Sound quality: The Sonos One SL has very good overall sound quality; matching the Sonos One Smart Speaker. Bass has good impact and definition, but does not go deep. Midrange is even, but is a bit grainy and has a slightly hard edge. Treble is extended, but a bit dry and lean. Does a so-so job of recovering room ambience, and a bit of fine detail and complexity is lacking. Provides a decent volume level in a small to medium sized room. Even though it's a mono speaker it gives the impression of having decent width and height, but not much sense of depth. Stereo pair: Decent room ambience recovery gets a bit more of the program material fine detail and complexity, and sounds more open and sound quality is slightly better but remains very good.
Ease of use: Overall ease of use of the Sonos One SL is very good. Wireless setup: Setup requires an app downloaded to a device or device connection, easy and intuitive - need instructions (may be included in app), may or may not involve inputting Wi-Fi network password and account setups. Console controls: Volume controls are prominent but ambiguously labeled making it unclear as to their function. Lacks graphical position marking or index of level. Audio mute: Unlabeled - but Play/Pause control is well placed - with non persistent indication when it is engaged. Source selections: Requires app to be installed, app installation is straight forward. Once app is installed switching between sources is fairly intuitive. App remote: Volume controls are prominent and have graphical position marking but lacks specific index markings. Mute: (Remote) Well marked, well placed, clear indication when it is engaged.
