Sonos has announced an updated Play:1 speaker - called the Sonos One SL - which offers the same design as the Sonos One but without the voice control smarts.

The new Wi-Fi speaker looks identical to the Sonos One apart from a slight rearrangement of controls on the top where there are no microphones on board. This means the Sonos One SL offers no built-in support for Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa, though it can still be controlled via a Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa-comaptible device, like other Sonos speakers.

The Sonos One SL has been created for those that want the design and internal upgrades of the Sonos One, such as Bluetooth Low Energy for easier pairing and AirPlay 2 support, but they don't want microphones. Those that have a Sonos Beam with voice control in their living room and want two Sonos One's as surrounds, for example.

Inside, the Sonos One SL offers an identical sound composition to the second-generation of Sonos One, delivering the same sound experience, and as with the rest of the Sonos portfolio - except the new Sonos Move when in Bluetooth mode - the Sonos One SL is controlled via the Sonos app.

This therefore means it has access to all the features that Sonos offers, including Trueplay tuning, stereo pairing with another Sonos One SL or Sonos One and the ability to group Sonos speakers together for multi-room audio, among plenty of other functions.

The Sonos One SL will cost £179 and it will be available to pre-order from 5 September, and available to buy from 12 September. The older Sonos Play:1 will eventually be phased out, like the first generation model of the Sonos One.

Best Sonos Speaker image 3
Sonos One SL