On July 18, 2018 at 19:15, g007 said...
To all
My concern for Sonos would be the reliability of the device, does it do what they say. Does Alexa function as we expect it to, or is iffy or worse halfway, which is noway! How about the network aspect of Sonos devices! They are suppose to be the best at this particular niche as it relates to whole house audio! Does the reality bear this out!
I do not own one but I decided to checkout the Sonos site and read the reviews.
Well... out of approximately 3200 reviews of the Sonos voice controlled speaker about 200 said the device would not work. Alexa could not understand the voice commands or failed to respond at all. Worse the units could not stay connected! The reviews seem to say, not ready for prime time. 200 bad reviews does not bode well, 6.25% is way to many, .1% would be more acceptable. These two problems seem to be present with the Play speakers and the Sonos 1.
Anybody have direct experience?
OK 200/3200 is 6.25%, but that where the sensible part of your post ends.
Upon what basis could you possibly conclude that the frequency of *anything meaningful* regarding SONOS is 6.25%? Do you think that 3200 is representative sample of anything? It is not. What proportion of SONOS users who do not have any problems are likely to bother logging in and posting that they have not had any problems? And how does that proportion compare to that for users who DO experience a problem.
I note that you later post "It is the 6.5% of products that do not "work fine" that's the issue!"
WRONG! That 6.5%, what ever it actually is, is NOT a statistic saying that 6.5% of products do not "work fine". You have to apply some common sense here and realize how these reviews come to be recorded. They are not valid statistical samples of anything.
And so, pray tell, how do you come up with the magic 0.1% as an acceptable proportion? Take a look at Amazon reviews for *any* quality device. If they have enough real responses (ie not just a handfull), you will see that they all have 1 star ratings at rates that far exceed your 0.1% threshold. So either *all* consumer electronics have unacceptable user experience rates or your idea of meaningful metrics if *far* off the mark.
So are user reviews meaningless? No, they do provide some suggestion of general failure modes and, in extreme cases, some measure of reliability (like if there are more negative than positive reviews). But your simplistic interpretation is simply WRONG.
FWIW, both Alexa in general and SONOS support for Alexa services are in their infancy, even in the context of high tech electronics. In my experience with SONOS (end user not installer), I never cease to be amazed by how well the periodic firmware and app updates are handled. Like never had a single problem in ~10 years of ownership. Which is not to say I'm always pleased by the constant changes in interface. The issues I have encountered have related to microwave oven interference and marginal wireless mesh in some areas. This will likely be completely eliminated when I add some hardwired ethernet connections to some far-flung units so that wireless connections are more robust across the non-wired units.
