Question

Will SONOS Boost help with line-in drop-outs?

  • 30 December 2016
  • 6 replies
  • 449 views

Userlevel 1
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I recently plugged a TV into one of my Play 5s and was pleasantly surprised to discover it automatically transmitting the line-in audio over all of the SONOS system, throughout the house. I previously assumed that the line-in would only work for the individual speaker that I plugged into. Now I can hear the television audio in multiple rooms.

The problem is that I'm getting frequent, brief, dropouts. They only last for a a half-second before recovering, but I would like to get things a smooth as possible.

I should note that I am not experiencing dropouts when I listen to music via the SONOS connector.

Does the SONOS Boost benefit audio that transmits via line-in?

My current setup:
2 Play 5s
3 Play 1s (2 more on the way)
The speakers only cover a small area of about 1000 sq feet.

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6 replies

If you use the Boost plugged into the router it does two things. One, it activates the Sonosnet mesh, which allows every Sonos device to talk to eachother instead of all going through the router, and two, it allows you to put Sonos on a channel separate from your standard WiFi. Theres no guarantee, but in general, this means a much more reliable network for streaming.
Userlevel 1
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Thanks for the response.

As a workaround, I plugged one of the Play 1s directly into the WiFi router, via an ethernet cable. Oddly, this seemed to make the dropouts worse, until I turned compression on. This immediately resolved the drop outs.

Is there a way to confirm if you are actually running on SONOSNet vs the general WiFi?
Userlevel 1
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I just unplugged and plugged-in all of the SONOS speakers, according to the BOOST setup procedure in this technote:
https://sonos.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1072#setup

As far as I can tell the dropouts have stopped, though I'm not 100 percent sure that they are on the dedicated SONOSNet.
Userlevel 5
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If you go to the Sonos app and find "about my Sonos system" you will see a listing of all your products (serial numbers, software version, etc...) if it says "WM:0" for your products, you know they are in the SonosNet network and not connecting directly to the router. (Which I suspect they are).
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Everything says WM:0. Looks like I'm good. Thanks!
To make sure they stay connected to SonosNet, you can go into Settings, Advanced Settings, Wireless setup and reset (i.e. delete) your home wifi credentials.