Sonos is launching the most minor of minor updates. The company is launching a revision to its flagship speaker, the Sonos One. Sonos is calling this new speaker the Sonos One Gen 2, and it is nearly identical to the existing Sonos One.
When it comes to sound and design, the second generation looks just like the first one. You’ll have to tear down the speaker to spot the differences.
Sonos is upgrading the internals of the device with a more powerful processor and increased memory. It should perform slightly better, especially with big files on slow networks. But if you’re mostly using Sonos with a streaming service on a good Wi-Fi network, you likely won’t notice the difference.
Interestingly, Sonos is also adding Bluetooth Low Energy to the device. The company doesn’t plan to use Bluetooth Low Energy to stream music. But it should make the pairing process with your Wi-Fi network much easier. After that, Sonos speakers rely on your Wi-Fi network just like before.
It sounds like Sonos wanted to quietly warn geeks that there will be different versions of the Sonos One starting tomorrow. The Sonos One Gen 2 will cost $199 and some retailers will keep selling the first generation for $179 (a $20 discount).
Sonos plans to support both generations of the Sonos One with software updates.