The Sonos One and Sonos One SL follow closely in Play:1's footsteps, offering a very similar design but with a few refinements. They too have rounded edges, tapered bottoms and grills surrounding them, but the top panels are flat with a capacitive control pad rather than indented with physical buttons. There have been no changes to the features or functionality of the Sonos One SL, though the new model will only work with the S2 Sonos app.] Price and availability The Sonos One SL is a justified update on the Play:1, a definitive, malleable companion to the Sonos One, and a musical, punchy, pleasing piece of kit when used completely alone. When we first heard the One we suspected it was a slight sonic upgrade on the Play:1 but, having listened to both in our testing rooms, the two speakers sound pretty much identical.

Sonos One SL: The Ultimate Wireless Bookshelf Speaker | Sonos

The quality of the microphones makes the One less likely to mishear your requests and instructions – we find it makes fewer mistakes than our third-generation Echo Dot. Correctly hearing the request is only half the battle, though, and Alexa is still capable of misunderstanding. What Hi-Fi?, founded in 1976, is the world's leading independent guide to buying and owning hi-fi and home entertainment products. Our comprehensive tests help you buy the very best for your money, with our advice sections giving you step-by-step information on how to get even more from your music and movies. Everything is tested by our dedicated team of in-house reviewers in our custom-built test rooms in London, Reading and Bath. Our coveted five-star rating and Awards are recognised all over the world as the ultimate seal of approval, so you can buy with absolute confidence. We’d suggest the One is particularly good as a kitchen speaker. We have loud music playing from the One in the kitchen and can still get Alexa’s attention from the adjoining room with only a slightly raised voice. Pair two PLAY:1 units for amazing stereo sound, or use two PLAY:1s as rear speakers with PLAYBAR and a Sonos SUB™ to create 5.1 home theater sound for your TV.

Exploring the SL’s low end further, we set up Dave’s rap-heavy Question Time. Vocals are upfront and central, set apart from the low bass tones, which are both perceptible and musically cohesive in relation to the high hat. Bass-wise, it’s every bit as energetic, punchy and detailed a performance as you’d get from its voice-controlled sibling. On the inside is a midrange woofer and a tweeter, and while you'll only be getting the mono experience with one can, it's enough to easily fill a room with crisp sound. That’s not to say that instruments are left out – they emerge in an impressively stereo-like way from either side of the singer. It’s rather sophisticated and natural in that regard. PLAY:1 is a smart speaker that features hardware and software designed by Sonos to ensure the best possible performance for the size. A custom-designed mid-woofer and tweeter deliver deep, rich and surprisingly big sound. With a powerful low-end and crisp mids and highs, new smart processing technology pushes Sonos’ drivers further than ever before, minimizing distortion even at full volume. Plus, PLAY:1 projects a wide field of sound, delivering a great listening experience no matter where you are sitting in the room. And since the Sonos wireless network is devoted to streaming music in HiFi sound, you’ll enjoy smooth music wirelessly without dropouts anywhere in your home.

Sonos Play:1 review | What Hi-Fi?

There is one big reason not to buy any Sonos products when looking for a Google smart speaker: it does not support Google Cast. Therefore you can not create a speaker group with other Google Cast based products. PLAY:1 comes with all the unique benefits that can only be found in a Sonos Wireless HiFi System including Sonos PLAY:3™, Sonos PLAY:5™, Sonos PLAYBAR™ and more: Despite the obvious draw for Star Wars fans, the Trueplay feature is worth doing; when the performance is complete and our One SL notifies us with a pleasing musical power chord, the sound has been optimised to our room. As with our Sonos One, we also recommend keeping the Loudness feature on to maximise the breadth and depth that such a speaker can offer. Of course, the Sonos One SL is designed for both Sonos system integration and solo use – you don’t have to pair it with another. So for the purposes of this review, we tested it alone, in its own right. Control your system from any room. Start the music, adjust the volume, and group or ungroup speakers.Treble is crisp and clear, but treads a fine line between excitement and harshness. You’ll occasionally notice the odd sharp edge or hint of sibilance, but it’s not enough to be bothersome. More often, it’s simply clear and sparkly. On top of that Sonos has released the Boost, which is like a turbo-powered Bridge delivering, as Sonos says, “enterprise-grade wireless capabilities”. Most homes will be fine with Wi-Fi or a Bridge, but for difficult environments, the Boost ensures that Sonos will work everywhere. PLAY:1 lets you stream all the music on earth and access it all using a single, easy to use app. Play millions of songs and playlists from the most popular music services like Pandora, Spotify, Hype Machine and Rdio; listen to your personal music library, whether it’s stored on your computer, in the cloud, on your smartphone or on your tablet; or tune in to more than 100,000 free Internet radio stations, podcasts, and shows from around the world.