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Sonos S2



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Is there an S2 app for Mac?  

 

Also, I’ve updated my equipment, splitting off the S1 devices from the S2 ones.  Both iPhone apps kicked off a music library reindex.  The S2 has finished, but the S1 is still going quite some time after the S2 completed.  Is this expected, or has something gone wrong?

 

For a while, legacy devices have been unable to do a incremental update, and used to off-load the indexing to a newer device.  Since it can no longer off-load, it has to do a complete scan. 

I am not suggesting it can run both.  Definitely not.  It wil only be visible in one of them. I just want to know if having a speaker on S2 means it can never then be used back in your S1 system.

How Sonos dealt with this in the past is not necessarily the same - I don't see switching as an upgrade/downgrade scenario - just moving a speaker that is compatible with both OS's between them.

 

It’s NOT possible to switch between S1 and S2 at will. You’ll have to make your mind up whether you want to migrate to S2 or not.

 

See Ratty’s previous post.  He was able to switch a speaker between S1 and S2 without issue.  

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Is there an S2 app for Mac?  

 

Also, I’ve updated my equipment, splitting off the S1 devices from the S2 ones.  Both iPhone apps kicked off a music library reindex.  The S2 has finished, but the S1 is still going quite some time after the S2 completed.  Is this expected, or has something gone wrong?

 

For a while, legacy devices have been unable to do a incremental update, and used to off-load the indexing to a newer device.  Since it can no longer off-load, it has to do a complete scan. 

I never knew that.  Thanks for the quick response.

Is there an S2 app for Mac?  

 

Also, I’ve updated my equipment, splitting off the S1 devices from the S2 ones.  Both iPhone apps kicked off a music library reindex.  The S2 has finished, but the S1 is still going quite some time after the S2 completed.  Is this expected, or has something gone wrong?

The time to index will depend on the CPU horsepower of the ‘Associated Product’ -- which does the actual work -- and the bandwidth of its connection to the library storage.

I am not suggesting it can run both.  Definitely not.  It wil only be visible in one of them. I just want to know if having a speaker on S2 means it can never then be used back in your S1 system.

How Sonos dealt with this in the past is not necessarily the same - I don't see switching as an upgrade/downgrade scenario - just moving a speaker that is compatible with both OS's between them.

 

It’s NOT possible to switch between S1 and S2 at will. You’ll have to make your mind up whether you want to migrate to S2 or not.

Completely wrong and verified by ratty.  An S1/S2 compatible speaker can mover from S1 to S2 and back again.

As you have stated this as fact  in many places though, maybe you will correct it to avoid confusion?

 

I’ve been told otherwise by Sonos support. We’ll see. To be accurate, I’ve been told that it is not possible to perform a downgrade from S2 to S1.

I updated my system an hour or so ago …

 

Just tried to play a couple of files that are 24/96 M4A hi-res that the original software would literally just have hissed out …

 

The new one plays them but at something close to half speed!

 

Tested on a Play:1 and a Play:3 … both the same!

 

Is there a setting I can tweak or is Sonos still pretty useless for hi-res file support?

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I’m not sure why people are expecting Hi-Res audio  or DD+ on the Beam today.  In the case of the Beam, it’s never been promised.  For Hi-Res, Sono has hinted it was coming but never said it was going to happen today.  I get why people want it ASAP, but I tend to think the S1/S2 and 3 additional new products in the matter of 3 days is a quite a bit to deal with from a support perspective. 

We like surprises 😁

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I updated my Android phone to S2 a few hours ago.

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Hi. I’m just wondering if I can update 2 of my S2 compatible speakers (Play 1’s) to S2 for use in a bedroom and keep my 2 Play 3’s on S1 to group with with my 2 gen 1 Play 5’s in a bigger room?

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Anyone tried streaming  hires Qobuz. Does the player tell you what it is streaming? Does it play some half speed, choose the right one or ignore them all and play 16 bit.  Can someone who works for Sonos say what it has been written to do?

Why do we have to rely on hints? Can't they just write a list?

Release notes are available:

https://support.sonos.com/s/article/3521?language=en_US

Not much help though

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Hi. I’m just wondering if I can update 2 of my S2 compatible speakers (Play 1’s) to S2 for use in a bedroom and keep my 2 Play 3’s on S1 to group with with my 2 gen 1 Play 5’s in a bigger room?

Yes, you can. For operating a split system, and how to set it up, see this article on split systems

At this point Sonos doesn’t support sampling rates for ultrasonics, audible only by certain animals.

This is a valid point, and consistent with previous Sonos messaging on the issue, I believe.

I have been cautiously optimistic that the marketing message “S2 will bring higher resolution file types” (my summarised wording) might mean support for the most common combinations, specifically 24/96.  I completely accept that the anti-audiophile argument that I can’t hear any frequencies at that level, I’d just prefer not to have to recode all my files down to Sonos’ software-imposed (I believe) limitation.

That said, I had made my peace with the S1 limitation before S2 was announced, so I will perform that recoding and move on - it still all sounds good and is easily controlled, which is what I actually want from my system.

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what hi res service are you using? 

The 24 bit files I’m playing are stored locally. 

Not playing my local hi-res 24-bit/96kHz files - “Unsupported”

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Not really very detailed release notes. Better continue guessing

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Note that the s1 updates first and then you can get the s2 if you have no incompatible gen one devices ….even if not plugged in.   I had to click a button to forget about my old speakers after I logged into my account.

 

 

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Hi. I’m just wondering if I can update 2 of my S2 compatible speakers (Play 1’s) to S2 for use in a bedroom and keep my 2 Play 3’s on S1 to group with with my 2 gen 1 Play 5’s in a bigger room?

Yes, you can. For operating a split system, and how to set it up, see this article on split systems

Note that it looks like it's not just splitting your system and having them function as before but as two separate systems.

The ones that stay on S1 actually get reset and you lose access to all playlists etc. you may have created over the years.

Thanks Ryan and sjw. I think I’m better off just leaving the whole thing on S1 for as long as the legacy 5’s stay functional.

what hi res service are you using? 

The 24 bit files I’m playing are stored locally. 

Not playing my local hi-res 24-bit/96kHz files - “Unsupported”

You’ve assumed that all 24 bit files are 96Khz.  I said earlier that 48Khz was still the limit there.

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In the UK here, iOS controller. Mainly Modern Products other than a Play:5 which I have used as a trade in for the new Arc 5.1.2 setup (which has not arrived yet).

I have to say I’ve been watching and reading up on what was going to happen here with regards to S2 and although a bit miffed about the Play:5, I’ve been waiting for a new soundbar so the £600 saving I got with the “trade in” suited me and also I have just plugged an old Alexa Dot into the Play:5 with the intention of it being a standalone smart speaker.

Updated everything this morning to S2, worked exactly as expected once I dropped the Play:5 off the setup. Created a second Sonos account to use the S1 controller and setup that. To be safe put the S1 system on a second Wifi SSID. It is a shame you can’t use the same account on S1 and S2 but other than that can’t really complain.

Sonos wound me up with the deprecating of the Play:5 but made it up to me by allowing this multi system setup and the “trade in”. It also seems to me they’ve done everything they said with this update, not sure why people are whinging about supporting hi res music, it was never promised in the new release.

 

 

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Reverting players is in the release notes.

'Is this process reversible?

No, once products have upgraded to S2, they cannot be downgraded back to S1 or added to an S1 system. Make sure you want to create a split system before following this process.'

Reverting players is in the release notes.

'Is this process reversible?

No, once products have upgraded to S2, they cannot be downgraded back to S1 or added to an S1 system. Make sure you want to create a split system before following this process.'

This doesn’t square with what’s possible today. I’ll leave @Ryan S to address that point.

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Created a second Sonos account to use the S1 controller and setup that. To be safe put the S1 system on a second Wifi SSID. It is a shame you can’t use the same account on S1 and S2 but other than that can’t really complain.

You can use the same account. Also, you don’t need to use a different SSID.

In a split scenario the S1 and S2 systems have different HouseholdIDs. 

 

When i tried to setup a new system in the S1 app it would not let me as the account was the same. I didn’t say the SSID was necessary, just felt as I could I would.

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Maybe the higher bandwidth is only for Dolby, not hi res music. I just upgraded to S2 and of course I am disappointed on my own thoughts that this would make a totally different product and we would be able to listen to hi res music, but it was all in my head. Am I angry at Sonos? NO, I love all the products Ihave and all my house is Sonos. But my dreams are shattered at the moment. I will convert some files to 24/48 to see if I can play them. I like the new GUI more than the previous one!

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I am not suggesting it can run both.  Definitely not.  It wil only be visible in one of them. I just want to know if having a speaker on S2 means it can never then be used back in your S1 system.

How Sonos dealt with this in the past is not necessarily the same - I don't see switching as an upgrade/downgrade scenario - just moving a speaker that is compatible with both OS's between them.

 

It’s NOT possible to switch between S1 and S2 at will. You’ll have to make your mind up whether you want to migrate to S2 or not.

Completely wrong and verified by ratty.  An S1/S2 compatible speaker can mover from S1 to S2 and back again.

As you have stated this as fact  in many places though, maybe you will correct it to avoid confusion?

I’ve been told otherwise by Sonos support. We’ll see. To be accurate, I’ve been told that it is not possible to perform a downgrade from S2 to S1.

@Smilja’s view is consistent with the relevant Sonos support article (below). It’s good to hear from @ratty that this is incorrect.

From: https://support.sonos.com/s/article/4845?language=en_US

Is this process reversible?

No, once products have upgraded to S2, they cannot be downgraded back to S1 or added to an S1 system. Make sure you want to create a split system before following this process.

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Its not what they do or don't promise that winds me up it's  that they don't specify clearly what the new specs are and you end up not really knowing either way and relying on forum chat. If a feature is not in it then it's not in it, fair enough. Just say the new system on release will have the following features: 1,2,3,4 etc. These may follow in the future. I think that is a reasonable expectation when trying to make an irreversible decision.