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laconic
Enthusiast II
April 20, 2021

Sonos Roam does not work with Sonos S1 App

  • April 20, 2021
  • 78 replies
  • 7755 views

Just received my Roam today. 

Heads up for everyone as it’s not made clear anywhere prior to purchase that it’s only compatible with the new version of the app. 
 

This means if you have “legacy” Sonos products as part of your set up and use the S1 app to control them you won’t be able to see your Roam as part of your existing Sonos network. 
 

You have to download the new version of the app and then set up a new Sonos system to add the Roam to it. Then you have to add all your music services, any favourites etc etc again to the new app to be able to access them on your Roam. 
 

Pretty s*it experience to be honest, and annoying it’s not made clearer. 

By having “old” products Sonos doesn’t want me to have in my network I’m effectively left with a bog standard stand alone portable speaker. Struggling to see the benefit of it over a JBL Bluetooth speaker at the moment to be honest (build quality and sound quality aside obviously 😆). 
 

Anyway heads up for those of you still mulling over the purchase. 

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    78 replies

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    Ken_Griffiths
    Ken_Griffiths
    March 13, 2022

    Changing all my connect amps is still too much for me at the moment so I'll stay with S1... And I still makes sense to be frustrated that new products are not compatible with the old system, and looking at the thread it seems like it irritates lots of people... 

    But it seems you have already begun to do the switch, as your profile also lists the new Sonos Amp? That seems to contradict your earlier post too - you could easily split the C:A’s off to S1 and run everything else alongside on S2 and perhaps over-arch both setups with Airplay by leaving a ‘One’ in the S1 HH, at least until you migrate all to S2 - it’s probably far cheaper too than starting-over with a completely new system from a different manufacturer.

      MDBrez
      Lyricist I
      March 24, 2022

      Thankfully I bought my Sonos roam from Costco - will take it back in 80 days.

      Not worth the effort to upgrade to S2 when I have 3k invested in S1 products.

      BTW - Sonos can fix this if they put customer satisfaction above the bottom line - my Sonos PlayBars is backward comparable on S1…just sayin.

       

       

      MDBrez
      Lyricist I
      March 24, 2022

      Sending mine back: my partner isn’t techy, and doesn’t understand why it won’t just work with the £1,000s of Sonia kit we have already.  Explained that, for it to work, we have to renew every bit of Sonos kit in the house.

      and frankly, if I’m going to do that, why would I buy Sonos again?

      I am not sure what you want Sonos to do.  The whole point of creating the S1 / S2 split was to allow product developments that were held back by needing to operate with the oldest products.  if the Roam had to be compatible with the ‘legacy’ devices, it wouldn’t be the Roam.

      You cannot group the Roam with your existing devices but you don’t need to get rid of them.  Which Sonos products do you have?

      Then explain how my move is on S1???

      melvimbe
      melvimbe
      March 24, 2022

      Sending mine back: my partner isn’t techy, and doesn’t understand why it won’t just work with the £1,000s of Sonia kit we have already.  Explained that, for it to work, we have to renew every bit of Sonos kit in the house.

      and frankly, if I’m going to do that, why would I buy Sonos again?

      I am not sure what you want Sonos to do.  The whole point of creating the S1 / S2 split was to allow product developments that were held back by needing to operate with the oldest products.  if the Roam had to be compatible with the ‘legacy’ devices, it wouldn’t be the Roam.

      You cannot group the Roam with your existing devices but you don’t need to get rid of them.  Which Sonos products do you have?

      Then explain how my move is on S1???

       

      Move was released before  the S1/S2 split., Roam was created after. What you get on S1 with Move is only what was capable at the time of the split, with  no feature improvements that came with S2. As well, Move and Roam do not have same set of features.

       

      Danny
      melvimbe
      melvimbe
      March 24, 2022

      Thankfully I bought my Sonos roam from Costco - will take it back in 80 days.

      Not worth the effort to upgrade to S2 when I have 3k invested in S1 products.

      BTW - Sonos can fix this if they put customer satisfaction above the bottom line - my Sonos PlayBars is backward comparable on S1…just sayin.

       

       

       

      According to your profile, you have quite a few products that only work on S2, not just the Roam. 

      Danny
        jgatie
        jgatie
        March 24, 2022

        Then explain how my move is on S1???

         

        Because S1 actually knows what a Move is.  Roam was created after S2, so there is no way S1 knows what it is, and since S1 can’t be added to due to memory restrictions on the old devices, there’s no way of adding the Roam to S1.  

          LNB123
          Contributor I
          April 10, 2022

          My original Roam works perfectly fine in my "legacy system" with the S1 controller.  I have just received a Roam SL...this apparently will not.  I am pretty hacked off that Sonos have (in their opinion) updated a system such that those early adopters and supporters are now deemed legacy users.  I shall request a refund on return of this (to me) useless product.  I will of course never purchase a Sonos product again...nor, when the system finally conks out, will I replace it with another Sonos system.  So disappointing

          LNB123
          Contributor I
          April 10, 2022

          Addendum to above...I mean my original Sonos Move, (I referred to it as a Roam)

          Ken_Griffiths
          Ken_Griffiths
          April 10, 2022

          Addendum to above...I mean my original Sonos Move, (I referred to it as a Roam)

          When the S1/S2 split occurred Sonos announced that all new products would be for S2 only - this was posted clearly on this forum, online and by the reporting media. There’s also this Sonos support document to show what works with S2, S1 or both Apps…

          https://support.sonos.com/s/article/4786

          The Sonos Move was manufactured/released prior to the S1/S2 split and so works with both Apps

          The Roam was manufactured/released after the S1/S2 split and so works with the S2 App only. It also highlights this fact in the Sonos.com shop.

          I would just either install the S2 App and run it alongside your existing S1 setup, which is what I do and use it as a portable speaker, or I guess you could perhaps return it to its place of purchase (if within terms/date), or sell it on, if you prefer to do any of those things instead.

           

            LNB123
            Contributor I
            April 10, 2022

            Thank you Ken....you are of course correct, I should have made myself aware of this by accessing this information rather than relying on Sonos to highlight this prominently on their sales promotion for the SL.  Sonos being rather poor in their valuation of, you know, their customers.  I will be returning this product for a refund.  I will use the money to buy a decent blue tooth speaker from, probably, Bose

             

             

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