Apple Music Lossless on Sonos Port – Micro‑dropout when “Lossless” badge appears (crossfade ON→OFF workaround)

Setup

• Location: Spain
• ISP: Orange Fiber
• Device: Sonos Port (Ethernet to router, also tested on WiFi)
• Other services tested: Qobuz, Deezer (both work perfectly, including lossless/hi‑res)
• Apple Music: via Apple One subscription
• Port normally used into a Yamaha R‑N301 + Wharfedale Diamond 225 (and also tested into an AV receiver)

Main issue

When using Apple Music integrated in Sonos (not AirPlay), with Lossless enabled:

• At the start of each track, I get a short audio dropout / micro‑skip exactly when the “Lossless” badge appearsin the Sonos app.
• After this initial dropout, if I let the queue play without touching anything:
  • The rest of the tracks play fine, without further dropouts.
• If I change something during playback (skip a track, modify the queue, etc.):
  • The “Lossless” badge disappears and then reappears.
  • Exactly at that moment, I get another micro‑dropout.
• So every time Sonos negotiates or re‑enables the Lossless stream from Apple Music, there is a short audio cut.

Important observations

• Qobuz and Deezer on the same Sonos Port and the same network:
  • Play CD/hi‑res perfectly, with no dropouts.
• Apple Music via AirPlay 2 from iPhone to the same Port:
  • Uses AAC 256 kbps, and playback is stable, no dropouts.
• The issue appears only with Apple Music Lossless integrated in Sonos when the “Lossless” mode is active (badge visible).

This strongly suggests a problem specific to the Apple Music Lossless integration on Sonos, not a general network or hardware issue.

Crossfade behaviour and workaround

I’ve also tested the crossfade setting in Sonos:

• Initially, crossfade was shown as OFF in the app.
• The issue (dropout when Lossless badge appears) still happened.
• Then I tried this:
  1. Enable crossfade for playback.
  2. Disable crossfade again (turn it OFF).

After doing this ON → OFF cycle:

• Apple Music tracks start directly in Lossless, with the “Lossless” badge already present from the beginning.
• No initial dropout occurs anymore.
• I tested with around 10 different albums, and all of them:
  • Started directly in Lossless.
  • Played without that initial micro‑cut.

So it looks like:

• Even though crossfade was shown as OFF, the internal playback engine was not in a fully consistent state.
• Toggling crossfade ON then OFF appears to reset/synchronize the internal state, and Apple Music Lossless starts working correctly (no dropout on engage).

However:

• This workaround does not survive a reboot.
• After restarting the Sonos Port/system:
  • The issue comes back:
    • Tracks start without Lossless.
    • The “Lossless” badge appears a moment later.
    • A micro‑dropout happens at that point.
• If I then again:
  • Turn crossfade ON.
  • Turn crossfade OFF.
• From that moment on, playback again:
  • Starts directly in Lossless.
  • No micro‑dropout on track start.
  • Until the next reboot.

So the reproducible pattern is:

1. Fresh reboot:
   • Apple Music integrated, Lossless active → dropout when Lossless engages.
2. Do crossfade ON → OFF once:
   • Apple Music integrated, Lossless active → starts directly in Lossless, no dropout.
3. Next reboot:
   • Problem returns until crossfade ON → OFF is done again.

What I’m asking from Sonos

• Please acknowledge and investigate this behaviour in the Apple Music Lossless integration:
  • Especially the interaction between:
    • Lossless stream negotiation.
    • Crossfade internal state.
• It seems that on reboot, the internal state related to crossfade/Lossless is not initialized correctly, and only gets fixed after the user toggles crossfade ON → OFF in the app.

Given that:

• Other services (Qobuz, Deezer) are perfectly stable on the same Port.
• Apple Music via AirPlay 2 (AAC) is also stable.
• And several users have been reporting Apple Music Lossless dropouts for more than a year,

this looks like a software/integration bug on the Sonos side, not a local network issue.

Thanks in advance for looking into this.