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

B
Userlevel 4
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Hi,

 

I'm recreating this thread, as the discussion wasn't finished, but it was locked. I also wanted to make it obvious this is a Sonos issue, not a client environment issue.

 

https://en.community.sonos.com/components-and-architectural-228999/connect-amp-keeps-dropping-out-audio-6885634/index2.html

 

I've been following this for a while because I've been having the same issues, and when I spoke to support they said the connect amp can't cope with modern software and that I should upgrade to the amp, which is clearly unacceptable.

 

This has been confirmed by people in that original thread who have been told the same thing.

 

BillJanzen

“FWIW, these issues seem to have occured after the June 2023 software update to S2 version 15.5. Interestingly, there is an alert posted in the release notes of the 15.6 update released July 25, 2023 about adjusting how older Sonos products use their internal memory. See below (copied from https://support.sonos.com/en-ca/article/release-notes-for-sonos-s2):  Alerts:      With this update, we’ve adjusted how some of our older Sonos products are using their internal memory. Because of this change, updates for Play:1, Play:3, Boost, Connect, Connect:Amp, and Sub (Gen 1 and 2) will take longer to complete than before. The reset process for these products will also take more time to complete after this update.”

 

BillJanzen

“We continue to have intermittent drop-outs on all 4 of our Connect:Amp devices, so here’s my update after 1.5 hours on the phone with Sonos today. They said the diagnostics for one of the Connect:Amp devices the chose to investigate showed multiple major alerts, including:      Cannot allocate memory to full status     Write failed     Player crashed: out of memory     OOM Killer  These items all sound like they are related to memory issues with the older Connect:Amp product, as Big Bull mentioned in his previous post.”

 

Big Bull:

“Ok latest is I powered down 3 of my 4 units and just had the one I use most running hard wired to the router through my switch and it still gave dropouts so I sent 2 diagnostics to Sonos and they said : 

------------------ 

Thanks, so on this one in specific I can see the audio interruptions are caused because the product basically is old, and it is reaching its capabilities, there are some things that can be done to try to reduce the impact of this, but if it continues this product will need to be replaced with the upgrade program. 

------------------- 

I am being advised to replace any affected units with the Sonos Amp which can be costly.”

 

Birchan

“  Same problem, 4 AMP of which two lose sound...  SONOS did a wrong analysis and accidentally said that there were memory failures in some of the units. But since they only give a 2-year warranty, mine was 2.5 years too old. How can SONOS sell products that obviously have manufacturing problems and then say that they can replace them with a 30% discount on new ones? Wonder if Tesla would sell cars that stop working after 2 years and say, sorry you have to buy a new car every two years because the warranty has expired. So bad from SONOS so I will be discontinuing my SONOS system and switching to BOSE...  “

 

For context, in my situation I have a connect amp, connected via ethernet with WiFi off, and I started to get regular drop outs around June. It's incredibly annoying, the audio will drop out for a few seconds before continuing, if other speakers are grouped they will carry on fine.

 

It's absolutely 100% not a network issue. When I was debugging it, I briefly made the connect amp the only wired device and turned on WiFi, and other speakers in my house worked perfectly at all times. I've also reserved IP addresses, and I ran a ping monitor on it to check for any network dropouts. There were none. I've put the system back now, so the connect amp has its WiFi off.

 

So it seems to me that Sonos have released a firmware update that the connect amp cannot handle, and rather than take responsibility for it, they're just fobbing people off telling them to buy expensive new hardware to solve the problem, not even with any substantial discount. It's unacceptable. This connect amp worked perfectly before June.

 

Sonos needs to release a new update that solves the issue, or give people affected substantial discounts on replacement amps, and formally announce that the connect amp is end of life. Currently people with issues on this forum are being unintentionally gaslighted by well meaning people who don't know that this issue exists. Sonos cannot say the connect amp is supported when they've released a broken update.

 

People need to know about this issue, I've seen loads of topics about this issue and people get fobbed off with network issues, which is absolutely not the case, at all. Big Bull proved this by doing a replacement to amps which solved his issue.

Corry P 4 months ago

Hi @britcowboy et al,

Thank you all for your information both in this topic and the other one mentioned (which we have reopened as it was automatically closed by mistake).

Our engineers are currently investigating this with the highest priority.

We thank you for your patience while we work through this, we'll keep you updated with any news that we can share.

Thank you.

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261 replies

Bumper
Userlevel 7
Badge +14

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?

I personally have had to call SONOS support about this issue twice last week. The best I can get from them is to try and mitigate the problem by hardwiring any devices not already on the physical network. Else they will suggest upgrading. Which is an extreme shock for clients to hear that the system needs to be replaced after 6-7 years of use for $700 each amp.

Alex we are very disappointed that you didn’t join the forum earlier to help Sonos figure this out cause they were incapable of doing this on their own (or maybe that was the point :). Shame shame shame on you LOL /s

A
Userlevel 1

 

Especially after the holidays we have gotten an increased number of calls.

Understood; but the new Amp should not be suffering from the issue on this thread is what I gather from all said here so far.

I've only had one install that had issues with the new equipment. Primarily from what I understand the issue was when the client would group play the arc audio from his TV throughout the home. SONOS support had informed me that streaming this audio source requires each Amp to decode the audio stream from the raw hdmi signal which requires more processing power. After installing a new dedicated switch in the home for the 5 Amps and disabling their Wi-Fi. The issue seemes to be resolved now.

I only note this since it seems to be related to SONOS devices maxing out their processor and memory in general.

melvimbe

I personally have had to call SONOS support about this issue twice last week. The best I can get from them is to try and mitigate the problem by hardwiring any devices not already on the physical network. Else they will suggest upgrading. Which is an extreme shock for clients to hear that the system needs to be replaced after 6-7 years of use for $700 each amp.

 

$700 for the Connect:Amp?

Danny
Bumper
Userlevel 7
Badge +14

I personally have had to call SONOS support about this issue twice last week. The best I can get from them is to try and mitigate the problem by hardwiring any devices not already on the physical network. Else they will suggest upgrading. Which is an extreme shock for clients to hear that the system needs to be replaced after 6-7 years of use for $700 each amp.

 

$700 for the Connect:Amp?

Replacing the connect:amp with Amp will be ~$700 each no? 

melvimbe

I personally have had to call SONOS support about this issue twice last week. The best I can get from them is to try and mitigate the problem by hardwiring any devices not already on the physical network. Else they will suggest upgrading. Which is an extreme shock for clients to hear that the system needs to be replaced after 6-7 years of use for $700 each amp.

 

$700 for the Connect:Amp?

Replacing the connect:amp with Amp will be ~$700 each no? 

 

On first read, it sounded like he was saying that the original purchase was $700.  I see it now.  

Danny
J
Userlevel 1
Badge +2

NEW S2 UPDATE! Any joy with it?  I might be imagining it but our system of various older & recently bought kit seems more responsive.

Need to leave it on a few days….

Ken_Griffiths

Alex we are very disappointed that you didn’t join the forum earlier to help Sonos figure this out cause they were incapable of doing this on their own (or maybe that was the point :). Shame shame shame on you LOL /s

So had many customers reporting problems with Connect Amp from last summer and doesn’t think to mention a thing or join the community here until 7th February - no wonder Sonos were unaware of the issue. Certainly could not put the blame down to the network either, as that was being maintained by them too.

K

So had many customers reporting problems with Connect Amp from last summer and doesn’t think to mention a thing or join the community here until 7th February - no wonder Sonos were unaware of the issue. Certainly could not put the blame down to the network either, as that was being maintained by them too.

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.

 

Ken_Griffiths

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.

K

The best person to respond to this “could have done/should have done” thing is the installer in question if he chooses to do so. 

Complaints that land up in this community cannot be the entire universe of  complaints that arise with the use of Sonos; indeed I suspect that they would be a small percentage of such, and I am sure that of the many installers of Sonos kit, some would have brought this issue to the attention of Sonos directly in the way that according to you, this installer should have done. It is also likely that this is the reason that Sonos has finally accepted this to be a Sonos created issue and not another user network one.

As you can see from the opening post of this thread, a preceding discussion on this issue in this community was locked by Sonos before the discussion was finished.

A
Userlevel 1

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.

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!

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 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

 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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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

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.

106rallye
Userlevel 7
Badge +17

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

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!

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