android S2 app

As I recall, Sonos said the variety of different microphones used by different manufacturers of Android devices gave too much inconsistency. If so, I suspect nothing will change when S2 comes out. But we shall see...

It certainly would be a stretch, I agree. But until we see what is announced, I’d only expect a 99% chance of a no. Sonos has surprised me before. 

I’m hoping to perhaps see more auto-trueplay tuning of Sonos products, like we presently have available with the Sonos Move and its built-in microphones.🤔

I’m hoping for a USB mike you could plug into any tablet that can run the Sonos app.

Indeed.  The absence of Trueplay on Android has nothing to do with limited memory on older players.  So it seems no more likely as a result of S2 than it was before. 

While I do want to see this as well, I’d certainly welcome a solution for speakers that don’t have built in mics as well.

If it is too complicate to support all the android devices, they should at least support the google phone (Nexus).

Is the Google phone consistent with mic they use in their model?  Other than iphone, do Google phone represent the largest percentage of Sonos users?

I don’t know about the largest percentage of Sonos users. But I am pretty sure than Google doesn’t make their mic, neither Apple. So Google and Apple aren’t consistent with their mic. They are using what they thing is best for them. The Nexus phone isn’t cheap! I like both company by the way :) But now I am using a Nexus phone and I am disappointed about Sonos for their explanation. I will keep my speakers, I like the quality, but I do explain to my friends that Sonos doesn’t offer the same support for Android and Apple. I will be curious to do a few calls with an brand new Nexus and any Iphone and ask to the person who answer which phone I used ?

And Apple users will say Android can play tracks stored on the phone and Apple users cannot.  Both are limited in some way, so there’s no bias here. Sonos does what it can, but in the end, they are at the mercy of the mobile manufacturers.

I understand partially. I don’t think that Sonos is doing everything it can about android. And they know their number. If they have 10 apple user for 1 android, I understand why they are doing it :) But I am working as a professional engineer for many years now, and I am pretty sure that they would be able to support at least the Nexus phone. Imagine if Apple were providing their iOS to plenty of company, as Google! What will do Sonos ? Stop supporting Apple ? I don’t thing so. But I understand two things. First, Sonos probably doesn't know how many Google Nexus phone own a Sonos audio system. Second, one of my good friend is one of the biggest Apple fan since the beginning of time. He will laugh at me when I ask him to borrow his phone :) 

Using an external calibrated mic (like the DaytonAudio iMM-6) would solve the problem of mic inconsistency with Android phones. 

I’d like to use my Move to tune the other Sonos speakers, that would be cool and obviously doable seeing as it can tune itself! Don’t have Apple products and never will. 

This is not a software issue but hardware issue. Doing a search in this forum I see many complaints about this, always answered with the same lame answer about android devices using various different microphones in each phone.. If different mics in android phone are an issue, they should supply a microphone that can be attached to any android phone. Doesn't need to be that expensive. Maybe even for iphones as well - if you only have 1 type of mic, you can really optimize and finetune trueplay because everybody is using the same mic. I think it really sucks that people that are asking for this for years, people who bought your expensive product or are planning to do, and are not offered a solution all this time. I understand that Sonos can't offer a solution right away for everything but come on.. customers are asking for it 3 to 4 years already.. and the solution can be so simple and even improve your product (1 mic - consistent results).

I don’t think I would share your confidence that this is a trivial thing to do or that it would be remotely commercially justified.  How would you attach the microphone?  Would every phone process the sound in the same way.?  I cannot see this ever happening.

You could borrow a friend or family member with an i-device for a few minutes

Sonos pricing indicates that it's a premium brand. Premium brands offer a total solution, that is what you pay extra for. Borrowing a device is a solution, but it just doesn't fit with a premium brand in my opinion. It feels like a startup/kickstarter solution to me.

End consumer pricing for a usb-c type external mic that works for android & iOS is $14 (probably even cheaper, haven't searched thoroughly). I'm sure Sonos could source/develop mics much cheaper as they are buying in bulk. Then add a margin on top of that and sell it as an add-on if it's not commercially interesting to add it for free with a $799 soundbar. That is how a real premium brand would solve it (Apple for example).

Yes the sound would be processed the same way, this is a hardware issue, not a software issue. The software part is the Sonos app. That's why using 1 mic for all devices is actually better and easier to maintain. You don't have to adjust the algorithm for all possible mics that will use the trueplay tuning, plus an external mic is probably better than built-in phone mic for situations like this.

But I agree with you that this will probably not happen any time soon. I’m just expressing my frustrations.

I’m an Android user so have this issue as well, but I’m also about to take delivery of a Sonos Move. I would love if the Move could be used to TruePlay other speakers. Obviously I don’t have knowlege of all the technicalaties of what's involved hardware and software whilst Trueplay is being used, but I would assume as everything involved is Sonos this should be a relatively simple feature to add?

@janvh. I understand the frustration, but 'premium brand' doesn't mean it has to have a particular feature,  especially if that is technically impossible to do satisfactorily. 

Trueplay is a relatively recent Sonos development.  It was added as a FREE software update. If Sonos had never developed it, would Sonos not be a premium brand?

Let's agree to differ. 

@John B my frustration is because of the trueplay tuning for Sonos Arc which is mandotory in my opinion to get the best dolby atmos experience. I dont see that as a free upgrade because its heavily advertised as an unique selling point. But in that case it should clearly state its only meant for iOS. Even the salesguy in the specialised shop I was in was convinced it would work with Android because he couldnt imagine that they would sell a $800 soundbar which can only be finetuned by an apple device.

Salesguy’s are known to either not know as much as you’d expect, or tell you what’s needed to make the sale.   While I agree that the Arc would be much better if there was a way to tune the Arc without getting your hands on an iOS device, that doesn’t change the tech limitations of android.  I would have rather seen there be some other device created that could be used to trueplay tune Sonos speakers.

the mic inconsistency issue is also happening for ios. on reddit they talked about older iphones producing better results than newer apple devices. I think a usb-c microphone will solve all issues for both android & apple and its cheap. Same software can be used so nothing needs to change there.. just optimized for 1 type of microphone.