The best Sonos smart speakers in my home has made it a great place to listen to music. They’re a great mix of affordability and ease of use, which makes it easy for me to play my favorite music throughout my living room. With the Sonos system, I can listen to music in more than one room at the same time, making a lovely sound environment.
Even though Apple’s HomePod, Audio Pro, and Bluesound are becoming more of a threat, I still think Sonos is one of the best options for wireless streaming. The sound quality is great, and it works with a lot of different streaming services. Plus, the voice control features make managing my music even easier. It was also easy to set up a Sonos system, which makes it more appealing to me for personal use.
For starters, dozens of popular music streaming services are supported, including Spotify and Apple Music, and many devices offer built-in voice control via Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa. Sonos is one of the oldest multi-room audio systems on the market, and also one of the most successful. As the way we consume digital music has changed from playing MP3s to streaming services and beyond, the audio system has adapted and evolved as well.
Sonos began with the ability to play iTunes playlists on existing speakers and has evolved into a system that supports streaming music services on a range of Computer Speakers, amplifiers, soundbars and subwoofers. Control of the system began with a desktop app and the CR100 handheld controller, and then expanded to include mobile apps and voice assistants. Sonos now offers a range of speakers with the ability to use Google Assistant, Alexa or Sonos Voice (One, Beam and Arc).
Best Sonos Smart Speakers
Sonos Move Smart Speaker
Get brilliant sound anywhere with the new Sonos Move, the rugged, battery-powered smart speaker for outdoor and indoor use. Setup takes just minutes, and it’s easily controlled via the Sonos app, Bluetooth, AirPlay 2, and your voice. Stream over Wi-Fi and connect the Move to the rest of your Sonos system at home. Switch to Bluetooth when you’re on the go and offline.
Amazon Alexa is built right in, so you can play music, check messages, set alarms, have questions answered, and more over Wi-Fi all without using your hands. Experience surprisingly deep bass, a wide sound spectrum, and automatic Trueplay tuning that perfectly matches the sound to the location and music you’re listening to. Enjoy up to 11 hours of continuous playtime and deep, powerful sound. Easily charge Move via the included base or compatible USB-C charger.
All-New Sonos One Smart Speaker
Although you can completely disable Alexa and Google Assistant, it is often worth listening to them, especially since they are more deeply integrated here than in many rivals. Alexa is particularly well implemented because you can talk to the One just like you would with Amazon’s own Echo. So instead of saying, “Alexa, play Bowie on Sonos,” you just say, “Alexa, play Bowie,” and one of his classics will ring out from the One. That may sound like a small detail, but in terms of regular interaction, it’s a big difference.
If you want to play music in other rooms via voice control, you specify where (e.g., “Alexa, play Bowie in the living room”), and the One sends music to the Sonos devices you’ve assigned to that “zone” – including non-Alexa-enabled Sonos speakers like the PlayBar or Play:5. “Alexa, play Bowie anywhere” puts all your Sonos speakers into synchronized Ziggy Stardust mode.
Sonos Play:1 Smart Speaker
The Play:1’s sound is just as heavy and solid as we remember it, with plenty of power and punch for a small speaker. It’s hearty enough to get bogged down in meaty drums, yet disciplined enough to keep complex rhythms on a tight leash. Vocals soar over the top with stark clarity and dynamic expression the Play:1 throws them in the spotlight and there are acres of space and size in presentation for them to fill.
There is no lack of control on either side of the midrange, its bass tight and punchy, the highs detailed and refined. It’s an open, clean, and balanced listening experience, and one that makes Bloc Party as happy as Joni Mitchell. He’s only too happy to show that rhythmic fidelity isn’t neglected, his agile, athletic stance keeping pace with the lively keyboard cadence in Manfred Mann’s Earth Bands cover of Blinded by the Light, the cymbal pounding galloping along, precise and punctual.
Sonos One SL
The Sonos One SL is the mic-free variant of the Sonos One Gen 2. While it doesn’t support voice assistants, it retains the Gen 2’s audio-centric features like Trueplay tuning, which better adjusts the speaker’s audio output. adapt to the room in which it is located. It also has bass and treble controls so you can customize the sound, and you can even add it as a satellite speaker to your existing Sonos-compatible soundbar setup.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t get very loud and there are compression artifacts at maximum volume. It also doesn’t support Bluetooth. It also has a metal grille covering the front and sides, giving it a premium feel. It’s advertised to withstand high humidity environments like a bathroom with a running shower.
Sonos One (Gen 2)
The Sonos One Gen 2 is a small wired speaker that can be used alone or added as a surround speaker to your existing Sonos smart speaker setup. It offers great built-in support for Alexa and Google Assistant, as well as an Ethernet port if you want to connect it to your home network. With the Trueplay room correction feature enabled, it has a slightly boomy sound profile, although it struggles to reproduce a muffled low-end.
However, its balanced midrange ensures that vocals and lead instruments sound clear and present in the mix. The companion Sonos S2 app also offers bass and treble adjustments to tweak the sound profile to your liking. Unfortunately, Trueplay is currently only available with iOS devices, which may disappoint some users.
Final Words
The good thing about Sonos speakers is that they are flexible and you can make your home hi-fi system as big or as small as you want. The Sonos soundbars are more than capable of amplifying the sound from your TV, and a Sonos Roam Bluetooth speaker can easily serve as the main speaker for your home.
