Sonos One Gen 2 Reviews

You’re probably familiar with this company, which is often mentioned in the field of wired music and what’s known as multiroom, which is the synchronization of a song through several rooms using Wi-Fi, for example. At the end of 2017, Sonos revamped its symbol, the Play: 1 speaker, with a voice assistant and the soberly dubbed ‘Sonos One.’ This same Sonos One was updated in early 2019 with a Gen 2 model, which has a few variations that we’ll discuss.

Design, interface and use of the Sonos One Gen 2

Design

The speaker is magnificent, as everybody knows, and it does not differ from the Play: 1, but it must be noted that the height, form, and style are all discrete, sober, and elegant… We’re looking for something that can cater to everybody.

Usage

The controls are straightforward, with a central play/pause button, two volume buttons on the left and right, a microphone button on top, and a pairing button on the back. There’s nothing else.

The top of the speaker is absolutely tactile, and the feedback is excellent. Engaging and deactivating the microphone, for example, would change the LED display, as we know how to do today on a smartphone. The volume adjustment is really well done and responds with a minor buzz, but with our favorite assistant, the interest is clearly not to use it at all.

Interface

The application is incredibly well-thought-out, which is an extremely critical prerequisite for this category of product since the whole experience can be expanded via the application, which is the inverse of the lack of a button.

I’ve never had a problem with the app. It’s a resounding victory! Nothing allows you to use the SONOS Controller software; you can just open your favorite streaming app and adjust the playback device; but, while you’re not listening to a record, radio, or playlist, it’s even best for song quest. However, there is one benefit of using the Sonos app:

The Sonos controller software supports many streaming channels at the same time: For my part, I linked Apple Music to my media server because I still have a student subscription, Amazon Music to my media server because I have an Amazon Prime subscription that gives me access to a catalog of 3 million songs (offer between free and Unlimited subscription), and Plex to be able to play synchronized music from my media server. There are innumerable sites, including the major names like Deezer, Spotify, Tidal, among others, as well as online radios and other music distribution services like HypeMachine, SoundCloud, and Napster.

Availability of the Sonos Controller app

On iOS, Android, Windows, and MacOS, the Sonos Controller app is open. It would be appropriate for Linux users to use Noson.

Speaker design

Small, unobtrusive, sturdy, attractive… I couldn’t help myself when I came across adjectives that would be ideal for this small format speaker. When you walk in, the first thing that strikes you is the weight, but also the sense of solidity; we’re not on a lightweight plastic device covered by a small metal grid; the plastic inside is dense, everything is fixed firmly and closely, and it’s very heavy. The speaker’s underside has grips to keep it from sliding and to reduce bass vibrations.

In terms of sound, these components are already reporting positive news. In any case, the impression of a high-end finish is palpable. Would I like to have speakers like this in my home? Yes, that is right. Both myself and Madame.

Audio quality and connectivity

I believe this is the point at which we are most interested; after all, why buy Sonos with voice control when the Amazon Echo Plus is available? Isn’t it for the sake of sound?

The SONOS ONE loudspeaker has two amplifiers, each rated at about 2x20W, which means there is a stereo amplifier for each tweeter and a mid-woofer. The filter that assigns the frequencies of bass or treble to one speaker rather than another is “intelligent” in its handling of the cross-over. This assumes that the cross-over is adjusted and the replication by each of the amps is perfectly done for each TruePlay configuration, for example. This is a true scientific achievement!

The SONOS sound signature

The first thing I found was that SONOS doesn’t have a particularly distinctive sound signature, in contrast to Bose, which sounds very “windy.” And this is a really positive thing!

The TruePlay setting

It’s also common for a Sonos speaker to sound very neutral (we’re not on a Hi-Fi system, after all! ), because the software has a feature called TruePlay that allows you to use your iPhone’s microphone to test the acoustics of your room and then adjust the equalizer based on the results, giving you a sound that’s tailored to you. Yes, I said iPhone, not Android; sadly, the TruePlay feature is only available on the Apple platform.

Personally, I would like to retain the TruePlay settings. TruePlay gave me more of the audio range in the tweeter, which reclaimed almost 100% of the singers’ voices in my scenario, a 12-13m2 toilet. Most singers are output to the two speakers without TruePlay. After just, it’s all about personal preference.

The TruePlay setting’s strength is that it is conveniently customizable, allowing it to be compared in real time. It is a basic “ON/OFF” style button that can be pressed when listening to music to alter the setting. There’s nothing quite about comparing sound quality.

The speaker comes with a complete bass setting by nature, but then a bass slice, which is too much, and it’s a shame! Fortunately, the app has a Bass and Treble (treble) equalizer as well as a “Loudness” mode that allows you to tweak the sound a bit.

What is the Loudness setting on Sonos for?

In reality, the human ear has been engineered and programmed since the dawn of time to hear much better in medium sounds, with men hearing medium and medium-bass sounds better, and women hearing medium sounds better to spot wild and predatory creatures. and medium-treble, which corresponds to baby cries. This means that when all potential musical notes are played at the same decibel level, they would not all sound the same.

To compensate for this, many devices and applications have a loudness setting that boosts the bass and treble to compensate for the effect. This produces a V or U form on an equalizer.

My configuration on my Sonos One Gen 2

I went with -3 for the bass and -1 for the treble, as well as turning off Loudness and on TruePlay to marginally flatten the pitch, which just drives the bass and treble too far and totally ignores the midrange. If you listen to a Sonos One speaker out of the box and like heavy rock like AC / DC or Metallica, you would be disappointed because the guitars are set back behind the bass slice.

My configuration allows me more presence on the medium, but I realize that hard rock from the 1980s is not the Sonos One speaker’s preferred genre, even though the outcome is still very good. Nonetheless, she has done a fantastic job with contemporary music.

Sonos One speaker audio definition

I will show the measurements due to a shortage of well-suited equipment for the recording. My impression is very close to what we can deduce from these two curves. I’ve done some experiments with less sophisticated instruments, and the findings are generally consistent.

Frequency response

We discover what has made speakers effective over the past decade, a sweet curve in the form of a grin, or a ‘V’ or ‘U’. There are two bumps, one in the bass and one in the treble. TruePlay’s sound is, of course, influenced by your listening environment and the microphone on your iPhone or iPad.

I’m not sure if the outcome will be different for a microphone attached to an iDevice, but most internet forums believe that TruePlay would suppress any bass in most situations, demonstrating that the enclosure has too much bass at the box’s outlet.

A good presence across the entire audio spectrum

Overall, I believe the loudspeaker imposes itself; so compact and yet sounding so big, the Sonos One delivers as much strength and bass in its small closed trunk as a small kit box twice its size. and that with a good medium and very simple treble. Listening in mono is enjoyable, but stereo is much superior, as the speaker truly shines.

Distortion

It should come as no surprise that the active speakers that sell well in shops are all the same. It begins with a V-shaped frequency response curve, followed by overloaded bass that is full of distortion, all of which is beautifully masked by medium and treble that is distortion-free.

Why such bass distortion?

Tell me what you think! Simply because the distortion of bass sounds is less unpleasant than that of medium or treble sounds, not only because it is much less perceptible to the ear, which is less accurate in these ranges, but also because these frequencies are ” bass “and therefore the speaker vibrates less, resulting in less” distorted “vibration. Devialet speakers, by the way, have the same curves and distortion.

Why is there so much bass?

The 3′′ mid-woofer has a massive magnet on the back of the speaker that is almost as large as the speaker itself and has a lot of magnetic force. This amplifies the bass created by a speaker, and according to my measurements, a 3′′ mid-woofer will go down to 33Hz. AMAZING, but it clearly exaggerates the distortion in this frequency range; after all, you can’t make an omelet without cracking eggs.

Mind-blowing power

Keep in mind, though, that although the Sonos One active speaker has incredible strength, I hardly use more than half of it. Using linked outlets, I measured a consumption of around 40W at maximum capacity, but around 4W at all times while using voice control. As a result, we can estimate that the amplification is 2x 15W. On this kind of enclosure, this is fine and necessary.

Caution regarding listening at full power

I caution any audiophiles who read this that, like 99 percent of speakers on the market, the Sonos One produces too much distortion for my taste above 80% of maximum volume. I set the limiter to this degree (which means that for me, 100% is now only 80%) because repeated listening with this much distortion will most likely harm the speakers.

FAQ

What makes the Sonos One (gen 2) different from the Sonos One (gen 1)?

processor that is more powerful

More flash memory

Bluetooth Low Energy is also supported.

Features: After the first installation, the Gen 2 will use the Bluetooth LE protocol to connect the speaker with a phone more easily. To date, no other feature distinguishes generation 1 and 2 except for the upgrade, which is expected for the future.

This means that the Sonos 2nd generation is not compliant with Bluetooth audio file playback; this feature was introduced solely for pairing purposes.

Is it possible to pair a Sonos One with a One SL?

Yes, whether in multiroom, stereo, or home theater, and it’s much easier when one of the speakers (the one with voice control) acts as a “mother” speaker, communicating with and controlling the “daughter” speakers. (those who do or don’t have speech control).

If you have two One speakers in the same space, a One SL to help your One will save you thirty euros. If you’re ever tempted by Sonos One in pairs deals, keep in mind that the two will be Ones, not One SLs. But, in usage, you’ll see that one of them will be “mutated,” the “daughter” speaker, and the other will take charge of the voice assistant, the “mother” speaker. But you should go for a One + One SL combo that will do the same thing… also in multiroom!

For the record, one of the reasons why the Sonos Beam soundbar has voice modulation is because of this. To allow voice control to be centralized from one floor of the building.

Can Sonos One be paired with Sonos Play: 1?

Yes, in a multiroom environment. They can be made to work together through Wi-Fi or AirPlay in the Sonos multiroom setting. However, this synchronization is just a single-channel multiplication.

No, not in stereo. Real stereo cannot be played on a One and Play: 1 game due to technological processor limitations.

No, not in a home theater. It is not possible to combine the Sonos One and Listen: 1 speakers to play separate tracks from the same audio source for the same purposes as stereo.

For the last two uses, it’s best to combine the Sonos One with the Sonos One SL.

Is it possible to use Sonos One for both Google Assistant and Alexa?

Unfortunately, no. It would have been nice to be able to choose between the two services, but you must choose one. I’ll keep testing them, but I’m still finding myself using Amazon Alexa more often.

Although Alexa sometimes confuses her name with “with that,” “like that,” or “Alexia” again, the OK Google hook is a little too simple to do unconsciously, particularly for someone like me who works in web marketing. I ultimately chose the latter because it is more competent, customizable, and impartial in terms of ‘private’ life. However, I retain the ability to adjust as the program evolves.

Changing your voice assistant isn’t easy, but it’s also not impossible; simply go to the Sonos app, change the program, re-enter the password for the account you want to use, and it’ll restart with everything memorized, including all of your personal settings (stored in the cloud I think).

Is it better to pair a Sonos One SL with an Amazon Echo Dot / Google Nest Mini or opt for a Sonos One with voice control?

Let me clarify why a Sonos One with voice control is preferable:

Sonos with Amazon Alexa

The Amazon Echo Dot costs 59 dollars fresh, but can be found for about 40 dollars used. It allows you to use Alexa as a speaker, but why not?

The Sonos ability can be added to the Amazon Echo Dot via the app, allowing you to dictate commands like “Alexa, play Nirvana on Spotify.” The most important thing!

However, you won’t be able to use an Alexa command to play Spotify radios, artist radios, or even podcasts (sorry, ThinkerView). To listen to a pre-made playlist, you must first apply it to your own playlists and then state that it is a playlist in your voice command…!

You won’t be able to use your Sonos speakers to respond to various Alexa demands, such as getting the weather forecast, daily news, etc. However, if we search further, it won’t be possible to turn off the music automatically. who likes to play in order to fall asleep… Otherwise, you won’t be able to play music over a local network (via UPnP/DLNA or even Plex). It begins to make a large number of brakes in order to save between $1 and $10.

To summarize, if you want voice control for your Sonos multiroom machine, you can get a Sonos One with voice control at the very least.

Sonos with OK Google

The Google Home Mini (or Nest Mini now) is worth 59 dollars new, but let’s face it, it’s easy to find it for 20-30 dollars used. It, on the other hand, forces you to choose Google Assistant, and again, “why not?”

You should do as Alexa does, which is to identify a speaker or several speakers (such as a room) to play music.

You would not, though, be able to make a phone call using your Sonos speaker. It would therefore be appropriate to determine which room’s enclosure is influenced by a particular action. The lack of precision in direct integration causes the responding speaker to play the user’s message. In the same way that an Alexa speaker will answer when you ask about the weather, the Google Home will do so as well.

There isn’t anything to save if the service isn’t flawless.

Can Sonos One speakers be used as a TV speaker?

The Sonos One doesn’t have HDMI, Optical, Coaxial, or even AUX (3.5mm jack) ports to connect to your TV; however, it has an RJ-45 port and a power cable. But, since it supports AirPlay 2, you can connect it to your Apple TV or some other AirPlay 2 compatible TV. The evidence that picking Sonos is similar to picking Apple, except that it can be both.

Sonos One supports AirPlay 2 for Apple TV connectivity

Since the Sonos One isn’t made for TV, if you have an Apple TV, you can do it for it. You will attach your speaker to your Apple TV running tvOS 11.4 or later using AirPlay 2. All works perfectly after tvOS 13 and iPhones with iOS13, but forget any internet error warnings from previous models.

Should you use Sonos One with your Apple TV?

Let’s just say that if you have a sound system, Sonos One is unquestionably the better option for your Apple TV.

Sonos is a great option if you don’t have a sound system for your TV and are relying on the built-in speakers. However, in this case, I strongly advise purchasing two (well a Sonos One SL and one with voice control). These two speakers work together to produce true left-to-right stereo sound. When you consider that a single HomePod costs $329, the pair of Sonos costs the same.

This is an intriguing option for those who only use the Apple TV in a secondary location, such as a bedroom, and want a sound system you can submit but doesn’t take up much space (even less than a sound bar).

Conclusion

The speaker connects to the best multiroom device I’ve tried. DTS Play-Fi is fine, but it doesn’t work well, has a bad app, and has some hiccups while playing music. In terms of operation, speed, fluidity, and simplicity, the Sonos system is near-perfect. In short, it’s a fantastic system.

I tried to figure out how to get a wired multiroom speaker with better sound for less money, and the result was impossible in mono, challenging in stereo, and never well served in terms of use.

Sound: I can understand some people’s response to Sonos receiving such a high ranking, but I’d want to remind you that it’s a really fine speaker whose primary goal is multiroom.

Design: It’s simple; I have some lovely speakers at home, and these have joined the family; it’s compact and unobtrusive, with a lovely finish. In a nutshell, this is the kind of speaker we’d like to see in any room of the house!

Connections: Luckily, the Wi-Fi link is of excellent quality, there is a wired alternative for securing signal reception over long distances, and we can monitor anything through voice or app. That is the future and there are no wired cables for the sound signal and just a few buttons on the speaker. Sonos is a locked Multi-room device that can only be opened with a Sonos: Connect or Sonos: AMP, in addition to no luck. Is it possible to use Sonos One with a television? You’ll need an Apple TV or an AirPlay 2 TV… That’s a lot of inconsistencies. Fortunately, the environment is still changing, adding new options (5.1 Dolby Digital, S2 evolution in 2020, etc.).

Settings: We’re not going to lie to each other: we have a “automatic” TruePlay configuration that guarantees the future, but only if you have an iPhone (or iPad). We have the Loudness mode, which is very basic and amplifies the V setting, which many people like. Certainly, we have a little equalizer (EQ), but changing the tone isn’t insane. However, the multiroom and pairing settings are nickel.

Total: If you have an Apple TV and iPhones, get a pair of Sonos One and One SL generation 2 speakers; if you’re on Android, consider whether you need a basic multiroom and wired speaker with voice assistants; if you don’t, Sonos One can warn you, but there may be other options to consider.

Personally, I like the idea of using sound in the toilet, as well as the non-obtrusive style. I’m not sure if I’ll buy more sound speakers in the future, but it’s not out of the question.