Chromecast functionality



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I have 2 Sonos Ones and was planning to invest in a Beam since I am watching a lot more TV these days. I have decided not to invest in further Sonos gear until the connectivity to Chromecast etc is sorted out. Pity though - i like the sound quality of the products.

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sonos speakers don't have chromecast hardware and software built in them.
A Software version is possible only if google allows and develops it.
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As far as I remember, you can cast to Sonos. You can doing from either in the Sonos app which lets you cast Google music and the like. You can also cast from within the Google music app to speakers without setting up a tv and soundbar. My gripe was the poor integration with other Google Chromecast products. Anyway sold my play 1s now and replaced with Harman Kardon Citation One speaker, full Google Chromecast implementation and also, in my opinion sound better than Sonos Ones.

Good morning. You cant cast you tube, netflix, prime, itv app etc from an android tablet or phone to the speakers. There is no air play equivalent functionality for android. In android chromcast is our equivalent and sonos aren't chromcast compatible.  I can stream music beautifully directly through apps such as spotify,  But no audio for any visual apps 😔. If anyone knows of a solution please do let me know as im gutted x 

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Anyone know how to connect google podcast to Sonos?? Been using this app ever since its been out.. there's a chromecast button, I push it and nothing happens..

God damn it. I wish I saw this thread before I invested in Sonos.

It’s frustrating as hell that I cannot cast anything to my Sonos. My dingie little Sony speaker can be cast and airplay. What sort of joke is Sonos playing on us?

It’s basically a useless ecosystem when you’re forced into the Sonos app which relies on integration services.

Yes, Sonos fanboys please down vote this post I’ve seen how you’ve all attacked legit feedback from owners who are not happy with the way Sonos is prioritizing their software development. This is a software product prioritization. Chromecast is as open as it can be. It is not Apple AirPlay.


@Foofoo: I completely agree. I have 2 Play:3s, a Soundbar, and 2 Play:1s. But I listen to podcasts, etc. on my Google Home Minis because Sonos is so freakin' inconvenient. I'm ready to dump the Sonos gear.

I totally agree. I listen to Podcasts very often. Works like a charm on my Google devices with my Android phones. Using my beam as a overpriced dumb TV speaker because its lack of support of the Chromecast protocol. 

Another frustrated customer here. Come on, it’s june 2020, chromecast feature could have been delivered long time ago. 

+1 for Chromecast support. I’m deliberating whether to hold fire and wait for Chromecast support before buying more Sonos kit or bite the bullet and replace all existing kit with Chromecast compatible kit. Need consistent solution throughout the home, mix’n’match is a mess and I’m not prepared to commit more Sonos spend until this is sorted. :thinking:

I can only agree to everyone here. For such an expensive product there is no excuse to be lacking such a basic functionality!

Please just add the Chromecast integration!

@Mar_Gut_Ort .  Your profile mentions only a Move.  Do you have any other Sonos device?

As has been stated before, Sonos has already written an API that has been used by several streamers to implement this functionality. Google just has to take the time to implement this as well, using the provided API. It’s not something Sonos can do, as they don’t have the ability to access Google’s code base. 

@Mar_Gut_Ort .  Your profile mentions only a Move.  Do you have any other Sonos device?

No, just move. 

Then as @Unmechanized said, you haven't been using Chromecast at all to play Spotify.

You aren't getting Netflix audio out of the Move because there is no connection between the Chromecast/TV and the Move.  A possibility would be to use the Move in Bluetooth mode and connect it to a mobile device on which you are playing Netflix.  Again, this has absolutely nothing to do with Chromecast.

If your TV has an option to output audio via Bluetooth then you might be able to use that. 

What is stopping you? Sonos supports podcast apps and you can play music files using "on this mobile device'. It may not be exactly what you want but basically Sonos does those things.

Omg. Glad I bought only one to test - the other 5 devices will not be Sonos unless they add Chromecast anytime soon.

  

 

The same person who asked you.  No one.  I replied because it shows that not every android user see chromecast as a vital feature, and that there are plenty of features in Sonos without it.

 

I rarely have any desire to do these things. I watch netflix on TV, unless I’m away from home, which would take Sonos out of the picture anyway.  I don’t listen to Google podcasts.  I’ve never thought the audio from camera videos needed something more than the phone’s speakers.  I don’t use whatsapp.  There have been times where I watched a youtube video and wanted better sound, and I have then cast the video to the TV and watched it there.

 

The problem you’re experiencing has nothing to do with you being an Android user.

It has to do with you buying products simply based upon assumptions rather than actually reading the product features beforehand and perhaps even doing a little bit of research on the Web as well (which you’ve done after the fact rather than beforehand). To try to cover up for this, you then turn around and blame the company by making another assumption about them.

You really have nobody to blame but yourself for the situation you are in.

PS. BTW this isn’t directed at Android users as a whole, as I completely understand the desire to want a feature that works comparable to Airplay on iOS. It is essential. No doubt. That said, if you’re buying a product without researching beforehand that it has the "essential feature" that you need, you can only really blame yourself.

 

 

Jeez people! Why the bitter attitude? Are you paid by SONOS? 

This doesn't have to be explained but here we go: Problems that users share for ANY device or software, don't apply to the overall user group but only to some (!) 

So its not a surprise that for you this is not an issue - be informed that this thread is not a poll! 

We are MANY having issues with this if you look up online or in other threads here, each with different usage needs.

So give us a break and go comment somewhere your input can be useful instead of negative?

 

ps. I did do my research before buying, this is not something you will typically read as a not supported feature ;)

 

As mentioned, another example that SONOS is not willing to put the same investment for Android, is that the Trueplay Tuning is only available in iOs… 

@Unmechanized - a further thought has been prompted by your post.  Maybe one reason Sonos hasn’t added Chromecast functionality is that Sonos realises that the users clamouring for it don’t know that they can do most of what they want already by other means, but just don’t realise it?

What are the other means? How can a Sonos 1 work with a projector to output audio? It already works with the Bose Soundlink II. 

@Unmechanized - a further thought has been prompted by your post.  Maybe one reason Sonos hasn’t added Chromecast functionality is that Sonos realises that the users clamouring for it don’t know that they can do most of what they want already by other means, but just don’t realise it?

What are the other means? How can a Sonos 1 work with a projector to output audio? It already works with the Bose Soundlink II. 

Projectors are irrelevant to this discussion.  Sonos staff have commented on numerous threads that Sonos HT systems are designed for use with TVs not projectors, and a wired connection for audio.  That applies whether you are an Android or an iOS user. 

And a Sonos One is not a Sonos AV product.  It is not designed for a projector or a TV.

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@Nollind .  I agree with @melvimbe‘s verdict that this is purely speculative and not to be relied on.

One thing for sure is that likening the possible Bluetooth functionality to the way the Play:5 line-in  works doesn’t really make sense.  The Line-in acts as a new source and is wired.  Bluetooth is a method of data transmission and is wireless.

As I noted in my reply to Melvimbe, yes it has been reported but not verified by Sonos, so yes it is still speculative. The article source has me hopeful though. But yes, people shouldn’t assume something in an article is fact and then blame Sonos for not adding the feature to their speakers.

As for the second half of your reply, I’m confused by what you mean. You do realize that you can buy bluetooth adapters that connect to your stereo system as a source, thus relaying sound to all of the speakers throughout your house (be they wired or wireless). Even some amps and receivers have this Bluetooth source capability built in as well.

The number one issue with this though is the Bluetooth delay added on top of the delay relaying the music to the other wireless Sonos speakers. But again, it doesn’t mean it’s not technically possible. It just means the delay from pressing play to actually hearing the music relayed throughout your house on your Sonos speakers would be considerable (i.e. 2-3 seconds maybe?).

For example, if I had a Sonos Play 5, I could add one of these bluetooth adapters to the line-in on the back on my Play 5 and share bluetooth music on my phone throughout my entire house using my Sonos system.

So again, it would be up to Sonos to decided if the bluetooth connection and input to the Sonos speaker is just directly to that speaker only (i.e. a selective singular mode) or it is considered as a “source” that can be relayed to other speakers as well.

PS. Actually I just realized I don’t even need a Play 5 to make this possible. My older TV has L/R analog inputs which I’m currently using for my turntable. So I play a record on my turntable and it routes through my TV to my Beam which I can then relay to all of my other Sonos speakers in my house. If I unplugged my turntable and plugged in this bluetooth adapter with L/R analog, I could stream music via bluetooth throughout my house on my Sonos speakers as well.

@Nollind .  I agree with @melvimbe‘s verdict that this is purely speculative and not to be relied on.

One thing for sure is that likening the possible Bluetooth functionality to the way the Play:5 line-in  works doesn’t really make sense.  The Line-in acts as a new source and is wired.  Bluetooth is a method of data transmission and is wireless.

As I noted in my reply to Melvimbe, yes it has been reported but not verified by Sonos, so yes it is still speculative. The article source has me hopeful though. But yes, people shouldn’t assume something in an article is fact and then blame Sonos for not adding the feature to their speakers.

As for the second half of your reply, I’m confused by what you mean. You do realize that you can buy bluetooth adapters that connect to your stereo system as a source, thus relaying sound to all of the speakers throughout your house (be they wired or wireless). Even some amps and receivers have this Bluetooth source capability built in as well.

 

 

I’m not exactly sure what John meant with his 2nd statement.  However, the line in source you have via a Port, Amp, or Five (just listing current products) is a distinct audio source to your system.  You can have something connected to a Port for example, and play it in a different room, without the audio playing on the Port.  Also, the audio is analog and subject to conversion to digital and will automatically delayed for buffering reasons.  It’s why the line in source is not a good choice for TV audio.  This is the same regardless of how the audio gets to the Port (or whatever line in device), whether it be completely wired or use bluetooth adapters.

A Roam getting bluetooth audio is different for a few reasons.  It is wireless and digital, so does not need the same delay.  I could be wrong about this, as I haven’t tested or looked into it much, but it behaves like TV audio, playing immediately on the Roam room and delayed on any grouped rooms.  Not at all confident on that.  Point is though, it’s actually more like TV audio input than line in audio input, but still different then either case.

 

The number one issue with this though is the Bluetooth delay added on top of the delay relaying the music to the other wireless Sonos speakers. But again, it doesn’t mean it’s not technically possible. It just means the delay from pressing play to actually hearing the music relayed throughout your house on your Sonos speakers would be considerable (i.e. 2-3 seconds maybe?).

For example, if I had a Sonos Play 5, I could add one of these bluetooth adapters to the line-in on the back on my Play 5 and share bluetooth music on my phone throughout my entire house using my Sonos system.

So again, it would be up to Sonos to decided if the bluetooth connection and input to the Sonos speaker is just directly to that speaker only (i.e. a selective singular mode) or it is considered as a “source” that can be relayed to other speakers as well.

 

 

If Optimo does have bluetooth audio capabilities, then it seems likely that you would be able to share with other rooms like the Roam does.  However, all modern Sonos speakers do have BLE for setup purposes, so Optimo could be the same in this case.  Also, Sonos bought a company specializing in BLE audio formats, so it could be that Optiomo is equipped with this version of  wireless audio, which may be used for something other then sending audio from your device to Sonos.    I have no idea.  It would be strange for the speaker to have bluetooth and not do typical bluetooth things, but then again, Sonos has never used bluetooth on non-portable speakers, and even the portable ones can’t do things like stereo pairing and taking phone calls.  It’s also strange for a bluetooth speaker to have WiFi streaming capabilities.  🤠

PS. Actually I just realized I don’t even need a Play 5 to make this possible. My older TV has L/R analog inputs which I’m currently using for my turntable. So I play a record on my turntable and it routes through my TV to my Beam which I can then relay to all of my other Sonos speakers in my house. If I unplugged my turntable and plugged in this bluetooth adapter with L/R analog, I could stream music via bluetooth throughout my house on my Sonos speakers as well.

 

In you first case, the TV is converting from analog to digital and sending it to your Beam as TV audio.  Hence no major delays.  In your second scenario, using the line in input, you are converting from audio to digital, back to audio, then back to digital again, with major delay.  A purely bluetooth solution is all digital.

Don’t really see much difference in thoughts here, mostly semantics.  Just why different methods of communication end up with different features available.

fact is - sonos needs also chromecast support, otherwise it’s wasted money for the buck for most android users and we better switch to other brands

 

Sonos offers pretty much every major streaming services streamed directly without the use of chromecast, airplay, or any other mechanism in between.  They also offer Tune In and their own Sonos radio as a means of accessing hundreds (thousands?) of radio stations.  I think you might be overstating the necessity of chromecast support for android users.

People don't want to use the Sonos app... maybe back in the day, but now people want to open their favourite music app and just cast. 

Speak for yourself.

Casting directly from Spotify or most other services will not allow me more than one simultaneous stream. I want to be able to have different music streaming to different rooms.

Casting from TuneIn will include the ads.

Google cast groups are static, cannot change the members of the group dynamically. 

Chromecast will not allow me mixed playback from different services and local media.

...

 

 

Dude, I am an Android user. I listed a number of reasons why I think Chromecast (or Airplay, for that matter) is inferior to the features already offered. You just respond with "we want what we want because we want it". That is not going to convince me, nor will it convince Sonos or Google to do something about it.

 

I see a lot of people on here asking for Chromecast that only have one speaker. I know I sound like a purist, but I get the feeling that they don't "get" what the Sonos ecosystem is actually about, and would maybe have been happier with an upmarket Bluetooth speaker.

 

In my day to day, I have not seen any use case that has me say "I need Chromecast on this thing". Mind you, streaming YouTube and splitting the audio from the video cannot be done on Google Home speakers either. Full YT videos can only be casted to video Chromecasts, it has to do with YT's terms and conditions.

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The biggest struggle I’ve found is the limited functionality of the S2 app in browsing my music collections across Google Music (now YouTube Music), Tidal, Spotify, and XM.I’d like to go into the native apps on my Android phone start my music, and then transfer the audio over to Sonos to continue playing it.

 

For Spotify and Tidal you already can.  For Google Play Music you could do so but that disappeared (possibly only temporarily) when Google replaced it by YTM.  In fact GPM was the first app from which you could cast to Sonos, although only from Android, not iOS (ironically, given your post).  Don’t know about XM.  Your profile also mentions Amazon Audiobooks and Amazon Music - both also castable to Sonos from the native apps

@Unmechanized  - your comments appear to show that you are unaware of many of the possibilities offered by Sonos.  If anyone needs to get down off their high horse, i suspect it is you.

Ouch… but helpful, nonetheless!

I hadn’t realized that Tidal has a casting system similar to spotify (not Chromecast, but similar enough to start audio in the native player and then transition it to the Sonos system - even has grouping!). I will certainly make use of this!

I didn’t test GPM because I transitioned to YTM before I bought my Sonos system. So the lack of support in YTM, and this massive thread on lack of Chromecast support, led me to believe that it was a more prolific issue.

FWIW, I tested XM as well and you still cannot cast to Sonos from the app on Android. 

As someone new to Sonos, let me attempt to summarize for everyone like me hammering this thread:

  • Chromecast is not supported by SONOS, however!
  • Some music apps on Android support some sort of proprietary casting which solves the problem only on those platforms. Examples: Spotify, Tidal, Amazon (and apparently Google Play Music before it was EOL)
  • Other music apps do NOT have a solution yet for the lack of chromecast support. Examples: YouTube Music, XM Radio
  • Anyone trying to extract audio from a video stream and send it to SONOS is an entirely different and more complex use-case - for this, a Beam is the answer. Or, what I’ve done, is connect a Chromecast HDMI device to an HDMI splitter and audio de-embedder. This device takes HDMI signal to two displays in my house and extracts audio into a SONOS port. The same could be done for a cable box, etc. If you have a permanent projector setup outside and architectural speakers connected to SONOS, this is a good option for you. Just note that you will also need a HDMI-to-Ethernet baluns to send video over long runs! As a mobile solution, buy a projector with ARC and pair with a Beam, or with Bluetooth audio out to a Move as suggested by @John B.

Appreciate all the help here guys. I’m glad there are some solutions for transitioning audio from native apps on Android, but I still believe that Chromecast support would bridge the gap in capability more universally. With YTM now as the home to all of my music (and the sub including YouTube Premium) it’s hard to transition away from that and thus, I’m still sort of SOL…

Do I still think SONOS should provide communication about Chromecast? Yes! And maybe a good opportunity to educate people on the Android apps that have similar functionality today!

fact is - sonos needs also chromecast support, otherwise it’s wasted money for the buck for most android users and we better switch to other brands

 

Sonos offers pretty much every major streaming services streamed directly without the use of chromecast, airplay, or any other mechanism in between.  They also offer Tune In and their own Sonos radio as a means of accessing hundreds (thousands?) of radio stations.  I think you might be overstating the necessity of chromecast support for android users.

People don't want to use the Sonos app... maybe back in the day, but now people want to open their favourite music app and just cast. 

Speak for yourself.

Casting directly from Spotify or most other services will not allow me more than one simultaneous stream. I want to be able to have different music streaming to different rooms.

Casting from TuneIn will include the ads.

Google cast groups are static, cannot change the members of the group dynamically. 

Chromecast will not allow me mixed playback from different services and local media.

...

 

 

Dude, I am an Android user. I listed a number of reasons why I think Chromecast (or Airplay, for that matter) is inferior to the features already offered. You just respond with "we want what we want because we want it". That is not going to convince me, nor will it convince Sonos or Google to do something about it.

 

I see a lot of people on here asking for Chromecast that only have one speaker. I know I sound like a purist, but I get the feeling that they don't "get" what the Sonos ecosystem is actually about, and would maybe have been happier with an upmarket Bluetooth speaker.

 

In my day to day, I have not seen any use case that has me say "I need Chromecast on this thing". Mind you, streaming YouTube and splitting the audio from the video cannot be done on Google Home speakers either. Full YT videos can only be casted to video Chromecasts, it has to do with YT's terms and conditions.

I can give you my reason to want to cast…

I use nest minis, and I want to shout an GA command to start songs on my speaker system… without cast suport I cannot assign the Sonos as default speaker to my mini's...let alone integrate them on my groups...

And as stated above, we can clearly use speakers to play selected services, but if you do not subscribe to them for any reason, you are out in the Cold…

Also as stated before, guests are unable to control media without logins, major inconveniences for the price point and general market feature set state.

 

Actually, you can set them as an audio target - I did that for the rooms that don't have a voice enabled Sonos.

 

Are there services that are not on Sonos? Or do you mean free services?

 

You do not need to login, but you do need to download the app. Generally, in my house, my guests don't control anything.

 

To each their own, apparently.

fact is - sonos needs also chromecast support, otherwise it’s wasted money for the buck for most android users and we better switch to other brands

 

Sonos offers pretty much every major streaming services streamed directly without the use of chromecast, airplay, or any other mechanism in between.  They also offer Tune In and their own Sonos radio as a means of accessing hundreds (thousands?) of radio stations.  I think you might be overstating the necessity of chromecast support for android users.

People don't want to use the Sonos app... maybe back in the day, but now people want to open their favourite music app and just cast. 

Speak for yourself.

Casting directly from Spotify or most other services will not allow me more than one simultaneous stream. I want to be able to have different music streaming to different rooms.

Casting from TuneIn will include the ads.

Google cast groups are static, cannot change the members of the group dynamically. 

Chromecast will not allow me mixed playback from different services and local media.

...

 

 

Hi @Unmechanized .  That seems to me a fair and comprehensive summary- thanks.

All things being equal, nobody could disagree that to have Chromecast support would be better than not having it.  But I’m not sure everything is equal.  I can only assume Sonos don’t see it as high enough priority. 

I do think you have to bear in mind the nature of the Sonos system too.  It was designed to play music files in a multiroom environment, with an app that is a remote control not a music player.  Technologies that are based on streaming from a device to a single speaker don’t sit easily with this.  Sonos never supported Airplay 1, and apart from the specific use case of the Move, shows no interest in Bluetooth.  The Sonos app is still at the heart of the system.

By all accounts the YTM integration into Sonos leaves much to be desired, but is largely down to what Google have chosen to include using the Sonos open API.  And yes there are many services that cannot be played using the native app, but at least a huge range is available in the Sonos app.

As to Sonos sharing their intentions with their customers, that isn’t going to happen.  I don’t think it is down to contempt for their users, they just have a philosophy of not confirming or denying anything.  Everything is regarded as potentially commercially sensitive.  And if they came out and said ‘yes we are working on Chromecast integration’, then failure to deny the next speculation would be interpreted as endorsing it.  The line is ‘deny mothing, confirm nothing’.  I have found it frustrating at times, but that’s the way it is.

If Sonos announce Chromecast support tomorrow I shall be happy for you, but indifferent for myself.

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fact is - sonos needs also chromecast support, otherwise it’s wasted money for the buck for most android users and we better switch to other brands

 

Sonos offers pretty much every major streaming services streamed directly without the use of chromecast, airplay, or any other mechanism in between.  They also offer Tune In and their own Sonos radio as a means of accessing hundreds (thousands?) of radio stations.  I think you might be overstating the necessity of chromecast support for android users.

People don't want to use the Sonos app... maybe back in the day, but now people want to open their favourite music app and just cast. 

You can do, with some:

 

https://support.sonos.com/s/article/3549?language=en_US

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