Sonos takes the fight to Apple's HomePod with Alexa-speaker savings
Two for the price of one. That’s definitely the message from Sonos… and it’s clear what the ‘one’ is.
In the week that Apple has announced that pre-orders are open for the Siri-packing HomePod (shipping beginning 9 February), Sonos has gone live with a Sonos Two bundle – two Sonos Ones for $349 in the US… ‘coincidentally’ the exact same price the Apple HomePod retails at.
Need to know: Apple HomePod guide
The deal doesn’t exactly correlate in the UK, where it’s £349 for a duo of Sonos Ones and the HomePod price is £319. However, the savings are still there. A Sonos One usually costs £199, so it’s a pretty good deal no whatever what side of the pond you’re on.
Missing manual: The essential Sonos guide
Two Sonos Ones allows for multi-room or stereo playback – something that Apple’s smart speaker won’t be able to offer until later in the year after a software update. And, don’t forget, the Sonos One – which currently packs Alexa – is also slated to bring both Google Assistant and Siri on board later this year; the latter using an iOS device and the soon-to-arrive Apple AirPlay 2.
The Sonos One isn’t a perfect smart speaker though. In our comprehensive Sonos One review we praised the sound quality:
It sounds truly fantastic. Clear at every frequency, wonderfully balanced. Punchy bass that doesn’t dominate and so, so loud. It’s an amazing speaker for something so small.
But lamented the fact that Alexa isn’t as streamlined as on native Echo devices:
Alexa’s deafness compared to true Echo speakers means that people will simply be served better by adding a cheap Echo Dot and using the perfectly adequate Sonos skill for a better voice assistant experience.
Still, £349 for two – it’s a steal. Grab yours from direct from Sonos now – the deal is touted as “limited time only”
