Hi @monoiantm, thank you for reaching back to the Sonos community. I appreciate your detailed post describing the issue and all your effort to get your system working. Let me check the diagnostic that you submitted to help you out with this.

Thank you for contacting our Sonos Customer Care support. The router settings should be checked and configured to ensure that your router is not blocking Sonos in any way. I understand that after all the steps that you have performed, the problem persists. 

First, I'd like to ask some questions to isolate the issue so we can create a path towards resolution.

1. When you turn up the volume on your iOS device during AirPlay, do you get sound? Is the light status on the Sonos speaker solid white?
2. When you turn up the volume on your Sonos speaker, what happens?
3. Were you able to start an AirPlay on other iOS devices or using MAC?
4. Do you have any Sonos device wired to your router? Did it work?
5. In the Sonos app, can you play music and hear the sound?

Please submit a screenshot from your iOS device while playing via AirPlay showing your Sonos device. Wait for a few minutes then run a diagnostic from the Sonos app.  Just include the confirmation number in your response for us to check what's going on.

Let us know how you get on with the advice above. We'll wait for your reply.

Hi Rowena,

Thanks for the reply. I’m not with my Sonos at the moment, but I’ll answer your first questions.

1. When I turn up the volume, there is no sound. Usually the goal is have it connected to my Airport Express and the Sonos at the same time, both Airplay 2 devices. The AE has sound; the track is playing but no sound is coming from the Sonos.
2. Turning up the volume on the Sonos Speaker itself makes no difference. 
3. The truthful answer is: sometimes. Sometimes the phone works. Sometimes the MacBook works. Sometimes the iPad connects. But none of it is consistent. Sometime even the sound just stops in mid playback and then I can’t resume it. It’s very hit or miss. 
4. When I have connected the Sonos via Ethernet to the router, it seems to work fine. But that’s not practical; the router is in a different part of the house.
5. When it is able to connect, this seems to work consistently. But not even the Sonos app can reliably connect to the speaker. This is really the root of the frustration. One day, it works fine. The next, it’s all broken and can’t be found and I have to restart everything, and even then it’s not guaranteed to work. So it ends up being a large distraction.

To be fair, even the AE device isn’t always reliable, so I’m willing to say that it’s a problem with the router, or interference and not necessarily the Sonos. But I recall when I first purchased this this is was not an issue. Ever. It did just work. 

And I should say that on my particular router, I have not been able to determine if AirPlay fairness is on or not or if UPnP is enabled. Everything else though I can confirm is set properly, and I’ll continue to see what I can do about those two settings.

I will provide a screenshot when I’m next able.

On the Airplay front, how are you trying to use Airplay?  Your profile mentions only Play:5 gen 1 speakers, which are not Airplay or Airplay 2 compatible.  

If you are using an Airport Express with a line in to the Play:5 then that has never been a reliable method. 

I would save yourself years of pain by using your trade up credit on your gen 1 to get a new Five.

My profile is incorrect. I definitely have a play:5 gen 2. The airport express is wired to a separate Bose speaker. That has worked pretty well for years. 
 

When I first got the Play:5 none of this was an issue. It might be my router. But it’s still frustrating that it’s so sporadic. 

Hi folks,

@John B, thank you for your assistance and we appreciate it.
@monoiantm, thank you for your response. Seems like there's a network issue.

You mentioned that you can start the AirPlay when your Play 5 was wired to your router. Did you wire your speaker to the AirPort Express or you have another router?

Please submit a diagnostic and let us know the confirmation number in your reply. I'd appreciate it if you can help us understand your network setup by providing us the make and model of your network devices (modem, routers, WiFi mesh, network switches, extender si.e).

If you have any other questions or run into any issues,  please do not hesitate to reach out, we’re always here to help.

Ok! Realistically, I may not be able to do all this until the weekend, but I will make a point of it. 

Hi @monoiantm, thank you for your response. Keep us posted on this and we'll wait for your reply. Please feel free to reach out in the future if you have any other questions. You're always welcome here.

This morning I submitted a diagnostic 1739321468. At first, the Sonos would not connect to either Airplay or the Sonos S2 app. I had to unplug the device. After that, it worked. And contrary to what I’ve mentioned before, it’s currently playing via my iOS device via Airplay just fine.

But the issue still remains. It’s so fickle, and it seems that daily I have to fight with it to work, and it doesn’t always work when I turn and/off WiFi, unplug the device, etc. 

I am using a gateway router directly from my telecom provider. I’ve considered spending the $100-$150 to get a decent modern router, thinking this may be part of the issue. We have a lot of devices idling on this WiFi network. Does the diagnostic tell you anything? 

Hi @monoiantm, thank you for your response and for providing the diagnostic report. I'm glad that you can stream via AirPlay now. Let me help you out with this.

Based on the diagnostic, your Sonos Play 5 does not have a good wireless connection. This is the reason you're getting an audio issue. 

Let me suggest the next troubleshooting and see if it works for you.

1. Interference maybe also one of the causes of a weak wireless connection. Identify devices that may be causing the interference
Move away from the devices from your Sonos speakers or turn them off. Check Sonos if there's an improvement with the performance.
2. Relocate the affected speaker(s) to determine if it is a wireless range issue.

If you're still having the same issue, we recommend hardwiring your speaker to your router.

Here are some articles that you can check about network configurations that will work with Sonos. You may reach out to your ISP or local networking professionals for assistance.
Sonos system requirements
Securing Sonos behind a private network

If you have any questions about this. We and the community are always here to help.