Thanks to gadgets like the Amazon Echo and Google Home, smart speakers have quickly become one of the hottest consumer tech gadgets around. It's been great fun seeing this new product category come to life, and in addition to new brands emerging to jump aboard this train, other companies have been learning to adapt and change their ways to beat Amazon and Google at their own game.
One such company is Sonos.
Although Sonos has been around since 2002, the company's recently been given a whole new light thanks to the rise of smart speakers. Gadgets like the Sonos One and Sonos Beam are speakers featuring Alexa, but when compared to competing devices, the high price tags that accompany Sonos's gear often deters people and leads them to look at cheaper, more affordable options.
That's perfectly fine, but if you've got the cash to spare, there are a few big reasons you should seriously consider picking up a Sonos speaker for your house — or two or three. Maybe even 10.
Here's why you need to get into the Sonos ecosystem right now.
The sound quality is amazing
The Amazon Echo ($99) and Google Home ($129) might be considerably cheaper than the $199 Sonos One, but if you're familiar with the phrase "you get what you pay for," it applies perfectly to this scenario.
While sound quality on the Echo and Home is fine, it absolutely pales in comparison to the One.
The Sonos One doesn't sound like a smart speaker — instead, it sounds like a really, really good speaker that just happens to have built-in voice controls. There's noticeably more punch and clarity with the One that you just don't get with more affordable options.
There's a big lineup of different speakers
There's no doubt the Sonos One is one of the best-sounding smart speakers available right now, but if you find yourself needing more volume, bass, or anything else, it's far from the only product in Sonos' lineup.
If you want a more powerful home speaker and are OK with giving up the Alexa smarts, the Play:5 delivers room-filling audio that puts the Google Home Max and Apple HomePod to shame.
Want to upgrade your TV's built-in speakers? Sonos now has three different soundbars to choose from — the Playbar, Playbase, and recently released Beam. If you really want to go crazy, you can even splurge for the $699 Sonos Sub that'll shatter your house's foundation, but it'll totally be worth it.
Sonos Beam review: Raising the sound bar
Hell, you can even buy the new Sonos Amp amplifier if you want to upgrade any exisitng speakers you have.
Everything works and is easy to manage
All of those products serve a big purpose on their own, but what really ties all of this together is how each and every Sonos products works beautifully with one another.
No matter how many Sonos devices you have, everything is controlled via the Sonos app. You can see what rooms have speakers in them, browse through songs/podcasts from any services you've connected (e.g. Spotify, Pocket Casts, etc.), search for a particular song, add a subwoofer or surround sound speakers to your soundbar, and plenty more.
It'd be easy for all of these controls to be messy and convoluted, but for the most part, Sonos lays everything out in a manner that makes sense and is easy to understand. I don't know if I'd call it the greatest app ever made, but it's ten times better than the mess that is the Google Home app.
Everyone is welcome 🤗
The Sonos One and Beam both support Alexa. Earlier this year, the One, Beam, Playbase, and second-gen Play:5 got updated with AirPlay 2 and support for Siri commands. At some point before 2018 is over, Sonos will finally bring over the Google Assistant.
Rather than limiting yourself to one specific ecosystem, Sonos products are designed so that you can choose which platform(s) you want to use. Want to use Alexa to control your smart lights while also using AirPlay to stream your favorite music? You can do that with Sonos.
Giving users so much choice and not locking them down into one camp is pretty rare in 2018, so it's awfully reassuring to know that an option like this still exists.
What do you think?
That's enough rambling from me — what do you think about all this? Do you have Sonos products in your home or are your audio/smart speaker needs served elsewhere? Let me know in the comments below!
