Sonos One 'Gen 2' smartspeaker has upgraded internals, same exterior design [u]

My main concern with Sonos isn’t quality it’s data slurping...

I can only repeat what I posted in a reply to another article: besides the well known issues with Siri and in my test with 2 HomePods desastrous stereo mode (one of them when switching during a test between B&W Zeppelin, Sonos Play:5, and HomePods constantly losing connection), it would take me a lot of convincing to test the HomePod again. Apple has just lost its edge in some areas, quality is just not as it is supposed to be. And I am saying this as one who uses Apple a LOT both professionally and privately. It seems that the engineers for both hard- and software are just not testing in real life scenarios and in competative situations. E.g. run a test yourself and compare the B&W Zeppelin (less than 2 HomePods pricewise) with a 2 HomePod setup. I listen to music carefully, but am not one of these high end gurus. But it is obvious, at least in my view, that the HonePod seems to try to compensate mid-range frequency issues with a strong bass. But though the B&W Zeppelin is also very strong in the bass range, which is naturally a personal preference if you like it or not, it is overall more homogeneous across all frequencies.

I probably would have considered to keep the HomePods given its integration with the Apple ecosystem, but all the other quality issues have made the choice easy for me. But test yourself, I just might have had bad luck...

mylovino said:

I can only repeat what I posted in a reply to another article: besides the well known issues with Siri and in my test with 2 HomePods desastrous stereo mode (one of them when switching during a test between B&W Zeppelin, Sonos Play:5, and HomePods constantly losing connection), it would take me a lot of convincing to test the HomePod again. Apple has just lost its edge in some areas, quality is just not as it is supposed to be. And I am saying this as one who uses Apple a LOT both professionally and privately. It seems that the engineers for both hard- and software are just not testing in real life scenarios and in competative situations. E.g. run a test yourself and compare the B&W Zeppelin (less than 2 HomePods pricewise) with a 2 HomePod setup. I listen to music carefully, but am not one of these high end gurus. But it is obvious, at least in my view, that the HonePod seems to try to compensate mid-range frequency issues with a strong bass. But though the B&W Zeppelin is also very strong in the bass range, which is naturally a personal preference if you like it or not, it is overall more homogeneous across all frequencies.

I probably would have considered to keep the HomePods given its integration with the Apple ecosystem, but all the other quality issues have made the choice easy for me. But test yourself, I just might have had bad luck...

I think you just had bad luck. I have two HomePods and have gone through two HomePod defective returns. They would lose connection to wifi and then I wouldn't be able to get them to connect again event after a reset. Fortunately, the two replacements I now have are performing great. No issue stereo pairing or anything. They sound awesome. I also have two Sonos Ones. They are great too but on occasion, I will have some audio dropouts. They sound great but I would rank HomePod just a bit better.

I wonder how long till the gen 2 HomePod?

Only complaint with Sonos One is that AirPlay2 audio from a source like AppleTV cuts out constantly to the point of useless. 

Probably the updated hardware fixes that issue. Maybe they should be recalled.