8 reasons you should buy the Sonos One instead of Apple's HomePod

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Apple finally released the HomePod smart speaker this month, but it’s not looking like the device to buy.

Before the HomePod, other smart speakers like Google Home, Amazon’s Echo, and the Sonos One were playing music from Spotify, Google Music, Pandora, Amazon Prime Music, and other streaming services. The HomePod is the first to let you control Apple Music with your voice, but that’s it.

If you don’t use Apple Music, there is no reason to buy a HomePod.

The HomePod does seem to have one thing going for it: I haven’t heard it myself, but the HomePod supposedly has the best sound out of any other smart speaker. But what’s the point of a great-sounding smart speaker if you don’t use the smart part? You might as well just buy a great regular speaker if you use something like Spotify — or, better yet, a smart speaker that can control Spotify with your voice, like, say, the Sonos One.

Here are all the reasons you should consider the Sonos One instead of Apple’s HomePod:

1. The Sonos One sounds amazing.

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I haven’t tried out the HomePod myself, but the consensus is that it sounds very good. Some say it’s even better than the Sonos One’s audio quality.

That’s great, but I can safely say that the Sonos One sounds amazing, too. One of my favorite things about the Sonos One is that music sounds rich and full with deep bass even at low volumes. So even if Apple’s HomePod has superior sound (you’d have to test it yourself to be the judge), you still won’t be disappointed with the quality of the Sonos One.

2. Unlike the HomePod, you can control a bunch of different music streaming services on the Sonos One using your voice.

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Amazon’s Alexa assistant, which is built into the Sonos One, lets me use my voice to play and control music from all sorts of music services, including Amazon Music, Spotify, Pandora, iHeart Radio, SiriusXM, and TuneIn. The Sonos One is even compatible with Apple Music, but that’s without voice control.

The HomePod, on the other hand, doesn’t let you use voice control for any other music service besides Apple Music.

If you want a speaker where you can control any of these services with voice control, the HomePod won’t make sense for you. For example, I wouldn’t be able to ask Siri on the HomePod to play NPR from iHeartRadio, like I usually do with the Sonos One, or ask it to play music from Spotify.

3. The Sonos One works with Amazon’s Alexa, which is more capable than the HomePod’s Siri.

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Alexa on the Sonos One doesn’t quite have all the features you’d find on Amazon’s own Echo devices. It’s much the same with Siri on the HomePod, which isn’t the “full-fat” Siri from iOS or macOS devices.

Still, even on the Sonos One, Alexa is far more flexible and capable than Siri on the HomePod. Both Alexa and Siri can do the basics, but you have access to several thousands of Alexa skills that range from humorous to productive.

Plus, Alexa’s smart-home control is far more comprehensive and has far more compatibility with smart devices than Siri and Apple’s HomeKit.

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