Line-In Latency/Delay Disable PLAY:5

DFTT.

Another DJ use case here. Gutted to find I couldn't use with my set up. I had the Sonos 5 (gen 1) and it didn't have any delay. I used DJ with the Gen 1 regularly, in a group with no delay. It's the reason I went out an bought the newer version.

So lame. Come on Sonos. 4 years 150 comments. 

The gen 1 has the same delay as current speakers.  Or to put it another way, if you have been happy up to now you should still be happy.

after reading through this whole thread it’s surprising seeing the dismissal from other users that no latency line-in is some far fetched idea.

for decades on almost any speaker purchased there has been no (noticeable) latency on a physical line-in.

it’s logical to assume there won’t be latency when using line-in on speakers.

it’s illogical to assume there will be latency on a line-in no matter what your use case, in general.

i do not think Sonos is going to do a thing about this, but i think the solution is simple … no need for a toggle (although i’d prefer one for quick switching if needed).  but for simplicities sake (since some of you think people will be confused with the option to do this) any UNGROUPed speaker using a physical input (HDMI/Optical/Line-In) it defaults to no latency mode.  the moment it’s grouped or used wirelessly, then the latency is introduced.

why does a physically connected single speaker need to introduce a buffer to sync up audio if it’s not grouped with any other speakers? it makes no sense.

i think if a user was reading about audio latency issues they were having with their speakers, it would make complete sense that a delay is introduced when being used wirelessly or in a group so the system could be in sync.

JACKPOT!  You hit the nail on the head @essential.  The only conclusion I can draw from the dismissal seen is that the individuals involved are not genuine sonos users, but instead on the payroll at Sonos corp, and their purpose is to sweep this product failure under the rug as part of a whitewashing effort.

@by7 .At least everybody else proposing this change has put forward a rational case. Please can we avoid stupid conspiracy theories?

That’s exactly how I’d expect someone on Sonos’s payroll long enough to make 15k replies to respond.

My rational case is when people want to have a single set of speakers for their Laptop, TV, and Music.  That’s pretty rational, and detectable latency is not OK on laptop and TV sources. 

May I point out that there are various tricks that can be employed in debate.  One is to accuse those with a different viewpoint of corruption.

Another trick is to mis-characterise the views of others so that you can ridicule them.  @by7 uses the term ‘dismissal’.  Looking back, I don’t think there has been any ‘dismissal’.   I don’t think anyone on this thread has argued that Sonos should not make this change.  Speaking purely for myself, I have only sought to point out that this is not self-evidently a good change with zero downsides.  And that even if it were a uniformly good change, it isn’t necessarily going to be top of Sonos’ priority list of developments.  And that even apparently simple changes may not be quite so simple in a system that may comprise millions of lines of code.

So for the record, I do not not dismiss this request, and nor do I think I have any right to do so.  Those requesting this change have a rational case and valid reasons.  But it is not self-evident that Sonos should do this right now.  And if they prioritise other developments over the one requested on a particular thread, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they are incompetent or indifferent to customers’ requests.

That is my view.  Please accept my right to express it, as I respect the rights of others to express theirs. Wild, evidence-free conspiracy theories don’t help the discussion. 

And please don’t accuse me of being in Sonos’ pay.  There is no way I can disprove that accusation, but I do believe and hope that others on here are too sensible to side with @by7 on this point. 

Edit please note: I had not seen @by7 ‘s further post when i posted the above.

As to the 15k replies over 8 years, I am afraid I am sad enough to have made these entirely in my own time.  Most of them are helping people with technical issues.  But I do not see any point in debating @by7’s accusation further, as it is an argument I cannot win.

If any moderators feel like editing @by7’s posts or my responses please don’t.  As he knows zero about me his accusations are worthless and water off a duck’s back to me.  Please don’t edit a word of this.  Let everyone make up their own minds.  If they are bothered either way - this is just a sideshow.

I’d like to add another request for minimum-delay audio for non-grouped devices that are playing audio from line-in. I’d be happy if it’s done programmatically or manually. 

I’ve had a bunch of Sonos devices for a bunch of years, very happy with it, best things I own. But my Play 5s would be *better* if they removed the artificially added delay and I could use them as more functional speakers for my computer and TV. It does sound like there are a good number of other customers and potential customers who have a variety of use cases where they want minimal-delay audio.

Maybe Sonos has concluded it’s really technically complicated. Maybe they've concluded the potential market is just too small. Doesn’t seem that way to me, but those are legit issues, and I obviously don’t have solid evidence. 

But the argument that Sonos wouldn’t do this because it’s not in their main wheelhouse — multiroom wireless speakers — is weak. As many people have said, Sonos has branched out far from that original two-thousand-aughts mission, to reach more customers and make more money. Maybe Sonos has gotten stuck in thinking about the line-in architecture one way; maybe they could become unstuck. Sonos’ new CEO changed the approach to development so they release new products a lot faster (and the next two products are apparently non-wheelhouse: headphones and smaller portable speaker). Maybe this new attitude will be more open to more use cases, like getting rid of line-in delay. 

For people who are repeatedly criticizing this request, we got it. We fully understand that most Sonos users don’t care at all about this feature, that it’s not part of the core function (which is amazing!), and that it would take some work. Even so, we think it’s a small feature that would make Sonos a lot more useful to a lot more people, and we wanted to voice that here.