92 T3 MARCH 2020Te s te d
Sonos One SL£159
sonos.comWE’RE IMPRESSED Detailed,
crisp and accurate sound; really
easy to set up; great service
support; AirPlay 2.
WE’D IMPROVE Bass is a little
thin for audiophiles; we wish it
had Auto Trueplay; no Bluetooth.
THE LAST WORD It might not
be quite ‘budget’ territory, but
this is the best bang-for-buck
for Wi-Fi speakers. If you want
a small Wi-Fi speaker, the Sonos
One SL is unbeatable right now.VERDICT
Discover more top multi-room
Wi-Fi speakers: bit.ly/t3multihe pitch here is very, very simple:
this is a Sonos One, but without any
of the tech that powers Alexa or
Google Assistant. Which means that
while a regular Sonos One is £199, this comes in
at £159 (or often a little cheaper online). That
makes it pretty much the cheapest multi-room
Wi-Fi speaker actually worth buying, but
crucially, it doesn’t sound or feel cheap.
One area Sonos has almost totally nailed is
the setup – it’s so easy to follow the instructions
in the app and get it on your network (and to
add more than one). Why “almost” nailed?
Because the one slightly annoying bit is tuning
the sound for its exact placement in the room.
To do this, you have to wave an iOS device – no
Android support – around the room while loud
annoying tones erupt from the speaker. The
Sonos Move does this automatically, but then it
does cost more than twice as much as this.
Once it’s on the network, it’s easy to assign it
to a specific room, or even to pair with a Sonos
One (or another SL). It also works in a Sonos
wireless surround-sound setup.The cheapest-ever Sonos
speaker is a slam-dunk for
starting a multi-room
system, even with no Alexa
Sonos
One SL
ONE LOVE
You can play music either through the Sonos
app, which works with music stored on your
device, internet radio and a smorgasbord of
streaming services. The app is one of the best
of its kind, making it pretty easy to access
anything you need – though some services’
interfaces work better than others.
Apple users get an extra bonus from full
AirPlay 2 support, which means you can play
any sounds you like to it, ignoring the app. This
also works as a multi-room system, which you
can mix and match with other brands’ speakers.
The one streaming option that’s missing is
Bluetooth, which has long been a Sonos trait. It’s
a shame not to have the flexibility, so make sure
you’re happy with the services Sonos offers.
Most importantly, it sounds excellent. Treble
is precise and natural, the mid-range has plenty
of richness without instruments feeling like
they overwhelm each other, and there’s a good
amount of bass. The low end is the one area
where it’s maybe a little lacking, but that’s only
compared to much more expensive speakers.
For anyone who already has Alexa or Google
Assistant, or doesn’t want them due to privacy
concerns, getting a speaker that’s sonically
identical to the T3 Award-winning Sonos One
for less is a no-brainer. This is easily the best
small Wi-Fi speaker.T