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
Sonos Voice Control: All commands
Sonos Voice Control currently understands these and other voice commands.
Music
Play music
“Play some music”
“Play something”
Change music
“Change the music”
“Play something different”
Similar music
“Play a station by this artist.”
“Play a playlist by this artist.”
Song, Artist or Album
“Play the song Borderline”
“Play Tame Impala”
“Play the album The Slow Rush”
Play Sonos Playlist
“Play my Favorite Tracks playlist.”
Play Genre
“Play some jazz”
“Play something relaxing”
“Play 80s music”
Start radiostation
“Play Hit Radio FFH”
“Play Radio Hamburg”
Streaming
“Play David Bowie on Apple Music”
Music in rooms or groups
“Play some jazz in the kitchen”
“Play Tame Impala downstairs”
Control
Music start / stop
“Pause”
“Stop the music”
“Resume”
Skip music
“Fast forward”
“Go back a bit”
“Skip ahead one minute thirty seconds”
“Go back twenty seconds”
Next / Previous track
“Next track”
“Play the previous track”
“Go back”
Restart track
“Restart this song”
“Play this song from the beginning”
Set volume
“Volume up”
“Turn it down”
“Set volume to 50%”
Mute
“Mute”
“Set volume to zero”
Play mode
“Turn shuffle on”
“Repeat this album”
Rooms
Group devices or rooms
“Group the kitchen and living room”
“Remove this room from the group”
“Play here too”
Move music
“Move the music from the living room to the kitchen”
“Move the music upstairs”
“Stop the music in the office and play it in the backyard”
Playlists
Like tracks
“Like this track”
“I don’t like this track”
Save tracks
“Add this track to my library”
“Save this album”
“Remove this song from my collection”
Add tracks to Playlist
“Add this song to my morning playlist”
Home theater
TV on / off
“Turn the TV on”
“Turn off the TV in the living room”
Sound settings
“Turn on Night Sound”
“Turn Speech Enhancement off”
TV-Audio
“Switch to TV mode”
“Go back to TV audio”
Informations
Song information
“What song is this?”
“What’s playing?”
Portable speakers
“What’s the battery level?”
“How much battery is left on Roam?”
Time
“What time is it?”
Timer
Set Timer
“Set a timer for 15 minutes”
“Add two minutes to the timer”
“Cancel the timer”
Set Sleeptimer
“Set a sleep timer for 30 minutes”
“Turn off the music after an hour”
“Add 10 minutes to my sleep timer”
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 Grudzinski has been working as a sound and lighting technician since the 90s, was a DJ for electronic music, has a large collection of vintage speakers, and has been working for various radio stations in Germany for 20 years. At home, he enjoys high-quality home theater products such as soundbars and projectors and has installed an extensive Sonos system in his own home.