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DCProud
Contributor I
February 5, 2025
Answered

Can I connect a Rocketfish bluetooth transmitter to a Sonos Era 100 stereo pair?

I’m thinking of using a Rocketfish Bluetooth 5.0 transmitter to transmit audio from an older iPad to a pair of Sonos Era 100 speakers. The reason I’m doing this is that the iPad is using Bluetooth 4.x and Bluetooth 5.0 provides notably better sound. I could use AirPlay, but I have been having occasional issues with AirPlay even though the speakers are less than six feet from the router. (And don’t even get me started on my futile attempts to get these speakers from the 5 GHz to the 2.4 GHz band as some have recommended.) Advice on whether this setup is possible, or alternatives that would get me the most stable connection with the maximum quality sound, are welcome.

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Jamie A
Jamie AAnswer
Sonos Staff
February 6, 2025

Hi ​@DCProud, welcome to the Sonos Community!

The sound quality from Bluetooth is determined by the Codec that the Bluetooth device uses, not the version. Upgrading to a 5.0 dongle likely isn’t going to give you a sound quality upgrade. The Era 100 use Bluetooth 5.3, which supports the following: AAC, SBC, and A2DP. Since Bluetooth 5.3 (and other versions) is backwards compatible, you’ll be able to use it with the Bluetooth on your iPad. Regardless, this is a possible setup, though again I’d just suggest using the Bluetooth that’s built into your iPad.

For the maximum quality sound, a Music Library is your best bet. Though this does require your music to be somewhere other than your iPad, such as on a computer or NAS drive.

AirPlay would be the better option if not using a Music Library, so I would recommend troubleshooting why AirPlay is having issues with your system. If you have a dropout when using AirPlay, submit a diagnostics within ten minutes of it occurring and reach out to our support team for further troubleshooting with them, as they are able to look into your system and see why AirPlay is dropping out.

I hope this information helps!

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2 replies

Jamie A
Jamie AAnswer
Sonos Staff
February 6, 2025

Hi ​@DCProud, welcome to the Sonos Community!

The sound quality from Bluetooth is determined by the Codec that the Bluetooth device uses, not the version. Upgrading to a 5.0 dongle likely isn’t going to give you a sound quality upgrade. The Era 100 use Bluetooth 5.3, which supports the following: AAC, SBC, and A2DP. Since Bluetooth 5.3 (and other versions) is backwards compatible, you’ll be able to use it with the Bluetooth on your iPad. Regardless, this is a possible setup, though again I’d just suggest using the Bluetooth that’s built into your iPad.

For the maximum quality sound, a Music Library is your best bet. Though this does require your music to be somewhere other than your iPad, such as on a computer or NAS drive.

AirPlay would be the better option if not using a Music Library, so I would recommend troubleshooting why AirPlay is having issues with your system. If you have a dropout when using AirPlay, submit a diagnostics within ten minutes of it occurring and reach out to our support team for further troubleshooting with them, as they are able to look into your system and see why AirPlay is dropping out.

I hope this information helps!

    DCProudAuthor
    Contributor I
    February 13, 2025

    Thanks for the info. I did follow the advice of submitting a couple of diagnostic reports while having a particularly annoying bout of dropouts with my Era 100 stereo pair. A remote reset of the speakers was ultimately the thing that did the trick. I haven’t had a dropout in the two days since that session.

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