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Triticale
Triticale
Prodigy II
October 18, 2025

Very disappointed with Sonos app. Please, improve it!

  • October 18, 2025
  • 30 replies
  • 626 views

First of all, sorry because English is not my language. I hope to express my feedback correctly. Also I’m new in Sonos, so perhaps I missed something…

I’ve spent a small fortune in my living room set up with an Arc, a Sub and two Era 300. After that I was anxious to test Dolby Atmos music, so I replace Spotify first to Apple and then to Amazon music. First shock, when I realised that AirPlay is not able to play in Dolby qality, so the Sonos app use is now mandatory if you want to get all the features you pay for… and then a nightmare starts:

  • You can’t play next or previous song from the blocked screen of your phone. Now I have to unlock the mobile every time I want to change a song. That’s not the way I used to play music before!
  • You can’t change the volume with the mobile buttons. And it’s even more annoying as it’s a common need when you’re listening music.
  • Songs jump when I’m using Apple Music through the Sonos app. Not always, but every 20 or 40 minutes you have a glitch. Same feeling than when I was listening a cheap disc-man 30 years ago and you shock it. So, I move to Amazon…
  • I can’t listen completely a playlist if Its over 100 tracks in Amazon. The rest of the songs are missing or can’t be selected.
  • I can’t look for playlists, you can only look for artists or albums in Amazon through Sonos app.

So, after spending almost 3000 € in a set up, I have to suffer a lot of problems to get the maximum quality. Really disappointed with Sonos and the user experience playing music with their speakers.

I think Sonos should stop developing new products till the app is working properly. 

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30 replies

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Airgetlam
Airgetlam
October 29, 2025

Sonos plays what it is handed by the streaming company, it doesn’t, to my knowledge, do any volume normalization. If you’re having issues between track volumes, you probably should be expressing your concerns to Amazon itself, rather than Sonos. 

Bruce
Triticale
TriticaleAuthor
Prodigy II
October 29, 2025

Sonos plays what it is handed by the streaming company, it doesn’t, to my knowledge, do any volume normalization. If you’re having issues between track volumes, you probably should be expressing your concerns to Amazon itself, rather than Sonos. 

But I’m not suffering this issue when I use the Amazon Music app, just using the Sonos one!

Writting this message I tested it. Plying the same album through AirPlay, there is no volume differences between songs of the same album, but the same album played with the Sonos app is a continuous up and down if the quality of the tracks change from HD to Atmos and viceversa.

im almost sure that if I go to Amazon with this they ask me to contact Sonos. What a wonderful tennis match! 😅

Airgetlam
Airgetlam
October 29, 2025

Which implies the Amazon app is doing compression for volume, where the Sonos isn’t. 
 

In my opinion, worth every penny you’ve paid for it, for Sonos to do volume normalization of incoming streams requires a level of interference that they would prefer not to get involved in, with subsequent arguments about how much ‘interference’ in the native signal they’re responsible for. Not a great position for them to be in, I’d think. Much better for Sonos to play what they’re handed. And easier, ultimately, it shifts the responsibility to the streaming company, leaving Sonos out of the line of fire. 

Bruce
    Triticale
    TriticaleAuthor
    Prodigy II
    October 29, 2025

    …
    In my opinion, worth every penny you’ve paid for it

    …

    I agree if we talk about audio quality, but the user experience when you try to get the most out of the app… is horrible. I really hope that Sonos and its new CEO try hard improving the app. 

    Smilja
    Smilja
    October 29, 2025

    ​@Triticale, The Sonos app is a WiFi remote control. The system’s brain is the speaker firmware.

     

     

    »And the world is like an apple whirling silently in space, Like the circles that you find in the windmills of your mind.« (›Windmills Of Your Mind‹ [1967]. Music by Michel Legrand ; English lyrics written by Alan & Marilyn Bergman)
      Triticale
      TriticaleAuthor
      Prodigy II
      October 29, 2025

      Hi ​@Smilja! Sorry, but I don’t understand how the linked post could improve my experience. The problem is that to get the best quality (Atmos i.e.) I need the Sonos app, because any other option is not able to achieve Atmos (no AirPlay as far s I know)

      I know the app is basically a remote, but a remote which I’m obliged to use, right? And it has a lot of bugs and leaks in terms of use compared to the streaming own apps… I can’t control music properly (with the phone locked), I’ve problems searching, I’ve problems with playlists, I’ve problems managing the queue, I’ve problems plying Apple… pfff 

      Perhaps there is another way that I don’t know, because I’m using the app often just since a couple of months.

      Edit: one thing I don’t have problems with is the net 😅, or WiFi. At least in the main setup. Move2 is another story that I will talk in a separate thread. 

      Smilja
      Smilja
      October 29, 2025

      ​@Triticale, Your Arc/Era 300 is fetching the requested content directly from the servers of Amazon, Spotify, Apple Music et al. Atmos transmits at a bandwidth between 6,000 and 18,000 kbps. If your home network is not configured for this load, the Sonos units will fail to synchronise with each other.

      »And the world is like an apple whirling silently in space, Like the circles that you find in the windmills of your mind.« (›Windmills Of Your Mind‹ [1967]. Music by Michel Legrand ; English lyrics written by Alan & Marilyn Bergman)
        Triticale
        TriticaleAuthor
        Prodigy II
        October 29, 2025

        ​@Smilja but my problems are not linked with the net or the bandwidth! Are related all of them with a bad designed app which I’m obliged to use to get the best of my speakers!

        jgatie
        jgatie
        October 29, 2025

        ​@Smilja but my problems are not linked with the net or the bandwidth! Are related all of them with a bad designed app which I’m obliged to use to get the best of my speakers!

         

        The app isn’t streaming anything.  No music goes through the app.  

          Triticale
          TriticaleAuthor
          Prodigy II
          October 29, 2025

          oh my God, my English must be even worst than I thought 🤣. Let’s try again…

          I know ​@jgatie, but as far as I know, Sonos app is the only way to play Atmos content, right? Then, I’m obliged to use Sonos app. If I want to enjoy fully my expensive setup… And then, I get a great sound quality, but renouncing to a lot of things that Sonos fail to implement in their app. All the problems listed above are linked to Sonos app, not the streaming services, nor the bandwidth, nor the WiFi configuration… 

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