Does Sonos plan to update their Alexa enabled speakers (One, Beam) to allow Alexa multi-room music?
Best answer by Ryan S
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Alexa Multiroom music simultaneously on Sonos and Echo devices
In September 2018 Amazon released the AVS Device SDK that allows Alexa enabled 3rd party speakers to use Alexa Multiroom Music (MRM). This means Amazon now supports music played from Echo speakers and 3rd party speakers at the same time.
Does Sonos plan to update their Alexa enabled speakers (One, Beam) to allow Alexa multi-room music?
Does Sonos plan to update their Alexa enabled speakers (One, Beam) to allow Alexa multi-room music?
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I’d like to +1 this feature request.
I’ve a house of Echo devices, and an old Bose SoundTouch that I’m looking to replace (use AirPlay on it for Apple TV, which is why it’s separate to Echos).
Only thing holding me back from a change to Sonos is lack of MRM. If it were added, I’d buy the Sonos in an instant. Just want a good sound system with AirPlay and Echo MRM support, and Sonos is sooo close :)
I bought the Alexa enabled Sonos Play 5, expecting to have the ability to connect with other Alexa enabled speakers for multi room. Please add support for Sonos speakers to be added to Alexa MRM groups.
Can you tell me how you arrived at this expectation? Because neither Sonos nor Amazon ever stated you would be able to play Echos and Sonos in sync.
Seems reasonable to assume that if something is supported it would be able to take advantage of the key features. It's like you get a car that says it supports Google maps, but then all you can do is browse maps, not use the routing and traffic functions. An
y rate I've read the whole thread and others and don't agree that there's some prohibitive complexity to it. If other third party jokers can make it work, Sonos can support it. It's a reasonable thread to add a +1 feature request post so they know there is desire for it. Don't need FBs defending status quo. I didn't say anything lame like I deserve my money back or blah blah. Bose also doesn't support it. Just saying as a consumer, I both expect it and want it, regardless.
I only expect it because it seems reasonable and desirable.
I think people who want the Sonos speakers to interplay with other speakers like my echos or my smart speaker smoke detector or my home theater Panasonic and KEF don't care about the Sonos multi room native protocol. Fortunately on the Bose forum I found a workaround where you just pair or feed an echo input device to each non confirming target and you can treat that pass through as an Amazon mrm.
But this workaround has extra cost, consumes extra space and power, and is extra hassle. Thus the feature request.
IoT. Can't they all just get along? ;)
It also doesn't appear to be airplay 2 compatible, limited streaming services. Does have bluetooth and DTS though.
Not knocking the product, just pointing out that it's actually a rather different product then Sonos speakers, with a significantly different feature set.
https://www.polkaudio.com/support/faqs/is-it-possible-to-integrate-the-polk-commandbar-into-a-alexa-multiroom-group
Trying to disable the Alexa on the Sonos beam and have an echo dot be the Alexa instead. How do you connect an echo dot to the Sonos beam? It’s not connecting through Bluetooth.
That seems unrelated to this thread. You would probably be better off starting a new thread.
I only expect it because it seems reasonable and desirable.
Ok, I think we’re good hear, probably a bit of semantics. I see your point that as a consumer looking in, you would want the feature, and not knowing anything else, would feel it shouldn’t be a big deal.
I think people who want the Sonos speakers to interplay with other speakers like my echos or my smart speaker smoke detector or my home theater Panasonic and KEF don't care about the Sonos multi room native protocol.
I would honestly say that if this is the sort of setup you want, then you’re better off not getting Sonos.
Fortunately on the Bose forum I found a workaround where you just pair or feed an echo input device to each non confirming target and you can treat that pass through as an Amazon mrm.
But this workaround has extra cost, consumes extra space and power, and is extra hassle. Thus the feature request.
You can do this with Sonos too. The Amp, Port, and Play:5 all have aux inputs. It’s what a lot of peopel did before there was any Sonos integration whatsoever. This sort of setup isn’t advised now though, as using Alexa for control and Sonos for speakers (music/TV) results in a more robust system.
IoT. Can't they all just get along? ;)
Well, partly because Sonos has patents and such invested that they don’t want to just abandon by letting other companies use their tech, or abandoning their tech for an inferior MRM (and it is inferior). I know, it doesn’t have to be all or none situation, but you can kinda see why IoT isn’t always so easy. Heck, I’d love to be able to control my arlo camera and ring doorbell with one app...but that’s not going to happen.
Kind of related, but Amazon was reported to be trying to put together some voice control standards, so that you could easily get a device and pick between multiple voice control choices. Google was not on board with this.
It also doesn't appear to be airplay 2 compatible, limited streaming services. Does have bluetooth and DTS though.
Not knocking the product, just pointing out that it's actually a rather different product then Sonos speakers, with a significantly different feature set.
And how does that negate melvimbe's statement?
Any update on MRM on the Beam? Thinking about returning. I mean how is this not the next top priority? Does anyone know about other sound bars that support MRM? Does Bose support it?
BTW Pioneer, that also works with complex speaker configs and has its own multi room protocol. They said, much like Sonos, it currently supports Alexa voice control, but Amazon MRM will be supported in an upcoming firmware update.
Get on it Sonos!
Sonos hasn't announced anything around this. I'm not aware of any multi-room speaker systems that play in sync with echos, although there are standalone speakers that will play in sync with echos. I haven't really done any research on it.
As to how it's not the top priority...it's up there on the list of requested features, but I wouldn't say it's clearly the most requested feature I've seen. It's also not one that I think Sonos upper management is all that interested in as Sonos makes money by selling Sonos speakers to fill out your system, not by making it easier to fill out your home with echos or other speakers. Perhaps some people my by Sonos for certain rooms if they can fully integrate with echos, where they wouldn't buy Sonos otherwise. More likely though, people will buy an echo for a room where they would have put a Sonos speaker.
There's also possibly some technical regarding how such a feature would operate with Sonos grouping functionality, differences in audio quality, and the fact that Sonos supports many more services than Amazon does.
Why would you use a streaming service, like Google that allows you to store your own music files in the cloud? And Sonos does not store music files on the speakers, it only stores file location and an index of your local music. I personally prefer using a music service rather than my own local files, but in your situation, I'd store the files on a portable drive I could take between the two locations.
Userlevel 7
+21
All this smart stuff is ok and I have made a big investment. But when your internet connection is down it all goes wrong and you can’t play anything. Luckily with Sonos you still have your own music library to listen to.
The choice is yours, but it's worth noting that Sonos version of multiroom audio allows for playing from external sources, such as a local library, TV audio, or a line in source, while Amazon can only stream from a handful of streaming services. As well, Sonos allows you add/remove speakers in the middle of playback, while Amazon does not.
You won't be forced to buy sonos ones, as any Sonos speaker will work in the system, even the upcoming Ikea speakers. If you want to specifically control a speaker by voice you can 'pair' a Sonos speaker with an echo dot, or control them all with a single dot.
And while Amazon could drop the integration with Sonos, I think that's highly unlikely as they would essentially be forfeiting all Sonos customers to Google Home for voice control.
I think the answer to why there's no MRM between sonos and echo is, basically, down to the Sonos Connect. If you can sync echo audio with sonos, why would anyone shell out 350 bucks for a Connect for their existing hifi when they could just spend 50 on a dot and use the line out? Sonos probably know this and won't be keen on losing the connect sales...
Echos have Aux.
Amazon gave access to MRM since the fall. I have to imagine that if Sonos wanted to make this happen it would have already. Probably just as unlikely, but I'm hoping Bose makes the switch and forces their hand.
Userlevel 7
+21
What? Sonos have the best music sync in the business.
Still as long as the bunny finally got it.
Still as long as the bunny finally got it.
Userlevel 6
+11
I think that is the best answer to this topic and therefore why it will never happen
I have been waiting on this as well and is one of the main reasons I got a Sonos One. I was also told that this would be a future one day.
@wheelbase How long ago were you told this would be a feature?
Your Q&A chat could be interpreted as Sonos answering about groups or multiroom music. Sonos has started to allow you to group speakers. With grouping you can ask an echo to play music and music will play via the grouped Sonos.
What I am referencing is the MRM feature that would allow sound to come from both Echo and Sonos speakers at the same time.
I have found no post in the community from a Sonos employee that confirms multi-room music since Amazon has released the SDK update.
Your Q&A chat could be interpreted as Sonos answering about groups or multiroom music. Sonos has started to allow you to group speakers. With grouping you can ask an echo to play music and music will play via the grouped Sonos.
What I am referencing is the MRM feature that would allow sound to come from both Echo and Sonos speakers at the same time.
I have found no post in the community from a Sonos employee that confirms multi-room music since Amazon has released the SDK update.
Your Q&A could be interpreted as Sonos answering about groups or multiroom music, Sonos has started to allow you to group speakers. With grouping you can ask an echo to play music and music will play via the grouped Sonos.
What I am referencing is the MRM feature that would allow sound to come from both Echo and Sonos speakers at the same time.
I have found no post in the community from a Sonos employee that confirms multi-room music since Amazon has released the SDK update.
The Alexa groups and MRM are complicated structures. I think you're correct @Sonoson, that the chat exchange above is not about being able to play echos and Sonos speakers in sync, but that their are changes in how Sonos speakers operate inside Alexa groups. I don't think we are going to see Sonos speakers and echos playing in sync anytime, if ever. If it ever does happen, I imagine this will be an annouced feature, similar to how we saw Sonos annouce airplay 2 compatibility.
+1
Heck, I'd be happy with a little cooperation between Sonos and Echo. I can be sitting at my diining room table, and ask "Alexa" to play some music. I'd had my voice carry past my dining room One and past my Kitchen Ones to the Echo sitting next to my Playbar, and have the Echo start playing the song.
I like the Echo there to turn my A/V stuff off and on, but it seems like they have turf wars once in a while.
I like the Echo there to turn my A/V stuff off and on, but it seems like they have turf wars once in a while.
This chat with Sonos occurred on December 5, 2017. This is the exact reason I took screenshots of my conversation with them in the hopes that I could have a small reason to motivate Sonos to keep their word. This question was specifically about multiroom music (MRM) and I was assured that this future would be developed. Here is the full text of my question.
@wheelbase This is a great chat & thank you for sharing. Based on the chat agents responses I'm not sure the agent fully understands the Alexa integration into Sonos enough to answer the question. The agent starts by writing "The One has all the features that the echo and dot have". This is not correct as Sonos doesn't support many commands of Alexa. Some features like drop-in, messaging and calling are listed on the Sonos website as not supported. Other features like MRM have not been supported at all due to Amazon SDK limitations (no longer an Amazon limitation as of early Sept 2018, now its a Sonos limitation). That first statement by the agent shows a lack of understanding of Alexa features & Sonos functionality.
If the agent thinks the One has all functionality of Alexa then I have doubts the agent understands the difference between grouping and MRM. He could have read music groups and answered that music groups were coming. Sonos did release speaker room groupings that allow an echo to play music on a Sonos in the same room group. Unfortunately this is not MRM.
I do appreciate you sharing the chat and attempting to get an answer from Sonos. My doubts are not in you, but in the agents understanding of these two separate features.
It would be wonderful if a Sonos employee, like Ryan, was able to give a definitive answer on whether Amazon MRM is planned.
If the agent thinks the One has all functionality of Alexa then I have doubts the agent understands the difference between grouping and MRM. He could have read music groups and answered that music groups were coming. Sonos did release speaker room groupings that allow an echo to play music on a Sonos in the same room group. Unfortunately this is not MRM.
I do appreciate you sharing the chat and attempting to get an answer from Sonos. My doubts are not in you, but in the agents understanding of these two separate features.
It would be wonderful if a Sonos employee, like Ryan, was able to give a definitive answer on whether Amazon MRM is planned.
The Command Bar isn't part of a Polk mult-room system. It's a single bar + sub...stand alone. You can't even add surround speakers as far as I can tell. So my statement above still stands.
It also doesn't appear to be airplay 2 compatible, limited streaming services. Does have bluetooth and DTS though.
Not knocking the product, just pointing out that it's actually a rather different product then Sonos speakers, with a significantly different feature set.
It also doesn't appear to be airplay 2 compatible, limited streaming services. Does have bluetooth and DTS though.
Not knocking the product, just pointing out that it's actually a rather different product then Sonos speakers, with a significantly different feature set.
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