Sonos

At a media event this morning in San Francisco, Sonos unveiled a new smart sound bar they call the Sonos Beam. The speaker will be available on July 17th at a price of $399, with pre-orders beginning today.

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After first discussing AirPlay 2 last fall, Sonos has officially confirmed this morning that support for Apple’s streaming audio protocol will arrive via a free software update in July.

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Sonos has invited media to a special event held in San Francisco on June 6 where it will likely unveil a new smart sound bar. The invitation received by 9to5Mac shows a table full of various entertainment system remotes with ‘You’re better than this’ as the tagline.

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The Sonos One speaker has faced increased competition in the smart speaker stakes from Apple’s HomePod, perhaps part of the reason the company is planning limited edition models later in the year.

The company is promising red, yellow and green versions for launch in September …

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Following Spotify’s recent IPO , another Apple competitor is said to be planning a public offering. In a report this evening, Variety highlights a growing number of job listings seemingly indicating that speaker company Sonos is planning an IPO…

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Sonos announced today via its blog that it will be supporting the Amazon-based audiobook service Audible on its platform.

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Sonos has expanded the availability of its Sonos One smart speaker with Amazon Alexa integration to now include Canada. The move comes shortly after Apple launched its HomePod smart speaker in three countries excluding Canada.

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Yesterday it was discovered that HomePod can leave white rings on oiled wood finishes during normal use — something that is not obvious nor ideal. Apple responded by saying that it’s not unusual for ‘vibration-dampening silicone’ to react that way and recommended customers use HomePod on different surfaces. Now a new test has backed up that claim from Apple and highlighted another smart speaker that has a similar behavior…

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The relationship between Apple and Sonos is complicated to say the least. Apple Stores sell Sonos speakers and Sonos supports Apple Music streaming, but the two companies are competing head on in the smart speaker space with the Alexa-equipped Sonos One and the Siri-powered HomePod.

With HomePod hitting stores today, Sonos has welcomed Apple’s new competitor with a clever and snarky playlist that you just have to see.

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Over the years, Sonos has become somewhat of a household name in the whole home audio market. Competition, however, has dramatically increased recently with new products from Amazon, Google, and now Apple. But if you ask Sonos CEO Patrick Spence, he sees the opportunity of competing with the tech heavyweights as a reward…

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Sonos is kicking off a new Sonos One bundle tomorrow that matches the HomePod price but includes two speakers. The promotion is timed with the launch of HomePod which goes on sale tomorrow and ships two weeks later.

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Pricey workarounds and complex utilities for making AirPlay work with Sonos have existed for a while, but neither solution has been as simple as just clicking a button. Now there’s a new Mac app that does exactly that and for less than $10.

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Sonos has officially launched support for controlling Spotify music playback using Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant with the wireless speaker system. The partnership between the three companies brings voice control to the largest music streaming service on hi-fi wireless speakers ahead of Apple’s delayed HomePod smart speaker launch.

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Pandora and Sonos today joined together to announce that you can now control your Sonos speakers directly through the Pandora app on iOS. The feature is available to all Pandora users, including those on the free tier and Pandora Premium.

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Sonos One, the latest Sonos wireless speaker, matches the hi-fi audio of its predecessor, the Play:1, while adding a six far-field microphone array for built-in voice control using Amazon Alexa. All for the same $199 price.

Using a wireless speaker with a built-in voice assistant and high quality audio can be very natural and fun. Just say what you want to hear and Sonos One serves it up. What’s less simple is navigating through which music services work and with what method. There’s also the upcoming arrival of Apple’s HomePod which similarly promises to match hi-fi audio with an intelligent voice assistant.

So while Sonos One is a very impressive piece of technology on its own, there are a few things to consider first.

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In addition to promising AirPlay 2 support next year, Sonos has unveiled its latest wireless speaker: the Sonos One. The new model replaces the Sonos Play:1 in the lineup at the $199 level with models available in both white and now black. Sonos One is the company’s first wireless speaker with built-in voice control.

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Sonos officially announced plans to work with Apple’s new AirPlay 2 wireless music playback feature with Sonos wireless speakers. Apple unveiled AirPlay 2 back at WWDC in June as an iOS 11 feature that will work with the HomePod, new Beats speakers, and third-party products.

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Amazon today has announced a new feature that allows users to play, synchronize, and control music playback across multiple Echo devices with support for voice commands. The news comes ahead of Apple’s HomePod launch in December and Sonos likely unveiling a new smart speaker in October. Amazon has also announced new tools for developers.

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Update: The Verge reports that Sonos has now sent out invitations to a media event on October 4. The graphic shows a mouth, suggesting that it is for a voice-focused speaker.

When Apple previewed HomePod back in June, it positioned the $350 smart speaker as a cross between a Sonos wireless speaker and the Amazon Echo: hi-fi wireless music playback with a smart assistant built-in. Amazon has already been rumored to be working on a smart speaker with better audio quality, and now Sonos appears to be planning to make its hi-fi speakers smarter.

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