As you might have guessed from the name, the long-rumoured Sonos One is the replacement for the hugely-successful Play:1, and becomes the new entry-level speaker in the Sonos range.
It looks very similar to the existing Play:1, too, sporting the same squat, R2-D2-like shape but replacing the grey wraparound grille with an all-black or all-white finish across the whole body.
On top, the three buttons of the Play:1 have been replaced by touch panels and a tiny circle of tiny, bright lights that indicate when Alexa is working. There’s also a dedicated touch button for muting the microphone to give you privacy from Alexa’s prying ears.
Sonos says the One is powered by a pair of Class-D amplifiers and features custom-built drivers, although we don’t yet know if these mean the new speaker has a different sonic signature to the outgoing Play:1.
The new Sonos speaker is wall-mountable (we’re presuming Play:1 mounts will still be compatible but are waiting on confirmation) and moisture-resistant, should you fancy putting one in your bathroom.
It’s not battery-powered, though, so the Sonos range is still without a genuinely portable speaker.
Sonos has built a custom six-microphone array with noise cancellation and something called “smart voice capture” for the One, which it says enables the speaker to hear you from right across the room, even if your music’s blaring.
If you’ve already got a Sonos system, adding the One will allow you to control music in all of your rooms using your voice, but only from the room that the One is in. You’ll essentially be sending music from the One to your other Sonos players.
If you do still want to go down the Sonos One route, you'll be able to pre-order from the Sonos website very shortly, with deliveries starting on 24th October. The price is £199/$199 - the same as the outgoing Play:1.
