Apple Lossless - extreme dropout/stability issues with multi-room audio

Thanks so much for the suggestion.   I’ve done a bunch of testing with one speaker wired vs all wireless.   Definitely seems to be stable with one speaker wired, but will test it for a longer period to make sure.   So far I’ve switched back and forth multiple times and it only take a few minutes for drop outs and lag to occur when fully on wifi, and I haven’t noticed issues while one speaker is wired.

Ironically, the preferred Sonos connection method now is to go all wireless and not use a wired connection (Sonosnet) - so much so the latest speakers don’t include support for ethernet/Sonosnet.

It’s interesting that you’re experiencing the issues using a mesh setup too, in theory the optimum setup according to Sonos I think.  Are the speakers connecting to different Eeros?

Checked to Eero connections - all Sonos devices are connected to the nearest Eero, which makes sense.  All the Eero’s are hardwired too.   

I think you're not advised to wire individual speakers to separate Eeros, maybe that's the issue?

https://support.eero.com/hc/en-us/articles/18393441260315-How-do-I-setup-my-Sonos-Speakers-on-my-eero-Network-Basic-Setup

https://support.sonos.com/en-us/article/recommended-eero-network-configuration-for-sonos

Well - also very interesting.    Tentatively it seems wiring a single speaker to an eero is stable for me while wifi only is currently a complete mess, especially when a track is lossless.

At least Sonos has that covered as acceptable in their guidance notes.

Good experimenting! FYI: when you run wired Ethernet to a speaker, it communicates with your other speakers over SonosNet. And SonosNet is WiFi. One possibility is that SonosNet is picking a ‘better’ WiFi channel than Eero.

Little more testing with one speaker wired…    Much more responsive in this config.   All zones are starting at the same time, vs staggered after a delay.   No issue scrubbing through a song.  No delay when skipping tracks.  No issue with popping/blasting noises (which has driven to dog into madness).   Songs stay on “lossless” vs dropping back to lower quality.

Can you see if the other speaker are no longer connecting to different Eeros?

In the Sonos App, About My System, are they WM:0?

No change to what Eero the speakers are using - except my Arc is now hardwired to an Eero.  
 

in this configuration most speakers change from WM:1 to  WM:0, except Move and Roam, they still say WM:1.    Also 2 Era300’s an a Sub are WM:3 an WM:2 respectively.   I think that’s normal since they are paired to the Arc.