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MikeConnelly
Enthusiast II
January 9, 2018

Advanced Sonos Wireless Network Configuration Using Sonos BOOST

I wrote a how-to on my blog that describes in detail the performance differences between:

* using your existing WiFi network (“Standard” mode),
* using SonosNet 2.0 (“Boost” mode) with an Ethernet-connected Sonos speaker,
* using SonosNet 2.0 (“Boost” mode) with an dedicated BOOST device, and
* adding a second and then a third dedicated BOOST device

Initially, I had only two Sonos One smart speakers, each in different rooms. I used Standard mode, connecting them to my Wireless AC WiFi home network. As I added more Sonos speakers, I encountered occasional audio drop outs, particularly noticeable with paired speakers and particularly with lossless audio. Now, I have purchased three Sonos BOOST hardware devices to feed over a dozen Sonos One smart speakers.

In the article, I walk through using the Sonos Network Matrix to optimize your network (and therefore audio) performance. Beyond the red/yellow/green color codes, I describe how to understand signal strength, noise floor, and OFDM ANI level. I also provide tips for coverage, avoiding wireless interference, network management, and enabling STP on your router.

The full article is here:
http://freetime.mikeconnelly.com/archives/6050

If you have any feedback, please let me know!

Mike



P.S. Also be sure to read my articles on:

Sonos One Smart Speaker (Part 1): The State of Smart Speakers
http://freetime.mikeconnelly.com/archives/5648

Sonos One Smart Speaker (Part 2): Review of Its Voice Services Including Amazon Alexa & Google Assistant
http://freetime.mikeconnelly.com/archives/6004
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    39 replies

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    MikeConnellyAuthor
    Enthusiast II
    January 10, 2018
    Spoke with Sonos tech support who looked at the diagnostics upload. Some additional details for others:

    * for anyone, like me, who starts out in Standard networking mode, then changed to Boost, you should first do a network reset (the button is hidden below the iOS keyboard) under Advanced Settings

    * they recommend against connecting more than one BOOST device via Ethernet. In my case, the other two BOOST devices should be connected wirelessly to avoid "root bridge contention".

    But my ultimate problem is that Sonos reportedly can't stream lossless audio to as many Sonos devices as I have in Party Mode. And, given bandwidth contention, the right paired speaker will drop off first.

    Interestingly, the Sonos rep said that they do support multicast audio. Assuming that's the case, I don't understand why the number of Sonos speakers makes a difference then (as opposed to number and tonnage of streams on your SonosNet network).
    Fozzy86
    Contributor I
    January 11, 2018
    (after it is updated with HDMI-ARC), then I will fold those devices into my articles.


    Boy, that'll be the day!
    ratty
    ratty
    January 11, 2018
    * they recommend against connecting more than one BOOST device via Ethernet. In my case, the other two BOOST devices should be connected wirelessly to avoid "root bridge contention".
    "Root bridge contention"? You have an external root anyhow. None of the BOOSTs is root, and only one is secondary. Wireless, your BOOSTs may well be bypassed.

    Interestingly, the Sonos rep said that they do support multicast audio.

    Maybe they misunderstood, or they're thinking of some nuance of Direct Routing. When I've measured the Tx bandwidth from a wired coordinator it increases in proportion to the number of physical players in the group.
    MikeConnellyAuthor
    Enthusiast II
    January 11, 2018
    * they recommend against connecting more than one BOOST device via Ethernet. In my case, the other two BOOST devices should be connected wirelessly to avoid "root bridge contention".
    "Root bridge contention"? You have an external root anyhow. None of the BOOSTs is root, and only one is secondary. Wireless, your BOOSTs may well be bypassed.     [/quote]

    I agree. Network performance is worse now that I have disconnected two the BOOST devices. I updated the article to show the new network matrix. According to the matrix the Ethernet connected BOOST is now serving all Sonos speakers. The other two Sonos BOOSTs that are now wireless appear to be disregarded. There are a number of yellow cells now that weren't there before. I don't understand why Sonos doesn't prefer a multi-channel hub & spoke model (multiple BOOSTs with Ethernet backhaul spread over channels 1, 6, and 11) versus a mesh network, particularly since that would free up more bandwidth for lossless audio.

    See 8349487 (issues with lossless) and 8349557 (dropouts of right channel even with lossy audio in Party mode).

    Interestingly, the Sonos rep said that they do support multicast audio.
    Maybe they misunderstood, or they're thinking of some nuance of Direct Routing. When I've measured the Tx bandwidth from a wired coordinator it increases in proportion to the number of physical players in the group.

    Indeed, I can play lossless audio to a single speaker without issue. So, if Sonos supports audio multicast, then it's not clear to me why it can't play the same stream to all speakers without issue on SonosNet.
    ratty
    ratty
    January 11, 2018
    Multi-channel hub-spoke could only apply in a non-mesh configuration. The radios are single-channel. Substituting WiFi APs in place of the three wired BOOSTs and moving to Station/Standard Setup would permit simultaneous use of channels 1, 6 & 11. However what you gained on the swings you could potentially lose on the roundabouts, since AFAIK Direct Routing between grouped players can only work across WAPs if they share the same channel (as well as SSID/key obviously).
    Kenneth Goodwin
    Contributor III
    January 12, 2018
    Since the WiFi environment is about to be steamrolled by mesh networks, I wonder how the question between standard network and Boost is going to play out. My concern is interference in having two mesh networks. My initial guess is that one would only want one mesh network in the house. A mesh network with a dedicated back haul frequency would seem to take performance out of the equation.
    MikeConnellyAuthor
    Enthusiast II
    January 17, 2018
    @Kenneth Goodwin
    If you can, you want to use a BOOST network for your Sonos devices (either Ethernet connected Sonos player or BOOST device). And you want to dedicate your BOOST network to its own channel so it isn't overlapping with your home network. Assuming that is the case, then the type of home WiFi network that you have won't impact your SonosNet network.
    MikeConnellyAuthor
    Enthusiast II
    January 17, 2018
    All,

    I have significantly rewritten my article to address multicast flooding in addition to SonosNet and RF coverage. I believe that the multicast flooding is related to Google Cast devices and am currently working with Sonos Escalations on that.
    andrewlydon
    Trending Lyricist I
    March 8, 2018
    @ratty

    Great feedback! I folded your information about color codes, multicast audio, and group coordinator into the article.

    It seems odd that whatever specific room/speaker a user selects first (and thus group coordinator) makes a difference in overall Sonos system performance. I would expect this nomination to be handled automatically and, perhaps, even run within a wired BOOST.

    However, I am seeing something that appears different: ALAC music plays without dropout for a few rooms. Play all rooms (14 speakers) in party mode and I consistently hear right channel dropout. Keep playing the audio and reducing the number of rooms, doesn't help. I can even go all the way back to a single room, where I started and will continue to get dropouts. Stop the song and start again in the original room and I won't hear the dropouts. And no issues with Internet radio stations.

    I uploaded another diagnostics test for Sonos to confirm: 8347153

    I am seeing the same behaviour with my 12 play:1 setup. and am digging around on this forum for some clues as to how to get things working better. This thread has been invaluable. Many Thanks.
    MikeConnellyAuthor
    Enthusiast II
    March 10, 2018
    Thank you @andrewlydon

    Since I first published this post, I have upgraded all of my home networking gear to Ubiquiti Unifi. For a full write-up about Ubiquiti Unifi and Sonos best practices, please read here:
    http://freetime.mikeconnelly.com/archives/6373

    Unfortunately, there still seems something wrong with Sonos in networks that have a significant amount of multicast traffic (e.g. in my case, a number of Google Cast enabled devices). Two months on, I am still working with Sonos Escalations to resolve the issue so that I can play music in party mode. For my home network, three pairs of Sonos smart speakers seems to be the breaking point before I experience one or more speakers dropping out.
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