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Group wifi settings - problems with streaming hi-res music


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Hello all - new to the community, and relatively new to Sonos, and I am looking for assistance. 

I have a group set-up in my living room consisting of a Playbase (connected by ethernet to a TP-Link powerline wifi adapter), a Sub (Gen 2) and two One SLs. All works perfectly with TV and streaming music Apple/Spotify etc) in standard resolution. 

I wish to stream hi-res music on this group - either Amazon HD or Quobuz - as I am impressed by the difference in audio clarity. I find that when I stream either of these services (through Sonos app), the first song plays, and then skips the last 8 seconds of the song and jumps to the next. Then, by the second or third song of the playlist, the music just comes through the Playbase (which has the ethernet connection) and the other speakers no longer play. If I skip back to the start of that particular track, then I get full surround again, but the whole problem happens again by the time of the next song.

Having read a bit on the web and in this forum, the indication is that this is due to wifi speed or settings, but I dont know what I need to change or optimise. If I check my wifi speed in the living room I get 90 Mbps download speed - which I reckon should be Ok - I also have no problem streaming Netflix HD from the same TP-Link Powerline). 

 

I have seen there are network settings to be made on the Sonos app that could help - but I am not sure what and how to change and would welcome any guidance on that. I also notice that if I group my living set-up with the Play:3 I have in my kitchen (which is older and therefore not S2 compatible) then the problem stops, but I am assuming that this is because the stream quality is reduced for all devices (??). 

If I stream music direct from either the Quobuz or Amazon Music HD apps (i.e. not through Sonos) then the experience is even worse with drops outs and skips on every song. Same if I download the songs. 

Sorry for the long, rambling post but I hope to have described the issue accurately. As said, I am no technophile and would welcome any simple guidance on things I can try to optimise my setup and enjoy the hi-res providers. 

Thanks

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Best answer by DerkleineEnglaender 21 April 2021, 19:59

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87 replies

Let’s clear up a few points/queries. First all your system, including the Play:3, is S2 compatible.

Next, are your Ones bonded to the Playbase as surround speakers? Is the Playbase the only wired Sonos component? Have you disabled the ‘WiFi’ (SonosNet) on any of your devices?

When you group with the Play:3 which room do you start from, before adding the other(s)? The choice of the starting room affects the way the local network traffic flows.

When you speak of streaming directly to the Qobuz or Amazon apps being problematic do you do this on your phone? If so what’s the phone connected to at the time (which WiFi, which frequency band)? Please clarify the comment about having problems even with downloaded songs; they should be playing off the phone itself.

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Thanks ratty for the first questions and clarifications. The Ones are indeed bonded to the Playbase as surround speakers. The Playbase is the only “wired” device. I dont believe I have disable the wifi - Sonosnet on any of the devices (actually I am not sure :-) as I havent done anything with those settings - please let me know what and how to do).

Usually I start with my living room group (with the Playbase/SuB/Sonos 1s) and then add in the Play:3 in the kitchen. Strangely enough, when I do that, it all seems to work consistently without drops/skips. When you say choice of starting room affects the way traffic flows, what is the best order?

With regard to the Quobuz/Amazon apps, yes I do them from my phone (iPhone 12) and use the Connect a device option to choose speaker directly. The phone is connected to same wifi network as the other devices - not sure how to check which frequency or band - I have made no changes. 

Finally, what I mean is that I have downloaded songs locally to my phone via the app - so that I dont require wifi to stream. But the problems with the drop outs and disconnection from the speak group happens in this instance too..which makes me think that it has something to do with how my group of speakers connect with each other when listening to hi-res. 

Thanks for your assistance on this, would be very grateful to resolve it..

Thanks for the detail.

Right, last point first are you using Airplay to play the downloaded songs on your phone to your Sonos? This does require WiFi.

And is the only WiFi in your home coming from your router? You don’t have any WiFi extenders?

 

It seems a little strange that all the problems go away when the kitchen Play:3 is added to the Playbase (which should be the correct way round as the latter is wired). What happens if you start from the Play:3 and add the Playbase?

On a side note: Powerline adapters are not supported, so one can assume that the TP-Link Wifi adapter the Playbase is being wired to might be the initiating cause of the issues.

 

Unsupported network setups and devices

  • Wireless internet connections such as satellite, mobile hotspots, or LTE routers
  • Guest networks or networks that use a portal login page
  • Networks using wireless range extenders 2
  • Ethernet over Power (EOP) devices
  • WPA/WPA2 Enterprise

https://support.sonos.com/s/article/126?language=en_US

That’s a fair comment, but the behaviour isn’t quite accounted for by powerline glitches.

For the most part they’ll tend to work if only used for the internet connection to the system. It’s when they’re internal to the system that one’s inviting trouble.

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Cheers Ratty again - glad to provide more detail. 

Yes, I would use Airplay (or the Amazon app equivalent) to stream the local songs, so in fact you are right. I just imagined it maybe places less “strain” on the network playing from a downloaded source. May be irrelevant.

The wifi set up is a good question. Our internet service actually comes in downstairs, where the main router is, while the Sonos set up is upstairs. To strengthen and extend the wifi I have a Devolo Magic Wifi extender that runs via the mains electric. Upstairs, I have the Sub connected to the Devolo Magic plug adapter via ethernet cable. I also have my TV connected in a similar way to run Netflix, and that works in HD without buffering, so no issues with speed. 

It is strange that it seems to work when the Play:3 is added, I assumed it was because the streaming quality was possibly reduced from hi-res to CD, for instance, due to the older Play:3 being added. It is an OK workaround I guess, but a bit frustrating as I dont always want the kitchen to have music just so I can listen in the living room (or maybe I should say the wife ;-)). 

When you say the other way around, would that mean unchecking all speakers and then checking the Play:3 first, letting it run and the adding in the living room set-up later?

Ah. 

You say the Sub is connected to a Devolo powerline? As well as the Playbase wired to a TP-Link powerline? Disconnect the Sub’s Ethernet immediately. 

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Sorry, sorry...getting confused in my answers. Sub is not wired, just the Playbase. An that is wired to a Delovo powerline (I thought it was TP-Link but I checked and it is indeed a Devolo Magic). Sorry for the confusion...

Since it’s Devolo Magic, roughly what raw data rate does their app show for the connection from the router? We might as well try and eliminate that from suspicion. (By the way, it’s not advisable to use Devolo Magic on the same circuit as old-style HomePlug adapters.)

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Daft question, but how do I establish what data is showing? I have done a speedtest from my phone. I am not sure to understand what you mean by old-style HomePlug adapters, but my set up is as “clean” as instructuted in the Magic set-up: one is downstairs in a plug socket and connected to router. The other is also directly in a plug socket, with an ethernet connection to the Playbase. As mentioned, this is how I run Netflx/Amazon Prime HD too - and can watch 4K programmes without buffer which would appear to indicate a strong feed.

Are there any specific settings I should be considering on the Sonos app? you mentioned Sonosnet being switched off?

Can you please look in Settings/System/About My System. Are all the devices showing “WM:0”?

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All are showing WM:0 apart from the Move that is showing WM:1

All are showing WM:0 apart from the Move that is showing WM:1

Okay. That’s as it should be. 

If you want to check the Devolo data rate you can install their ‘Home Network’ app for iOS, but in my experience it only works fully if you have a Devolo WiFi present. Is the WiFi on the first floor coming from a Devolo adapter too? I just wanted to check there isn’t any other make of adapter present. The mention of TP-Link earlier has me concerned...

Something is obviously causing packet loss somewhere. It could be on the incoming powerline feed, but the fact that the Play:3 works okay, and the surrounds/Sub give up early is a bit strange unless there was 5GHz interference.

 

The Sonos internal diagnostics would shed more light on why things are breaking, but I dare say that if you contacted Sonos Support with the diagnostic number their first reaction could be, as @Smilja suggests, to blame the powerline connection.

 

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Cheers ratty - downloaded the app. Seems full of information, just need to understand it :grin: . What should I look for? Devolo is the only system. 

 

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By the way, seeing that the Devolo broadcasts on Channel 6, does that mean I should put the SonosNet  on Channel 6 too, or are there other settings here to consider?

You need to open the menu, pick Settings, then enable Diagnostic mode. You can then hit a double-arrow icon top right on the main screen to display data rates.

By the way, seeing that the Devolo broadcasts on Channel 6, does that mean I should put the SonosNet  on Channel 6 too, or are there other settings here to consider?

You should separate SonosNet and WiFi by at least 5 channel numbers. Also the 2.4GHz WiFi should only be 20MHz width. I seem to recall that Devolo may default to 40MHz. You’d need to go into the Devolo WiFi adapter settings to check/change.

@DerkleineEnglaender, Your ISP is Vodafone, is the router a “Connect Box”? Do you have a media player called “Horizon Box” also?

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@Smilja  hi - thanks for the question. We dont have a Horizon Box. I will check the name of the router that we got from Vodafone (I live in Germany BTW). It is a TouchStone TG3442DE Telefonie-Gateway from Arris. 

FWIW those powerline figures look okay, although a little modest for Magic 2.

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@ratty @Smilja  - I just found the following post on here: SONOS Compatibility with Devolo Magic 2 WIFI | Sonos Community

 

Does this help? I read that “To make sure that the system uses normal Wifi and not SonosNet, especially if you are in a spectrum crowded area, you must disable Wifi on all the sonos unit(s) wired to network (done in the mobile app). You know the system uses Wifi when all wireless sonos units gets an IP-adress from your DHCP. You can use the mobile app to update the wifi-network info with the sonos units, if there are issues to get the sonos to connect to the wifi.”

 

Does that mean I need to turn off wifi on the Playbase as it is wired? Might be going down entirely wrong path...

That was a somewhat strange post.

No, if you disable the wireless on the Playbase your surrounds/Sub won’t have anything to talk to.