Sonos is forcing people to buy new hardware as they've broken the Connect:Amp and they refuse to fix it

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J
Userlevel 1
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Well I spoke too soon (which is why I asked if any of my optimism was backed up by release notes).

My CA is as bad as ever. 

Ho hum. Whatever the solution is it won’t be a Sonos product. I will buy a cheap Bluetooth amp and simply connect to that from my phone when I need to. Not as seamless as the CA but, as my phone will be about 1 metre from the amp, I am fairly sure I won’t get drop outs. 

And had been tempted by Sonos’s double discount on their upgrade program but I simply refuse to spend any more with them whatever the deal ☹️

 


Same here.  Even with a nightly shut down my CAs start ok but break up & stop working later in the day.  Ready irritating.

 

 

 

K

In general, seeing how smart devices keep getting smarter, it makes sense to have these as separate and therefore cheaply replaced front ends of a audio system. Wired to amplification electronics/speakers that are built to last, a feature that is worth paying a premium for if one knows these will not need changing till their natural death at end of designed service life.

@abr2021 : you will be surprised at how seamless an Echo Dot will be if wired to the line in jacks of the same Connect Amps that are giving you trouble. You just need the Sonos control app to work with them for the time needed to configure their line in jacks for autoplay. I suggest this approach instead off the BT speaker you refer to; other than the memory modules, the Sonos component may be in perfectly adequate working order to continue to deliver the same sound quality via a change in the smart front end.

Bumper
Userlevel 7
Badge +14

Just be sure to not purchase any ‘smart’ technology, that relies on memory modules to operate, as they go bad. Stick with old fashioned tech. 

Yup this is a good reminder that Sonos 5 year old devices might not be able to survive or cope with new firmware due to memory issues. Especially when there are bugs that specifically cause the issue 🤦‍♀️

Stanley_4
Userlevel 7
Badge +22

But don’t burn your fingers…

 

Airgetlam

Just be sure to not purchase any ‘smart’ technology, that relies on memory modules to operate, as they go bad. Stick with old fashioned tech. 

Bruce
A
Userlevel 2
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Well I spoke too soon (which is why I asked if any of my optimism was backed up by release notes).

My CA is as bad as ever. 

Ho hum. Whatever the solution is it won’t be a Sonos product. I will buy a cheap Bluetooth amp and simply connect to that from my phone when I need to. Not as seamless as the CA but, as my phone will be about 1 metre from the amp, I am fairly sure I won’t get drop outs. 

And had been tempted by Sonos’s double discount on their upgrade program but I simply refuse to spend any more with them whatever the deal ☹️

 


 

 

 

K

If you are on S1, it should not be the same issue. Folks have eliminated the issue via a rollback to S1, per some posts here.

One thing to do is to open a new thread, submit some diagnostics when there is a problem, refer the diagnostic numbers in the first post in the thread, and give a shout to Sonos staff that is present here by doing this: @Corry P 

S

Just signed up and discovered this thread.  I have these same issues, and all of my equipment is on S1.  Multiple calls to Sonos support have only yielded very short term improvement.  

My large Sonos system used to be highly reliable, but not for the last many months.  Intermittent and very frustrating.  Not sure what to do.  

M

I am considering the rollback to S1; I am still concerned it will mess up my one amp though. If I do it I will definitely let you know the results.

Thanks.

K

 

I would suggest that SONOS put out a middle ground controller app. Something that would be for the specific use case of operating older connect equipment and the newer equipment. A dummied down version of the current S2 controller basically. Then just drop connect product support for the latest version of S2.

I had suggested this as well - S1, 2 and 3. Because this may be a bigger problem than just Connect Amps and may also soon affect other old kit that Sonos permitted to move to S2, such as play 1/Sub/Play 3, the collective user base of which may be much larger than just Connect Amps Gen 2.

A
Userlevel 1

 

  1. You should try reverting to S1. I’m now over six weeks into my S1 rolllback and my connect amps and apps have been completely stable.

 

We were curious if a rollback would solve the issue here. This is good to hear. We presumed that it would, but have not found a candidate client willing to experiment with this yet. Unfortunately the majority of our clients with older connect:amps that we upgraded to S2 was to utilize newer SONOS products along side their existing equipment. So still this is not a comprehensive solution.

I would suggest that SONOS put out a middle ground controller app. Something that would be for the specific use case of operating older connect equipment and the newer equipment. A dummied down version of the current S2 controller basically. Then just drop connect product support for the latest version of S2.

A
Userlevel 4
Badge +2

According to Sonos the Amp is both S1 and S2 capable: https://support.sonos.com/article/sonos-s2-compatibility

Well spotted!

106rallye
Userlevel 7
Badge +17

According to Sonos the Amp is both S1 and S2 capable: https://support.sonos.com/article/sonos-s2-compatibility

M

Yes I did the latest S2 update last week and was hopeful that would fix things but the issue persists. It might be happening a bit less since the update but it’s hard to be certain.

I had resisted upgrading to S2 for a long time as my S1 worked great but I had to get a new Sonos Amp last year and apparently needed to update to S2 at that time. I’m worried if I revert to S1 the dropout issue might fix but I won’t be able to connect to the newer amp.

A
Userlevel 4
Badge +2

I am having the same issue as the original poster. Regular short dropouts (usually one per song) from a single hard-wired connect amp. Very frustrating issue.


Have you tried the latest S2 update? If so and it’s still not working properly then;

 

  1. Please let us know and
  1. You should try reverting to S1. I’m now over six weeks into my S1 rolllback and my connect amps and apps have been completely stable.

 

M

I am having the same issue as the original poster. Regular short dropouts (usually one per song) from a single hard-wired connect amp. Very frustrating issue.

K

 

It’s weird though, if it’s true that Sonos has released a fix for this, and posted about it elsewhere, why haven’t they posted that to this thread? I don’t get them.

There is some talk by Sonos that the issue in the other threads is not the same as the one surfaced here and therefore the fix may not apply here, but there some lack of conviction in that talk. Basically, if the fix works for you, use it and be happy!

B
Userlevel 4
Badge +5

Hi,

We have been a SONOS dealer for years and have sold hundreds of setups each year.

Count me in on tracking this issue. Since last summer we have had multiple clients reporting audio interruptions. This has been affecting multiple different devices across multiple different setups we have sold. The most common device we’ve witnessed having this issue is the Connect Amp. Although we have also seen similar issues with the new Amp as well.

 

SONOS has been a reliable product for years, I hope to see this resolved!

Pity you did not join the forum here sooner and report your issues, as it may have helped others (and Sonos) to have identified the issue sooner, rather than later. I assume (hope) you’ve been in touch with Sonos since the Summer in an effort to resolve the matters you encountered with your installations?

To be fair, I had the issue since Summer ‘23 and I didn’t create this thread till NYE! I kept checking the forum to see if anyone else had reported it, there was one thread that was locked for some reason which prompted me to start this one.

B
Userlevel 4
Badge +5

Hi all,

Sorry not been about for a couple of weeks, but some things I’ve noticed.

Rebooting the Connect Amp seems to fix the issue for a week or so (in my experience). Updates cause a reboot, so this can mess up the counting if an update happens in that time. So for those saying the update has fixed it, hopefully it has, but it might just be because it forced an reboot.

What I’ve done, which is the temp solution I’ll go with until it’s fixed, is to put the Connect Amp on a smart plug and I’ll just automatically reboot it every day. I’d much rather the issue was properly fixed though.

It’s weird though, if it’s true that Sonos has released a fix for this, and posted about it elsewhere, why haven’t they posted that to this thread? I don’t get them.

K

With these reports of the fix having worked, it remains to be seen if Sonos will make any recommendation to users of the affected kit to keep updating it with ever advancing versions of S2.

L

downloaded the update, my Connect Amp has come back to life.  It had gotten to the point where it wouldn’t even detect zones or play at all, but after the update, we are looking good.  Will monitor performance over the next week or so.  If this was the fix, my sincere appreciation to the Sonos engineering team for rolling out the fix.

K

 Not sure where to look but is there anything in release notes for 16.0 that may justify my view?

Andy 

Absence of drop outs should be justification enough; on one of the threads on this subject, Sonos Staff endorsed this comment from me: Don’t look gift horses in the mouth.

As long as the gift keeps working!

Another user has reported a similar experience as yours, but two data points are just that.

A
Userlevel 2
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I have already posted somewhere that I have the same problem with my C:A. But there was an update to S2 about a week ago and, I may regret being optimistic, but it seems to have cured the problem. Nothing else changed but in that last week I can’t recall one single drop out. 
I have to own up to not having read every comment even on this thread but I am of course curious to find out if anyone else with the problem has seen a recent improvement. Not sure where to look but is there anything in release notes for 16.0 that may justify my view?

Andy 

K



I’ve been on the internet a while and this place requires the thickest skin and biggest sense of humour that I’ve ever come across. So don’t let the buggers get you down!

There are some obnoxious types here and others that do mean well inspite of being guilty of being naive fanboys. Don’t let any get you down is the right approach, but I have seen a lot worse on the internet!

A
Userlevel 4
Badge +2

Presumably this is tongue in cheek, because this particular poster’s delay in joining the community does  not excuse Sonos from not knowing the issue, and further, from proactively communicating it to all Connect Amp users on S2. This is a BIG Sonos fail, right up there with their bricking fiasco four years ago.

@Alex.Dickson I suggest you send a diagnostic reference via email to Sonos Support for the issue with the new Amp because it is unlikely to be caused by the memory failures issue.

A professional installer that states they first noticed the C:A issue starting last summer, has a good many clients, they maintain their clients networks too and able to eliminate the local network as being the cause - but then lands here on the 7th February 2024, just seems a little late to the party IMV.

It’s these type of professionals, that I would personally expect to first bring a ‘real world’ matter to the attention of Sonos - I say that because individual customers that land here in the community, often don’t know if it’s a local network issue, or not and so the wood can get lost for the trees in trying to establish if that’s the case, whereas a professional installer, as I see it, can possibly be an entirely different ‘ball game’ - maybe more-so if they do speak direct to Sonos and can show details of their client-reported C:A cases since last summer.

Late to the party or not. I didn't expect to receive such hostility from any community member here. I just want to help see the issue resolved. As I'm sure we all do.



I’ve discovered that it’s par for the course, I’m afraid. 

If you bring an issue early, you’re accused of overplaying it because you’re alone in suffering the problem.


If you bring an issue late, you’re accused of being late to the party because you should’ve shown up sooner. 


And if everyone with the same problem shows up en-masse at the same time, we’re all accused of acting in concert or worse, being a banned troll with fake accounts. 

 

I’ve been on the internet a while and this place requires the thickest skin and biggest sense of humour that I’ve ever come across. So don’t let the buggers get you down!

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