Sonos Not Really Compatible with Android.

  • 15 February 2021
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31 replies

S
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What I hear is that Sonos is designed to be a service on the speaker(s) which handle the music streams on their own, and the app is just a remote control and doesn’t participate in the music stream.

Casting from a device hands off the responsibility of the stream from a device to the speaker(s) and then doesn’t participate in the music stream.  Sounds like Casting is a perfect fit for Sonos and the way it was “designed” to work.

I also hear that Sonos is not designed to have a music stream pushed to it.  Odd how Airplay 2 can pull it off?  Does this break the Sonos design, change the assumptions about the design, or maybe the design has changed?

The general user could care less what the technology is that lets them listen on their device and then redirect what they are streaming to another playback device (whether pulled or pushed is irrelevant).

What is relevant is that this can be done from Apple but not from Android.

In the end, this is likely not a technical issue, but a business issue.  But that is just me.  I don’t much care because I use Airplay 2 and it works great (even if others see it as clunky?)

S
Userlevel 3

John B: Thanks for helping, and the apology too, we are at peace!

 

Also, sorry to those who I offended in the original post - I know a lot of folks love Sonos, and I didn’t mean to dig in there, let me apologize too. I just want this to work for us, Android users who are listening to native audio on whatever device we are on.

 

I had a friend over today with a Samsung S20, and she was able to cast to the Sonos following the directions from her device, so I suspect I do have an Android version issue. She didn’t have other services, so we couldn’t test others.  Still, I am getting somewhere.

 

And yes, if I had an “AirPlay 2” equivalent on Android (and I think ChromeCast compatibility would be what we wanted, but I am not 100% sure there) think this would be perfect. Perhaps if you support AirPlay you aren’t allowed to support ChromeCast too?

S
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  I don’t much care because I use Airplay 2 and it works great (even if others see it as clunky?)

Clunky because it keeps the phone busy, consuming battery charge for the music to stream. 

A question: what happens to the music stream when the phone rings and is in use for a call? 

I suppose listening to music through my phone’s own speaker or through headphones must be clunky as well.  I guess I never noticed in either case.  Works great for me and my needs.

Not sure what you are implying, but I’ll take it as a legitimate question:  When my phone rings and throughout the call, the music just keeps on streaming to the Airplay 2 speaker(s).  The phone call stays on the phone.  

K

I’ll take it as a legitimate question:  When my phone rings and throughout the call, the music just keeps on streaming to the Airplay 2 speaker(s).  The phone call stays on the phone.  

Thank you. So the phone handles this differently from bluetooth music transmission, where the music drops when the phone is in use. Or so it was when I used bluetooth a couple of years ago.

K

  I don’t much care because I use Airplay 2 and it works great (even if others see it as clunky?)

Clunky because it keeps the phone busy, consuming battery charge for the music to stream. 

A question: what happens to the music stream when the phone rings and is in use for a call? 

melvimbe

One other aspect that could be a factor in Sonos supporting airplay 2, but not supporting chromecast could be in the technical requirements of the two protocols.   It’s my understanding that airplay 2 requires a rather large buffer on the speaker side.  That’s part of the reason many existing speakers were not compatible when airplay 2 went live.  That larger buffer was a good fit for Sonos as it meant that a speaker could receive a stream and still be able to ‘share’ it with other Sonos speakers that it’s grouped with.  I can see that as something Sonos thought to be a rather a important feature requirement.

I am completely guessing, but it wouldn’t surprise me if chromecast doesn’t work with as large of a buffer.  And unless things have changed, youtube also requires the receiving device to play video.  The result is that chromecast may not fit as well with Sonos from a technical perspective.

As an android user, I’ve never really felt chromecast was missing. To be fair though, I have Sonos connected to TVs in a few rooms, and have cast youtube to a TV with audio playing over Sonos HT speakers.  Not even sure if that’s technically chromecast or just normal casting.

Danny
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