The Sonos Brexit and pragmatic ways past it

I was thinking about the issue, it doesn’t impact me directly as I traded out all my old gear but maybe things that might work for others.

How about a non-legacy Connect connected to a legacy connect via the RCA jacks. One as part of the legacy system and one on the non-legacy system?

You’d have to group the legacy gear to the legacy Connect using a controller on the legacy side but then you could do everything else from the non-legacy side as long as the legacy Connect was grouped with what you are listening to.

With all the screaming I’m going to be watching for used gear at fire-sale prices and may well snap something up for the few places I don’t have Sonos now. Oh, and anybody letting a Sub go cheap! That is first on my list!

I’m resisting looking at Sonos stock as hard as I can, really don’t want back in the market for individual stocks at my age but if it gets too tempting I may bite. Spouse and primary tax preparer may skin me if I don’t turn a fat profit.

Excellent lateral thinking there; unfortunately the music from the two systems so grouped will be out of sync. And when grouping isn't a need, faffing around with two systems in one household will get irritating over time. Which is why I think that any two systems idea is not a viable solution; it negates the  multiroom concept which is a major Sonos USP. As to buying used gear, another excellent idea, provided you know how to avoid getting devices marked for recycling.

@Loose Moose : Sonos has said that legacy system capability to work with local NAS will not degrade over time; it will only end when the hardware fails. Based on that it is reasonable to assume that capability to accept inputs to the line in jacks will also continue to work as now, without degradation.

@Snikom : With reference to your comment: My current plan is to run as legacy for as long as possible and then use the line to one of my play 5’s for any music over the internet when services start to fail. - that is exactly what I plan to do, and I see no reason for this to not work. For your play 5, replace my Connect/Connect Amps, that’s all.

Thank heavens for the line in jacks and the happy coincidence that the three legacy units being left behind all have these, to allow them an anchor into the real world. Now, if the play 1 units had been the first to go...I even have a topic here that I started a couple of years ago on how useful line in jacks are and why the play 1 missed being a truly great product because it lacks these. And that was way before this event.

At this time, my only concern after May will be to ensure that I don’t inadvertently wreck my 6 zone system by letting an update to the play 1 units slip through. Indeed, I would now be happy if my play 1 units also join the legacy list, so I don't have to worry about that happening because my legacy units happened to be powered off; all would be legacy.

@chickentender :Of course we have options and more may emerge by May - both short term ones and those that can be longer term ones to ensure we are not bitten again.

Moving on: I see a subtle but significant change in the Sonos messaging, forced by the firestorm. The first announcement essentially said that those that don’t want to stay with Sonos by jettisoning legacy products, can choose to not stay, but with a system that will degrade over time where streaming service functionality is concerned, even where said system contains modern products.

Now the messages coming out proclaim that things are not as dire as that for those that choose to stay back - Sonos will do all it possibly can by providing us with bug fixes, and even updates necessary to maintain streaming service functionality, to the extent permitted by the memory available in legacy devices. Even with that last qualification, this is progress:-). The proof of the pudding will be in the eating of course, but the statement of intent is a welcome first step.

One can now keep hoping that more adverse reactions will lead to the next step - that for those that stay back, modern products in legacy systems will keep marching ahead, albeit with features that will not be available to the legacy products - but grouped multi room play across the entire system will be possible. If Sonos were to find a way to get to this place, there will be no legitimate reason for any complaints.

A case then, for the protests to continue; outside of this thread though:-).

What’s truly crazy is that the new feature they’re screwing us all over for is voice control, and I don’t even want that in my system - I’d actively disable it.  Do they really think people want to scream at their Sonos gear to change songs or search while playing something?  They already got the home automation crowd upset at them for buying Snips and then shutting it down.  Now they’re doing their best to get all their existing customers boycotting them by forcing Snips into all the audio playback equipment in market, and that’s how we get here, today.

I know I can’t continue to recommend Sonos gear anymore, and I’m not buying new equipment for existing systems, either.  If they’re going to play this game, buying Alexa or Google smart speakers is far less expensive.  We’ll see how Sonos stock does after they actually EOL existing equipment.

Once my existing systems stop working, I’ll be going back to old-school multi-zone amplifier setups, and just tack on generic dumb wireless speakers for where I can’t wire.  Such a shame...

@Kumar: Why would they be out of sync?

Sonos cannot be expected to have updated 3rd party music services in all of their devices in perpetuity. Hardware permitting, I do expect my connect:amps to work with their line inputs as long as Sonos is solvent, as you indicated is a reasonable assumption given their comments. So what I will need, at some point in the future, is a new internet audio streaming device that I can hook up to my connect:amps via the line input. Today I tried that using my Echo Dot & Amazon Music. It works, but it is cumbersome and functionality & services are limited.

So now I’m thinking along the lines of @Stanley_4: what about hooking up a (non-legacy) Sonos Port to one of my legacy connect:amps. The Port can handle all the streaming/music services, and the connect:amps can handle the grouping & amplification. The only output of the Port would be to the connect:amp and would not need to be synced with any standalone Sonos speakers. Seems like this would be a reasonable solution, at least in my scenario with 8 connect:amps. Sonos still gets me to spend an extra $400 (at a time of my choosing), but I don’t have to buy 8x Sonos Amps to replace my legacy hardware. @Ryan S: will this be an option?

Good Discussion. Thanks for starting the thread.

I am definitely going to stay Legacy.  I am still locked down to 8.4 and have had no issues at all so I am confident that the system can run for years on a Legacy version. I planning one more software update to prep some spares I have collected. Maybe sneak some bargains in the used market.  I will lock it down again untill the dust settles. As Streaming services drop, I will find a way to add devices to the “line in” as needed. Inconvenient, but workable.

I have the fortune of full control and automation of the system using Homeseer, so tasks can be automated and maybe homeseer will become a more important part of the control instead of the Sonos App. There has been plenty of 3rd party integrations that have taken off in the last 5years using the UPNP control and I don’t think Sonos can afford to mess with this. (ie, SmartThings, Control4, Crestron, etc).  A Hardwired Multi Zone Amp/Speaker setup will be my next whole home music system.

The question for me is, how long will Sonos keep the Legacy Software version available for New purchases?  If they make the “Legacy Mode” available on new items , I may purchase some more Sonos product, since they will work with what I have.  Once I can no longer add/group devices to my current system, I will lock things down and wait patiently wait for hardware to die. I’m confident I should get 3-5 years out of this system yet. Plenty of time to wire the house for dumb amps and speakers at the core.

Just another “First World Problem”.  Not going to blow a fuse over it, instead I will turn it into another fun integration project.  My “ZonePlayers” should not have kept functioning this long anyways.

That helps, and is good to know. How many years now? No issues with streaming service functionality till now?

@Loose Moose : The upstream Connect would play music before the downstream via Line In Connect plays it because the downstream one has to do a analog to digital and then back to analog conversion. In addition and more contributory as a cause, it has to first build a buffer to ensure that other Sonos devices on its system that may be grouped with it are able to be in sync - this, even if the grouping function is not being used. 

@Kumar: I understand, but if a Connect / Port is not playing anything ‘upstream’ ie is not syncing itself with any Sonos speakers, and is only connecting via its line-out to the line-in on a connect:amp, wouldn’t everything on the legacy side sync just fine?  In other words the legacy ones all sync with each other but not with the Connect / Port, but that doesn’t matter because the only role of the non-legacy device is to send internet music to the legacy system via line out. Maybe this is part of the ‘stay tuned until May’ message we have been hearing….

Since before April/2018

We mainly use Spotify, Internet Radio, and still some local library.  If I was having any issues I would take the update and lose the features in the PC desktop.  I am just seeing how long I can go.  Lost the 8.4  App on an IPad but all the Androids still working with a force install of the 8.4 APK file.

@Loose Moose .  The Line In will become our savior, me thinks.  I like your Idea of feeding one with a New Sonos device just to get access to streaming services that get hosed on Legacy.  There will be lots of options to plug in, unfortunately you may be grouping with one app and selecting music with another.  Sonos will likely have to allow multiple instances of the App, or maybe there will be 2 versions on the App Stores, one for SONOS Legacy and one for SONOS V2. We will wait and see.

@Loose Moose  Yes, but why do you need the upstream Connect then? Any make streamer that has a line out would do the job. And it would be simpler too, because with two Sonos systems running in the home, with two different apps, it may get tiresome very soon.

To be honest when I read the suggestion, I had a “why did I not think of that” moment, but regretfully, that did not last for more than a minute:-).

Further to the above, I am even now running an Echo Show 5 - now that a display is cheap - into my Connect Amp line in because Sonos still has not brought the Alexa integration to India. It works brilliantly to the extent that I use the Sonos app only when I want to play music from the NAS. It also confers the Connect Amp with bluetooth capability for when that is needed - the Show can take inputs via Bluetooth. And the thick icing on the cake is what no Sonos unit can do even today - display album art for the track being played.

All hail Line In...:-).