Sonos with 5Ghz; what does that brings?

The changes apply to particular speakers so any benefits will apply equally to existing and new users. 

The best way to operate Sonos with a mesh network is usually to use SonosNet mode, which makes the WiFi channel almost irrelevant.

Some users reported drop outs for their surrounds settings after updating, what might be the cause?

Is there no 5ghz for Port and Amp? 

I’m not quite sure I understand what the OP is referring to. Traditionally, the only Sonos device that could connect to a router’s 5Ghz signal was the Move. Other devices had a 5Ghz antenna, but could only connect to a SonosNet signal on that frequency, for home theater bonding purposes. 

I believe they're referring to where you are saying “Traditionally…. “ is no longer true and that if you connect to WiFi (not Sonosnet) you can now connect certain speakers to a 5GHz network.

It seems there will be more scope for confusion though as it only certain speakers that are S2 compatible can do this so users who do operate S2 in a WiFi setup may not be able to do so any longer?  Looks like Play 1’s, Sub 1 & 2 for example can't connect to 5GHz.

Oh, for Ryan……

Re your final comment - amen to that.

We are already in a world where some Sonos devices can connect to a 5GHz or 2.4GHz router band but others can only use 2.4.  The Move does both, and I think the Port does too (although I must have missed the announcement because I was insisting to someone on here a few days back that they must be mistaken if they thought their Port was on 5GHz).

There shouldn’t be a problem (I would have thought) provided the router bridges the two bands - i.e. allows data to flow between them.  There seem to be a few routers that don’t - can’t see how that will work.

Just for the record, most Sonos speakers have 5GHz radios, and these have always been used for communications between speakers in a Sonos HT setup - but these don’t use WiFi, this is direct communication between Sonos devices.

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

Specifically, “One, One SL, Five, and Sub (Gen 3) can now connect to 5GHz and 802.11a/n WiFi networks.”

Thanks, but I have seen this, it was the Port I was referring to.  It now appears it already did 5GHz pre-12.1.

Appreciate that, but thought it was worth adding as you didn't mention any of these newer additions above.

Bruce mentioned he didn't know what the OP was referring to and that the devices with 5GHz only used it ‘internally' (bonding etc.) when that is no longer the case - BUT it is not true for all S2 compatible devices.

I didn't see any 12.1 Announcent though like usual.

The question arises as to why only these speakers?  A complete guess is that they have better 5GHz radios.  5GHz has shorter range and inferior wall penetration than 2.4GHz, which has been the presumed reason why Sonos limited connection to 2.4Ghz.

That does beg the question, ‘why not the Arc?’.