The newer speakers from Sonos not only have voice assistants such as Amazon Alexa and the Google assistant – but also Sonos’ own integrated voice control. The words “Hey Sonos” can be used to initiate various commands.
Unlike Alexa, Google and the like, the data is not transmitted to the Internet but only analyzed locally in the speakers.
Unfortunately, the Sonos voice service is currently only available in English and French – but this is likely to change soon.
Why Sonos voice control?
My first reaction: Why do I need another voice assistant? There’s already Siri, Google and Alexa. Especially as I hardly use these three providers anyway.
Siri works too badly for me, setting up my Homekit and Apple devices with Alexa is too time-consuming and I’ve never tried Google. Why should Sonos change that?
Good question. Especially as the Sonos assistant really only relates to music and can ‘t control other devices such as lamps or coffee machines.
To be honest, this is also my most frequent use case: turn up the music, turn down the music, next track, stop the music. That’s it.
Sonos does not send data to the Internet
In contrast to Alexa and Google, Sonos offers a decisive advantage: your voice is not first sent through the entire Internet, evaluated there and then sent back to the speaker.
Sonos processes the data completely locally and therefore not online. So if you’re generally afraid of “eavesdropping” or don’t want to send your voice commands around the world, you’re sure to like it.
Sonos Voice Control in the test
How does the Sonos voice control system compare to old friends like Alexa and Google? In an initial test, I was pleasantly surprised.
Even though the commands still have to be given in English at the moment, my Sonos Roam or Sonos One responded very quickly to the voice. Significantly faster than Amazon’s Alexa. This also makes sense if data doesn’t have to be processed online first.
Incidentally, Sonos Voice Control can be used in parallel with Alexa – but not in parallel with Google’s voice assistant.
In addition, very few music services can currently be used with Sonos voice control. I mainly use Spotify and listen to radio stations via TuneIn – neither of which is supported yet.
Supported music services
- Sonos Radio
- Apple Music
- Amazon Music
- Deezer
- Pandora
Voice from Breaking Bad
Unlike other voice assistants, Sonos is currently only equipped with a male voice.
If the new Sonos voice sounds familiar, it is that of actor Giancarlo Esposito, who appears as Gustavo “Gus” Fring in the Netflix series Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul.
So anyone who has seen the series in English will certainly remember the drug dealer. Whether that’s good or bad is up to you.
Lars reviews products that he personally uses: tech gadgets, bicycles and accessories, smart home devices, and fun products for the kitchen and bathroom.
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