sonos are suggesting i replace my bridge with Boost - why?

Forum|Forum|7 years ago
August 26, 2019
39 replies
6082 views

Just received email from Sonos suggesting I replace my bridge with a boost. The mail is non specific as to why? Just really says it’s old!

my bridge is used as a stand alone booster to extend range of my Sonos to the garden (which is well covered by a mesh Wi-Fi system).

What exactly is “wrong” with bridge (apart from the known dodgy psu) that warrants replacement? Or is this a warning for end of support?

Alarms

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Best answer by ratty

I would have to wonder if there’s an upcoming change in the way the software/transmission works that makes SonosNet 1.0 no longer viable, and in order to mitigate issues, they’re attempting to get people to upgrade before that happens.Perhaps Sonos is being forced, by no-nothing magazine reviewers, to embrace "hi-rez" for no good technical reasons. It's mentioned in virtually every review as a "negative" of Sonos vs the competition. Would be sad, but marketing forces being what they are, who knows?

Possibly, but a more likely explanation is that Bridge is simply a growing support issue. Flaky PSUs can cause intermittent hard-to-trace problems. And as the linchpin of a SonosNet mode system Bridge has been outclassed for nigh on five years by Boost. Sat beside ever-more-powerful routers Bridge could well be feeling rather overwhelmed.

ratty

Apart from the PSU issue, Bridge is a remnant of the inferior SonosNet 1.0 technology.

M

Martin PigottAuthor

Contributor I

Ok- that’s a technological answer!
isit only inferior range compared to boost, or is there anything else it doesn’t “do”?

ratty

Basically it's a first generation radio. (We're on at least the third generation, introduced with Beam.)

So less range, less interference rejection.

M

Martin PigottAuthor

Contributor I

Ok thx - so if I don’t have a range problem or interference problem it will soldier on for a bit longer..

M

Martin PigottAuthor

Contributor I

Also another related point- if I buy an ikea Sonos speaker I assume that has the later chipsets and will give me the benefit of later sonosnet and some music for £99 rather than £100 - 30% or £84 in John Lewis?

ratty

Also another related point- if I buy an ikea Sonos speaker I assume that has the later chipsets and will give me the benefit of later sonosnet and some music for £99 rather than £100 - 30% or £84 in John Lewis?

You mean an IKEA bookshelf speaker instead of a Boost? I have no idea what quality of radio is in the IKEA units.

Boost was designed up to a spec, with enhanced interference rejection, to operate close to a router. One would imagine that the IKEA kit has been designed with cost as a primary consideration.

M

Martin PigottAuthor

Contributor I

Ok thanks for the reply. I imagine it’s too expensive to design an alternate radio chipset for the ikea speaker, presumably a lower spec audio amp and cheaper materials. And probably a lower margin for IKEA.

im sure someone will break one and have a look! I can’t imagine a Sonos 1 costs more than £40-50 at the Shenzhen factory gate?

ratty

There are tear-down and hacking videos for the One and the IKEA speakers if you care to search them out.

J

John B

Just wanted to check... your Bridge is used 'stand slone'. I assume you have another Sonos device wired to your network?

ratty

Just wanted to check... your Bridge is used 'stand slone'. I assume you have another Sonos device wired to your network?

There must be. Unwired Bridges and Boosts simply vanish into thin air if a system switches to WiFi mode.