Sonos Intros One Smart Speaker

Sonos confirms rumours of its making a smart speaker with the One-- the first product from the company with native voice assistant support, initially via Amazon Alexa.

Sonos OneThe One is essentially a refresh of the Play:1 for the smart speaker era. It features a cuboid design with rounded edges in either black or white, and acts as either a standalone speaker or paired with other Sonos audio products as part of a multi-speaker setup. Setup and management come through Sonos mobile app, and the speaker handles a number of streaming services, including including Amazon Music, Pandora, IHeartRadio, TuneIn and SiriusXm.

Allowing for voice control is a 6-microphone array and an adaptive voice suppression algorithm promising to focus on the person speaking. A light lets one know whenever the microphone array is on. On the audio side it carries the same internals as the Play:1, namely a pair of class-D digital amplifiers, mid-woofer and tweeter.

Customers will not be limited to the Amazon assistant-- an eventual update will enable Google Assistant and AirPlay 2 support. Sonos says it is also open to work with voice-controlled assistants. Other speakers from the company should also get Alexa support via firmware update, enabling voice control through an existing Alexa-enabled device and Sonos skill.

The One ships from 24 October 2017.

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