Sonos One Gen 2 review: Design

Sonos One Gen 2 review: Design

Not surprisingly, the Sonos One Gen 2 looks almost identical to the Sonos Play:1 speaker on which it’s based. The speaker is wrapped in a metal grille; the Sonos logo is subtly displayed on the top inch of the front.

On top are touch controls to play and pause tracks, change the volume and mute and unmute the microphone. I only wish the Volume Up button was a Plus sign and the Volume Down was a Minus; they’re both four dots.

A small LED by the microphone button lights up when you say “Alexa”; unlike the Echo and Echo Dot, which have bright-blue indicator lights, it’s hard to see the Sonos One’s light from across a room. However, there is an audio cue when Alexa has heard you.

I liked that if I used the Sonos app to play music, I could ask Alexa what was playing, and move forward and back through tracks.

At 6.4 x 4.7 x 4.7 inches, the Sonos One is about the size of a large can of coffee. Its weight of 4.1 pounds makes it feel substantial for its size. On the back of the speaker is a port for its power cord, and an Ethernet port just above.

Other than that, the Sonos one has no inputs, so unless you have them connected to a Sonos Connect ($349), you can’t use them to output audio from your TV.

One very important thing to note for those with stained wood furniture: Similar to the Apple HomePod, the Sonos One can leave damaging white marks on certain wood furniture. If you purchase this speaker, be sure to place something underneath it.

https://www.tomsguide.com/