Sonos has announced the launch of its new voice assistant, named Sonos 27voice, in an early preview phase starting from the sixth of this November. The availability of the new assistant comes as part of a software update being rolled out gradually, and it is considered one of the most prominent new features and design modifications that the company planned to include within its core operating system, named Sonos 27.
When the company unveiled the Sonos 27 system last September, it explained that its new voice assistant is dedicated to coordinating and playing music and adjusting the general atmosphere, with a primary focus on supporting the platform for third-party artificial intelligence assistants such as ChatGPT and specialized agents. Similar to the company's previous voice control feature, the new version enables the ability to control media playback across various Sonos devices, alongside basic voice assistant functions such as setting timers, interacting with supported smart home accessories, and checking the current weather status.
What changes practically with the new voice assistant?
The fundamental difference in Sonos 27voice, based on the company's support page, lies in its ability to understand responses and requests in natural language and answer questions related to a much broader range of general information. The system suggests the possibility of requesting the playback of music albums by describing their content or inquiring about recent sports results to get an instantly updated answer. The assistant can also play music based on the mood or musical genre for a specific speaker or a certain part of the house based on a direct voice request.
For the purpose of testing this feature, users must submit a request to obtain early access within the Sonos app and await approval. The company is conducting this experiment with a smaller segment of users prior to the full commercial launch planned for 2027, with the aim of gathering feedback and avoiding the negative reactions resulting from the app redesign that the company undertook in 2024.
Additional features and core system updates
Alongside the voice assistant, the company is rolling out two other features for users not interested in voice assistants, which are the Presets feature and the System Health feature. Presets allow saving groups of additions and music playback to launch them instantly with a single click from Sonos devices. As for the System Health feature, it is available for the iOS version of the app and displays quick information about the connection status for each speaker individually and the Wi-Fi network connected to it.
It is worth noting that the Sonos 27voice assistant is available exclusively within the United States during the early access phase and in English only, and access to the Sonos 27 software is limited to devices operating on the company's S2 platform.