Sonos 9.0 – Support for Sonos Beam and AirPlay 2

Ryan S
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  • Ryan S
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With Sonos 9.0, we’re adding support to the Sonos software for the all-new Sonos Beam, the smart soundbar for your living room. See our announcement here for more details on Beam. You can order Beam and find more details on Sonos.com.

To add Beam to your system, you’ll need to update to Sonos version 9.0.

AirPlay 2 Now Available on Sonos


Available with 9.0 on Sonos One, Sonos Beam, Playbase, and Play:5 (2nd generation), you can now send AirPlay 2 audio to Sonos. The AirPlay 2 audio comes from your device, like an iPhone and plays directly to the Sonos Player you select. You can also group any combination of Sonos players with an AirPlay-enabled Sonos speaker to use AirPlay 2 anywhere in your home. Use Siri + AirPlay 2 from your iPhone or iPad after adding your Sonos speakers in the Apple Home App.

Find out more about AirPlay 2 and Sonos here.

Additional Changes


This release also adds support for the iPad 6 to run Trueplay Tuning on Sonos players. Learn more about Trueplay on Sonos here, including steps to tune your Sonos speakers.

As of Sonos 9.0, systems are required to be linked to a Sonos account. Creating a Sonos account with your email lets you add more speakers, get new features, and safely and securely integrate with your streaming apps. Learn more about Sonos accounts here.

This software update also adds additional bug fixes and reliability improvements.

System requirements, alerts & warnings


Minimum OS requirements
  • Android 4.4 or later
  • iOS 9 or later
  • macOS 10.10 or later
  • Windows 7 or later


Alert: Changes to Lock Screen Controls for iOS


It will no longer be possible to control your Sonos system from the lock screen of your iPhone or iPad, including the use of the hard volume buttons from the lock screen if you have any AirPlay-capable non-Sonos devices in your household with AirPlay enabled. It is still possible to use hard volume buttons from within the Sonos App.
Learn more here.

Alert: Android 4.3 is Partially Supported


Due to the age and technical limitations of Android 4.3, that OS version can no longer support all Sonos features. Android 4.3 devices can still browse, search and play music using the latest Sonos app. Less common tasks like adding new speakers, modifying your music services or setting up a new Sonos system require Android 4.4 or higher. See our Sonos system requirements for full details.
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172 replies

chicks
This update went without a hitch, thanks! Looks like the distro server issues were sorted.
Buchholdt
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This seems like a great update.
I have a question I hope you can help me with. Can you use airplay 2 from the Apple TV to a Sonos setup to get a stereo sound?
Best regards.
Ryan S
Userlevel 7
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Buchholdt wrote:

Can you use airplay 2 from the Apple TV to a Sonos setup to get a stereo sound?


Hi, you can send the AirPlay 2 stream from an Apple TV to a Sonos One, Beam, Playbase, or Play:5 Gen 2, and yes, it'll be playing stereo.
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michelv
I just tried streaming audiop from my Apple TV to my Sonos One, and paused the audio by issuing an Alexa voice command and the video paused on my Apple TV as well!
Sonosjunkie
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Update went without a glitch and so far so good with AP2 support. Nice job Sonos. Thanks for the uodate!
Lounge: 5.1 Playbar HT (Sub plus 2xP1) with Pioneer Kuro and AppleTV. Kitchen: 2xOneW, 2xP3w with SubW. Bedroom: 2x1w. Office/Studio: 2xP5w. Sung 2xP5b. Garage: 2xOneW, Hallway: Play1w, Lobby: Play1w...... pondering another Sub :-)
Dom1da
Userlevel 1
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Thank you Sonos for the update. very happy Apple and Sonos fan!
Sonos ONE X3
Airgetlam
Outstanding, thank you Sonos!
Bruce
Guyincognito76
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I’m enjoying asking Siri to play music on my Sonos, as I have Apple Music rather than Spotify.

Plus, finally I can play a podcast off Apple Podcasts, rather than from the ‘on this phone’ section of the Sonos App; so I can pick up where I left off on either device ;)
neu
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hurray!!
https://ne-u.xyz
Guyincognito76
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There’s a delay when playing sound from the Apple TV though
Ryan S
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Guyincognito76 wrote:

There’s a delay when playing sound from the Apple TV though


They should be pretty well in sync. Just a few thoughts to start with. Can you try using a different app on the AppleTV to see if the delay continues? Also, try sending the audio from a video on the iPhone to Sonos to see if the delay is there too.
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CrankyCatz
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Thanks for the update, Sonos ! I just want to make sure I am understanding this update correctly, though.

I have four, play:1 speakers, all in separate rooms in the house (meaning, none are "paired" as stereo) I have no other sonos speakers elsewhere.

If I add a newer Sonos:ONE in a new room, would that give me access to sending Youtube audio to every single speaker in the house ? Or would I have to replace every speaker with a newer model ?

Thanks !
melvimbe
Userlevel 7
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CrankyCatz wrote:


If I add a newer Sonos:ONE in a new room, that would give me access to sending Youtube audio to every single speaker in the house ? Or would I have to replace every speaker with a newer model ?



You would have access to send youtube audio to your Sonos:One. Like normal though, you can then group the Sonos:One with the other speakers to play them together in sync.
Danny
Ryan S
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Hi CrankyCatz, only Sonos players that are AirPlay 2 compatible can be controlled through AirPlay 2. If you had a Sonos One, you could send audio to that player using your AirPlay 2 devices/apps and control volume with it. In addition to that, as with any of our other sources today, you can group the Sonos One with any combination of your existing Sonos speakers, those Play:1s, and you'll hear the same thing at the same time. That grouping is managed through the Sonos app, same as it is today.

Short answer to your question is that adding a new Sonos One to one room would allow you to send YouTube audio to any one group of your players, but not separate streams to separate rooms.
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ppppete
Got two Sonos One when expanding my Playbar with surround speakers, mainly to get AirPlay (when it arrives). Now it’s here and I cant use it!? They are bond in a surround setup. If I break the bond and do a regular grouping it will work - from what I understand. But I dont wanna setup the surround bond everytime Im gonna watch a movie and then unbond to get AirPlay access.. please till me this is something that can be fixed 😆
CrankyCatz
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Ryan S wrote:

Hi CrankyCatz...Short answer to your question is that adding a new Sonos One to one room would allow you to send YouTube audio to any one group of your players, but not separate streams to separate rooms.



Thanks Ryan and Melvimbe ! Time to go shopping :cool:
Ryan S
Userlevel 7
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@ppppete, when set up as surround speakers, the Sonos Ones are acting as satellites and don't do much processing or any independent room functions. The main player of a home theater setup determines functionality and compatibility, in this case, the Playbar determines AirPlay 2 compatibility. You could look into using other speakers as the surrounds, and grouping one or more Sonos Ones with your Playbar (not as surrounds) and you'd be able to send the AirPlay 2 audio to the Playbar as part of the group.
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ppppete
Ryan, Thanks for your reply. I was thinking that when in ”music mode”, all three speakers play the same sound (No surround capability needed) and hence it would be possible. I guess once they are bonded, they are treated as one unit - without AirPlay due to the playbar...

I hope you can look inte this for future updates. Shouldnt be impossible ;)
Lobwedgephil
ppppete wrote:

Got two Sonos One when expanding my Playbar with surround speakers, mainly to get AirPlay (when it arrives). Now it’s here and I cant use it!? They are bond in a surround setup. If I break the bond and do a regular grouping it will work - from what I understand. But I dont wanna setup the surround bond everytime Im gonna watch a movie and then unbond to get AirPlay access.. please till me this is something that can be fixed 😆



Wow, I am in the very same boat as you and bought two Sonos One speakers to replace the older ones so I could use airplay when available. This is pretty disappointing to me that it doesn't work that way.
jeffcarlson
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I have a first-generation Play:5, and hadn't noticed until today that the AirPlay 2 update applies only to 2nd-gen models. So: If I were to buy a Sonos One to take advantage of AirPlay 2, and add it as a stereo pair with the Play:5, would that still allow me to stream music to both? And could I use Siri (on my phone, I'm guessing?) to initiate playback? I have no interest in Alexa at this time.
slpresto
I've been a huge supporter of Sonos - purchasing 10 pieces and not one of them is supported for Airplay 2. Great time to stop supporting your older devices!! Not happy at all! :(
BrentD
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Pretty major faux pas in your announcement email that just went out since it says Airplay 2 works with the PlayBAR when all your other documentations says PlayBASE.

Why is there no support for previous products when Apple has enabled Airplay 2 to work via software and lifted the requirement that an authentication chip be built in to the product?
melvimbe
Userlevel 7
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jeffcarlson wrote:

I have a first-generation Play:5, and hadn't noticed until today that the AirPlay 2 update applies only to 2nd-gen models. So: If I were to buy a Sonos One to take advantage of AirPlay 2, and add it as a stereo pair with the Play:5, would that still allow me to stream music to both? And could I use Siri (on my phone, I'm guessing?) to initiate playback? I have no interest in Alexa at this time.



You can't stereo pair a play:5 with a Sonos One, they have to be of like types. You can group them together though. In that way, you would stream to the Sonos One which would then 'share' it with your play:5. Effectively, you're streaming to both. And yes, you can initiate playback with Siri, and you are not required to setup the Sonos One with Alexa.
Danny
Guyincognito76
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Ryan S wrote:

Guyincognito76 wrote:

There’s a delay when playing sound from the Apple TV though


They should be pretty well in sync. Just a few thoughts to start with. Can you try using a different app on the AppleTV to see if the delay continues? Also, try sending the audio from a video on the iPhone to Sonos to see if the delay is there too.



You’re right. I turned Apple TV off and on, and whilst there is a slight delay when compared to the sound bar it’s fractions of a second.
sdliv
Badge +1
Extremely disappointed the Soundbar I just purchased (along with the Sub), and my 3 existing Sonos speakers will not support Airplay. Oh, and no Alexa or Google Assistant either. The Sonos Beam is WAY too small for my home theater. The Playbase wasn't going to work with my setup either. So, I purchased Playbar, Sub, and am using two Play: 3's for surround. Although I may replace the 3's with Play: 5's. The lack of updates for Soundbar is disappointing since I consider this Sonos's signature and most premium home theater product.

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