Enthusiast II

Sonos is forcing people to buy new hardware as they've broken the Connect:Amp and they refuse to fix it

Forum|Forum|2 years ago
December 31, 2023
294 replies
16586 views

Hi,

I'm recreating this thread, as the discussion wasn't finished, but it was locked. I also wanted to make it obvious this is a Sonos issue, not a client environment issue.

https://en.community.sonos.com/components-and-architectural-228999/connect-amp-keeps-dropping-out-audio-6885634/index2.html

I've been following this for a while because I've been having the same issues, and when I spoke to support they said the connect amp can't cope with modern software and that I should upgrade to the amp, which is clearly unacceptable.

This has been confirmed by people in that original thread who have been told the same thing.

BillJanzen

“FWIW, these issues seem to have occured after the June 2023 software update to S2 version 15.5. Interestingly, there is an alert posted in the release notes of the 15.6 update released July 25, 2023 about adjusting how older Sonos products use their internal memory. See below (copied from https://support.sonos.com/en-ca/article/release-notes-for-sonos-s2): Alerts: With this update, we’ve adjusted how some of our older Sonos products are using their internal memory. Because of this change, updates for Play:1, Play:3, Boost, Connect, Connect:Amp, and Sub (Gen 1 and 2) will take longer to complete than before. The reset process for these products will also take more time to complete after this update.”

BillJanzen

“We continue to have intermittent drop-outs on all 4 of our Connect:Amp devices, so here’s my update after 1.5 hours on the phone with Sonos today. They said the diagnostics for one of the Connect:Amp devices the chose to investigate showed multiple major alerts, including: Cannot allocate memory to full status Write failed Player crashed: out of memory OOM Killer These items all sound like they are related to memory issues with the older Connect:Amp product, as Big Bull mentioned in his previous post.”

Big Bull:

“Ok latest is I powered down 3 of my 4 units and just had the one I use most running hard wired to the router through my switch and it still gave dropouts so I sent 2 diagnostics to Sonos and they said :

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Thanks, so on this one in specific I can see the audio interruptions are caused because the product basically is old, and it is reaching its capabilities, there are some things that can be done to try to reduce the impact of this, but if it continues this product will need to be replaced with the upgrade program.

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I am being advised to replace any affected units with the Sonos Amp which can be costly.”

Birchan

“ Same problem, 4 AMP of which two lose sound... SONOS did a wrong analysis and accidentally said that there were memory failures in some of the units. But since they only give a 2-year warranty, mine was 2.5 years too old. How can SONOS sell products that obviously have manufacturing problems and then say that they can replace them with a 30% discount on new ones? Wonder if Tesla would sell cars that stop working after 2 years and say, sorry you have to buy a new car every two years because the warranty has expired. So bad from SONOS so I will be discontinuing my SONOS system and switching to BOSE... “

For context, in my situation I have a connect amp, connected via ethernet with WiFi off, and I started to get regular drop outs around June. It's incredibly annoying, the audio will drop out for a few seconds before continuing, if other speakers are grouped they will carry on fine.

It's absolutely 100% not a network issue. When I was debugging it, I briefly made the connect amp the only wired device and turned on WiFi, and other speakers in my house worked perfectly at all times. I've also reserved IP addresses, and I ran a ping monitor on it to check for any network dropouts. There were none. I've put the system back now, so the connect amp has its WiFi off.

So it seems to me that Sonos have released a firmware update that the connect amp cannot handle, and rather than take responsibility for it, they're just fobbing people off telling them to buy expensive new hardware to solve the problem, not even with any substantial discount. It's unacceptable. This connect amp worked perfectly before June.

Sonos needs to release a new update that solves the issue, or give people affected substantial discounts on replacement amps, and formally announce that the connect amp is end of life. Currently people with issues on this forum are being unintentionally gaslighted by well meaning people who don't know that this issue exists. Sonos cannot say the connect amp is supported when they've released a broken update.

People need to know about this issue, I've seen loads of topics about this issue and people get fobbed off with network issues, which is absolutely not the case, at all. Big Bull proved this by doing a replacement to amps which solved his issue.

This topic has been closed for further comments. You can use the search bar to find a similar topic, or create a new one by clicking Create Topic at the top of the page.

Pinned Reply By Corry P

Hi @britcowboy

Thanks for bringing this back to my attention.

We now consider this issue to be largely resolved, and any remaining cases are being dealt with on an individual basis. If you still encounter the issue described here, I recommend you get in touch with our technical support team who have tools at their disposal that will allow them to give you advice specific to your Sonos system and what it reports.

I hope this helps.

Show previous replies

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britcowboyAuthor

Enthusiast II

The lack of support for connect amp doesn’t really jive with Sonos’ claimed Product Sustainability objectives;

”designing for longevity with internet-connected devices means focusing on hardware and software…

…we keep product software updated with bug fixes and security patches for many years.”

To be fair to Sonos, if they made a mistake, it is that of declaring Connect Amp that is a design more than a decade old, to be S2 compatible.

Well Gen 1 of the Connect Amp wasn’t S2 compatible, whereas Gen 2 was. They then can’t gimp Gen 2 within a couple of years of that upgrade.

Ken_Griffiths

The lack of support for connect amp doesn’t really jive with Sonos’ claimed Product Sustainability objectives;

”designing for longevity with internet-connected devices means focusing on hardware and software…

…we keep product software updated with bug fixes and security patches for many years.”

To be fair to Sonos, if they made a mistake, it is that of declaring Connect Amp that is a design more than a decade old, to be S2 compatible.

Well Gen 1 of the Connect Amp wasn’t S2 compatible, whereas Gen 2 was. They then can’t gimp Gen 2 within a couple of years of that upgrade.

Didn’t Sonos say at the time of the S1/S2 split that their intention was to support their products upto 5 years after date of last manufacture? My thoughts are the Connect Amp (gen2) must be approaching the 5 year time period, but I’m not sure of the precise month/year the new Amp took over🤔? It seems a long time ago now though since the Sonos Amp was first launched.

melvimbe

Sonos defenders, how can you defend this? This is indefensible. This product isn't being sold, but it's not marked as EOL unlike earlier Connect AMPs which didn't survive the S2 upgrade. Sonos needs to undo the changes it made to memory in the summer update so we can use our existing hardware. If you defend this, the time will come when Sonos does something that bites you, and we won't be here to support you..

Really? You posted 3 years ago to complain about the S1/S2 changes, and posted nothing till now when you have another complaint. You’re really going to claim you will be there to support others when there are issues that don’t impact you directly? And who is this ‘we’ you claim to speak for? The theatrics are silly.

Danny

B

britcowboyAuthor

Enthusiast II

Sonos defenders, how can you defend this? This is indefensible. This product isn't being sold, but it's not marked as EOL unlike earlier Connect AMPs which didn't survive the S2 upgrade. Sonos needs to undo the changes it made to memory in the summer update so we can use our existing hardware. If you defend this, the time will come when Sonos does something that bites you, and we won't be here to support you..

Really? You posted 3 years ago to complain about the S1/S2 changes, and posted nothing till now when you have another complaint. You’re really going to claim you will be there to support others when there are issues that don’t impact you directly? And who is this ‘we’ you claim to speak for? The theatrics are silly.

Firstly, I love the fact you’re going through my post history to find dirt on me, well done. And secondly, I don’t come onto this forum that often, but I do follow Sonos news, I followed the story about the Arc, which didn’t exacly need my help by the time I found out about it. However something I’d never do is hang around a company forum telling people their issues with the companies product aren’t valid, and that the company can do no wrong - that’s pretty sad behaviour imo

I just went back and looked at my old posts, and who was I responding to then? Oh yes, melvimbe and jgatie, who were defending Sonos then as well...

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ANOpax

Enthusiast II

The irony is that very few of the Establishment on here actually have connect amps in their systems.
So rather than offer help, they’ve decided to throw libellous accusations from the peanut gallery.

I’m nearly 36 hours into the rollback to S1 and the amps and apps have been stable and responsive.

melvimbe

Sonos defenders, how can you defend this? This is indefensible. This product isn't being sold, but it's not marked as EOL unlike earlier Connect AMPs which didn't survive the S2 upgrade. Sonos needs to undo the changes it made to memory in the summer update so we can use our existing hardware. If you defend this, the time will come when Sonos does something that bites you, and we won't be here to support you..

Really? You posted 3 years ago to complain about the S1/S2 changes, and posted nothing till now when you have another complaint. You’re really going to claim you will be there to support others when there are issues that don’t impact you directly? And who is this ‘we’ you claim to speak for? The theatrics are silly.

Firstly, I love the fact you’re going through my post history to find dirt on me, well done. And secondly, I don’t come onto this forum that often, but I do follow Sonos news, I followed the story about the Arc, which didn’t exacly need my help by the time I found out about it. However something I’d never do is hang around a company forum telling people their issues with the companies product aren’t valid, and that the company can do no wrong - that’s pretty sad behaviour imo

There’s no dirt, just actually seeing if you have a history of actually doing what you said you would do. You won’t actually be here to support anyone else. You’ll just read the news.

If you had actually looked around you’d see the majority of the people you claim are defending Sonos are actually helping people resolve their issues. You know, that thing you claim you’re going to do.

Does that sometimes mean Sonos is right and the people complaining have unrealistic expectations? Yes. As I said before, I do think it’s reasonable for you to ask for a discount on a new amp and see what you can get. I’d be surprised if you get a full replacement or if Sonos rolls back features to get this to work. Hopefully there’s a fix for it. Anyone else with the issue should contact Sonos support, to eliminate the possibility it’s a network issue and get another name on the list.

Danny

B

britcowboyAuthor

Enthusiast II

Sonos defenders, how can you defend this? This is indefensible. This product isn't being sold, but it's not marked as EOL unlike earlier Connect AMPs which didn't survive the S2 upgrade. Sonos needs to undo the changes it made to memory in the summer update so we can use our existing hardware. If you defend this, the time will come when Sonos does something that bites you, and we won't be here to support you..

Really? You posted 3 years ago to complain about the S1/S2 changes, and posted nothing till now when you have another complaint. You’re really going to claim you will be there to support others when there are issues that don’t impact you directly? And who is this ‘we’ you claim to speak for? The theatrics are silly.

Firstly, I love the fact you’re going through my post history to find dirt on me, well done. And secondly, I don’t come onto this forum that often, but I do follow Sonos news, I followed the story about the Arc, which didn’t exacly need my help by the time I found out about it. However something I’d never do is hang around a company forum telling people their issues with the companies product aren’t valid, and that the company can do no wrong - that’s pretty sad behaviour imo

There’s no dirt, just actually seeing if you have a history of actually doing what you said you would do. You won’t actually be here to support anyone else. You’ll just read the news.

If you had actually looked around you’d see the majority of the people you claim are defending Sonos are actually helping people resolve their issues. You know, that thing you claim you’re going to do.

Does that sometimes mean Sonos is right and the people complaining have unrealistic expectations? Yes. As I said before, I do think it’s reasonable for you to ask for a discount on a new amp and see what you can get. I’d be surprised if you get a full replacement or if Sonos rolls back features to get this to work. Hopefully there’s a fix for it. Anyone else with the issue should contactSonoss support, to eliminate the possibility it’s a network issue and get another name on the list.

The thing is though, that you're very hostile. I appreciate you help people here, but you're very hostile to people who suggest there's an issue with the product, there's no need to be so hostile.

If a big issue arises I will be here adding my name to the list, like I did with the S1/S2 transition. I didn't say I would be here helping people constantly, I don't have the time, I work a full-time job and have a family, you're reading something that I didn't say.

I'm not interested in just solving my issue, I want the issue solved for others who also have it, which seems to be a growing number. The easiest thing for Sonos to do would be to attempt to fix it in software, it's obviously doable as downgrading to s1 fixes the issue. If its a case of some new feature of s2 can't work on the CA, that's fine, I just want what I have to work, while also not limiting myself and preventing myself from buying s2 exclusive devices, without splitting my network, which I refuse to do (as it defies the point of Sonos imo)

K

Kumar

The easiest thing for Sonos to do would be to attempt to fix it in software, it's obviously doable as downgrading to s1 fixes the issue. If its a case of some new feature of s2 can't work on the CA, that's fine, I just want what I have to work, while also not limiting myself and preventing myself from buying s2 exclusive devices, without splitting my network, which I refuse to do (as it defies the point of Sonos imo)

It is almost certainly not the easiest thing to do in software engineering, to do this AND keep the unit up to being part of S2 environment that keeps asking for more memory to serve it, and is not equivalent to a downgrade to S1, a solution that seems to work, but is not for you because you do not want a split system. And a system that is not split, but has some units that cannot do what others on S2 can do defeats the concept of a system that is not split. I understand from posts here that there is a 30% discount on the Amp you can get, and you are well advised here by others to see if direct correspondence with Sonos can fetch you more of a discount - giving you that is by far the easiest thing for Sonos to do.

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britcowboyAuthor

Enthusiast II

The easiest thing for Sonos to do would be to attempt to fix it in software, it's obviously doable as downgrading to s1 fixes the issue. If its a case of some new feature of s2 can't work on the CA, that's fine, I just want what I have to work, while also not limiting myself and preventing myself from buying s2 exclusive devices, without splitting my network, which I refuse to do (as it defies the point of Sonos imo)

It is almost certainly not the easiest thing to do in software engineering, to do this AND keep the unit up to being part of S2 environment that keeps asking for more memory to serve it, and is not equivalent to a downgrade to S1, a solution that seems to work, but is not for you because you do not want a split system. And a system that is not split, but has some units that cannot do what others on S2 can do defeats the concept of a system that is not split. I understand from posts here that there is a 30% discount on the Amp you can get, and you are well advised here by others to see if direct correspondence with Sonos can fetch you more of a discount - giving you that is by far the easiest thing for Sonos to do.

Firstly it's 15% on the Gen 2 Connect Amp. Even if it was 30%, that still ends up being around £500 for a new amp, and it's not as if I'm even getting any new features I need with it, it's literally just replacing a device I've already spent hundreds on due to Sonos breaking it, not good enough. Not only that, but I still have a Gen 1 I need to replace, so that's over a grand to replace them. Secondly as this was a bug introduced in the Summer, rolling it back shouldn't be much work.

Ultimately though, having older devices just start not working properly is not a valid solution, and having Sonos get customers to pay at least £500 to fix their issues isn't good enough.

A

ANOpax

Enthusiast II

As @britcowboy says, the discount on a move from connect amp (gen 2) to Amp is only 15%. After that discount, a pair of Amps comes in at $1,500.

If my rollback to S1 doesn’t stay the course then a pair of WiiM Amps at $750 looks like a very attractive alternative to the pair of Sonos Amps.

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