Table of Content
- Surround sound system
- Happy Holidays and Thank You to all of our Secrets Supporters
- SVS Prime Wireless Pro Powered Speaker Pair
- Choose your partner: Alexa or Google Assistant
- Four things Amazon Echo and Google Home can do that Sonos One can't (yet)
- HIFIMAN EF400 Balanced Headphone Amplifier/DAC Preview
- Now that every speaker has Alexa, don't you want the best? Get the Sonos One
Most smaller ones won't fit, however, so the potential audience for the Playbase is smaller than that of the Sonos Playbar, the company's more conventionally designed sound bar. Sonos is big on pointing out that its speakers connect via Wi-Fi, not Bluetooth, and while Wi-Fi has its distinct advantages, there’s no arguing Bluetooth is a convenience most folks want. Sonos added Bluetooth LE to the One for 2019, but it’s important to understand this is not for playing music — it’s simply for slightly faster setup.
The Playbase comes without a remote, but using the Sonos app you can program your TV clicker to mute and alter the volume of the speaker. Note that it no longer has an onboard calibration mic -- Sonos' Trueplay app removed the need for that. The top of the speaker is reinforced and designed to hold televisions up to 75 pounds .
Surround sound system
Soundbars have been replacing traditional "home theaters in a box" for years now. Their convenience level has always been high enough, and they've now gotten good enough, that sticking them below a TV is simply more attractive for most people than fiddling with a multiple-component set up. Since both soundbar-based home theaters and Sonos systems are designed to be simple to set up and easy to expandable, it really is a match made in geek heaven. Sonos says it designed the Beam to be really good at enhancing dialogue, something that often plagues home theater setups.
That means it gives you access to massive amounts of streamed music. The Beam’s ability to produce convincing bass without the aid of a separate subwoofer grew increasingly impressive. Compared to the PlayBarand the PlayBase, the Sonos Beam holds up remarkably well.
Happy Holidays and Thank You to all of our Secrets Supporters
Another interesting reason to use the Amp is it can handle two speakers per channel, for a total of four speakers driven. Both of those features are more useful to a custom integrator and most homeowners won’t have to drive four speakers or drive a 4-ohm load. For custom integrators, the Amp is a good successor to the Connect Amp and as an integrator myself, I welcome the new Amp to Sonos’s lineup for large whole house audio projects. Setup is easy, like any Sonos product; unbox it, connect all the wires, then open the Sonos app and follow the instructions. The unit is designed to work right out of the box with banana connectors, you just slide them into the slots.
If you have bare wire or spades there are optional binding post adapters. I would have preferred however to just have five-way binding posts and not deal with extra parts. Once the Sonos One has been connected to your network and you’ve named it , the app will prompt you to use Trueplay room-tuning software from Sonos. We strongly suggest you take the 2 minutes or so that this requires to get the speaker sounding its best – it really does make a significant difference. The first Blu-ray up was "Deepwater Horizon," about the offshore oil rig mega-disaster in 2010. The explosive deluge of water, mud and oil had more dynamic impact than we usually experience with sound bar or base systems.
SVS Prime Wireless Pro Powered Speaker Pair
Unlike the newer Sonos Beam, there's no voice control option here. You'll need the Beam if you want Google Assistant, Alexa or Siri. One neat little touch is that tucked away with the other connections is a pair of ethernet sockets, which allow you to connect other components, such as a smart TV, to the internet via the Sonos network. If you do take the plunge you’ll start to consider it money well spent as soon as you take the unit from the box.
About a year after I bought it — and after the warranty expired — it started vomiting bogus high-definition copy protection errors and refusing to play any content from my Apple TV or Blu-Ray player. I spent a few weeks cursing and telling Hollywood where they could go shove their consumer hostility. But it's a shame the set-up can't handle DTS or any of the higher quality soundtracks such as Dolby TrueHD – the latter due to the limitations of the bandwith of the optical connection. The Playbar is capable of going pretty darn deep for a product of its type, too, although it does struggle with the very lowest bass note on the track.
Otherwise, nothing else really competes with the Sonos Beam. The Sonos One should last longer than most smart speakers given expected updates and Sonos’ ability to build upon its flexible platform. As for build quality, the Sonos One is among the best-built powered speakers you can buy today, with the Riva Arena right up there with it. If you think Alexa is smart now, wait until you use it on a Sonos One speaker. By designing the Alexa Sonos skills from the ground up, the company has made getting the music you want on the speaker you want a breeze. For those who own multiple Sonos speakers, getting your favorite tracks playing in the right place is about to become a whole lot more fun.
Plug the Sonos One into a wall outlet, pull the Sonos app up on a smartphone or tablet, and let the app walk you through the process. It will begin by having you create a Sonos account if you don’t already have one. The app's ability to add "favorites" to the first screen is nice but too many common controls, such as adding new streaming services or adjusting the EQ, are hidden behind the "..." button.
Otherwise, setup of the One is pretty streamlined, and adding Alexa to your account is performed automatically. Be aware that it virtually forces you to do a TruePlay setup when you install it, which involves waving your phone around the room for 60 seconds. Also, you may want to check the EQ as by default the Loudness control is set to "On", and I found it sounded better with it off.
While iPhone users can use Trueplay to setup this device, Android and other iPad users are in the dark. We chose to side with these users and leave the speaker uncalibrated, although we did adjust treble and bass according to each room's needs. And 65-inch Vizio D series worked best, straddling the Playbase with ample clearance, while a 55-inch TCL Roku TV and a 50-inch Vizio E-series didn't. If you want this style of speaker and your TV doesn't fit, there is a $150 third-party Playbase stand available.
Thanks to Sonos’ microphone implementation, you can issue these voice commands from just about anywhere within earshot of the speaker. We were also impressed with how music could be blaring at full volume, but the microphones still caught us when we said, “Alexa,” to bring the speaker to attention. With great sound, a compact size and the option of either Google Assistant or Alexa, the Sonos One reaffirms its place as the best smart speaker for the money.
There’s also just a tinge of metallic attack in the upper midrange. I created a simple setup for the test using a pair of Bowers and Wilkins AM-1 outdoor speakers. I honestly couldn’t hear much difference in sound or even volume level.
Other functions that Sonos can't yet perform but Google Assistant can include purchases and interpreter mode. Just like the Sonos Beam, the One doesn't let you choose between the assistants on the fly. In other words, the speaker won't respond to an "Alexa" command first and then a "Hey,Google" command immediately afterward. The wide effect needs breathing room -- unadorned walls, too, if you please.
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