Are Echo sales cutting into Sonos sales?

[macromark]

The Echo seems to be disrupting things over at Sonos: Interesting article: http://www.twice.com/news/audio/sono...treaming/60713

[MrMxyzptlk]

That's funny. I own Sonos products and Echo, they aren't even remotely similar. My Sonos home theater blows the Echo out of the water for sound quality, loudness, distortion etc.

The Echo on the other hand has excellent voice recognition.

I don't see how the Echo sales would affect Sonos at all unless people are cheaping it out by going with a low end less expensive speaker (Echo) vs a $1000+ high end audio system. I always thought Sonos catered to the high end.

[macromark]

..they aren't even remotely similar...

Well, they may be in different leagues in terms of current capabilities and sound quality but they both offer wireless content streaming. I'd say they're similar in that respect. The Echo is more of a general purpose device (with voice control) and that's appealing to a LOT of people right now.

[Rupp]

Well, they may be in different leagues in terms of current capabilities and sound quality but they both offer wireless content streaming. I'd say they're similar in that respect. The Echo is more of a general purpose device (with voice control) and that's appealing to a LOT of people right now.

I love my Sonos but if they want to play in the "lower end" and much more popular price point they will have a lot of work to do the catch up with Amazon. I'm not sure we are comparing apples to apples though. As was previously stated my Sonos products are are in a different quality category than the Echos are.

[Daweeze]

It's definitely an interesting take on the two devices. I am more interested in the Echo for Voice Control specifically and then with the Echo Dot, maybe some (limited) Audio use to feed the whole-house audio system. That said, the big question I have is, what is Amazon going to do to address multiple Echo products in the home to ensure only one answers when we say, "Alexa"? Also how to make sure any unit in another room that hears the request doesn't respond with Audio unnecessarily in another room potentially bothering another user. I suspect Amazon would have to compare the input Audio and then realize the voice analysis is the same matched request but one has a higher mic signal so the other could ignore the request. I really do hope Amazon develops with the concept that there's an Echo product in each room from here on out. I know I will have 5 of them. I am considering 7 to finish the interior off and even 1 Echo Tap to have as a remote unit.

-Travis

[MrMxyzptlk]

I agree. I have one Echo and Sonos setup in each room, and I only use the Echo for VR.
If the Dot would have been out earlier, I would have wound up buying only Dot's and Sonos instead of Echo's and Sonos for each room.

[TomTom]

Well, they may be in different leagues in terms of current capabilities and sound quality but they both offer wireless content streaming. I'd say they're similar in that respect. The Echo is more of a general purpose device (with voice control) and that's appealing to a LOT of people right now.

You're right Mark. Lots of younger folks 25-35 yr old seem to be opting for the echo. Most likely these folks aren't Sonos customers. Those that are above this age group are also opting for the echo due "inexpensive" price point to get into streaming music and VR. The echo music streaming and VR for streaming music is appealing to many. I know a few who bought the echo then seeing it can be used for automation have started looking into buying automation hubs.

During Christmas some older family members, 70's, who saw my echo and heard the echo "sound quality" ( as they stayed) immediately went out and bought a couple of echos. These folks have a very high end whole house audio in every room with 12 separate zones, but the easy of uses and quick set up of the echo made them put one in the kitchen and bedroom.


Sent from my iPhone

[waynehead99]

I don't have sonos but have considered it except I have my russound setup. Now if sonos offered VR, which I suspect is coming, they would be in the same league with each other and I think sonos would start edging out echo. VR is getting better each year, so it's not a far stretch to think more things will offer it. IoT is pushing that for sure.

[Rotech]

I don't have sonos but have considered it except I have my russound setup. Now if sonos offered VR, which I suspect is coming, they would be in the same league with each other and I think sonos would start edging out echo. VR is getting better each year, so it's not a far stretch to think more things will offer it. IoT is pushing that for sure.

I foresee a union between echo and sonos in form of a api. I hope they consider it....

[rhardcore]

I'm not sure about everyone else, but I use a combination of Echo and Sonos. As an engineer, I pick the right tool for the right use:

Echo:
1. VR is fantastic, but can't received TTS messages from HS.
2. Multi-unit setup is a bit funny. I have two Echos right now, with 4 more Dots coming. I went from yelling so it can hear me, to talking normally so they don't both hear me. If I talk too loudly, one generally hears me correctly and other will give some error message.
a. Echos not being able to be told where they are in the house is pretty lame. Of course, HS VR isn't any better. It would only take a minor tweak to HS from what I understand.
3. Blue Tooth from phone is possible out of the box.

Sonos:
1. Far superior sound quality. I use a Connect for the high-end living room set up and Sonos 1's around the house and garage.
2. Linking zones together is possible (and a breeze).
a. live streaming web radio from TuneIn to two Echos has enough...echo...to drive me nuts.
3. Using a Sonos Connect, you can leverage the line input to add Blue Tooth connectivity from smart devices.

I use the Echo in the kitchen to listen to internet talk radio stations while I do dishes and give the house commands. I use the Sonos Connect in the living room to rock out. I use all the Sonos's through out the house and garage to receive status updates and alerts.

What is missing is the functionality of HS in these two. With the HS speaker, I can send and receive speech from HS in a back and forth conversation. Neither Sonos or Alexa allows me to do this. I can only tell the house to do things and get preset alerts, but I can't ask for status of items. That is a bummer. HS has the capability of being room aware (as so many complain about Echo), but the HS team just needs to take it across the finish line and add that in to the events. It is a real shame it isn't there. I have tablets throughout. If they were set to always listening (like on a Windows tablet), they could be used to have this natural conversation while still providing the useful graphical readouts.

[sharrisct25]

I agree

rhardcore I have both also and agree.

The Echo is cool but really for me it is a good but inexpensive wireless array mic. The Echo dot if anything could potentially get closer to a Sonos replacement but the Echo still lacks some solid streaming services and advanced capabilities like room management.

On the table idea I have been trying for that for a long time. I am close right now using a google app named assistant.ai. I have created a custom plug in for it that sends actions to HS3 via url strings to a asp page. That allows me to use natural language to toggle devices and run events. Also I can use the built in assistant functions to get weather, news etc. The big problem here is that the integration is one way so I can not send speach back to the initial table easily. It sort of works when I run both HSTouch and the assistant at the same time but I find it to be unstable. The assistant intelligence is great cause it will ask me for the room if it does not detect one in my command etc. Also I have added other features to do things like identify people so I can say things like send a message to my wife that our eldest son has practice at 6 and it will map that to send a message to Ofelia that Xavier has practice at 6 so the HS script gets the variables it can handle.