Sonos:Connect Delay Line-In

Welcome to the forums.

Some delay is inevitable, and piping audio through Sonos tends to be incompatible with the accurate timing needed for DJ cueing.

Sonos packetises the digitised Line-In data and sends it over a local network that exhibits variable transmission delay. To enable Sonos to 'ride out the bumps' a 70 ms buffer is introduced for the Uncompressed mode.

This 70 ms is the same whether or not zones are grouped together. If your Line-In setting is Automatic then it could be that your Sonos is switching to Compressed mode when you group a number of zones. It does this when wireless conditions are marginal. Compressed mode increases the delay.

As far as PLAYBAR is concerned, the tighter coupling between PLAYBAR and its SUB/surrounds allows it to reduce its internal delay to 30 ms. There's a FAQ which explains some of this.

Last night I experienced a very similar problem.

I recently purchased a connectamp for our kitchen hifi set up, I also have/had a DJ controller in there. I plugged into the line in and accessed this on the controller. There is a noticeable delay in what I hear through my headphones connected to my controller and what comes out of the speakers.

I have since changed the kitchen (connect amp) settings to "autoplay"

I have a connect in the dining room too, both run off a dedicated songs bridge network.

My question(s) are, does the line in still use the network? i.e. Is the signal sent to the connect amp > sonos network > back to amp? Is there any way that I can just play direct through the line in on the connect amp as I don't need to hear this anywhere else in the house?

Thanks in advance

Paul

My question(s) are, does the line in still use the network? i.e. Is the signal sent to the connect amp > sonos network > back to amp? Is there any way that I can just play direct through the line in on the connect amp as I don't need to hear this anywhere else in the house?
A Line-In playing on the same Player doesn't go out to the network and back, but it does use the same internal audio pipeline. That pipeline is geared for multiroom play, which requires a certain amount of buffering to allow for variations in the network transit time, hence the ~70ms delay.

There's no "direct mode" which bypasses the standard audio pipeline, so there's no way to circumvent the delay.

Thanks ratty, does setting the line in to uncompressed make a difference? Ive not tried it yet but that delay is a lot more that 70ms

does setting the line in to uncompressed make a difference? Ive not tried it yet but that delay is a lot more that 70ms
Yes. The uncompressed delay is around 70ms. The compressed delay is a couple of seconds. By default the system chooses which to use based on network conditions, but you can force it either way. Look under Advanced Settings.

does setting the line in to uncompressed make a difference? Ive not tried it yet but that delay is a lot more that 70ms
Yes. The uncompressed delay is around 70ms. The compressed delay is a couple of seconds. By default the system chooses which to use based on network conditions, but you can force it either way. Look under Advanced Settings.

I noticed that since the last update (6) the delay is noticeable longer than 70ms, more like half a second, which totally breaks my airplay setup when watching video on my devices. when using compressed audio the delay is even worse of course, like 4-5 seconds.. Please fix this, I am really relying on it for my airplay set up and I purchased all the expensive gear (airport express and sonos connect) which you recommended!

I noticed that since the last update (6) the delay is noticeable longer than 70ms, more like half a second, which totally breaks my airplay setup when watching video on my devices. when using compressed audio the delay is even worse of course, like 4-5 seconds.. Please fix this, I am really relying on it for my airplay set up and I purchased all the expensive gear (airport express and sonos connect) which you recommended!
Nothing's changed. Selecting Airplay Device as Line-In device type has always boosted the buffering from 70ms to 500ms. Sonos did this to improve resilience while still keeping the stream uncompressed.

If the latency bothers you, change the Line-In device type to something different.

I am struggling with this same issue, and have all but resigned to returning my Play 5 because it cannot be used in a traditional DJ performance environment, due to the 70ms latency.

One last-ditch question and I'll put this to bed forever: Since the Playbar has less delay, could that be the answer? If you added an analog-to-digital converter box that does not have a delay, and patched it between the DJ mixer and the Digital Optical Line-in of the Playbar, would the Playbar still try to convert the signal again (is there any way it will recognize the signal is already digital, and eliminate the delay)? Basically I want to pre-process the signal so Playbar doesn't have to, but I don't know if the speaker works that way.

I know it's an unlikely long shot but I thought I'd ask.

The PLAYBAR will get the digital signal and convert it to play itself with minimal delay. It's designed to be used with TVs, so the conversion is meant to be in sync with the video. Generally this is around a 30ms delay which isn't noticeable when it comes to syncing with video.

This is when playing to the PLAYBAR itself, or to bonded surround speakers and SUB. When you group the PLAYBAR with other players, a delay is added while that signal gets repackaged and sent to wireless players. The PLAYBAR will still be around 30ms from the source, but the grouped rooms would be around 70ms or slower depending on the network connection.

Thank you Ryan for your reply. So I'll take that as a no, then.

Different than the DJ issue: I have Airplay connected to the Playbar, and it works to throw music from iTunes to the rest of the house. The other speakers are upstairs so the delay is not noticeable.

Can any of the speakers (1, 3, 5) be bonded to the Airplay for surround sound? Could you just play music through it that way (not from the TV)? I use an AppleTV as the Airplay source going into the Playbar.