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nielsdefeyter
Contributor I
January 1, 2022

Feature request: option to disable Line-In Latency/Delay on Sonos Five

  • January 1, 2022
  • 27 replies
  • 3231 views

Hi Sonos team,

This has been requested before, but after extensive reading in the fora I could not find a solution or an answer from Sonos about prioritisation of this issue.

Can you please provide an option to disable audio-delay (latency) when a line-in device is used on a single Sonos speaker setup?

In an older conversation all kind of ideas were proposed by the community. There were a couple of things people agreed on:

  • Many people are bothered that a minimal 75 ms latency is enforced. And they would be very happy if Sonos could give an option to disable the 70ms latency. Two use-cases where people encounter the latency-problem:
    • Creative music production (keyboard, dj-mixer)
    • Audio video where the Sonos is used for audio and a laptop/television as screen (for movie watching or video calls).
  • In a setup with 1 Sonos speaker and a line-in device as audio-source, the 70ms latency seems artificial and not dictated by technical limitations (i.e. buffering with multiple wireless Sonos speakers).

This is that thread:

 

Can you please consider providing options to the user to further reduce latency?

 

Thanks in advance.

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    27 replies

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    ratty
    ratty
    January 2, 2022

    Perhaps it may make sense only for the Port/Amp, where at least stereo pairing will not be an issue.

    An analog bypass for the Port?! It’s called an interconnect cable, leaving Port completely out of the equation.

    I know! But then the music in that zone cannot ever be played on other Sonos units in grouped mode, when the buffer delay is not an issue.

    If someone was sufficiently obsessed about such matters they’d add a splitter, with one signal going to the Port and the other bypassing it straight into the third party amp. And if even a splitter offended, owing to two parallel input impedances, they’d use a passive switch up front. 

    Kumar
    January 2, 2022

    If someone was sufficiently obsessed about such matters they’d add a splitter

    Fair enough! Just the Sonos amp then, with a line in bypass mode?:slight_smile:

    Too much effort for too little return, I suppose.

      amun
      January 2, 2022

       

      1. Multi-speaker over-the-air functionality is a very important feature

      Not just important, but a fundamental aspect of the Sonos system - in-sync multi-room was its initial USP, and that’s unlikely to change

      1. Line-in audio-video and creative-production is a minor use-case.

      Extremely so - considering the number of units sold, probably a truly miniscule percentage.

      But then we hooked up a little dj set for a newyear party and we got surprised it does not work due to the latency.

      I don’t recall Sonos ever advertising their system as being suitable for  dj’ing, so it seems unreasonable to expect it to do so. Sonos make no secret of the delay, and had you asked Sonos (or even here) prior to purchase then many people would have pointed out that it wouldn’t work.

       

       

      ratty
      ratty
      January 2, 2022

      If someone was sufficiently obsessed about such matters they’d add a splitter

      Fair enough! Just the Sonos amp then, with a line in bypass mode?:slight_smile:

       

      At 100% volume from input to output, all the time? 

      Kumar
      January 2, 2022

      At 100% volume from input to output, all the time? 

      No, because it would need to be a physical bypass with volume control and EQ, if the bypass cannot be done via software.

      ratty
      ratty
      January 2, 2022

      At 100% volume from input to output, all the time? 

      No, because it would need to be a physical bypass with volume control and EQ, if the bypass cannot be done via software.

      So it would have to be a special model, with an analog path. With either a digitally controlled analog volume or ... a potentiometer. And presumably, to complete the quaint picture, Baxandall analog tone control circuits? 

      This really is a full-blown descent of the rabbit hole.

      Kumar
      January 2, 2022

      That implies a physical analog bypass. There isn’t one. Besides, the volume control and EQ are all in the digital domain. 

       

      That rules out any kind of physical bypass, for sure.

      What I said...

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