With the new announcement of Sonos Radio HD, just checking in on people’s thoughts. Did you sign up for the trial? Will you keep it? How does it compare to others like Amazon, Tidal and Qobuzz? Is it in addition to? How to improve? Share please. Thanks in advance.
Sonos Radio HD-Thoughts?
Userlevel 5
+15
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.
Page 1 / 2
I just cancelled my trial subscription. The playlists and content were the main reason. To me it seemed at best a B-side content play and the mixes were 100% worse than anything I get from Spotify, Pandora or Apple.
Also, I have a 500Mbit internet service and a very nice dual AP WiFi network and have ZERO issues streaming FLAC locally or through TIDAL and certainly no streaming issues otherwise with standard services.
It would be nice to remove the Sonos Radio from my music services. That is annoying that it’s not an option to hide or remote.
So I subscribed to Sonos Radio HD free trial . Thanks Sonos
Have noticed that I can skip forward but not backwards at first both arrows are lit up but after pressing rewind a few times the option to rewind becomes faded .
Sound is what I expect it takes a while on the S2 app to switch to another station IMO it should only be a fiver to listen to Radio not £7.99 as other streaming music options offer more for the same price but that's just my opinion .
The plus is I don't realise ALL the Sonos Radio Stations would be HD it just advertised a few new ones would be HD I think that needs to be made clearer to people offered a trial .
Once the rewind button is fixed I might subscribe otherwise I may cancel
I've subscribed to the trial. I can hear a difference and it sounds 👍. But thats on my two paired fives and sub. On my move and play 1 it's not so obvious👎. Also I'm not totally sold on the content and/or the price. So not sure what I will do when the trial ends
So lets get this right Sonos launch a radio service a few months back that quickly broke down, because it couldnt provide the very thing that people wanted, the ability to listen to overseas radio stations. Sonos then launch an “HD” version with the same problems, and then expect you to pay a subscription fee per month for the privilege? Thanks Sonos but no thanks !
The problems you’re referring to are TuneIn radio problems, not problems with the custom stations Sonos created. While those issues are real, its not accurate to imply that the whole service is broken. If you are only interested in the overseas/terrestrial radio stations, then absolutely, there is no point in getting Sonos Radio HD, or even using Sonos Radio really, unless you just like the interface better or something like that. However, people are clearly interesting in the custom radio stations (I am), otherwise they would have proceeded with Sonos Radio HD.
I find it very annoying that Sonos pushed so hard for us to upgrade our older “S1” hardware, at great cost, and within months is pushing a subscription model over that new hardware. Is this only the start? Are they going to keep chipping away until we have to pay them monthly for the “privilege” of using our expensive Sonos hardware? I love my Sonos devices but have no desire to pay the monthly for sub-par content when I already paid them a premium for the hardware.
That seems highly unlikely to me, I don’t think Sonos radio is a way to slowly convert everything over to a subscription model. I see it as Sonos trying to leverage the customer base they have established for ‘easy’ money. That sounds worse that it actually is, but I just mean that they did the business analysis and figured that given the volume of customers they have now, Sonos Radio can pay for itself and bring in revenue. Customers can take it or leave it as they wish.
I do think there is problem in selling devlces that come with free software upgrades and maintenance over it’s lifetime. The cost of running the software eventually eats whatever profit was made in the sale. Unless the hardware dies after a certain number of years, but that certainly doesn’t help sell devices.
I find it very annoying that Sonos pushed so hard for us to upgrade our older “S1” hardware, at great cost, and within months is pushing a subscription model over that new hardware. Is this only the start? Are they going to keep chipping away until we have to pay them monthly for the “privilege” of using our expensive Sonos hardware? I love my Sonos devices but have no desire to pay the monthly for sub-par content when I already paid them a premium for the hardware.
What is really pissing me off right now is that I have this ad popping up asking me to try Radio HD. This happens while I’m using the app, trying to play music.
I would have thought that sonos would not want to get in the way of their users actually playing music.
I’m all for advertising, but this is so annoying that I’m very close to returning the entire thing.
Advertising at me, while I’m trying to listen to my music, for a service I may never use seems like overstepping boundaries.
I’ve taken up the free offer today. I like it so far. Great choice, no ads and it sounds incredible on my system.(I think!!😀). I’ll see how much it is used before deciding to carry on the subscription as I feel £8 is a little too much possibly.
Overpriced for what it is. And angry that I can no longer remove the service. I have Apple Music and Wife has Spotify… Apple has human curated stations, including a few talking heads for banter and Spotify has excellent recommendation algorithms… so other than 16/44.1 FLAC on a few stations I don’t know what the service brings compared to AM or Spotify and it doesn't also include on demand access to a giant catalog of music as well for the same price.
If they spent the time and energy making new HW or upgraded S2 more with features users ask for… I’d love a fix for the Move battery drain issue, but I imagine they are pursuing revenue streams and eying their speakers as a HaaS rather than products.
The other odd part is that looking at the HD offerings, I have no sense of what audience they are targeting.
Sonos can only offer HD for their own radio stations.
[Footnote] For Sonos-owned and operated stations only. Excludes global broadcast stations.
https://www.sonos.com/en-us/sonos-radio?utm_source=ENsonoscommunity
Userlevel 2
I’ll be the slight contrarian. I do enjoy the quality of the new streams, and can definitely hear the difference. That said they need to strengthen their HD offerings quickly to sustain their price point. If they can, it seems more of a threat to Pandora than other services, and the lack of an out-of-home option is a real pain point.
The other odd part is that looking at the HD offerings, I have no sense of what audience they are targeting.
The standard bitrate for radio broadcast is 64 kbps to 128 kbps.
https://radio.co/blog/best-radio-station-bitrate#:~:text=128kbps%20is%20the%20standard%20bitrate%20every%20broadcaster%20should%20be%20using.
Shouldn’t Sonos be HD in the first place? That’s what I was getting at with my comment earlier. Companies that make hardware don’t do well trying to make bring software into the picture in my opinion. For example, Microsoft made software, then ventured into hardware. How long did it take for them to succeed, if you consider their latest products a success?
So lets get this right Sonos launch a radio service a few months back that quickly broke down, because it couldnt provide the very thing that people wanted, the ability to listen to overseas radio stations. Sonos then launch an “HD” version with the same problems, and then expect you to pay a subscription fee per month for the privilege? Thanks Sonos but no thanks !
With the new announcement of Sonos Radio HD, just checking in on people’s thoughts. Did you sign up for the trial? Will you keep it? How does it compare to others like Amazon, Tidal and Qobuzz? Is it in addition to? How to improve? Share please. Thanks in advance.
It should be standard for what you are buying into with Sonos in the first place.
Userlevel 6
+12
This wouldn't push me away based on my listening habits but can see how it might for other owners.
Interesting times with Sonos for sure.
I doubt Sonos would force you as all the stations appear to be from Tune in apart from their bespoke ones. But who knows with big tech.
Regulators in the US I believe are beginning to look in to the separation of the hardware and software on certain platforms to avoid such issues.
Sonos Radio HD sounds good but choice needs to widen considerably to be worth the price.
I predicted a subscription service in a post a few months back. I think it’s the inevitable outcome of floating the company - they now have to demonstrate ways of increasing revenue streams for their shareholders. In the U.K the U.S ads from the free version seem bizarre and irrelevant.
If Sonos wish to commoditise streaming music that’s their business but I see nothing new or even as good as other available services. What really concerns me is if Sonos were to start “encouraging” (forcing) users to access their streams by removing Tunein etc from the app. I’m not trying to demonise Sonos, heaven knows I own enough of their products but I have a healthy scepticism when companies join an already crowded marketplace with less than stellar offerings. Currently I have a choice between Sonos Radio and Tunein versions of all the stations I wish to use. I’ve tried both and am now going to switch everything to Tunein. Should Sonos choose to “encourage” me to use their service that would be the end of my use of their products. That may sound dramatic and hopefully will prove unnecessary but corporate arm twisting is not for me.
I signed up for the trial and now get “unable to connect to sonos radio - the connection was lost”. It still works on S1 item.
does seem overpriced for the few stations I would listen to.
What do you mean plain and what do you mean HD?
Good question; unlike in the world of TV where things like HD Ready, HD, 4K and now 8K are clearly defined, HD audio is not. So Amazon and now Sonos can attach HD to whatever suits them at the time.
Perhaps because the resolving power of the human ear is much lower than that of the human eye, this fuzzy situation has long prevailed, even for things like a common definition for “audiophile kit”, for which there is none in technical terms, leaving that to be understood as whatever is more expensive than kit at mass manufacture scale benefited price points of makes like Sonos.
Userlevel 6
+12
Aside from content and hardware issues don’t forget your ears.
Can you actually hear a difference in the plain versus HD music?
I can’t, so why would I pay more for it?
What do you mean plain and what do you mean HD?
Userlevel 7
+22
Aside from content and hardware issues don’t forget your ears.
Can you actually hear a difference in the plain versus HD music?
I can’t, so why would I pay more for it?
Amazon was the first to pull this stunt of labelling what they do - CD quality - as HD to suit their marketing convenience, so why can't Sonos?!
But then why can't S1 play Sonos Radio HD? The ability to play CD quality has been there in Sonos from day 1. Only to force upgrades therefore?
Not that personally I care or need it, I find that both Spotify 320 kbps and apple music 256 kbps music sounds just as good as lossless cd rips from my server.
Userlevel 6
+12
What’s the HD content here? Reading the release I see CD quality, not HD. I don’t think I am being pedantic by bringing this up.
HD isn’t a definite term that corresponds to any specific audio quality. Sonos HD is actually the same exact quality as Amazon’s HD. You’re correct though that others will assume HD means 24 bit.
https://www.amazon.com/music/unlimited/why-hd?ref=dmm_LP_WHYHD
Before I posted I googled HD audio to see what it meant and saw that Wikipedia says its HiRes. Not that this is the definitive word, I mean it’s wikipedia, but I had never heard CD quality referred to as HD Quality and wikipedia was backing it up. But by your comment I take it to mean that Sonos Radio HD - the HD is part of the name, a marketing term, not an indication of bit depth or whatever. Which I can understand
I am most curious with how the speakers actually support HD as I thought everyone was making a stink about them not supporting various high def formats.
The older speakers, the ones that can now only work in an S1 system, can not support HD. That’s the reason why Sonos Radio HD is only available in S2.
Userlevel 5
+15
I am most curious with how the speakers actually support HD as I thought everyone was making a stink about them not supporting various high def formats. As far as the service, they will just need to continue adding more variety stations so it takes the place of my SiriusXM online subscription. I see this as a compliment to my Apple Music subscription. I wish you could have the ability to use it with the Move with Bluetooth as well as having an outside home service as well. Also as I play with it I wish you could save songs into a playlist as well. Just initial thoughts.
Page 1 / 2
Enter your username or e-mail address. We'll send you an e-mail with instructions to reset your password.