Dr Prabigya Shiwakoti
Aruba Instant On AP11D
Aruba backs the AP11D up with a two-year warranty and 24/7 phone support.
Tom Pope
Dynabook Portégé X30L-G
Ultimately this laptop has achieved everything I would hope for in a laptop for work, while fitting that into a form factor and weight that is remarkable.
Tom Sellers
MSI P65
This smart laptop was enjoyable to use and great to work on – creating content was super simple.
Lolita Wang
MSI GT76
It really doesn’t get more “gaming laptop” than this.
Featured Content
- Which Lenovo Laptop Should I Buy?
- Every TV in Samsung's 2022 line-up: OLED, Neo QLED and more!
- Top 10 best Android and Apple phones for under $600
- Everything you need to know about Smart TVs
- What's the difference between an Intel Core i3, i5 and i7?
- Laser vs. inkjet printers: which is better?