School me on SONOS and other home streaming systems

I'm not knocking Sonos (I've never used it) but as someone who already has a couple of stereo systems and pairs of powered speakers and not a whole lot of disposable cash, I've been getting excellent results with Chromecast Audios (on sale through February for $15 each) and the free version of Plex.

I have a Sonos Connect plugged into a big system in the living room, and a Play:1 in the kitchen. I had some issues with the stereo amp earlier this year so I moved the Play:1 into the front room temporarily and it was amazing how much worse it sounded, it just didn't fill the room unless you turned it up really loud. The Play:1 is fine in a small room though but it's never going to be better than a proper system.

I mean it has much better definition and bass than any similarly-sized speaker I'd usually put in the kitchen, so definitely worth it for that alone. Plus being able to have the same music playing as you move from room to room is beyond classic obviously.

sonos is great for adding sound to small rooms that wouldn't otherwise have it. you can make it work for your main listening/watching room but
1. you'll want to pair a sub with either two play:5s or the bar/base/etc. you'll need to use the line-ins on the play:5s for video. bar/base/etc have optical connects to your TV.
2. I don't recommend using a connect:amp for matching video/audio as I think you'll get the sort of trouble fgti mentioned. I'd use a connect to add streaming music capability to a separate amped stereo.

if you do #1, you might be spending a bit more than you thought. if you do #2, you'll be switching sources separately on an amp and your phone/tablet, which will make your overall experience a bit worse.

I'm sorry but I don't follow at all, doing #1 is imo throwing money out the window unless you are allergic to non-Sonos speakers

amp works fine with video ime and certainly the line in on a play 5 is no better than on the amp? in fact you'd be less susceptible to sync issues when you don't have to sync 2 play5s but only 1 amp powering 2 passive speakers with 0ms delay

reason I recommend the Sonos Amp + passive speakers (any quality brand) is it's the cheapest, simplest, best sounding solution (unless you want to get fancy with a better quality amp and the Sonos Connect, but that's not really relevant here)

also, just to chip in here despite my setup is not relevant.
the desktop/mac app has recently been updated with a clean new interface, but, now has reduced functionality.
you can no longer add new speakers via the desktop app, you have to add any new devices via an IOS/Android device.
there has been a big kickback in the Sonos community, but so far there are no indications that they will reverse this decision.

xxp my friend has latency issues with his connect:amp. it could be the tv, though.

doing #1 is not throwing money out the window. it is spending money to get 1.no speaker wires (without putting them in walls) 2. no external amp, and 3. a single interface to all sound sources in your home.

I can understand not wanting to spend money on those things or situations where they'd matter less. speaker wires matter less if you have a media console sort of setup. they matter more if you have a television mounted to the wall.

fair enough

they will need power cables though, and an audio cable from the tv

but I'm a bit old fashioned, I know

when you guys are saying "amp" you mean the connect:amp and not the new product just called amp, right?

kind of interested in getting the new one as a replacement for my current receiver to minimize/modernize but I'm curious how it is

oh wow hadn't seen that one looks practical and more powerful too, cool

https://www.sonos.com/en-us/shop/amp.html

I guess it was the oldest product in their lineup

I am kind of considering replacing my normal receiver with that, since I now run all my video stuff to the TV and then to the receiver. I have two floor standing speakers and a subwoofer, so I'm thinking I could buy that new sonos amp, plug my existing speakers in, and then add two sonos speakers in the back of the room and do 4.1?

I can no longer control my Sonos from my iPhone!! An update took that functionality away! WTF???

due to old OS that can't be updated? There are independent controllers like sonophone that might work.

welcome to the joys of SONOS.
those of us who use the Windows desktop controller have had to accept a huge degradation in functionality.

iPhone control working fine for me with the latest update -- have you tried rebooting your phone and/or speakers?

Has anyone tried out either of the new Ikea Sonos speakers? I was surprised to see that they support AirPlay.

the bookshelf one is good and is nearly identical, functionality and sound-wise, to the play:1

I haven’t used the kit to make it into a shelf yet, but it seems well thought-out

my iphone works if I'm streaming spotify, but now I can't play mp3s that are saved on my iphone. apparently i need airplay ... but none of my sonos speakers are compatible with that? seems lame.

but now I can't play mp3s that are saved on my iphone

there was discussion re this on the sonos boards. its not your phone at all, it is a designed reduction in functionality.

so i'm just out of luck?

seems like it's more a (common) case of "we're not going to update the software on our older devices to work with changes Apple made, so just buy one of our new devices".

blecch

YOU RANG?

need you to help stream my neil young bootleg mp3s through my sonos speakers

my iphone works if I'm streaming spotify, but now I can't play mp3s that are saved on my iphone. apparently i need airplay ... but none of my sonos speakers are compatible with that? seems lame.

― tylerw, Thursday, August 22, 2019 3:04 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

^^^ THIS!!!! This is exactly what’s happening with me!! This makes me so mad I really really really dislike everyone involved.

And to think ome of you people were trying to sell me on this ecosystem not so long ago.

For my own files on Sonos I signed up for the the free tier of Google Play Music which allows you to upload up to 50,000 songs. When Google introduced Youtube Music they said that Google Play Music would eventually be eliminated, and I don't know what happens to my cloud library then. If it disappears I supposed I'll stream directly from my computer, or maybe look into a NAS. At the moment Google Play is working beautifully though.

Aside from that I guess the next cheapest option for you would be that $100 Ikea Sonos speaker that supports AirPlay. I know with the standard Sonos speakers, as long as one of them supports AirPlay you can use that one to send audio to your non-AirPlay Sonos speakers; I assume the Ikea one lets you do that too but don't know for sure.

I never stream from my phone so I hadn't noticed that that option was eliminated.

Lol tyler

Use the BubbleUPNP app to stream media from your device to Sonos.

UPDATE! I downloaded the Sonos application on my PC. Then I was able to sync that with my iTunes library. And now the Sonos mobile app on my iPhone syncs with the app on my PC. I can control playing from the Sonos app on my iPhone, but now I need to re-import any new songs or playlists from iTunes to the Sonos Controller app. Which is A LOT more work, but at least I can use my Sonos speakers again.

well, that was an unexpected treat this morning.
the new Sonos update allows you to connect to a Spotify Free account.
limited access to the library, but still, quite chuffed about this.

here's hoping the spotify app starts to consistently "see" the sonos speakers in the device list

Mine always sees it but doesn't always choose it, if you switch tracks it often starts playing on the phone instead, or as well as. Sonos app is fine unless you have lots of playlists organised in folders, since folders don't come through. Or there's google voice support which is like speaking to a halfwit.

Sonos app is fine unless you have lots of playlists organised in folders, since folders don't come through.

i have over 4000 m3u files, and can access them as per their folder structure.

eg \\nas_drive\genre\artist\album, \\nas_drive\record_label\artist\album etc etc

i needed to do this to break down my digital archive into 2 parts to avoid to dreaded 65K limit, the standard library for Sonos to index, and then the M3U library which mirrors a different non-indexed directory according to my own digital filing system.

I use the M3U4U app to generate the M3U library off a non-indexed directory, and configure the Sonos app to index the standard library, and the M3U library.

You then add the M3U library folder to your 'Favourites', and boom, you can drill down the folder structure to get to what you need.
This way I have nearly 50,000 tracks not indexed by Sonos, by accessible via the M3U library.

The M34U app :

http://www.anderware.org/software.php?page=dev/M3U4U.htm

once you get it all configured and working its really easy, you just have to remember your digital filing rules for the non-indexed directort as Sonos does not provide searching on M3U files !

oh i meant spotify playlist folders! for better or worse i do all my listening & playlisting through there now.

ah ha ... fair enough.

xps Same issues here selecting Chromecast Audio via Spotify Connect. Eventually works, usually? Blurrg

Sometimes the Google Home app is helpful for selecting/controlling/rebooting Chromecasts ... if I can't get a Chromecast to connect to Spotify I'll resort to Home.

sonos is a pain in the ass. either it doesn't start at all or the databases of the external sources do not connect or the music (radio and/or streaming service) does not play. right now it is the latter. this has been going on for ages. these days i prefer bluetooth speakers, they work at least!

I've never had this problem but nine times out of ten if something goes wrong it's either a wifi interference issue or the streaming service itself going down.

"Hey Google, shuffle Cool Songs playlist"

"Ok, playing the Cool Songs playlist on Spotify"

*plays the playlist in order*

"Hey Google, shuffle"

"Sorry, that mode isn't available"

rassenfrassenrassen

these assistants have been around for a couple of years now, with the world’s best AI researchers doing them, and they really don’t feel like they’ve improved at all. They’re still incapable of the most basic shit. much less something like responding to a question like “what kind of music is this” or “how do i get to the bus from here”

just asked siri where the closest bus stop was and it got it

part of the problem is word choice, especially if it’s something built into an app and not something it’s cloud searching. like, does “kind of music” mean genre, and does it know that?

you can often get to things on the third or fourth try but it’s not good enough and hasn’t noticeably improved in this respect on any device i use.

“siri, read me my next meeting”

“here’s your next meeting” (displays the meeting on the screen)

Sonos states on their website that "sustainability is non-negotiable," and that they design products to minimize impact, but I work at an e-waste recycler and have demonstrable proof this is false.

Sonos's "recycle mode" intentionally bricks good devices so they can't be reused. pic.twitter.com/VJDNhYOxRy

— ralph waldo cybersyn (@atomicthumbs) December 27, 2019

well, that's crap.

and it gets better :

https://blog.sonos.com/en-gb/end-of-software-updates-for-legacy-products/

they really are pissing off a lot of their customer base with this.

i suspect i will be ok(ish), as i use my Connect mostly to push my NAS based digital archive into my amp, but if i had flipped over 100% to streaming only, then this really would be a poke in the eye.