Connect Amp keeps dropping out audio

I had two problem neighbors so I wired as many Sonos to Ethernet as I could, gave me a strong enough signal to all the wireless ones that things worked pretty well.

I really would do a fresh diagnostic and call back, hoping for a better tech.

Hi as suggested I did a new diagnostic and called Sonos support and spent nearly an hour on the phone while the guy I was talking to spoke to his superior somewhere else who could see the interruptions on the system and has now suggested a different reason for the audio drop outs.

He says it’s because my Connect Amps are running out of memory!!

Apparently the reason being that as there have been software upgrades over the years they have taken up more and more memory leaving less for buffering the data.

Sonos proposed solution is to replace the Connect Amp with the newer Amp system!

When I asked how much memory the CA has versus the Amp I couldn’t get an answer plus I can’t find this information on the data sheet!

Anyone have any comments on what Sonos are saying is the problem and the suggested solution which as I have 4 CA’s is an expensive solution?

I did suggest maybe downgrading the software to an earlier version that doesn’t take up as much memory as I don’t want any extra features they may have added as all I do on the system is listen to BBC Sounds but was told this wouldn’t work.

SONOS staff would be in a better position to comment on memory utilization, but I think that there is a communication issue. If data reaching the player is corrupted or starved and it seems (in the player’s opinion) that the problem can be rectified quickly, the player will mute. If the issue is more severe, the player will abandon the current track and attempt the next track. Obviously, skip a track is not an option for a live stream.

You can find memory availability here.

Still no joy on fixing my drop out problem, I even emailed the CEO Patrick Spence in desperation but he didn’t respond so he’s as good as his ‘expert’ support engineers who are really just call handlers! At the very beginning of this experience I told the support guy that I had hard wired my system to the router before we started diagnosing the problem and coming to the initial conclusion that the problem was wifi interference! Here is a dum question…….if my system is hard wired to the router and the wifi on each Connect Amp disabled how can the problem be wifi interference? It’s got to the situation that I’m looking at the Amazon Echo Link Amp to replace all my Connect Amps especially as they are a lot cheaper! 

Just curious if you’ve performed a network refresh, with the possibility of duplicate IP addresses somewhere, or did I miss a post that said all these devices have reserved IP addresses in your router?

It’s not uncommon for people (like me!) to put simple duplicate IP addresses in the same bucket as wifi interference , even though it clearly isn’t. It can affect any network, unwired or wired. 

Check for silly things, such as an intermittent network cable. As a test, enable the WiFi. While smaller buffers could make the system more vulnerable to drops when there are communications issues, resolving the communication issues is a good plan. The diagnostics provide a good log of communications issues, if any. Was there any discussion of communication quality while you were working with Support?

Hi Buzz no there wasn't any discussion re quality, by the way would it help to fix the IP addresses? Also does anyone know if I added a boost would that eliminate interference although I think they may be discontinued? As for network refresh I have done multiple refreshes!

Always reserve IP addresses. 

From my seat this seems like some sort of communication issue, but this leaves tracks in the diagnostics.

Are you Grouping the players? Try reducing the size of the Group and building the Group in a different order.

Use a network analysis App, and check PING times to the players. Many of these Apps can check for duplicate Ip addresses.

Re reserving the IP addresses I tried to reserve them by changing setting on my hub to always use a specific IP address which I switched to ‘Yes’ but it doesnt seem to save the setting. I assume the hub should recognise the MAC address and then set the IP address that is reserved but as I say it doesnt save the setting to always use the same IP Address!! I have a group of 4 players together!