Render of alleged new high-end Sonos speaker.
Sonos has been delivering spectacular wi-fi speakers for years. Long gone are the days when you mentioned Sonos and the reply would come, “Oh, you mean they’re like Bose?”, which happened to me when a particularly curious cab driver quizzed me on the way to a product launch.
No, everybody knows who Sonos is now, and its speakers are widely adored. So, a new leak that suggests the company is working a new speaker that is high-end and highly desirable.
According to The Verge, Sonos is working on something called Optimo 2 (working title, obviously), which “marks a substantial evolution in design compared to Sonos’ existing products, such as the Sonos One, Five, Arc, Beam, and Roam.”
The details make it sound like it’s a replacement for the highest-end speaker in the range, the Sonos Five. (Though, honestly, Sonos, can we have something to succeed the Play:3, please? Surely that’s the speaker that could most do with an upgrade?)
The design is completely new, described as a “funky, dual-angled shell” and will be positioned as “the best-sounding speaker that Sonos has ever produced”. It’s anticipated it will be about the same size as the Sonos Five but unlike that speaker will have Bluetooth as well as wi-fi on board.
It’s reported that it will be powerful in terms of much more RAM and flash memory than current models, suggesting advanced features and microphones that support Sonos’ own Voice Control. The microphones will also support automatic TruePlay, the brilliant Sonos tuning system that radically improves the audio, optimizing it for the ambient sound of the room you’re in.
The code name of Optimo 2 is curious but apparently could still lead to Optimo 1 and Optimo 1 SL following later. I mean, who can understand these things?
Here’s the thing about Sonos: it’s a sensationally good company. It’s made some missteps but along the way has genuinely transformed the audio market, offering the simplest, most intuitive operating system and making painless streaming a reality long before rivals.
If the Optimo 2 is even a quarter as good as Sonos hopes, it could be sensational.