When you're looking for better sound from your flat panel television, sound bars offer a seductive solution: subtle, sexy, self-contained speakers that promise to bring out the best in your favorite movies and TV shows. But for most soundbars, the promise of "surround sound" is an empty one.

SONOS platform is ideal for music lovers; Discrete 5.1 surround from compatible sources; Elegant looks; Wireless operation; A model of simplicity

Expensive; Single optical input; No DTS decoding; Limited by TVs in getting discrete 5.1 sound

The Subwoofer lives up to the Sonos Family Standard Sonos is a well-established Californian company with the goals of achieving hi-fi sound via wireless music systems. It is known for producing high quality devices reputed to have replaced their competitors from many homes. Given the laws of [...]

Powerful bass production; No hassle of wiring and connecting with other devices; Good glossy design.

Only compatible with Sonos products.

Late last month, Sonos , the maker of the Sonos Wireless HiFi System, announced it latest addition to its set of wireless speakers, the Sonos Sub . Unlike the Sonos Play:3 or Play:5, which were pretty complete wireless speakers, the Sono Sub is a 16 kg heavy dedicated subwoofer which is designed to...

Sonos is a brand that markets primarily on convenience, and their products do exactly what they advertise, which is to produce very reasonable sound quality with an extremely easy wireless setup.

Wireless speaker company Sonos recently debuted voice support in two forms: pairing its speakers with an Amazon Alexa-enabled device like an Echo or Dot, and with Sonos’s first voice-enabled speaker, the Sonos One .

Great sound; super easy-to-use; stellar price point; voice control.

Apple Music can’t be started with voice control; no Siri support.

I’m an avid Alexa user. I use Alexa to control my lights, my Dyson, and even my air conditioner. I even miss her when I’m staying at a hotel. But until now I’ve been using the Amazon Echo Dots and Echo Taps to boss her around.

Sonos speakers are known for their sound quality and ease of use. Will the addition of a smart assistant change that?

Sonos’s speaker gives you a great balance of sound and smarts, while working with a raft of connected home kit

Audio sounds great; Lovely design; Easy to use setup and app

A little hard of hearing compared to the Echo

Looks good and sounds even better

Alexa integration needs work

If you care about music and have kitted out your home with at least a smattering of smart kit, then the Sonos One should be teetering close to the top of your smart speaker wishlist right now. Most of its early inconsistencies have been ironed out by some software updates and, even if it can sometimes be a little hard of hearing compared to Amazon's Echo, it's a superb wireless speaker. Given the One is a carbon copy of the already brilliant Play:1 with a fresh paint job and the same internal driver configuration, that’s no surprise at all. Alongside the HomePod, Sonos’s Alexa-powered speaker remains a class apart from the competition – and won’t force you to commit to Apple’s ecosystem ’til death do you part. Now that’s a romance we can totally get behind.

Audio sounds great; Lovely design; Easy to use setup and app;

A little hard of hearing compared to the Echo;