That really sounds like a problem you should capture a diagnostic on (within about 10 minutes of it happening) and contact Sonos support with the diag number so they can look at the internal data we users can’t see.

Can you tell if you are getting the same quality music streamed to you via each method? Getting the higher bandwidth music could be pushing something locally past the failure point while lower bandwidth music is staying under it.

Will do so.  I believe the stream is at a higher bitrate via the Sonos App (as opposed to airplay from Amazon Music App or started via Alexa), but haven’t been able to confirm that.  Assuming that is the case, I can’t tell where the “weak point is” ( all gear is connected via ethernet, and I have 1gb up/down fiber, so I don’t think my internet service or Wi-Fi limitations are a factor here, but who knows.  Thanks!

If you submit a system diagnostic within 10 minutes of experiencing this problem, and call Sonos Support to discuss it, they can likely identify the ‘weak’ point for you. 

When you speak directly to the phone folks, they have tools at their disposal that will allow them to give you advice specific to your network and Sonos system.

Remember, most of the time when speaking about ‘WiFi problems’, the discussion is about the internal network, and how well the speakers are connecting to your router. The speed of your connection between your router and the outside world has very little affect. 

Excellent information. Thanks!. Once I find out what is wrong I’ll post it here in case it would be a benefit to anyone else.

I think all of us enjoy either confirming that our suspicions were correct, or learning something new.