XM Radio Connection Error Messages

I also have run a diagnostics report and have a reference number for that.

From error log:

Friday, August 26, 2022 - 1:47 PM Central Time
Unable to play '68 - Spa' - it is encoded using an unsupported digital rights management system.

Friday, August 26, 2022 - 1:58 PM Central Time
Unable to play '68 - Spa' - it is encoded using an unsupported digital rights management system.

Friday, August 26, 2022 - 1:58 PM Central Time
Unable to play '68 - Spa' - the song is not encoded correctly.

My Sonos is set on Channel 6 which cannot be changed since all Sonos products are on wifi.  

My wifi router is one that is automatic so a specific channel cannot be assigned to wifi.

Hi @hashknife 

Welcome to the Sonos Community!

As you have no doubt noticed, if you respond to your own thread it’s no longer flagged as a thread requiring a reply and therefore is less likely to receive one - apologies for the delay.

The errors you report can easily be due to transmission fails - especially when inconsistent - and I think that’s what’s happening here. 

I’m a bit confused - you say you can’t change your SonosNet channel as you have no wired products, yet you have a Sonos Boost, who’s very purpose is to create SonosNet so that your players don’t connect to WiFi. SonosNet is currently on channel 6, so you can experiment with channels 1 and 11 by selecting Settings » System » Network » Change SonosNet channel » 1/11. Please ensure all rooms are online when you perform this step. The change is instant and you won’t see any message in the app confirming the change.

Also, the room in charge (responsible for fetching the music from the source and distributing it across the rest of the group) is the room with the weakest signal - please disband the group and recreate it with a room other than Master Bedroom selected first. This should improve performance over the whole group.

It may also help to give your Sonos devices a reboot - just remove power from them for 10 seconds or so.

Finally, if the Boost is within 1m of the router, please separate the two.

I hope this helps.

Cory, thanks so much for the information!

I couldn’t find how to edit my first post to include additional information so I just replied to the post twice.  If you can advise how to edit a post, that will be helpful in the future.

I apologize for not being clear, but I read someone on the Sonos site that if rooms are grouped that Channel 6 is the default channel.

I will take your suggestion regarding making another room the group administrator.

My router is not close to the Boost.

I’ve also read that Sonos servers are having difficulty connecting to Sirius XM servers and vica versa and that the issue has been active for over a week which is about how long my issue has been ongoing.

As I mentioned, I have not had connectivity issues in the recent past so couldn’t figure out what the problem is since nothing on the network or in the Sonos app has changed.

Can you please confirm the status of the SiriusXM/Sonos server connectivity issue and if it’s resolved or if there’s an ETA?

Thank you!

Hi @hashknife 

At the bottom-right of each post there should be a “3 dot” icon - there will be an option to edit a post you’ve made in it’s pop-up menu. You may only get 1 hour to do so, however.

As far as I can determine, any issues with playing SiriusXM on Sonos have been resolved - the best way to check is to visit status.sonos.com, but please be aware this page only updates with issues once we’ve receive reports of them from our user base - it’s not automatic. There is a large, gold box that takes you there at the right of this page, labelled “View real-time service status”.

The best way to determine if an issue is due to local (WiFi interference/configuration) or non-local conditions (SiriusXM), is to test another source - if the issue persists on Spotify, for example, then the cause is more likely to be local.

Channel 6 is the default channel used by SonosNet, though this has nothing to do with grouping. You can select channels 1, 6 or 11 - these are the only channels that do not overlap, and other channels should be avoided on WiFi too. I think you might have heard mention of the fact that when grouping and not using SonosNet, speakers will use the current channel utilised by your WiFi to share data directly with each other, rather than routing it via the router. When SonosNet is used, the SonosNet channel select in the settings is used instead.

Although nothing may have changed in your home, or on your devices, if you share a wall with a neighbour then it’s entirely possible that a new purchase of theirs has affected reception on one of your players - perhaps try shifting a unit by a metre or so to see if it improves matters, if nothing else helps.

Thank you, Corry, again!  I will remember about the 1 hour limitation to edit posts.

I had actually read something on the XM Radio Twitter account that referenced the issue about a week ago and confirmed with a tech and sr. tech with Sonos.  During this time of interference, the Sonos site didn’t note any SiriusXM radio so I’m not certain why the disparity between the status site and what the tech support was sharing with clients.

Our home is freestanding and quite a distance from neighbors so I don’t believe that the issue is with interference with neighbors.

Also, I’ve rebooted the entire network as indicated in my original post.

I’ve also disbanded the group and regrouped with Outside as the first room listed, followed by Inside, and Master Bedroom as you suggested.

Actually after I disbanded and regrouped, the connectivity was worse and more drops occurred.  Please address why this might have happened.

Many thanks, again, for your continued help.

I apologize...I forgot to include that the connectivity issue is only on XM and not on Spotify which is the only other music service I have added.

Thank you!

Hi @hashknife 

I think it depends on the severity of the issue - once reported (by users or by the units playing) issues go beyond a threshold, the status page is updated.

I would have to examine another diagnostic - submitted when playing in that setup - to give you an answer to that.

OK - that certainly makes it sound like XM is the issue, though there could be a difference in bitrate between the two services - if XM is higher, that could be the problem. We don’t have Sirius XM here in Europe so I’m not familiar with it but a quick search doesn’t suggest that it would be particularly high. It may indeed just be an issue with SiriusXM - it’s not uncommon, to be frank.

Cory, thank you, again, for your continued help!  So far, SiriusXM has been playing consistently. If I have issues with connectivity, even with the regrouping as you suggested, I will submit a diagnostic number on this post for review.

Hi @hashknife 

That’s good to hear - happy listening!