Enthusiast I

Answered

Terrible Experience with CS - Tech Trouble Shoot - M1 Mac to Sonos Via Airplay

18 replies
574 views

Could someone from Sonos, who won’t ask 45 minutes of redundant questions and with no expertise in the necessary networking subject area, please reach out to me to help solve my networking issues in the subject line?

Thanks so much!

This topic has been closed for further comments. You can use the search bar to find a similar topic, or create a new one by clicking Create Topic at the top of the page.

Ken_GriffithsAnswer

@jnelly,
I do still ‘suspect’ (personally speaking), that there is perhaps an issue with the MAC M1 here. It is a device that does seem to have Airplay issues reported by folk online, as mentioned earlier.

My betting is all your Sonos devices may Airplay fine with an iPhone/iPad (perhaps?) and that may go someway to show its likely a MAC issue, to then maybe chase up with Apple Support.

I think if it was a Sonos issue, there would be many more mentioning the issue here in the community with a variety of different Airplay sending devices.. but of course I can only guess that maybe the case at this moment in time.

Maybe Apple Support, or their user community can offer some further suggestions to try - it might just be a network/security setting on the MAC than needs changing, perhaps 🤔?

Dogdad

Headliner III

Won’t happen here.. need to send email with your issue here.

jnellyAuthor

Enthusiast I

Thanks, @Dogdad. Is this a verified, has been used with success email. Or, just a good guess? Thanks!

Ken_Griffiths

It seems others are having Airplay issues with M1 MAC casting to various Airplay devices in general:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/252212015

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/253373544

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/252796382

That’s a few examples of many, if you Google the issue.

So it maybe worth contacting Apple Support too, perhaps🤔 ?

jnellyAuthor

Enthusiast I

Thanks, @Ken_Griffiths! I recognize you from the 5-6 threads on this topic I found in the Sonos board; you provided very detailed and thorough input. Said threads were all a year old, however.

I took this up with Apple a few weeks ago, and got no where. I don’t have issues casting from my M1 mini, via Airplay 2, to any other devices; only Sonos; I ended up hanging up on the gentleman from Sonos after 50 minutes of nonsense. Best I can tell, my router which combines my 2.4 and 5g bands into one SSID might be the culprit. After repeatedly asking, I simply couldn’t get the Sonos rep. to put me on with an individual knowledgeable with networking; so I hung up.

Let’s see...$3,500 investment in two Sonos systems and completely inferior technical support experience for such a premium brand - don’t understand the Executive thinking and resource allocation on this - given how complex a tech eco-system Sonos lives in. Not sure what to do. Love my Sonos systems, otherwise!

Any additional, specifics, you might know of circa’ 2022 are most welcome, Ken.

Thanks!

Ken_Griffiths

Thanks, @Ken_Griffiths!

I recognize you from the 5-6 threads on this topic I found in the Sonos board; you provided very detailed and thorough input. Said threads were all a year old, however.

I took this up with Apple a few weeks ago, and got no where. I don’t have issues casting from my M1 mini, via Airplay 2, to any other devices; only Sonos; I ended up hanging up on the gentleman from Sonos after 50 minutes of nonsense. Best I can tell, my router which combines my 2.4 and 5g bands into one SSID might be the culprit. After repeatedly asking, I simply couldn’t get the Sonos rep. to put me on with an individual knowledgeable with networking; so I hung up.

Let’s see...$3,500 investment in two Sonos systems and completely inferior technical support experience. Not sure what to do. Love my Sonos systems, otherwise!

Any additional, specifics, you might know of circa’ 2022 are most welcome, Ken.

Thanks!

Notwithstanding there appears to be some Airplay issues with MAC M1 product, there is an App in the iOS App Store called Discovery. perhaps try downloading that and on launch, goto the RAOP (Remote Audio Output Protocol) entry in the list and see if the Sonos speaker has a ‘unique’ ID showing as being discovered/available as an Airplay beacon - if it isn’t showing, then there is something blocking it being seen on your network. It could be a security or network issue (just as examples) - Anyhow there are then these suggestions to try to make your MAC ‘discover’ the device, which I’ve quickly put together by reading a few things online…

Here are some suggestions from Apple sources to fix problems with Airplay connections:

Restart all devices and try to AirPlay again
Toggle off Bluetooth on the controlling device, or if already off, try turning it on
Turn off Cellular Data (if relevant)
Disconnect from any other Bluetooth devices (like speakers)
Connect to the same WiFi network access point or Hub
Reset the network settings on the Apple device
Disable ‘Private Address’ MAC Spoofing in the Network connection
Check for any software updates for the OS, and speaker firmware/software
Move the devices away from other electronics and closer to the main router
Renew your devices DHCP lease via the router configuration pages or better still, reboot the router and reserve device IP addresses in the routers DHCP reservation table.
Switch off any Security/VPN software installed on the sending device

There are more suggestions than the above, but these were the core things to maybe try, that’s according to some Apple online forum users and websites I came across.

Hope the above assists.

jnellyAuthor

Enthusiast I

I’ll try the app and the troubleshoot, @Ken_Griffiths and report back the outcome(s); thank you!

Indeed your below, which I’ve seen in last year’s posts, and which have all been tried. The issue with the below(s) are, while several of them solve the issue momentarily, the issue always comes back. I’m certainly not going to go through the below troubleshoot on a regular basis. Nor, should Sonos expect same - fair?

Thanks again for your time and attention, Ken!

Here are some suggestions from Apple sources to fix problems with Airplay connections:
Restart all devices and try to AirPlay again

Toggle off Bluetooth on the controlling device, or if already off, try turning it on

Turn off Cellular Data (if relevant)

Disconnect from any other Bluetooth devices (like speakers)

Connect to the same WiFi network access point or Hub

Reset the network settings on the Apple device

Disable ‘Private Address’ MAC Spoofing in the Network connection

Check for any software updates for the OS, and speaker firmware/software

Move the devices away from other electronics and closer to the main router

Renew your devices DHCP lease via the router configuration pages or better still, reboot the router and reserve device IP addresses in the routers DHCP reservation table.

Switch off any Security/VPN software installed on the sending device

Ken_Griffiths

@jnelly,

I don’t have a MAC device, I just mostly use an iPad Pro 12.9” (Gen 3), or sometimes an Android tablet and I have quite a few Sonos Airplay devices (as per attached) running on the wireless LAN and I can’t recall the last time a device went missing from the Airplay list.. if one does disappear, it’s usually a Move that’s either been put to sleep, or switched over to Bluetooth mode, or sometimes its a sleeping Sonos Roam.

That said, in the past I’ve seen a bug, where two Sonos products (2 x Move in my case) were getting the same RAOP identifier causing one device to disappear for Airplay purposes, but this issue was fixed a while ago with one of the Sonos updates.

So if this was just a Sonos ‘software’ issue, I would likely be seeing the same disappearing issue here too - so maybe it is the MAC, or the device not being ‘discovered’ across the local network, particularly if the MAC is connected to a different WiFi Access point compared to the one in use by the Sonos speaker. So maybe check that both are connected to the same AP, even if that’s for the purposes of eliminating the network as possibly being a part of the non-discovery issue.

Dogdad

Headliner III

Thanks, @Dogdad. Is this a verified, has been used with success email. Or, just a good guess? Thanks!

Nope..directly on the Sonos support page ..where it says email our CEO.

jnellyAuthor

Enthusiast I

Cheers, @Dogdad. Did you use it successfully?

jnellyAuthor

Enthusiast I

@Ken_Griffiths ...I can’t recall the last time a device went missing from the Airplay list..

My devices always show up in the Airplay list (see snip with red underline for Sonos targets) like you attached last, two different Sonos rooms the “Desk” and “Main Audio...” are the issues.

Desk = Sub Mini and Pair One SLs
Home Theater = Apple TV 4K
Main Audio System = Arc, Sub3, Pair One SLs

...and the Sonos S2 shows the track info and audio is playing via Airplay with audio playing icon - 3 vertical bars moving up and down; the problem there is no audio forthcoming. I think that may take the RAOP item and the rest of your last post out of the list of possible issues?

Forgive me in not being uber clear on the specific issue. This is what is so weird, the airplay output targets are there to target in the Mac mini sound preferences - they are always there, but once targeted only play sometimes, or after I restart the Mac mini.

Show more replies

Sign up

Login to the community