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After 10+ years and 18 current devices (and numerous others I sold so I could upgrade), I'm not sure this will be the solution going forward.  

What drew me to Sonos in the first place was that it seemed committed to being “brilliant at the basics.”  However, if you can’t make the sound come out of the box in a consistent way after I hit a button, then THAT’S a problem.  I am not minimizing the challenge of doing this… I know it’s hard with corporate, shareholder, technology, tariffs, labor, blah blah.  But I bought this system exactly BECAUSE at one point it worked and you had this figured out.  And now it isn’t (at least not as well).  

It’s a psychological barrier for me to overcome and move on, but I’m almost there.  I still believe this is a strong product and company, but if it can’t figure out something as simple as a mac controller (after 10 years of looking at the same interface), then I think I can move on. Especially since the solution to ‘update’ the controller is to delete it every time and then reinstall (what is this, the 90s?).  

Okay, end rant.  Carry on all of you who took a sec to wallow in my first world problems.  

 

Given that Sonos stopped updating the Mac controller years ago, in favor of mobile controllers, it’s not surprising you’ve run in to issues. 

They have released, as has been explained in many threads, a web based interface, and at the point it reaches parity with the mobile controllers, the Windows and Mac ‘native’ controllers will be withdrawn.

I’ve been using a Mac controller myself for years, although mostly to start and stop streams while working, and haven’t had any significant issues, albeit I was a bit unhappy when they pulled system management from it, several years ago. But I’ve also ensured my network is ‘clean’, so things start and stop, whichever controller I use. The speaker’s ability to receive commands from whichever controller is paramount, and sometimes requires a little more attention to the network than we realize, as Sonos and music streaming exercises the system in many ways that a normal connection does not. 

If I understand your post properly, and it certainly may not be so, I’d suggest a simple network refresh might be necessary. Unplug all your Sonos devices from power, then reboot your router and Mac. Give them a couple of minutes to reload and get back to ‘normal’, then plug back in the Sonos to power. Give them a couple of minutes to reload and reconnect before testing.

However, if this doesn’t help, I’d certainly recommend that you submit a system diagnostic within 10 minutes of experiencing this problem, and call Sonos Support to discuss it. Don’t post the resulting diagnostic number here, they get sensitive about GDPR.

There may be information included in the diagnostic that will help Sonos pinpoint the issue and help you find a solution.

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

 

Given that Sonos stopped updating the Mac controller years ago, in favor of mobile controllers, it’s not surprising you’ve run in to issues. 

They have released, as has been explained in many threads, a web based interface, and at the point it reaches parity with the mobile controllers, the Windows and Mac ‘native’ controllers will be withdrawn.

I’ve been using a Mac controller myself for years, although mostly to start and stop streams while working, and haven’t had any significant issues, albeit I was a bit unhappy when they pulled system management from it, several years ago. But I’ve also ensured my network is ‘clean’, so things start and stop, whichever controller I use. The speaker’s ability to receive commands from whichever controller is paramount, and sometimes requires a little more attention to the network than we realize, as Sonos and music streaming exercises the system in many ways that a normal connection does not. 

If I understand your post properly, and it certainly may not be so, I’d suggest a simple network refresh might be necessary. Unplug all your Sonos devices from power, then reboot your router and Mac. Give them a couple of minutes to reload and get back to ‘normal’, then plug back in the Sonos to power. Give them a couple of minutes to reload and reconnect before testing.

However, if this doesn’t help, I’d certainly recommend that you submit a system diagnostic within 10 minutes of experiencing this problem, and call Sonos Support to discuss it. Don’t post the resulting diagnostic number here, they get sensitive about GDPR.

There may be information included in the diagnostic that will help Sonos pinpoint the issue and help you find a solution.

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

 

Thanks for the reply Bruce.  I wasn’t aware of the web-based interface.  I just used it for the first time and it immediately knew I had 2 separate systems (in 2 different locations).  Super cool!  

They’re not ‘done’ with adding to that, I understand. So consider it a work in progress. They have suggested when it does reach parity, they’ll withdraw the ‘native’ apps, which have been in maintenance mode (bug fixes only, no feature updates) for years now. Given the amount of focus on the mobile apps right now, I’d suggest the web app may be slower to get updated. But that’s an outside perspective, I don’t know how Sonos assigns work. 

They’re not ‘done’ with adding to that, I understand. 

Well, it’s definitely a step in the right direction (even if it is web-based).  I’m not tied to a native app, and if at some point the entire web collapses, I think I’ll have bigger things to worry about.  For me, it’s more about consistency and a simple user-experience.  Things are already complicated enough, I don’t want to fight my music system too.  

What, and miss the joy of technology? (I kid, but sometimes, it does feel like that).

Yes, but the mobile controllers can’t switch systems either. Everytime i move between systems i have to reset and “find” the new system. It’s insane. 

Try my Mac app (see profile). 

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