SONOS ONE £199

SOUND Song for whoever

It doesn’t matter what you stick on the One – it’ll end up sounding great. Before Apple’s Homepod came along it stood head and shoulders above the rest for audio finesse. Now it’s no longer a clear No1, but still reigns supreme among similarly-priced fare. Sticking it next to the standard Echo is akin to bringing an Apache chopper to a jousting contest. Whether it’s blasting out the Muppets’ theme song or St Vincent’s latest and greatest, the One does a superb job of balancing your tunes. And it now works with Spotify too.

DESIGN Black tie white noise

An even more minimalist take on the Play:1’s rounded cuboid build, the One is available in shades of white or black. There are no buttons on top, but you do get touch controls for music playback and turning off the speaker’s microphone.

Where’s your head at?

The One is a speaker first and a smart assistant second, so it can miss your commands when you’ve already got music on. And though Alexa generally works fine, it might also have the odd scatterbrained moment during setup.

APP Get app, stand app

We suspect that Alexa’s occasionally dozy nature on the One is partly down to just how many balls Sonos’s multiroom tech is juggling. But when you buy one of this brand’s speakers, it’s supported for the long run and all that software is tied together in one easy-to-use app. From setting up your speakers to streaming music the old-fashioned way, this app is your one-stop shop… even if, since the One arrived, we’ve found ourselves skipping over it in favour of Alexa’s more convenient voice controls.