Question

Chromecast in S2 / Honest timeline for Chromecast

F
Userlevel 3
Badge

Hello,

Agenda: Chromecast support on Sonos.

I’ve been reading through this forum about this topic, and basically can’t find any clear answer - apart from ‘we’ll pass this request to developers’.

As an iPhone user I know I can use Airplay however I don’t find it a very good solution; I get a phone call, music stops, walk out the house, music stops, not to mention my battery constantly draining.

Additionally as good (in its own way) the Sonos app is, many services don’t give their respective platforms enough attention, rather spending it on their native apps - many of which support Chromecast.
e.g. I often find myself on Soundcloud native iOS app, find a set I want to listen, but then have to go into Sonos’s app and search it again. Similar use case with YouTube music, and Youtube in general, need to use Airplay.

So I’d like to ask:

  • Are there are Sonos developers here who could comment on the challenges of implementing Chromecast and what the potential timeline of release (if its realistically possible) looks like.
  • Otherwise, would be very keen to hear from other users what the technical/business limitations for not implementing it.
  • Would the S2 operating system surprise us all with it?

Cheers,

FP.

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.

34 replies

M
Userlevel 1
Badge +2

I don’t think I’m the only one here in this situation, but I’ve basically frozen my Sonos purchase plans now for years because of the lack of google assistance support.  Waited forever for it to show up (didn’t purchase any more during this time), and when it finally does, you can’t cast to them, and you can’t group them with other speakers like you can with other google capable speakers.  Best you can do now (which is better than before) is have home assistant use one of your sonos speakers and have it use a sonos group for some multi room audio.

Considering that they seem to have implemented everything for Amazon and Apple and for what ever reason Google is a third class citizen, and it’s what I’m primarily using, that means moving forward I’m not really all that interested in buying more Sono’s products.  Simply because of years of what appears to be an afterthought for support.

I had already bought 6 speakers prior to this.  And not a single one in the last few years.  But I would’ve.  I’m paused now because I don’t want to reinvest if I don’t have to, the longer this goes on the more apparent it becomes I will have to.  Sonos isn’t that great of a product that they can’t be replaced by something that does have broader connected home support.

Just something for the bean counters to consider.

I’ll give you my perspective:

I don’t think SONOS will ever incorporate Chromecast - this is a mixture of Google wanting to keep the tech close to it (all Chromecast built in solutions use either special hardware or run Android OS). There is likely some licensing/fee issue with Chromecast as well. 

SOLUTION: Get a Chromecast Audio Dongle and attach it to one of the devices that can take an input (Arc, Amp, Port, etc). This works just fine.

 

SONOS seems to be implementing it’s own Chromecast equivalent - it is available in the TIDAL app. I would expect other apps to add it eventually. Spotify has Spotify Connect which was the first of these casting technologies and works well.

G

I don’t think I’m the only one here in this situation, but I’ve basically frozen my Sonos purchase plans now for years because of the lack of google assistance support.  Waited forever for it to show up (didn’t purchase any more during this time), and when it finally does, you can’t cast to them, and you can’t group them with other speakers like you can with other google capable speakers.  Best you can do now (which is better than before) is have home assistant use one of your sonos speakers and have it use a sonos group for some multi room audio.

Considering that they seem to have implemented everything for Amazon and Apple and for what ever reason Google is a third class citizen, and it’s what I’m primarily using, that means moving forward I’m not really all that interested in buying more Sono’s products.  Simply because of years of what appears to be an afterthought for support.

I had already bought 6 speakers prior to this.  And not a single one in the last few years.  But I would’ve.  I’m paused now because I don’t want to reinvest if I don’t have to, the longer this goes on the more apparent it becomes I will have to.  Sonos isn’t that great of a product that they can’t be replaced by something that does have broader connected home support.

Just something for the bean counters to consider.

M
Userlevel 1
Badge +2

Actually, I am fairly confident that Chromecast will not be part of SONOS at all. The reason is that S2 includes a casting mechanism similar to Chromecast. Call it “SONOScast”  :grimacing::grinning:

 

Are you sure about this?  Specifically something called ‘SONOScast’?  googling the word references a 3rd party app.  Casting to Sonos speakers from various streaming apps has been around from quite sometime now.  I’ve seen and used casting from Amazon, Google, Pandora, and SXM before, but never heard it referred to as Sonoscast.  

 

My understanding was that the various servious just used the existing Sonos APIs to transfer playback from a device to Sonos speakers on your WiFi network, or through the cloud when applicable.

I gave it the name SONOScast, I don’t know what the official name is. I had never noticed it on TIDAL, and I can tell you that SoundCloud, MixCloud, Bandcamp, or Qobuz do not support this right now. It might be it was always there on TIDAL and I never noticed it.

 

The only API I am aware of to send music to a SONOS speaker is what Roon is using - but in that case you’re constantly pushing music to the SONOS speaker rather than the SONOS speaker fetching the data itself with the iOS app acting as a remote. This is not the same as playing any of these streams through the SONOS app obviously.

melvimbe

Actually, I am fairly confident that Chromecast will not be part of SONOS at all. The reason is that S2 includes a casting mechanism similar to Chromecast. Call it “SONOScast”  :grimacing::grinning:

 

 

Are you sure about this?  Specifically something called ‘SONOScast’?  googling the word references a 3rd party app.  Casting to Sonos speakers from various streaming apps has been around from quite sometime now.  I’ve seen and used casting from Amazon, Google, Pandora, and SXM before, but never heard it referred to as Sonoscast.  

 

My understanding was that the various servious just used the existing Sonos APIs to transfer playback from a device to Sonos speakers on your WiFi network, or through the cloud when applicable.

Danny
M
Userlevel 1
Badge +2

Actually, I am fairly confident that Chromecast will not be part of SONOS at all. The reason is that S2 includes a casting mechanism similar to Chromecast. Call it “SONOScast”  :grimacing::grinning:

 

If you run the TIDAL app on an iOS device, you will now see your SONOS speakers as a possible output. This is not Airplay (which is also available) but true casting. I checked this by running TIDAL, playing to the SONOS speaker, then killing the TIDAL app: the music did not stop.

 

So this is good because it also allows SONOS to tailor the casting code to accomodate high res or things the Chromecast cost might not support. But it’s a bummer because all apps will have to add SONOScast support. Right now it looks like only TIDAL has it (I also use Qobuz, SoundCloud, Bandcamp, and MixCloud).

M
Userlevel 1
Badge +2

Google built the Chromecast. So yes, they define the standard. Not complying to the standard won't get you Chromecast support. This is fully on Sonos to comply to get it working.

As I stated before, I doubt disagreement on the API is the reason there’s no chromecast/Sonos integration.

Yeah. Pretty sure this has nothing to do with implementation technicalities. From what I have seen, all Chromecast built-in devices either run the Android OS or have some form of hardware built in to do Chromecasting. Like I said before, I would bet the issue has more to do with licensing and fees than anything else, but obviously I don’t know.

M
Userlevel 1
Badge +2

Google built the Chromecast. So yes, they define the standard. Not complying to the standard won't get you Chromecast support. This is fully on Sonos to comply to get it working.

As I stated before, I doubt disagreement on the API is the reason there’s no chromecast/Sonos integration.

Correct. SONOS would have to implement some Google hardware which Google would have to want to give to them. I personally don’t see this happening. the only solution I see is the one I just detailed.

Plenty of high quality wireless speakers, Harman Kardon and bang and olufsen for example (you can find more on Google's Chromecast built in site), have Chromecast built in. This is a Sonos only problem.  Sonos hasn't said why, but for some reason they don't want to support it or maybe they can't due to their own past technical decisions.  They still only support 2.4ghz WiFi and even then older versions of it.

Correct. They all implement a hardware solution from Google. So SONOS would have to implement the same/similar hardware solution. What is unclear to me is whether SONOS wants to implement someone else’s hardware (and what it means for licensing agreements since SONOS is not just a speaker, it is a streamer as well), whether Google sees themselves as a SONOS replacement, and any issues in between.

 

Honestly, I think Chromecast native on SONOS will never materialize. There are workarounds like the one I mentioned above that frankly work pretty well.

Acquire
Userlevel 1

Google built the Chromecast. So yes, they define the standard. Not complying to the standard won't get you Chromecast support. This is fully on Sonos to comply to get it working.

As I stated before, I doubt disagreement on the API is the reason there’s no chromecast/Sonos integration.

Correct. SONOS would have to implement some Google hardware which Google would have to want to give to them. I personally don’t see this happening. the only solution I see is the one I just detailed.

Plenty of high quality wireless speakers, Harman Kardon and bang and olufsen for example (you can find more on Google's Chromecast built in site), have Chromecast built in. This is a Sonos only problem.  Sonos hasn't said why, but for some reason they don't want to support it or maybe they can't due to their own past technical decisions.  They still only support 2.4ghz WiFi and even then older versions of it.

M
Userlevel 1
Badge +2

Google built the Chromecast. So yes, they define the standard. Not complying to the standard won't get you Chromecast support. This is fully on Sonos to comply to get it working.

As I stated before, I doubt disagreement on the API is the reason there’s no chromecast/Sonos integration.

Correct. SONOS would have to implement some Google hardware which Google would have to want to give to them. I personally don’t see this happening. the only solution I see is the one I just detailed.

melvimbe

Google built the Chromecast. So yes, they define the standard. Not complying to the standard won't get you Chromecast support. This is fully on Sonos to comply to get it working.

As I stated before, I doubt disagreement on the API is the reason there’s no chromecast/Sonos integration.

Danny
Acquire
Userlevel 1

Sonos has already written the API for this, as you noted that others have implemented it. It’s down to the folks at Google to implement what’s already been written. Feel free to be angry with Sonos, but they’ve done their part of the code base. 

They've built a non standard API adding more work for every integration.  Many services don't support it because it's not a standard Chromecast implementation.

 

 

Sounds like you’re saying that Google defines the standard API? Kinda odd way of looking at it.  Also not sure what ‘many services’ you’re referring to.  And yes, Sonos has their own APIs, but they shown willingness to use others, like airplay 2, when it makes sense to.  That makes me think lack of chromecast with Sonos isn’t due to disagreements on what API to use. 

 

  Google seems to have no interest in supporting non standard integrations anymore. Google Play Music is official dying this year and the replacement, YouTube Music, which has been out for a while, has no Sonos Casting support. Most of the Sonos "casting" implementations I've used are flakey at best too vs a real Chromecast implementation.

So if Google defines the standards and won’t work with non-standard, i.e. not their own, integrations, you’re saying they won’t do integrations unless it’s done their way.  And not sure what casting implementations you’re referring to.  Most of casting done to Sonos is an actual transfer of playback from a device to Sonos, so that the original device is no longer needed for playback.  I’ve done with Amazon, Pandora, SXM, and never run into issues.

Google built the Chromecast. So yes, they define the standard. Not complying to the standard won't get you Chromecast support. This is fully on Sonos to comply to get it working.

melvimbe

Sonos has already written the API for this, as you noted that others have implemented it. It’s down to the folks at Google to implement what’s already been written. Feel free to be angry with Sonos, but they’ve done their part of the code base. 

They've built a non standard API adding more work for every integration.  Many services don't support it because it's not a standard Chromecast implementation.

 

 

Sounds like you’re saying that Google defines the standard API? Kinda odd way of looking at it.  Also not sure what ‘many services’ you’re referring to.  And yes, Sonos has their own APIs, but they shown willingness to use others, like airplay 2, when it makes sense to.  That makes me think lack of chromecast with Sonos isn’t due to disagreements on what API to use. 

 

  Google seems to have no interest in supporting non standard integrations anymore. Google Play Music is official dying this year and the replacement, YouTube Music, which has been out for a while, has no Sonos Casting support. Most of the Sonos "casting" implementations I've used are flakey at best too vs a real Chromecast implementation.

So if Google defines the standards and won’t work with non-standard, i.e. not their own, integrations, you’re saying they won’t do integrations unless it’s done their way.  And not sure what casting implementations you’re referring to.  Most of casting done to Sonos is an actual transfer of playback from a device to Sonos, so that the original device is no longer needed for playback.  I’ve done with Amazon, Pandora, SXM, and never run into issues.

Danny
M
Userlevel 1
Badge +2

So far as I can tell, Google is keeping Chromecast hardware-based. That is, there is no software-only implementation that I am aware of at this point. All of the devices that tout “Chromecast built-in” have some form of hardware that probably Google provides or controls. 

BTW, I think the “Chromecast method” of having authentication and routing similar to Spotify Connect but working for a host of apps is absolutely brilliant. And I don’t think anyone else but Google can truly pull this off, as all of these apps have had to implement the token exchange. So I truly understand why you really want this.

M
Userlevel 1
Badge +2

Sonos has already written the API for this, as you noted that others have implemented it. It’s down to the folks at Google to implement what’s already been written. Feel free to be angry with Sonos, but they’ve done their part of the code base. 

They've built a non standard API adding more work for every integration.  Many services don't support it because it's not a standard Chromecast implementation.  Google seems to have no interest in supporting non standard integrations anymore. Google Play Music is official dying this year and the replacement, YouTube Music, which has been out for a while, has no Sonos Casting support. Most of the Sonos "casting" implementations I've used are flakey at best too vs a real Chromecast implementation.

So far as I can tell, Google is keeping Chromecast hardware-based. That is, there is no software-only implementation that I am aware of at this point. All of the devices that tout “Chromecast built-in” have some form of hardware that probably Google provides or controls. 

 

I don’t think SONOS will have Chromecast capabilities. If you definitely want such, you can go these routes:

1- Get a Chromecast Audio dongle (discountinued but can be found on Ebay) and connect it to a Port, Amp or Connect (2nd gen for S2) via it’s analog audio output

2- Same as above but connect it via toslink (optical digital) to a Playbar or (via the optical-HDMI adaptor) to an Amp, Arc, etc via HDMI

3- A Chromecast built-in TV (with either built-in or via a Google Chromecast dongle) then to an Amp, Arc, etc via HDMI

 

I think realistically these are your only options.

Acquire
Userlevel 1

Sonos has already written the API for this, as you noted that others have implemented it. It’s down to the folks at Google to implement what’s already been written. Feel free to be angry with Sonos, but they’ve done their part of the code base. 

They've built a non standard API adding more work for every integration.  Many services don't support it because it's not a standard Chromecast implementation.  Google seems to have no interest in supporting non standard integrations anymore. Google Play Music is official dying this year and the replacement, YouTube Music, which has been out for a while, has no Sonos Casting support. Most of the Sonos "casting" implementations I've used are flakey at best too vs a real Chromecast implementation.

M
Userlevel 1
Badge +2

Woooh - update!

I just tested, looks like Airplay 2 behaves differently. I’m playing a song on Soundcloud, Airplay2 from my iPhone, placed a phone call, been running fine now for 1min 46 seconds. (wonder how long the buffer is there? Or is it really pulling directly from the source)

Lets test Youtube now.

Turn off your phone - if it still plays it’s working like Chromecast, if it doesn’t it is going through your phone.

F
Userlevel 3
Badge

Also as a general answer to my original post:

Airplay 2 basically solves this whole scenario for me. I wasn’t aware what I fundamentally disliked about Airplay has been solved with Airplay 2 - I can take calls, make videos etc whilst using it, also it doesn't appear to be draining my battery as hard - feel as if its pulling music directly from the internet rather than passing bit by bit through my phone (but haven’t yet fully researched into the technical workings of it).
(I’m yet to test Youtube Music directly from their native app, which has background play, but generally feel that will be ok too).

Of course, Chromecast would be great, but that feels now more of a nice to have (at least under my use case) :)

F
Userlevel 3
Badge

@Airgetlam 
Interesting - I never knew that. So out of interest what is it on Google’s side that needs to be implemented?

Airgetlam

Sonos has already written the API for this, as you noted that others have implemented it. It’s down to the folks at Google to implement what’s already been written. Feel free to be angry with Sonos, but they’ve done their part of the code base. 

Bruce
P

I’ve been waiting for the Chromecast support as well but I don’t think it’s going to happen with S2 :(

I hadn’t realized that you can cast from Spotify and Google Play Music, let’s see if they add the option to Youtube Music once Play Music is buried for good.

There’s still a ton of apps and users that would benefit from the Chromecast support. Harman Kardon has Chromecast support…

 

Moderator edit: Removed profanity

melvimbe

Just using the Cast protocol to do what already be achieved natively in the Sonos app, or in Spotify, Pandora et. al. is really not what I would be looking for, and potentially confusing for users, difficult to support for Sonos. The only added value of Cast would be to cast audio directly from your device, which, as mentioned before, would drain your battery. I have never seen any necessity for it.

 

I either search for something within the Sonos app, or if I find something on a native app that I want to play on Sonos, I will add it to a playlist or favorite, or any other construct from the service that is easily accessible in Sonos and then initiate play through Sonos. Yes, it requires a few more clicks, but generally, streaming natively through Sonos provides me with the smoothest, most reliable way of streaming.

 

With Amazon casting, you can basically do the same thing with less steps.  You won’t have to add to playlist/favorite  then go to the Sonos app to playback.  You can just press the cast button and select the speaker you want it to play on.  I find myself casting at times because I was listening through the phone away from home, and now I want to finish playback on Sonos.  I also want the ability to add a track to Amazon’s ‘My Music’ not just to be able to play it on Sonos more easily, but for all device everywhere.  I can also download tracks to a USB more easily later, for use in my vehicle.

 

I don’t always use it, even fact I find myself using Sonos Radio often, or voice controlled requests, but it’s nice to have as an option.

Danny
chicks

“Nest Hub Smart Display with Google Assistant”, or any Google/Nest Home device, can use your Sonos device as its Default Speaker.  No ChromeCast required for this, and, IME, much more reliable than ChromeCast.

Sjoop1985

I don't know if the Chromecast Audio works differently, but from the normal Youtube app, I can only cast to video Chromecasts, not to Google Home speakers. I don't see how that would be any different if Sonos were to implement the Cast protocol on their speakers.

Just using the Cast protocol to do what already be achieved natively in the Sonos app, or in Spotify, Pandora et. al. is really not what I would be looking for, and potentially confusing for users, difficult to support for Sonos. The only added value of Cast would be to cast audio directly from your device, which, as mentioned before, would drain your battery. I have never seen any necessity for it.

 

I either search for something within the Sonos app, or if I find something on a native app that I want to play on Sonos, I will add it to a playlist or favorite, or any other construct from the service that is easily accessible in Sonos and then initiate play through Sonos. Yes, it requires a few more clicks, but generally, streaming natively through Sonos provides me with the smoothest, most reliable way of streaming.

 

Of course, my 3 bullet points in the original post stand - if anyone has any info on those - appreciated.

You are not going to get any answers on those here. Like any sensible company, Sonos does not share roadmaps publicly. Any employee or programmer that went on these communities to disclose information, would quickly find themselves no longer working for Sonos, I presume.

A users perspective on the business reason for not having Cast on Sonos:

Google.

Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans (John Lennon) --- Living room: Arc, Sub, 2x One - Kitchen: One - Bedroom: Play 3 - Office: Beam - Bathroom: Play 1
Smilja

Another question, how would you control playback (skip, stop, changing source, volume level) when the phone is being switched off?

»And the world is like an apple whirling silently in space, Like the circles that you find in the windmills of your mind.« (›Windmills Of Your Mind‹ [1967]. Music by Michel Legrand ; English lyrics written by Alan & Marilyn Bergman)
F
Userlevel 3
Badge

@Smilja 
Yes - I have tested this in the past with Chromecast Audio - I was able to play music from Youtube and quit/minimise the app - the app just acted as the remote control.

Terms & ConditionsCookie settings