AirPlay cuts out on pause


Userlevel 2
I just got a Sonos One (Gen 2) after reading that Airplay was finally working well with it. I was hoping to use it as my speaker when streaming video from my MacBook Pro, but have been hounded by audio issues–even with it connected via Ethernet to my Airport. The audio cuts out if paused for more than a few seconds. The easiest fix has been to go to Volume in the Menu Bar, switch the output device to something else and then back to Sonos. It's a pain to have to do this over and over. The audio comes back without much delay.

I noticed that there is a substantial delay when I go to unpause music that's been paused for a bit as well, but not as bad as when unpausing Netflix or Youtube. The audio also cuts out in minute drops every now and then, which probably just comes from AirPlay sucking up my shitty wifi's bandwidth as I've read in other posts.

Given all the other unresolved issues I have read about and the hassle that was setting this up over the phone since the app's automated setup didn't work, I am thinking I am probably just going to return my speaker. I would rather have a cheap Bluetooth speaker that I don't need to run an additional application for or even have plugged into the wall all the time.

I feel mislead. I don't get the hype for this thing.

Corry P 3 years ago

Hi all.

This was brought to my attention on another post - thanks @joycean 

I have done some investigating and found out the following:

  • AirPlay 2 requires that a buffer be filled prior to playback. Airplay 1 does not. As live system sounds cannot be buffered (you’d need time-travelling software code), when AirPlay-ing from macOS system settings AirPlay 1 is always used.
  • AirPlay likely times-out if no data is sent (ie. silence), though I cannot find a figure for this period.
  • AirPlay 1 is not supported by Sonos, but tends to work. Therefore, if you are using AirPlay 1 and sending all system sounds to Sonos, it works, usually, but may have issues like those described here. As AirPlay 1 is not supported by Sonos, we will not be addressing these issues.
  • macOS Applications (like Safari, Apple Music and Spotify) do support AirPlay2, but you must initiate the connection from that application, not the Mac’s settings. The media stream can then be buffered to the speaker and synced for playback.

In our own testing, we were unable to produce this issue when using AirPlay 2. If you experience these issues while using AirPlay 2 (initiated at the application level rather than at the system level), we would very much like to hear about it. Please get in touch with our technical support team if this is the case, as this is something that we would want to resolve (be it a networking or software issue).

It would be interesting if any of you could recreate the issue as you have before, but while having one media paused (YouTube for example), start something else playing over the AirPlay 1 connection - when you restart the paused media, does it play through Sonos immediately? I suspect so, as the second media playing will have kept the connection to the speaker live. I suspect @eldiets1’s fix of having a minimised window does exactly this.

I hope this information helps you all to use your Sonos speakers with your Apple products in a satisfactory way.

 

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I received two Sonos One SL speakers today and have been immediately annoyed by this issue, while streaming a show from my laptop.

I was specifically attracted to Sonos because the company’s marketing material touted its compatibility with Airplay. Based on my experience, and those of others in this thread, that claim is half-true.

From the price and the company’s reputation, I had assumed that the UX would be really smooth - at any rate superior to that of the no-name bluetooth speakers from Aliexpress I previously owned (which cost a tenth of the price). Unfortunately, despite the good sound quality, the opposite is true.

Given that this has been discussed publicly for a couple of years, it’s clear that addressing this issue isn’t a priority. A product owner has presumably decided that the cost of doing so outweighs any loss in revenue that might occur from leaving the issue unfixed.

As such I’ll be returning the speakers. I suggest that any other prospective purchasers hoping to use Sonos with Airplay assume that they will encounter the issues described in this thread until the manufacturer demonstrates otherwise.

AirPlay UX is handled by Apple, not by Sonos. When AirPlay 2 in use, the Sonos speakers are merely receivers of data.

As a side note, Apple does not allow anything more than a stereo stream to be sent to a non-Apple device. If you want to send something that is of a higher codec, you must send that to an Apple TV, and have the Apple TV present it to the Sonos through the connection to the TV set. 

Appreciated, but in that case the proper action for Sonos is to ensure their marketing material contains no claim of Airplay compatibility. Or, perhaps more realistically, to accompany such claims with a description of the known limitations.

It’s incredibly frustrating that these expensive products have such terrible compatibility with Apple products.

 

I have a pair of Ikea SYMFONISK, and I have faced this issue since I got them years ago.

 

As a user, I don’t care if this was marketed or not as a computer speaker, as someone in this thread stated. AirPlay is a protocol, and it shouldn’t matter if I’m using a phone or a laptop.

 

For a speaker that ONLY supports AirPlay, there’s a good chance that people will, at some point, use a macOS to stream audio.

 

What is worse is that even after 4 years, the issue still exists, but Sonos doesn’t admit that there’s a problem and continues to sell the same way as 4 years ago.

Sonos speakers don’t ’ONLY’ support AirPlay 2, in fact, that’s the least of their myriad of capabilities. 

I use AirPlay 2 on a daily basis, from an iPad, an iPhone, and the MacOS to stream music, and audio from video that I’m playing, all without issue. 

There isn’t enough information in your post to hazard a guess as to what networking issue you’re experiencing, so I would recommend that you submit a system diagnostic within 10 minutes of experiencing this problem, and call Sonos Support to discuss it.

There may be information included in the diagnostic that will help Sonos pinpoint the issue and help you find a solution.

When you speak directly to the phone folks, they have tools at their disposal that will allow them to give you advice specific to your network and Sonos system.

same problem here… different sources… sonos software is GARBAGE

Userlevel 7
Badge +17

You’re using Apple AirPlay. Why would this only be on Sonos?

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