This post has information culled from the internet via AI and my less capable brain.
Sonos is moving into a new era of audio streaming associated with music and video. Twenty years ago, in 2016 the prevalent audio for a wireless solution was two-channel stereo. Later in 2013 Sonos introduced the Playbar as it transitioned into the Dolby Digital 5.1 audio for movies.
WiFi 4 (802.11n) was adequate as Dolby Digital 5.1 is a compressed, lower-bandwidth audio format (typically around 384-640 kbps), which is well within the capabilities of a Wi-Fi 4 network.
Today whole-home audio is a growing trend to listen to music in any room or multiple rooms at the same time. Wired components utilizing amps and speakers are a last resort. The average consumer wants a Wireless solution (like Sonos) to provide whole-home audio entertainment.
As, I mentioned at the start of this post two-channel audio was the prevalent audio medium in 2016 for a Wireless solution. Although Dolby Atmos has been around since 2012 in movie theaters it didn’t became popular as a streamed audio format for music until 2019–2021, driven by early support from Tidal and Amazon Music in 2019 and a major push from Apple Music in June 2021.
Sonos introduced the Arc in mid 2020 which ushered in its commitment to provide Dolby Atmos content streaming as part of its portfolio. Apple Lossless for music has tagged along.
Since the release of the Arc, Sonos has introduced the Beam2, Arc Ultra, Era 300 and Era 100 series speakers. All capable to stream Lossless audio with only the Era 100 series not capable of streaming Dolby Atmos.
Do you need to upgrade all your Sonos…of course not.
Sonos speakers such as the Play:1, Play:3, Play:5 (gen2), Move and Roam are capable speakers that continue to support audio streaming in Two-Channel Stereo, Dolby Digital and Lossless (*). Although the original stream maybe down-sampled depending upon the Sonos speaker used for output.
Given the longevity of Sonos speakers many end-users have mixed environments of Sonos. Streaming to a Play:1 and/or stereo pair is most likely of no consequence. In the same home streaming to an Era 300 and/or a stereo pair in Dolby Atmos is most likely of no consequence, as well.
Grouping rooms is where most users encounter issues, especially in a mixed environment. In those situations, is where one might want to consider their network gear. Not just in-terms of a single router or Mesh; but also, the vintage/type of network gear.
IMO it’s always helpful to understand the science behind what one may want to consider regarding their network. Also, this piece is not about backwards compatibility of new Wi-Fi standards with old; but more importantly overall throughput. Read it and take from it what you will. However, at the end of the day…Enjoy your Sonos!
WiFi 5 (802.11ac) is not obsolete and is still used by various WiFi devices. However, it has slower speeds, higher latency and less device capacity than the newer standards for today's bandwidth-intensive activities.
Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) routers offer significant performance upgrades over Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac), including faster speeds (up to 9.6 Gbps), better handling of multiple devices, reduced latency, and improved power efficiency. While Wi-Fi 5 is suitable for basic, low-device usage, Wi-Fi 6 is ideal for modern smart homes, gaming, and 4K/8K streaming.
Wi-Fi 6 is better for lossless audio streaming because it offers improved network efficiency, reduced latency (lower jitter), and better handling of multiple devices, which ensures a more stable, uninterrupted stream. While Wi-Fi 5 has enough bandwidth for high-res audio, Wi-Fi 6 prevents buffering in crowded, modern networks.
Wi-Fi 6 is better for Dolby Atmos audio streaming because it offers higher speeds, lower latency, and better efficiency in handling multiple devices, reducing potential, albeit rare, buffering. While Wi-Fi 5 is generally adequate for audio, Wi-Fi 6 provides a more stable, \
Key Considerations:
- Performance Stability: Wi-Fi 6 utilizes OFDMA and MU-MIMO to manage multiple devices more efficiently than Wi-Fi 5, ensuring uninterrupted, high-bandwidth streams.
- Latency & Speed: Wi-Fi 6 offers faster data transfer rates (up to 9.6 Gbps) and lower latency compared to Wi-Fi 5 (3.5Gbps), which is advantageous for high-resolution audio.
- Audio Requirements: While Dolby Atmos audio is not extremely bandwidth-intensive compared to 8K video, a robust network connection is still required for high-fidelity streaming.
- Environment: In homes with many connected smart devices, Wi-Fi 6 is significantly more reliable.
- Wi-Fi backwards compatibility does not mean the same speed. While a newer router (e.g., Wi-Fi 6) can connect to older devices (e.g., Wi-Fi 5), the connection speed will default to the slower, older standard's maximum capacity. Your network will operate at the speed of the slowest device, sometimes causing a performance bottleneck. Such as grouping an Era 100 which is WiFi 6 compatible with a Play:1 that is not. Think AppleMusic Lossless not displaying as such in the Sonos app because the stream has been adjusted to the Play:1 capabilities.
* Play:5 (gen1) intentionally omitted.
