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

At least Apple cuts off some devices from upgrading as basically saying they can’t handle the upgrade, then it’s up to me whether I want to upgrade devices to get some new features.  I’ve never had an Apple “upgrade” to firmware render my device useless like what has happened here.  Sonos delivered an upgrade to firmware that clearly the device can’t handle and their solution to have the functionality I had before is to buy a new one.  Apple has never told me that.

Thanks for that response.  So I have the new crappy app I updated to on my iPhone but I still have the previous/better Sonos app on my iPad.  I am thinking the downgrade back to S1 may be available on that iPad app if I use that to add it back?   I may try that as an experiment.  I wish I could transfer the old/better app from my kids iPhones over to me but haven’t figured out a way to do that.  Guess there isn’t.  But I am thinking I could try my iPad app or their iPhone app that they haven’t updated. 

I can’t recall what S2 brought us as a benefit.  Will need to refresh my memory.  Also can’t recall which Controller app I use after going back to S1.  Will research that too.  Thanks again. 

Apologies for another post.  If I take all of my Connect amps back to S1, am I correct in thinking I need to set them up as a separate system?  I’m doing some reading and I’m concerned about unintended consequences of going back with S1 on some devices but S2 on the others.

Also, I currently have an old Connect amp paired with a sub running S2.  I imagine this would not work and both may need to go back to S1?  Not sure the amp is S1 compatible. 

Thanks. 

Does anyone have improved performance with the updated system?

Same crappy app.  I downgraded my Connect Ones all back to S1 and they are working great.  Don’t plan to return to S2 unless/until they fix the crappy app.  

I did do the updates to the S2 that just went through.  I have my other equipment still on S2 and they are playing fine, but they were playing fine before this.   Sorry I’m no help if you’re wondering about the Connect Amps.  

I have a regular Connect (no amp) and just discovered this thread after trying to find out why I’m having so many dropouts when listening to music from all apps.

I have been trying to downgrade my system from S2 to S1, but could not find the option when following Sonos’ instructions.   It wasn’t until I found this note that it all made sense:

Sonos app version 80.0
The ability to downgrade a Sonos product to S1 is temporarily unavailable, but will return in a future update.

Very frustrating…...

Yet another broken promise by Sonos. Before the present debacle, they had said that they are working on addressing the harm an earlier S2 update had done to Sonos kit, with the highest priority.

Now, with their hands full fighting this present self lit fire, that promise will likely be buried and forgotten.

I notice that this Sonos promise is there in the pinned reply to the OP. A 4 month old unfulfilled promise. 

Shameful. 

 Coming up on one year since the bug was introduced by Sonos. That’s a long time for owners to be putting up with this. 

Updating the forum on my S1 rollback; the amps have been totally stable for 135 days of continuous power up.

But I now see that the option to roll back to S1 has been removed by Sonos. 
 

So let’s summarise events.
1 Sonos knew last year that they had created a problem with a firmware update.
2 They promised a fix ASAP (which still hasn’t been delivered).

3 They subsequently removed the only interim solution available to users in the meantime (the ability to roll devices back to S1). 
 

What a bunch of jokers. Shame on you Sonos, Shame. 

It isn't just shameful, it is in bad faith. Sonos can do this only so many times before having to deal with the consequences of this appalling behaviour. And I am not referring to the removal of the ability to roll back to S1, that may well be one of the many unintended consequence of this latest debacle.

So as of right now, the latest software update removed my entire music library from Sonos. I went in to the ‘advanced sharing’ options on my Windows/iTunes music folder, re-added the music library successfully, and the awful sound issue where tracks keep dropping out appears to be resolved. Will it last???🤞🏼🤞🏼

Yup, I was aiming to get a Sonos Arc at some point when I get a new TV, until they fix this and the new app, I’m not giving any more money to Sonos.

So. Grumbles with the new app aside, I’ve switched off the overnight power downs via my smart switches to my connect amps and they seem to be behaving themselves now. It’s a bit slow (which I think is due to the app) but they seem to be functioning correctly. Anybody else noticed this?

I still cannot downgrade to S1 due to Sonos removing that ability in the software… very frustrating not being able to do this after finally discovering a fix for this horrible issue.  Just venting.  Hope they bring back the ability in short order.

Thank you for the posts I thought it so bad ot must just be me. The app has now disabled my ability to play my music paid for from another provider who I must contact as I fear it's the only solution. Sonos are rediculous pathetic and on a course of self destruction.anyone want to buy my 5 devices they used to work well now they're expensive blocks 

How does company get away with such a pathetic app and no customer services

Keep us updated. I've blocked all updates since the new app, and still on the old one for now

I wouldn’t until the app is sorted as it’s still sluggish & lacking functionality, although getting better.  (Connect Amps behaving themselves still….)

New poster here - I’ve just found this thread after 2 weeks of trying to find out why my Connect (Gen2) keeps dropping out. 

I have 4x Play:1s, a Play:3, Beam and Connect, running on mesh Wifi. Apart from the usual occasional “what speaker? The one that’s playing right now? Nope, don’t know what you’re talking about”, they’ve been pretty solid for 6 months. I “upgraded” to the latest app version, then immediately downgraded when it became clear I couldn’t play my local library. 

In the last 2 weeks, the Connect has been unable to hold a Wifi signal. It’ll connect, start playing, then drop within about 3 minutes, and have to be added back to the Sonos app as a ‘new’ device. All other Sonos are fine. My latest experiment has been putting the Play:3 next to the Connect to see if it can hold the wifi signal - 20 minutes in, the Play:3 is still playing fine, and the Connect has dropped off again. 

So it seems to be the same issue as mentioned here. My question is… would factory resetting the Connect (and all others) and rolling back the S2 app to some older version help at all? Or will the Connect only play ball if it’s downgraded entirely to S1? 

You can’t roll any of the apps (either S1 or S2) back to an older version and Sonos has removed the ability to roll a device back to S1 if it’s currently on S2. Until they re-instate that feature, you’re stuck with in-op amps, I’m afraid. 

Thanks ANOpax. I factory reset the Connect and now can’t reconnect it without ‘upgrading’ to v80. Which, given the Connect doesn’t work with it, isn’t really worth it. So I’ll hold on til they add S1 downgrading back in, and see how it goes from there.

Sonos really does have form at telling its customers to take a flying jump into the nearest lake (to put it politely). The events leading up to the S1/ S2 fork, the awful v80 app purely for the headphones release, and firmware that bricks older but still very functional products. Absolutely shocking behaviour from any company. 

which version of S1 did you roll back to?  What website did you use to get the apk file?

I used the in-built functionality in the Sonos software to manage the hardware roll-back (this feature has now been removed by Sonos). I’m running V 11.12 MacOS controller and 11.14 iOS controller (I accidentally upgraded the iOS version as I always update my iOS apps but have now started updating manually as there is an even later version of S1 controller and I don’t want to take the risk of something breaking!). 

I struggled with similar issues for weeks. The reason for sluggish response proved indeed to be simple and in line with previous posts: internal memory ! SONOS isn't telling the truth saying Connect:Amp Gen2 is working with S2. It even struggles working with S1 (frequent music drop outs etc.) The Connect:Amp Gen2 has got only a marginal increase in memory vs Gen1 ( from 32 MB to 64 MB or so...), and SONOS AMP (the new one) got about 20 times (!!) the memory of Connect:Amp Gen2... My advice: put Connect:Amps (Gen1 and Gen2) to the recycle bin, use SONOS AMPs, they will work flawlessly with S2 ... or change brand. The SONOS music quality is bright, the memory issues can be understood from a system point-of-view, but the SONOS communication policy with customers is less than zero, ... and a shame!

Before scrapping my Gen2 Connect:Amp, I was curious about its ingredients. I discovered two 16 MB (16 bit wide) ISSI DRAM chips. This implies the unit operates with 32 MB flash memory, versus some 1024 MB in the SONOS AMP. So indeed the CA is inconsistent with any smooth S2 operation, or even S1 experience.

Manufacturing date was July 2017 …