Contributor I

AirPlay support - time to do it properly

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Sonos have had a form of AirPlay support for quite some time but frankly it has always been a disappointing kludge even if it got the job done. For those unaware the current and only solution involves buying an Apple AirPort Express WiFi basestation, you then connect the audio output from the AirPort Express to the audio input on a Sonos device. You would then AirPlay stream to the AirPort Express and it outputs to the Sonos.

This of course means spending more money for an AirPort Express or even several but also adds an extra device in the link with the possibility of additional overhead and small audio quality loss. In reality it was 'good enough'.

Unfortunately Apple have just discontinued both the AirPort Express and the AirPort Extreme. (The Extreme could not do this as it does not have an audio output.) No other device has ever offered this functionality. This means that going forwards it will effectively be impossible to use AirPlay audio streaming with Sonos. (I can see the secondhand prices of AirPort Express devices on eBay going up. 🙂 )

Therefore it is time for Sonos to solve this problem properly the way they should have done it in the first place which is to provide built-in support for AirPlay in their systems. Many AV Receivers e.g Denon, Yamaha, etc. have built-in AirPlay support as do other brands of wireless speakers e.g. Bowers & Wilkins. Whilst I believe most if not all of these are doing it by including a hardware chip with official AirPlay support the AirPlay protocol has been reverse engineered and open-sourced and implemented in many software programs purely as software. I believe the original need for the hardware approach was to include support for FairPlay protected music tracks but as iTunes music has not had such protection for many years and there are various legitimate approaches for upgrading your music to remove such FairPlay protection using a software only approach without FairPlay support is a realistic solution. (Obviously AirPlay Mirroring is never going to be possible with Sonos which is an audio only device so the fact you might need to stream FairPlay protected videos is not relevant.)

One could argue Sonos' previous short-sightedness is now coming back to bite them and if they had previously added this AirPlay chip when designing the new(er) Play 3, Play 5, etc. devices then most of their product line would already be compatible. (The older Sonos Connect devices might predate this.)

AirPlay

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serendipitytech

Lyricist III

So, I just purchased a Play 1, was hoping it would be the first step toward a house wide sonos system. However, I find it mostly useless to only be able to play music from whatever apps happen to be blessed by the Sonos app on a device.

"AirPlay already works well". A Google search for AirPlay dropouts will quickly debunk that "alternative fact", lol.

I've used AirPlay for quite a while across multiple devices, never an issue. So, @chicks, claiming that just by virtue of a google result showing that some people have had issues makes it a bad technology is silly.

I literally have zero idea where the need is for this

I think it is quite clear where the need is - to play content other than that blessed by the Sonos app on a Sonos speaker.

As it stands now, it appears I have to spend a minimum of $400-500 to be able to use the pseudo-solution of connecting an AirPort Express.

I certainly like the concept of being able to stream audio individually to each speaker or combine them, but the restrictions on available content to stream are too much for my use. Looks like I'll have to return the Sonos and keep looking for a better solution of me.

chicks

AirPlay requires three times the bandwidth of Sonos, Chromecast, or any other properly designed casting protocol, so yes, it's a piss poor design.

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serendipitytech

Lyricist III

AirPlay requires three times the bandwidth of Sonos, Chromecast, or any other properly designed casting protocol, so yes, it's a piss poor design.

You stated that simply because a google search returns results of people having issues, the technology was a failure. Anecdotal observations one way or another don't equal difinitive evidence. I and all people I know who use it, most of which I aided in setting up have little to no issue with it at all. So, to all of us it is a great technology that enables most any content from a number of devices to be shown on any screen in the office or house. In a business setting, it has been amazing for working with display screens and projectors. Rock solid and easy for any user to take advantage of.

As to your claim of bandwidth usage being another apparent deciding factor in a technology being a total failure, why? What does it matter if bandwidth usage on a local network is higher? How much bandwidth do you suppose a .h264 audio/video stream take on a network? If that's your bottleneck, then why not look at better network equipment?

In my experience on a home network with 4 users, streaming content to a tv has 0 impact on any other network activity. In a business environment we have also had 0 negative impact from AirPlay network usage.

jgatie

Then you should go find Airplay speakers that do multi-room streaming. Oh wait, there aren't any. Airplay can't do multi-room streaming because it's inferior technology (as we've stared numerous times). Bose even had to redesign their entire multi-room line, dropping Airplay in the process, because they couldn't get it to work reliably. Does being abandoned by a multi-billion dollar audio company suffice as evidence of something not "working well"?

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serendipitytech

Lyricist III

Then you should go find Airplay speakers that do multi-room streaming. Oh wait, there aren't any, because Airplay can't do multi-room streaming because it's inferior technology (as we've stared numerous times). Bose even had to redesign their entire multi-room line, dropping Airplay in the process, because they couldn't get it to work reliably. Does being abandoned by a multi-billion dollar audio company suffice as evidence of something not "working well"?

No, it doesn't.

I get it, you all hate Apple. Whoopie! You can poo poo airplay all you want. The bottom line is it works, it does what it was designed to do. I've setup many scenarios of AirPlay both for homes and offices. We have an AppleTv in multiple rooms, and you can stream different content to each from different users and devices. A multitude of content.

I would love to stream the same content to multiple rooms And have it synced, and that is why I started looking st Sonos. However, you can only stream content from the list of approved sources in the Sonos app, and that's not working for me.

If Sonos included airplay and allowed me to combine devices to a single airplay stream, that would be wonderful. But I get it, airplay is from the evil apple and how dare anyone suggest a company work with apple. Since airplay sucks so much, fine. Come up with something else. I don't really care how it's accomplished. Putting a $200'speaker in each room is doable, having to spend substantially more than that isn't.

How are you currently streaming content other than Apple Music or Spotify to multiple rooms?

chicks

Typing this from one of my two iPads. Yeah, I hate Apple, lol.

No problem streaming from any of the 40-odd providers supported by Sonos, not to mention any local NAS or PC, or the thousands of internet stations, multi room, in perfect sync, without the dropouts so common with AirPlay.

F

faire

Lyricist III

I also never had problems with AirPlay. @chicks, are you Sonos' lawyer or something? The fact is AirPlay is available on more devices than Sonos will ever sell, so it is a big market. Why not make things compatible with one another? The cost of Sonos speakers is already on the higher end, so paying Apple royalties is not a reason. The products are even sold in Apple stores and advertised to work with Apple Music (you also get 3 months free when you purchase one).
Regarding the services, there are a lot available. The problem is the controller is not that user friendly and convenient to use compared to Apple software. Actually when I think about it, where is YouTube??? The biggest video network (music videos, live recordings, concerts, etc.) is missing.

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serendipitytech

Lyricist III

Well, I'm sure you can understand how from your tone one could draw the conclusion you hate Apple, but fine, you only hate AirPlay. I'm still looking for options and solutions before I bring back this speaker. And I've never experienced a dropout for myself and if anyone Iv'e setup an AirPlay system for has, it hasn't been bothersome enough to mention, including offices that use it for A/V presentations several hours a day at least. Every system will have faults for some and not others, I choose not to consider anecdotal faults to be grounds for declaring the entire system "piss poor design", when I experience an issue, I attempt to find solutions for my scenario as I am here.

I get that the Sonos app has a crap ton of music sources, but that doesn't solve the issues I'm looking for in a wireless whole house audio system. And it's quite possible that what I want doesn't exist yet, wouldn't be the first time I've had to hobble together a multi part solution for what I wanted to accomplish.

So, this may even have been the wrong thread to go on this tangent, other than I believe that AirPlay support would solve exactly what I'm looking to do which is select any single or group of speakers to play any content on my device.

- I'm at my computer and would like to use the Sonos speaker in the room for computer audio
- I'm watching a video on my phone or iPad and would like to use a Sonos speaker for the audio
- I've got my laptop and would like to move around the house and even out to the patio area and be able to have the sound sent to any or all of the speakers involved

kurtatx

Trending Lyricist I

It's been said before, but Airplay needs to be done right before Sonos should even bother with it. The fact is, streaming from a device is inefficient.

"Radio should not be warm milk; it should be moonshine" - Dave Grohl

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serendipitytech

Lyricist III

Well, since AirPlay is taking the focus in such a negative connotation for so many, then ignore AirPlay and use something else or create something else.

I have a speaker directly connected to my network, I would not expect such limitations on what devices and content could be played through this speaker.

Whatever the mechanism, I just want to be able to make more use of a speaker than just a glorified radio.

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