I have to say , this thread has gotten me very interested in Studio One ...
Some of the features of Studio One seem very user friendly
 
Kenny

Update is awesome. The latency compensation is amazing. I can even work on basic things using windows audio. The xt channel strip plugin got a major facelift as well.

Finally being able to track when a project is already in progress without all the hurdles of freezing, bouncing, adjusting buffers, etc. to get latency down. Can also easily monitor the CPU hit on all plugins and bypass them accordingly (but that has been there).

Even with the long weekend I only spent enough time in this update for the "Wow" to hit, then bought Notion 6 to play with.

As much as I dislike Apple, the iPad is turning into the ideal mobile creativity platform, so I may succumb to purchasing one in the near future.

I'm glad i am loving studio one. I missed the deadline on upgrading SPLAT. Still love Sonar and may reconsider one day, but honestly, Studio one is fitting better for me at the moment worlflow wise. I find the kids i work with seem to catch on to it quicker as well.

FYI, the CA2A from Cakewalk is superior to the LA2A clone in studio one. Nice compressor but attack is way too fast.

I like what I'm reading about the new version. I noticed both Sonar and Studio One going back and forth. One comes out with something, the other counters with something just as nice. I  seen they also adopted Vocal Align. It's almost as if they are taking ques from the same or similar sources.
 
Sonar adopted touch screen and SO followed right behind them. In a few more years I doubt there will be much difference at all between the two. Sonar has the Engineering plug ins...mastering chains. Some have argued SO is the best for mastering. That gap is  closing. SO lacks many of the things Sonar can do still.
 
I wouldn't have Studio One as my main recording software since most of what it does Sonar also does. It makes a nice secondary program for me. I haven't upgraded yet to the most recent version. I haven't had a need to do that. 
 
 

I suppose they are keeping an eye on each other.  But I see them as two DAW's that are going in somewhat different directions.  It is important to keep right up to date with latest versions. V3.5 being a prime example.  Comparing the latest version of one DAW to an old version of another is an unbalanced view.  Studio One has some excellent features.  Once you use it a lot you quickly learn it is also a deep and powerful program.  One is not miles ahead than the other at all. 
 
The new low latency monitoring is excellent plus dropout protection and revisited CPU core distribution is also powerful.  Separating the input and output buffers is an excellent feature.  We are just getting used to all these extra audio settings now.  On the Mac you can run two different interfaces now for input and output from your DAW.  (At  different buffer sizes too) The mastering page has been upgraded plus the new channel strip is excellent too.  61 new features and 40 things fixed in this latest update.  Mixer undo now too. We can select 16 sample buffer sizes now and if you have a powerful interface that is thunderbolt driven you can use it with ease.  My Focusrite rips in this mode.
 
It is a great DAW and you can complete very polished and produced productions like you can in many other DAW's.   It just comes down to which is the best DAW for you. 

If Presonus does a good sale at some point I might consider upgrading my v2.6 Professional.  Elimination of that middle tier with the release of v3 sort of turned me off, but this 3.5 upgrade does have some nice additions. 
 

I've been messing around with the S O Prime version of this new release for a few days now ...
I find it comforting that I can just learn my way around the program a little and I don't even miss the VST's at this point ...
Now I sort of know why a lot of people jumped ship .
I'm seriously considering picking this up as a cross-grade when I have the bucks . or even better I'm hoping they do a deep sale at some point like they did around Black Friday ...
 
Whoa this is a real nice  DAW ...
 
Kenny

Funny thing is I wasn't planning on jumping ship and really don't consider it that way, although missing upgrade deadline likely factors now. I honestly prefer mixing in sonar. I do find getting things to just work easier on studio one. Controllers have been damn near effortless where as i struggled getting transports and controllers to work right with Sonar.