Still no DLNA support in Sonos (using jellyfin)

This is my own personal understanding…

UPnP and DLNA are two different standards. 

DLNA was derived from UPnP, as an attempt to normalize media interoperability. It does this partly by being more restrictive than UPnP (e.g. by restricting the number of media formats) and partly by adding features (like DRM, i.e. copy protection).

The Sonos format appears to be based around UPnP, so presumably it’s a compatibility issue as I’ve not seen the App, or Sonos Support Pages mention DLNA, they only refer to UPnP Servers or (Windows) Media Servers. So maybe you’re going to be ‘out of luck’ with your chosen old media server software.

And, to my knowledge, there’s never been any official statements from Sonos that they intend to provide support for either of these. I’m sure that Support can pass on the desire for implementation, but given the lack of widespread clamoring for this, it seems unlikely. 

As far as I can tell, UPnP support in Sonos is spotty, at best.

There are many complaints about people with UPnP servers which are not found by Sonos.

There doesn’t seem to be clear documentation about what Sonos needs to find a UPnP server.

If you know otherwise, please share a link.

I started Sonos when the only network server was SMB, which was miserable to set up.

Sonos documentation says:

“Sonos can play music from compatible UPnP servers on your network. “

but does not say what makes a server compatible

I assume you have enabled “show upnp servers” in the app?

Adding the html url you listed to the music library list is not going to help you, that is for SMB shares.

Yes, thanks, I added show upnp servers.

I see other complaints about UPnP servers not showing up in Sonos. Here’s one example below. Sonos support does not seem to be familiar with UPnP servers. I spend more than an hour discussing servers with them, and they only wanted me to use a proprietary server, plex

Problems with UPnP server

One more thought.

Tonight, I am comparing the same files through two different, both playing through my Denon receiver, some speakers, etc. The files are flac, ripped from CDs.

1. Sonos through SMB playing through a Connect, 1st generation, through Denon, using an optical input.
2. Denon through Jellyfin, DLNA

Sonos is flat, Denon is more vibrant. Denon recognizes that it is playing flac files. When playing through Sonos, Denon sees PCM input, 44.1 kHz.

I assume that Sonos is resampling the files, though I don’t understand how.

When I play Idagio through Sonos and Denon, I see flac, but not when I am playing the SMB files.

I don’t blame SMB for the flatness. I think that is on Sonos. I have tried playing directly from my Linux box to Denon, via an optical input, and I think that is better than Sonos, though I need to do more testing here.

The Connect is decoding the FLAC file and supplying the resulting PCM bitstream to the receiver.

When playing directly from DLNA, the receiver is decoding the FLAC file and generating the PCM bitstream.

Provided that the Connect is set to use fixed volume, the bitstreams from the two sources will be identical, and the audio indistinguishable.

If the Connect is using variable volume, then the bitstream will be altered to allow for volume variability.

As far as I can tell, the Connect is not limiting the volume, the volume limit is set to off.

Is there something else in Sonos which would limit volume?

The specific device setting you’re looking for is “Line Out Level”. Set this to “Fixed”.

Thanks for the suggestion.

Setting Line Out Level to Fixed does sound better. I don’t quite understand why. If the problem with variable Line-Out Level is just volume, I could increase the volume on the receiver, and the sound would be fine.

Unfortunately, using Fixed Line-Out Level isn’t a great fit for my use case. In addition to the Connect in the living room, I have a nearby Sonos pair in the kitchen. The are often set to the same source.

With variable level, I can modify the volume in both room in the same time with the Sonos app.

With fixed level, if I want to modify the volume in both rooms, I have to

1. modify the level in the kitchen with the Sonos app
2. modify the volume in the living room with an app which controls the receiver volume, either harmony, or an app directly supporting Denon.