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I am currently running a Synology NAS with my music files on it.  Since very few mesh routers (including my Orbi) have a usable USB port for an external hard drive, I was thinking (doesn’t hurt much), that it would be great if Sonos could incorporate a USB port on a Boost type device.  That way I could get rid of the NAS and just attach a USB hard drive to it with my lossless music files to the network.  It would be a win for me. Maybe for Sonos also?

The reason for this is that I still get dropouts when streaming from the NAS. Not always but often enough to have me post this.  I have changed the Sonos network channel on many occasions from 1, to 6 and 11 with limited success.  I have a Boost, 2 Play 1’s, a Sonos One, Sonos 5 and Play 3.  My router is an Orbi wifi 6 system that has 2 satellites and Boost is plugged into the router.  My wifi network is very robust yet the SonosNet is very much less so.

Your NAS can't deliver the files quickly enough, but you think the teeny tiny processor in the Boost could? Can't you just upgrade your NAS hardware?

SonosNet is merely a parallel radio signal as your current wifi, and as such, is equally impacted by all the things mentioned in the wifi interference FAQ. It sure sounds like you’re still impacted by some aspect of the stuff mentioned in that FAQ.  And even things in your network outside of Wifi considerations, such as duplicate IP addresses. Sonos does rely on the quality of your network, and won’t work well unless it’s as clean as possible. 

I went with a dedicated Sonos SMBv1 NAS setup with a solid-state drive so there were no sleep/wake timing issues. A Raspberry Pi Zero or cheaper for a while as it is on sale a Zero 2 makes a good SMBv1 NAS cheap. Any other computer that can run Linux and is always on will work as well.

SMB v1 NAS for Sonos

I’ve run four different FLAC streams to different rooms with no issues and only minimal memory/cpu usage.

Your NAS can't deliver the files quickly enough, but you think the teeny tiny processor in the Boost could? Can't you just upgrade your NAS hardware?

 

I just tried changing the 2.4Ghz channel on my Orbi from 6 to 11.  I then changed my Sonos network to channel 6.  Seems to be working better with a few jitters when starting up which is probably what you suggested in your post.  My NAS is pretty state of the art for home use.

Your NAS can't deliver the files quickly enough, but you think the teeny tiny processor in the Boost could? Can't you just upgrade your NAS hardware?

 

I just tried changing the 2.4Ghz channel on my Orbi from 6 to 11.  I then changed my Sonos network to channel 6.  Seems to be working better with a few jitters when starting up which is probably what you suggested in your post.  My NAS is pretty state of the art for home use.

That doesn’t make sense - as @controlav mentions, why would you replace a state of the art NAS with a much lower performance device and expect it to improve matters?

I ended up moving my library off of my NAS and put it on a Raspberry Pi 4 with an external SSD serving SMB v1 and it’s been great.  I just plug it into my router.  Very fast.  

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