Question

Play PC sounds thru PLAY:1

  • 10 December 2017
  • 14 replies
  • 21701 views

I have a Sonos PLAY:1 in my office and it seems redundant to have PC speakers in there as well. Is there some way to connect the PC audio out to a PLAY:1?? Thanks so much!

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14 replies

PS. Sometimes I want to use the same "Office PLAY:1" in a Group with another room -- so it needs to be able to work independently of the PC as well as connected to the PC. Thanks.
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You will need to download the desktop application for sonos. Which will work just like the controller on your phone.
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I went another way at it works out very well. As I had decent speakers on my computer I hooked a Sonos Connect beteeen the computer speakers and the computer. Computer sound will play through the connect to the speakers and as a bonus I can then direct computer sound (any app, YouTube etc ) throughout the house. I can then also play Sonos music to my computer speakers as it is now a Sonos Room.

The play:3 I had in the computer room I moved to garage as another room.
Etec: Desktop application for Sonos does NOT use PC audio as an input, readers please disregard that answer.
Chris: I had thought of using the Sonos CONNECT - issue is that it's downstairs for hooking up all my older music sources (turntable, tape deck, cd player) to the Sonos system. Sure don't want to buy another one just to get rid of the perfectly adequate PC speakers in the office! I might have to just live with two speakers in the office... seems a bit silly, but ok.

I've also read about an app "Stream What You Hear" that might stitch PC/PLAY:1 together, but am still hoping for a simpler solution.
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I use a Connect hooked to the computers audio output then to computer speaker. I therefore very much have any and all computer audio available throughout my house on my Sonos system.

The connect makes my computer and it’s speakers a complete Sonos zone. Able to play pc sound or Sonos music on the computer speakers and able to then play any computer audio to any speaker in my house.

I can Pull up a YouTube video in my office and play the sound to my kitchen. Easily.
Chris: Yes, I understood that. Unfortunately, my CONNECT is in use somewhere else and I don't want to buy another one!
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You don’t get rid of perfectly good pc speakers. They become your Sonos speakers in that room. You don’t need then a play unit in your office. So it saves you a play speaker in that room. Connect isn’t much more in price vs like a play:3 which I replaced. But gives so much more functionality.
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Basic stream what you here is delayed and the quality isn’t very good. If you search a bit there were ways to use different server locally for steam what you hear that people talked about that really boosted the quality.

Ultimate in my office would be a play:5 hooked to my computer. It is a shame even the new Sonos One they didn’t include and input. That would have been a nice one for the Office.
Yes, If I put in more thought before purchase I might have gotten the PLAY:5 rather than the PLAY:1 for the office. But I didn't.... sigh. At least with the PC speakers next to the PLAY:1 I can easily compare and contrast the audio output and verify that I really LOVE the Sonos sound!
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You might want to check out http://www.streamwhatyouhear.com/. It installs on your PC and allows you to direct the PC audio to any Sonos device.
NullReference - Yes, I had mentioned I'd heard of Stream What You Hear in one of my comments above. Are you using it? What do you think? Does it have the 1-2 second delay people talk about with youtube videos and the like?
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Here is older thread on
https://en.community.sonos.com/music-services-and-sources-228994/a-howto-sonos-pc-speaker-free-with-stream-what-you-hear-6194840
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NullReference - Yes, I had mentioned I'd heard of Stream What You Hear in one of my comments above. Are you using it? What do you think? Does it have the 1-2 second delay people talk about with youtube videos and the like?

Ah sorry, missed that.

TBH I've only given it a quick go. There were delays, and dropouts. but that might be because the PC host was a laptop over Wifi. Also I have two Play:1 setup as a stereo pair, but these are shown as separate targets. It allows you to target both of them, but I doubt I was getting stereo!