Question

Sonos One (Gen 2): How to connect to Macbook bluetooth WITHOUT going through app

  • 29 December 2019
  • 2 replies
  • 10427 views

I want to be able to connect my Sonos to my macbook pro (2018) to the bluetooth so I can use it for all sound, not just music or things that can airdrop. For instance I would like to be able to use it when listening to youtube video rather than my computer. Youtube video doesn’t have airdrop. 

I’ve already gone to the bluetooth settings and tried to have it look for it, but it doesn’t even notice it’s there. Yes I pushed the button on the back of the sonos. I was able to do this with my moms HP computer and theoretically it should work on mine too, but it’s not working. It does work with my phone and the macbook app, but not the bluetooth.


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2 replies

The Sonos One gen 2 doesn’t have a Bluetooth receiver in it. The only Sonos device that does is the Sonos Move, and when it’s acting as a Bluetooth speaker, it’s not on the Sonos ecosystem.

Perhaps mildly confusing is the fact that the speaker does have a BLE receiver used only for setup, but it can’t carry music.

Sonos speakers aren’t designed to be computer speakers. The way the Sonos system works is the computer in the speakers go out to get the music. They buffer that data for a small amount of time, so that it can be sync’d across all Sonos speakers. So, you could conceivably get a Sonos device with a line in, but you’d still be paying that small buffering time, so that it would be challenging to play videos, games, anything where the sound is expected to sync with what is on the screen. I have done this at times, connecting a cable from my headphone port on my MacBook, and connecting it to a line in on a PLAY:5, but found it only useful for listening to internet radio, when there was no expectation of lipsync. It was untenable for playing games, or watching movies.

Userlevel 7

Hi

For clarification the Bluetooth feature referred to in the Sonos One and all Sonos speakers since (excepting the Move) is Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE). It is only used during setup.