If you want an audio system that can play music all around your home but you hate running wires, this system is for you. From the app you can control all of the speakers or zones, group them in any combination, adjust the volume of each individual speaker (even if theyre grouped), find music, create playlists, mark your favorites, and more. The problems created by trying to use Sonos Voice Control when you dont subscribe to the supported services arent immediately obvious or easy to figure out. It also theoretically gives Sonos a responsiveness advantage, since all voice commands are processed locally by your Sonos speakers themselves. Just let it play, and it will adapt itself to the new room over time. But in our long-term testing, weve found that maintaining the stereo pairing of two Studio speakers can be frustrating and inconsistent, so we cant recommend it. What this means is that if you install your speaker in the center of a room (say, on a coffee table) or between two rooms (e.g., on a counter between a semi-open kitchen and family room), the sound quality of the speaker, as well as the stereo effect, shifts depending on where youre standing or sitting. So you have to remember which virtual personality you last spoke with. In spring 2022, Sonos also introduced its own voice control feature, whichunlike Amazon and Googles digital voice assistantsis purely tailored to music playback and multiroom audio control. This command turns off most of the lights in the house, adjusts the temperature on our Ecobee thermostat, and then starts playing the album Thunderstorm (Sounds of Nature) to lull us to sleep. Instead, the Echo Studio listens to itself while it plays music and makes tweaks to the sound over time. Theres also the wireless Sonos Sub, which you can pair with any existing Sonos speaker to add some oomph. Any Alexa device on your system (such as a standard Echo or a Dot) can initiate a music stream to any other Sonos or Alexa device on your systemwhether to an individual speaker or to a group. But it does have one trick up its sleeve that no other compact speaker in our roundup can claim: Dolby Atmos capabilities to add a more immersive height effect to the sound. Hardware from any other company wont work with it, and if Sonos were to cease to exist as a company, you might find yourself with a bunch of very expensive bricks. It costs less than most high-end Bluetooth speakers, yet its audio performance measures as accurately as that of speakers costing several times as much. The Echo Studio doesnt support direct streaming of Atmos-mixed music from Tidal, but it does support a reasonably large library of 3D-audio tracks available on Amazon Music HD mastered in both Dolby Atmos and Sonys 360 Reality Audio spatial audio codec. The conversational aspect is aided by the fact that the system responds quite well to naturalistic speech and doesnt require you to memorize very rigid syntax in order to make it work, as Alexa and Google Assistant did in their early days. The Marshall Multi-Room system is based on the companys line of Bluetooth speakers, which we really like, but the whole-home system functions more like a Bluetooth speaker than a fully integrated system. This means that if both you and your neighbor have Sidewalk enabled, you might be using a bit of their internet connection and they might be using a bit of yours. In the past he has written for Residential Systems, Home Theater Review, Electronic House, Big Picture Big Sound, Digital TV & Sound, Home Smart Home, and Home Theater magazine, just to name a few. Sonos also offers a series of architectural speakers designed to be combined with the companys updated Sonos Amp. This wouldnt be a problem, except for the fact that the speaker-selection and volume-control widget occupies less than a quarter of your total screen real estate, meaning you can see only four connected devices at a time. Some customers take issue with the fact that, if you dont agree to the policy, theres a chance that your Sonos devices will cease to operate over time because they will stop receiving software updates. The competition is catching up, but Sonos is still the most complete and reliable package overall. But we believe its in line with the data-collection policies associated with many other companies, including the makers of smart TVs, media streamers, and nearly any other online device. But this arrangement does complicate day-to-day use a bit, so if you value simplicity, your best bet is to pick one or the other for all of your multiroom music streaming needs. You can read our impressions of the Roam here. Sonoss unified service approach lets you search across every service you subscribe to. You can also pair the Five to enjoy great stereo sound. For now, Sonos Voice Control works with Sonos Radio, Apple Music, Amazon Music, Deezer, and Pandora. Bluetooth speakers also require your phone or computer to be the streaming source. But thats not a wholly satisfying workaround, and its no replacement for being able to independently control the volume of Alexa relative to the volume of the Sonos speaker. Weve tested the new Sonos Voice Control function and added our thoughts. But at this point no other companiesaside from Marantz, which is part of Denons parent companyhave adopted HEOS. If you start playing a track or a radio channel with Sonos Voice Control, Alexa doesnt recognize this and hasnt a clue what you mean when you ask her to pause or skip tracks. Unfortunately, if your system consists of a mix of newer and older models, the new models also wont receive updates because updating the new models would remove compatibility with the older ones. Many of Sonoss strengths come from the fact that it is a closed system, but this is also a weakness. We just like Echo a little better overall. The Dayton Audio SUB-1200 is the best way weve found to add awesome (and affordable) bass to a stereo or home-theater system. These devices include hi-res audio and MQA support, as well as a CD-ripping vault. Back then, if any of your Echo devices was connected to a Bluetooth speaker, that connection would drop when you initiated multiroom playback. Our journalists combine independent research with (occasionally) over-the-top testing to save people time, energy and money when making buying decisions. Sonos has made these systems for longer than anyone, and its experience shows at every level. If youre using your iPhone to control your music playback, as most people are likely to do, there are some frustrating limitations. When you buy through our links, we may earn a commission. The fourth-generation Amazon Echo is a significant departure from earlier generations in terms of sound quality and design, and the native Alexa support allows for more advanced voice control. The Samsung HW-Q900A is our favorite soundbar because of its excellent voice clarity, enveloping sound, and easy-to-accommodate design. With such a split system, only devices within the S1 system can be grouped together, and likewise only S2 devices can be grouped together. But in the years since, the audio fidelity of Echo speakers has improved, and the multiroom functionality has gotten steadily better. That reportedly gives the service a leg up in terms of privacy, and removes some concerns about false-positive wake-word recognition. Bluetooth connectivity is now supported, so if you have an Echo Dot paired with, say, a Monoprice Soundstage3 in your home office, that duo can sync up with the rest of your Echo devices just fine. The Sonos Five easily fills large spaces with full-range, detailed sound comparable to that of nice bookshelf speakers. But since the process is constantly running as long as the devices mics arent muted, this shouldnt be necessary. Amazons multiroom music platform isnt as robust and intuitive as Sonoss, but it continues to improve, and you can use more precise, nuanced voice control. The Sonos One sounds great and is an affordable entry point to the Sonos system. Sonos offers speakers that start at the budget end with the small Sonos One and Sonos One SL (which lacks voice control) and extend to the Arc, Beam, and Ray soundbars for use with a TV. At $100, the standard Echo (4th Gen) is $80 less than Sonoss cheapest speaker (the One SL), and although it doesnt sound as goodthe bass isnt as dynamic, high frequencies arent quite as sparkling and its upper bass/lower midrange is somewhat boomy and uneven by comparisonit still sounds quite good for the price. Its a noticeable improvement in the sound quality over the 3rd Gen unit. It supports the widest variety of streaming services, the speakers sound great, and its apps are practically foolproof. It certainly doesn't hurt that the system sports the voice of actor Giancarlo Esposito, whom many will recognize due to his work on Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, and The Mandalorian. For one thing, if you want to add or remove speakers from playback or adjust the volume of individual speakers, you need to do so via a widget found in the iOS Control Center. Chris Heinonen, who wrote previous versions of this guide, has reviewed speakers and other audio/video equipment since 2008. In that respect, its about even with the Echo system. Bluetooth speakers can easily stream audio from your phone or computer, but few of them let you group multiple speakers togetherand even when you can, youre usually limited to playing the same source through all the connected speakers, which isnt the case with Wi-Fi speakers. Sonoss tight control of its ecosystem means youre limited in terms of the speaker brands you can add to your setup (unless you buy Sonos devices specifically designed for you to add your own speakers), but the companys offerings come at a variety of prices and all sound excellent. One potential advantage that the Amazon Echo lineup has over Sonos speakers is two-way Bluetooth support. Many Sonos models are also stuck on the standard 2.4 GHz band unless you buy the companys optional bridge, which creates its own Wi-Fi network. However, you can still opt out of some data collection even if you agree to the policy. Plus, its Alexa and Google Assistant enabled. The major ones are here, including Amazon, Google Play, Pandora, Spotify, and even Apple Musicas are social services such as Bandcamp, Mixcloud, and SoundCloud. The downside is that the Echo is now a more directional device than the previous iterations. WiSA is an alliance that is licensing its technology to different speaker manufacturers. Lastly, Sonos made some serious PR missteps in early 2020, when it announced that the original Play:5, Connect, Connect:Amp, and Bridge, along with the original Zone Player and the CR200 wireless controller, would no longer receive feature updates after May 2020. Thats one reason why we recommend using a dedicated Echo device for more advanced voice control, at least until Sonos Voice Control matures a bit. Thankfully, Sonos speakers with Alexa built in do support the Whisper Mode feature found on standalone Amazon Echo speakers, which helps a little. After using Trueplay, we found that it always improved the sound of our Sonos speakers, helping to produce less boomy bass and a clearer midrange. A better portable option is the Sonos Roam, a more compact and affordable solution that supports Qi wireless charging and has IP67 waterproof certification. Among smart speakers, we prefer Amazons ecosystem and its diversity of product offerings. For instance, if you want voice commands, alerts, timers, and reminders to come out of the Echo Dot by the kitchen sink, but you want any music that Dot plays to come out of the Sonos Five sitting atop the refrigerator, its simple to configure. You could also add the more affordable Echo Dot to the mix if you have Bluetooth speakers in and around the house that you want to add to your multiroom music system. Using voice commands to operate a synchronized multiroom music system requires a little more in the way of setupand isnt quite as intuitive as Sonoss app controlbut the Echo systems configuration and operation dont require an unreasonable amount of effort. Although the quality of this upmixing has drastically improved since the Echo Studios release, it can still be a little inconsistent with some music, especially some of the radical stereo mixes of the 1960s, like The Jimi Hendrix Experiences The Wind Cries Mary. This is somewhat less of a problem if you pair two Studio speakers in a stereo group. Its really powerful and useful once you get the hang of it, but if voice control is your main consideration, you may be better off with an Amazon Echo system for now, for reasons well discuss in further detail below. Sonos also lets you control every source from a single app or, in many cases, allows you to use the individual app, whereas Chromecast still works only through individual apps. If you care only about playing music in a single room and dont need built-in voice-control capabilities, other options work well for less money. The main drawbacks to the Sonos ecosystem are that it is a closed system (so you have to use Sonos products) and, though many Sonos speakers have both Alexa and Google Assistant built in, the systems voice-control capabilities are not as advanced as those platforms own smart speakers. The speakers themselves offer very few controlsonly volume and a play/pause button in most cases. Apples HomePod sounds excellent, but its Apple-centric design can feel limited next to other smart speakers. Add in Siri voice control, and the overall flexibility of the platform is hard to deny. The Amp, Arc, and Beam support 802.11n 2.4GHz only. The Sonos app is well designed and runs on iOS, Android, Windows, and macOS. Instead of the cylindrical form factor weve come to associate with Amazons smart speakers, the new model has a spherical design and has been upgraded to include two 0.8-inch (20 mm) tweeters instead of one. Using voice this way takes some getting used to, and it has some drawbacks that we detail in our standalone review of the Sonos One. This doesnt affect multiroom music playback, but its worth noting for those whove built a Sonos surround sound system. But that eats up an analog input that could probably be put to better use, and it isnt nearly as simple as having a unit with Bluetooth built in. Your answer may affect which system you choose. If, on the other hand, youre just looking to bring your record collection into the Sonos ecosystem, youre probably better served by the Sonos Port, which features a single analog input that can work with your turntable, as well as analog and digital outputs that you can connect to your receiver. Sonos speakers with Alexa built in also have some other voice-control shortcomings when compared with proper Echo devices. But most people dont need or wont use these features, and the hardware costs almost 50% more than the comparable hardware from other companies because of all the extras. For better sound or bigger rooms, the higher-end Sonos Five creates a large soundstage on its own, and a pair can compete with similarly priced midrange bookshelf speakerswithout the need for a separate amplifier. The Echo Studio can also upmix stereo music into a simulation of 3D audio. You need to load the Marshall setup app to send audio to multiple rooms or join speakers into a group. We also added the new Sonos Ray as a more affordable soundbar option. And it desperately needs this functionality, since Alexa is simply way too loud by comparison. Stylish design and great sound make the Polk Signature Elite ES15, ES10, and ES30 combo our pick for the best surround-sound system. For $200the same price as the Sonos Oneyou might instead opt for the Echo Studio, which features a front-firing 1-inch tweeter, two side-firing and one upward-firing 2-inch midrange drivers, and a 5.25-inch down-firing woofer. Oddly, though, you can run Sonos Voice Control and Amazon Alexa in parallel, although doing so results in some occasional weirdness and confusion. Apple HomePod Review: It Only Sounds Great. And none of the Echo speakers available at the time sounded good enough on their own to justify their use as your main music system. On a related note, we would like to see a cheaper way to add a line input for hooking up a Bluetooth receiver, record player, or other device. It is mostly aimed at building wireless surround-sound systems, where it can support lossless 24/96 audio with 7.1 channels, but it is starting to add multiple zones for multiroom wireless speakers. In other words, it involves a lot of unnecessary scrolling and (for those of us old enough to remember when airplay was broadcast-radio lingo) a good bit of squinting. It can play louder with more clarity than the much smaller Sonos One, but it isnt as detailed and offers less stereo separation than the Sonos Five. It supports 5.1-channel surround sound using wireless speakers, and it covers a wide selection of devices. The standard Amazon Echo (4th Gen) and the larger Echo Studio are both great picks, and the latter in particular offers something that no other compact wireless speakers do: Dolby Atmos support (which adds a height element to make the sound even more immersive). Whats more, creating groups of Echo speakers isnt quite as intuitive via the Alexa app as grouping is with Sonos. Learn more. Connect and Connect: Amp models manufactured after 2015 still get updates, as do Play:5 v2 units. Is the Google Home the Voice-Controlled Speaker for You. 2022 Wirecutter, Inc., A New York Times Company, smart TVs, media streamers, and nearly any other online device, The Best Surround-Sound Systems Under $2,500, The Best Bookshelf Speakers for Most Stereos. In July 2021, IKEA also has added the $220 Symfonisk on-wall speaker that looks like a piece of art, but we have not tested it. He has tested multiroom wireless speaker systemsfrom retail versions to custom-installed onesfor many years. Its 3-inch (76.2 mm) woofer is also placed at the top of the speaker instead of the bottom. In other words, grouping S1 devices and S2 devices together to create a truly whole-home wireless music system is no longer possible.
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