Sonos Connect:Amp and Airplay 2


I've seen hundreds of references to the Sonos speakers that will and will not support Airplay 2, but I haven't seen a definitive word as to whether the Connect:Amp will directly support Airplay 2. By directly, I mean *without* piggybacking it on a new generation Sonos speaker.

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Userlevel 5
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I'm super disappointed those of us early Sonos adopters and huge fans, now get screwed. Honestly, I built an AirPlay driver for a music company (you've all heard of) and I know the protocol. It isn't limited by hardware, if an iPhone can support Airplay, a Connect:AMP and Play:3 at least will do it. It's super lame Sonos isn't investing in us who love the product. I'm only connect:amp and one Play:3 and can't see myself going down the Sonos path any longer if they don't start innovating and supporting products evenly. There's no technical reason it won't work, and I challenge them to be more transparent on that claim.

Or at a Minimum, if Sonos won't support us who bought these claimed "older units", why don't they do a buyback program like Apple and at least buy this stuff back they won't support so we can upgrade. Your stuff isn't cheap and shouldn't be like cheap Amazon throw away stuff they at least support better (for the record, I bought this connect:amp LAST year for 400 bucks or whatever) and the Play:3 a few years back


It’s limited by memory and processor which you should know if you know the airplay 2 sdk as well as you claim. It actually sound like you are referencing the 1st version of airpay. Comparing it to an iPhone etc makes no sense for something that was designed 10 years ago. There is very likely a technical reason it won’t work that being processor and memory. It doesn’t need much but lots of older audio hardware can’t do airplay 2.
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AirConnect looks interesting, there's even a Synology package that could be pretty handy in my situation.
I'll give it a try.

Thanks !
Userlevel 7
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I'm a bit disappointed then, I was expecting some more flexibility. Having to group explicitly the room with the one that has Airplay capability will not help my wife send easily music to the living room without using the Sonos app (that was what I was hoping to achieve). Just an Airplay entry point to the whole Sonos network that could be used anywhere.
I agree. I was expecting AirPlay to present as a kind of Line-In when the audio is being sent to other players. There must be technical reasons why this was not feasible.

In connection with AirPlay, I usually mention that it's possible to add AirPlay v1 to any Sonos player by running AirConnect [1], although it requires a little technical know-how. All of my Sonos devices, even the old ones, work perfectly as normal, direct AirPlay targets.

[1] https://github.com/philippe44/AirConnect
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Thank you !

I'm a bit disappointed then, I was expecting some more flexibility. Having to group explicitly the room with the one that has Airplay capability will not help my wife send easily music to the living room without using the Sonos app (that was what I was hoping to achieve). Just an Airplay entry point to the whole Sonos network that could be used anywhere.

I guess I'll wait a bit before investing again in multiroom equipment... Keep it simple for now and wait for something that could manage both Chromecast and Airplay anywhere in the house.
Userlevel 7
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I'm trying to understand what can and cannot be done:
* I have a connect:amp in my living room
* I have a single Play:1 in my kitchen

* If I add a Sonos:One in my kitchen to act as a stereo pair with my Play:1:
- first : is that combination possible Sonos One + Play:1 = 1 stereo pair ?

Only unofficially, and not via the Sonos app. However, you can use SonoSequencr on iOS to do this [1].

- can I use AirPlay to stream to my living room while not playing in my kitchen?

Yes, by grouping the kitchen and living room, and turning down the volume on the kitchen speakers.

- can I use AirPlay to stream to my living room while playing something else in my kitchen?
- can I use AirPlay to stream "music A" to my living room and use AirPlay to stream "music B" to my kitchen at the same time?

No to both of these.

[1] https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/sonosequencr/id967043604
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Hi,

I'm trying to understand what can and cannot be done:

* I have a connect:amp in my living room
* I have a single Play:1 in my kitchen
* If I add a Sonos:One in my kitchen to act as a stereo pair with my Play:1:
- first : is that combination possible Sonos One + Play:1 = 1 stereo pair ?
- can I use AirPlay to stream to my living room while not playing in my kitchen ?
- can I use AirPlay to stream to my living room while playing something else in my kitchen ?
- can I use AirPlay to stream "music A" to my living room and use AirPlay to stream "music B" to my kitchen at the same time ?

Thanks for your insight !
Kevin
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If you have an airport express hooked to connect that is an airplay method for you. Group any speakers you want to send airplay to with the connect and it will play.
Userlevel 3
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This maybe a daft question

If I have a Sonos connect which also has an Airport Express connected can I use tunein radio from the Sonos app and send this out to airport2 speakers or would I need a Sonos speaker with AirPlay support?
djpyrax,

And just to add to what pwt is saying, that you need to remember that Sonos Airplay-2 compatible devices don’t just output to themselves, but they can also send the output to dozens of other Sonos speakers grouped with them on the local network and output the stream in perfect sync, sometimes aligned to a playing video stream too on an Apple device... there is no way an Airport Express can achieve that sort of processing capability.

You are perhaps forgetting that Sonos is a multi-room wireless audio system first ...and the Airplay-2 protocol has been adapted to fit in with those overarching Sonos capabilities.

At the moment there are only 5 Sonos devices with the processing power and memory ability to achieve these things...

Sonos One
Beam
PlayBase
Play:5 (Gen 2)
Sonos Amp (when released)

You just need to buy one of those to add AirPlay-2 to all your Sonos devices ... there is just one proviso, the device used cannot Airplay if it’s also being used for HT rear surround sound purposes... otherwise any of these products listed, will happily act as a Sonos system Airplay-2 controller.
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If Airport Express can handle this update, I gotta think that there are no hardware challenges.
You may think that, but you'd be wrong.
I agree that this is completely frustrating. When choosing my new home audio configuration AND equipment, I made the leap to Sonos, although they are fairly pricey. One reason due to the fact that they are leading edge. If Airport Express can handle this update, I gotta think that there are no hardware challenges. Sonos, get off your butts and pay a programmer to get this fixed. I’m for one going to be seriously shopping for another manufacturer series equipment line if this is the expectation now that they are a public company. Ugh.
What is the best way to get AirPlay 2? Get a sonos one and group zones or get an airport express? Pros and cons?
An AE will work fine for AirPlay, as long as you have a line-in on one of your existing Sonos Products.
What is the best way to get AirPlay 2? Get a sonos one and group zones or get an airport express? Pros and cons?
Well well well..... looks like Apple has updated the good ol' Airport Express with Airplay 2 support. So all you gotta do is connect the audio output from the Airport Express to your Connect:Amp, and you'll be all set for Airplay 2 playback. No need to spend extra money for the newer Sonos speakers to group with your Amp.

https://9to5mac.com/2018/08/28/airport-express-airplay-2-homekit/


Does this mean that the Airport Express firmware is now fixed to let you see Sonos across WiFi? I have to keep mine on 7.6.7 otherwise my Sonos App on the ios devices says it can't see any of my 3 Connects/ZP90s. Also that article shows 7.6.9 in the image (which seems not to be available) but references 7.6.8 (which is very old) in the article . Apple have also discontinued this amazingly handy little device and replaced it with 3rd Party dross in their stores which do not support Airplay. Remarkable.
Well well well..... looks like Apple has updated the good ol' Airport Express with Airplay 2 support. So all you gotta do is connect the audio output from the Airport Express to your Connect:Amp, and you'll be all set for Airplay 2 playback. No need to spend extra money for the newer Sonos speakers to group with your Amp.

https://9to5mac.com/2018/08/28/airport-express-airplay-2-homekit/
Userlevel 1
My house is entirely connected with ConnectAmps that I purchased just 2 years ago (version 9: build44254230, hardware version 1.17.3.1-1, series ID: c100)
It is very disappointing that this equipment that cost over $5,000 for all the zones in my house would not be able to support what should be an easy software update.
Userlevel 7
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Early adopters - us users with older equipment are not early adapters its a vary mature platfrom …. that never bought their speaker ever thinking you would get Airplay support. You didn't buy your speakers for airplay support - - we are lucky enough that the newer ones can do it and that they keep supporting all older equipment with every update they can push to it (like you didn't buy those speakers ever expecting Alexa support either - but Sonos gave it as a free update).

Fact is Sonos is giving free updates as much as they can and you can't expect them to keep being able to give every feature to every unit they ever made over the past decade. They are trying to support mature devices the best they can.

Heck - HEOS is only a few years old and they are now going to their 3rd generation to get airplay support. That is an example of early adapters were pretty let down.
I'm super disappointed those of us early Sonos adopters and huge fans, now get screwed. Honestly, I built an AirPlay driver for a music company (you've all heard of) and I know the protocol. It isn't limited by hardware, if an iPhone can support Airplay, a Connect:AMP and Play:3 at least will do it. It's super lame Sonos isn't investing in us who love the product. I'm only connect:amp and one Play:3 and can't see myself going down the Sonos path any longer if they don't start innovating and supporting products evenly. There's no technical reason it won't work, and I challenge them to be more transparent on that claim.

Or at a Minimum, if Sonos won't support us who bought these claimed "older units", why don't they do a buyback program like Apple and at least buy this stuff back they won't support so we can upgrade. Your stuff isn't cheap and shouldn't be like cheap Amazon throw away stuff they at least support better (for the record, I bought this connect:amp LAST year for 400 bucks or whatever) and the Play:3 a few years back
Shame on me, I guess, for not researching my purchase better. I thought I was buying an industry leading platform when I made my purchase. It is disappointing to now learn that I actually bought 10 year old technology packaged in a spiffy new box.

Actually, the box isn't that spiffy either. It's the same exact box as the ZP120 came in 10 years ago. The name change was a simple rebranding. However, melvimbe is correct, it does all it claimed to do when you bought it, and there is no way Sonos can predict the hardware requirements of future functionality. Even if they could, building the ability to keep up with processing requirements for years into the future would require cutting edge processors; thus pricing themselves out of the market.

Unfortunately the fact that Sonos attempts to keep older units still functioning long after a forced obsolescence model would have abandoned them and made you buy a new replacement, is also the reason why eventually the older models are not going to be capable of all of the new functionality.
There was nothing at all wrong with your decision to purchase a Connect:Amp. It does all that it was advertised to do at that point and then some. What's wrong is the expectation that Sonos can predict the hardware requirements for features that do not yet exist and they have no control over. To me, expecting Sonos products to automatically be airplay 2 compliant isn't that different than expecting them to have voice control already built in to existing products. People don't complain about this though as microphones are physically visible, while the memory and processor of a unit are not.
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Shame on me, I guess, for not researching my purchase better. I thought I was buying an industry leading platform when I made my purchase. It is disappointing to now learn that I actually bought 10 year old technology packaged in a spiffy new box.
I guess I just have high expectations when I am paying $650 per connect amp that Sonos would be thinking far enough ahead that it would have anticipated the need for this and already had it built in. This equipment is, after all, just 2 years old.

Your equipment is 2 years old, but the hardware specs are what, 10 years old now? Sonos does leave room for expansion and does expand features where it's physically possible (other companies won't), but they can only anticipate so far into the future.

I'd say the CONNECT:AMP is due for an upgrade, but I have no idea what the costs for that are or what kind of sales it would generate.
I guess I just have high expectations when I am paying $650 per connect amp that Sonos would be thinking far enough ahead that it would have anticipated the need for this and already had it built in. This equipment is, after all, just 2 years old.

But the design is 10 years old, going back to the ZP120.
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I guess I just have high expectations when I am paying $650 per connect amp that Sonos would be thinking far enough ahead that it would have anticipated the need for this and already had it built in. This equipment is, after all, just 2 years old.
Its not an "easy software update" when the Airplay 2 codec requires a large memory buffer and a 64 bit processor, neither of which the Connect:Amp has.