Hi-resolution support required (eg: AIFF 96kHz/24bit)

It's been 2 years and still no software update that simply ignores/skips files that are above 44.1 kHz. Stuart ... it's not important that you or I believe/know that a person cannot tell the difference above a certain sampling frequency or bit-rate. There are people who do believe and I have some "higher-def" music that does sound better to me when I compare it to the same music that I have down-sampled. This simple suggested software fix avoids a real problem for those of us who have a mix of 16-bit/44.1 kHz and higher files ... Right now, I have to maintain two separate libraries of music (one for SONOS and the second for a combination of my hi-res and SONOS-compatible music) and I have lots of it. This wastes time and storage.

No, the only waste is storing the files at anything “better” than 16/44.1

There’s a reason 16/44.1 was chosen by Sony and Philips engineers and scientists (Philips initially wanted 14 bits). It allows for reproduction of every sound our ears are capable of resolving. Anything “better” is simply a waste, and can even lead to higher distortion levels in the analog chain. Bad idea.

I have had this type of discussion throughout my career in high technology markets (including audio), usually with technical types who were very clear that a marketing "idiot" could not ever understand what they were talking about (BTW, I have an undergraduate degree in engineering) ... As you probably know, having higher quality source content still needs an overall system that is also correspondingly higher quality, as well as a conditioned environment to provide proper acoustics. My point is that it doesn't matter what you or I think. It's about what consumers want. SONOS is a premium audio company and to ignore addressing this issue in any way (just skip the higher res songs) does hurt their brand. If I were a quality competitor, I would be licking my chops and would hope that SONOS continued to do nothing. And it appears they will ...

To a marketer higher resolution is better makes sense, an engineer should know better.

Yes, they most certainly should. One might want to brush off some math skills and investigate two guys named Nyquist and Shannon.

Also, if one feels that hi-res audio is anything above a niche of a niche market, never mind anything which is driving people towards competitors, one should polish up on the marketing skills as well.

It seems we are stuck in an unproductive "do loop" ... Yes, 44.1 kHz is a little over twice the auditory limitation of 22 kHz for the average young human, but that is not the point I am trying to make. Also, the market for audiophile equipment might be small, but those folks do influence others making audio purchases and to the average consumer "more is better".

More bits and a higher sampling rate are part of the belief that "more is better". As a separate note, that "dead" analog technology called vinyl record sales (new only) has gone beyond 10 million units in annual sales and appears closer to 20 million. Why would any "smart" consumer want that?

Back to my suggestion, I am only recommending a simple software "feature" that would skip over requested files higher than 16-bits sampled at 44.1/48 kHz. Seems like a trivial exercise to a "dumb" marketing person.

Audiophiles will use something like Roon to manage their music, and these music management tools also do automatic sample/bitrate conversion on the fly when playing to Sonos speakers. These tools also get around the 64k track limitation that Sonos' native playback system has. And the UI (at least in the case of Roon) blows the doors off on Sonos' UI.