Contributor I

Answered

Frustrated with Sonos – Seeking Reliable Alternatives

Forum|Forum|2 years ago
June 2, 2024
47 replies
18042 views

Hi everyone,

I'm reaching out to this community because I'm at my wit's end with my Sonos system. When it works, it's absolutely amazing – the sound quality is top-notch, and I've invested in quite a few of their products over the years. However, the reliability issues have become unbearable.

For the past few months, even before the recent app update, I've been experiencing constant problems. Music often won't stream at all, it stops mid-play, some speakers refuse to connect, and sometimes I can't connect at all. These issues are making the system practically unusable, which is incredibly frustrating given the amount of money and effort I've put into it.

I'm now considering alternatives to Sonos. Can anyone recommend a different setup that offers similar sound quality but with better reliability? I'm open to all suggestions, whether it's another multi-room system or even a different approach to home audio.

Thanks in advance for your help!!!!

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Best answer by Airgetlam

Using the Sonos company sponsored forum seems like an odd choice for this. I’d recommend looking at other forums, such as the AVS forum, or the Home Theater forum.

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Brittex

Contributor I

I second the SonoPhone route. This is what I’m using in House 2. It’s quicker, more reliable and has managed to keep all my favorites intact

M

Mmccar

Contributor I

I agree. The latest software update has been a total disaster. Very frustrating! I have tried all the tried and true fixes and none seem to work. Too bad. I have a big investment in Sonos. I think it sucjs tgat they don’t even acknowledge the problem much less fix it.

C

CT_OD

Lyricist II

Agreed it’s very disheartening. I have over $7500 in Sonos equipment which is painful to use now. Why Sonos?? Why destroy yourself???

E

Erland Sommarskog

Enthusiast II

Myself, I’m on my way off the Sonos train, and I’m expecting a delivery of Bluesound equipment next week. Nevertheless, I like drop a tip about Sonos.

I learnt just a few days ago - after that I had placed by Bluesound order - that these days Sonos can have both a wired and a wireless setup. The wired setup is the classic one. You connect one speaker to the network with a cable, and the speakers then set up their secret SonosNet between them. In the wireless setup, no speaker is connected to the network, and they use the local WiFi to communicate, and no proprietary network.

Myself, I have a wired setup, and I have a feeling that some of the problems that has irritated me over the years lies in the SonosNet setup. With that setup it difficult to ensure that speakers in remote locations gets good connection. With a wireless setup, you deal with that with your WiFi routers. And the WiFi routers are probably better at this than Sonos.

Switching to wireless setup is too late for me; I’ve some older players for which you need to do a factory reset to make this change, and it’s not worth the effort.

But for others who experience problems with Sonos, you may want to try this, to see if it helps.

I’m too lazy to drop the links, but just search Sonos support pages for “wireless setup” and “wired setup”.

W

websterpa

Contributor I

Thanks. I have tried that but it does not appear to show all the speakers ( I have 2x Play 1, 1x Play 3, 1x Playbase, 1x Roam, 1x Arc & 1x Play:One). I was not sure if it is the older speakers perhaps causing a problem and not supported?!?

I have connected one of the speakers to my PC in an effort to try and create a more stable network, in case it was my WiFi, but no bloody joy!

When their incompetence hits the Sonos stock price, they may sit up and listen

M

melanie1234

Lyricist II

My personal workaround is using the spotify app directly connected to the sonos speaker. This offers less comfort but it works fine .

It doesn’t work for me. Nothing seems to recognise Sonos products any more where no issues in the past

M

melanie1234

Lyricist II

Thanks. I have tried that but it does not appear to show all the speakers ( I have 2x Play 1, 1x Play 3, 1x Playbase, 1x Roam, 1x Arc & 1x Play:One). I was not sure if it is the older speakers perhaps causing a problem and not supported?!?

I have connected one of the speakers to my PC in an effort to try and create a more stable network, in case it was my WiFi, but no bloody joy!

When their incompetence hits the Sonos stock price, they may sit up and listen

They risk becoming the Boeing of their business

T

Thomas_129

Enthusiast I

After months of sheer frustration with this new Sonos app it’s just a relief to now be able to control my music again, easily. With the sonophone app.

Ken_Griffiths

After months of sheer frustration with this new Sonos app it’s just a relief to now be able to control my music again, easily. With the sonophone app.

What were the issues you saw with the Sonos App? Did you speak/report those issues to Sonos Support?

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Thomas_129

Enthusiast I

Volume control, pause control, individual room control, unreliable, unresponsive, are top of the many complaints that I and many others have with the new Sonos app.
I did speak to Sonos Support - they are in denial as to the extent of the problem and simply said that updates will be released in stages over time. Unacceptable when many customers have spent a fortune on a system which is basically unusable.

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