Sonos won't play certain .wav files


I am having difficulty getting Sonos to play certain .wav files. I have linked the windows media library and that works fine, but some files won't play. 

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25 replies

I have this issue too, specifically with playing .wav files from my Android phone.  The phone creates them on a regular basis and so it is not practical to convert them.

The .wav files seem to play for the first 5 seconds and then cut out.

It's a significant issue for me.
I've converted the .wav from 32 to 16 bit, that doesn't help - converting to FLAC doesn't work either. Sonos will only seem to play the file as a 128 mp3, which results in reduced quality.
Userlevel 4
Badge +3
Hi Jeff and Ben, 

Sonos does support, and play WAV files. 

In order for us to have a closer look and identify the issue, could you please submit a system diagnostics within 20 minutes of seeing this issue and respond to this post with the confirmation number? 
How to submit a system diagnostics

Regards,

Daniel H.  
Hi Jeff and Ben, 

Sonos does support, and play WAV files. 

In order for us to have a closer look and identify the issue, could you please submit a system diagnostics within 20 minutes of seeing this issue and respond to this post with the confirmation number? 
How to submit a system diagnostics

Regards,

Daniel H.  

Hi Daniel, Thanks for looking into this. Just tried to play a playlist of three .wav files. 1 and 3 played fine, 2 cut out after three or four seconds. The diagnostic reference I submitted was 4421870. I hope this helps.
Userlevel 4
Badge +3
Hi Jeff and Ben, 

Sonos does support, and play WAV files. 

In order for us to have a closer look and identify the issue, could you please submit a system diagnostics within 20 minutes of seeing this issue and respond to this post with the confirmation number? 
How to submit a system diagnostics

Regards,

Daniel H.  

Hi Ben, 

what room did you playback in? 

Please submit another diagnostics within 15 minutes of an issue, also let us know what room this was happening in. 
Hi Jeff and Ben, 

Sonos does support, and play WAV files. 

In order for us to have a closer look and identify the issue, could you please submit a system diagnostics within 20 minutes of seeing this issue and respond to this post with the confirmation number? 
How to submit a system diagnostics

Regards,

Daniel H.  

The new reference is 4432817. However, it now seems to be working. Playback was tried both on the Play 3 in the Lounge and the Play 1 in the Dining Room. Not sure how it was fixed but happy it was!
Hi Jeff and Ben, 

Sonos does support, and play WAV files. 

In order for us to have a closer look and identify the issue, could you please submit a system diagnostics within 20 minutes of seeing this issue and respond to this post with the confirmation number? 
How to submit a system diagnostics

Regards,

Daniel H.  

Sonos did play WAV files in windows 7 : right mouse button on WAV file + play with ... PLAY 5 media renderer... I am a Beta tester. This does not work anymore.
I am trying to play a .wav file and keep getting a message that this "file is in an unsupported format". Any help you can offer would be greatly appreciated.Thanks
What bit-rate and sample rate are the wav files? If it anything higher than 16-bit/48kHz then it isn't supported by Sonos.
File size 431.3 MB
bit rate 2,116 kbps
sample size 24 bit
sample rate 44.100 kHz
File size 431.3 MB
bit rate 2,116 kbps
sample size 24 bit
sample rate 44.100 kHz


Sonos doesn't support 24 bit files. You can downsample to 16 bit and not lose a thing.
I'm new to Sonos, it's great when it works but I am also having problems with wav files. I appreciate there is advice about changing to a different format but wav is what I am familiar with. Also I haven't seen any existing advice which covers my results so I would be grateful for any suggestions please.
I ripped 3 CDs to wav, 16 bit and 44.1k sampling.
The first CD has 10 tracks, all 10 appear in the Sonos Folders view but only 8 appear in the Albums/Artists view (the first 8 tracks as it happens). All 10 play ok from Folders (although they seem to be in random order).
The other 2 CDs don't appear anywhere at all in Sonos.
Is there any way to diagnose+fix what the issue is ?
Userlevel 7
Badge +22
Most likely a tagging problem. .wav files don't tag properly.

You'd be very well advised to change to ALAC or FLAC encoding.

You need to use a tag editor probably for viewing and changing your tags. Something like Tag&Rename
Hi Jeff and Ben, 

Sonos does support, and play WAV files. 

In order for us to have a closer look and identify the issue, could you please submit a system diagnostics within 20 minutes of seeing this issue and respond to this post with the confirmation number? 
How to submit a system diagnostics

Regards,

Daniel H.  


Hi Daniel,

I'm having the same problems as these other users. I use my iTunes library as my music library for Sonos but my iTunes library is stored on a NAS. Would love to fix this problem as I have many, many .wav files in my library.

Would really appreciate a fix.

Thanks
Why doesn't sonos support playing 24 bit wav files?
Hi Jeff and Ben, 

Sonos does support, and play WAV files. 

In order for us to have a closer look and identify the issue, could you please submit a system diagnostics within 20 minutes of seeing this issue and respond to this post with the confirmation number? 
How to submit a system diagnostics

Regards,

Daniel H.  


If my .wav files are 24 bit, will they play in Sonos?
Why doesn't sonos support playing 24 bit wav files?

Sonos doesn't support any files over 16 bits or high sampling rates. Why? Well the only statement ever made is they do not see any reason to, because the math for higher resolution files doesn't add up to any actual benefits.
Userlevel 5
Badge +10
Why doesn't sonos support playing 24 bit wav files?

Sonos doesn't support any files over 16 bits or high sampling rates. Why? Well the only statement ever made is they do not see any reason to, because the math for higher resolution files doesn't add up to any actual benefits.


I'd love to know the real technical/financial/other reason for the lack of 24-bit support. Everyone knows that 24-bit is better. The question is whether people hear the difference between 24-bit/16-bit/low-bitrate-MP3, and that all depends on your audio equipment and your ears. And where Sonos kit is concerned, the all-in-one speakers are pretty good, or you can spend your way to better by plugging a connect into a good amp-and-speakers setup. But with the current lack of wide availability of 24-bit music, and the fact that most people are happy with modern compressed MP3 quality, there's probably little incentive for Sonos to invest in 24-bit support.
Not going to argue with you, but physics, biology, math in the form of the Shannon-Nyquist sampling theory, and every peer reviewed experiment ever done, all wholeheartedly disagree. See what xiph.org, the inventors of the FLAC codec (which supports hires audio, so they have no reason to lie), have to say on the subject:

https://people.xiph.org/~xiphmont/demo/neil-young.html
Userlevel 5
Badge +10
Not going to argue with you, but physics, biology, math in the form of the Shannon-Nyquist sampling theory, and every peer reviewed experiment ever done, all wholeheartedly disagree. See what xiph.org, the inventors of the FLAC codec (which supports hires audio, so they have no reason to lie), have to say on the subject:

https://people.xiph.org/~xiphmont/demo/neil-young.html


I don't want to argue either. I don't have sufficient first-hand experience of comparable 24-bit vs 16-bit (though the few 24-bit recordings I've heard did sound great, likely due to mastering issues). Fascinating read BTW.

What is slightly annoying about the Sonos lack of 24-bit support is actually for those cases where your listening options are either 24-bit or MP3, no CD-quality.
24 bit recordings are easily converted to 16 bit 44.1 using any number of programs like foobar 2000 or dBPoweramp. They will even do it in batch form. That way you get the better mastering, without the intermodulation distortion that can make your equipment sound worse with hires recordings, not better.
There are benefits associated with using wide and high bit rate sampling in the recording studio. If I had my choice while recording, I'd go beyond 24/192. While it is great for a living room "my dog is better than your dog" confrontation, there are no peer reviewed studies that prove any audible benefits to the end listener when delivering anything beyond 16/44.1.

I know that there can be some stunning demos comparing "high-res" and "regular" releases, however, if you look into the details, the mastering process for the two releases was quite different. Regular releases are doctored to sound good in vehicles and on portable players out on the street. In my opinion this processing is actually beneficial in these listening contexts, however, I don't appreciate these doctored releases in a quiet room listening on a high end system. Similarly, I would not enjoy listening to the "high-res", non processed version out on the street. My point is that it is the mastering process, not the "high-res" part that is the important detail. Some less than honorable "high-res" releases are simply up sampled regular releases. At best, these "high-res" versions will sound identical to the regular version. If the up sample process is flawed, the "high-res" version will sound worse than the regular version.

If you can obtain a Mobile Fidelity Original Master CD release and a regular release from the same era, compare them on a high end system in a quiet room. In most cases there is a shocking difference (both CD's were released at 16/44.1) -- you'll need to make multiple comparisons, just to satisfy to yourself that these releases originated from the same session master.

With inexpensive huge hard drives, fast computers, and cheap Internet bandwidth, it is not a major issue to slosh the larger 24/192 files around from site to site, however, home network congestion, especially with WiFi, makes real time dealing with these large files in a whole house, wireless, multi-zone context very unattractive. If you look closely at the competing wireless "high-res" systems, there are weasel words and not so generous limits. Some will limit the user to one 24/192 transmission, while the other the streams are 16/44.1. Other systems stall at a more limited number of rooms. The SONOS scheme is rated at 32 rooms.

If you need bragging rights, go for the "high-res". If you want a reliable multi-room wireless system, the SONOS approach works well. It is not the case that the SONOS engineers are inept or don't care.
24 bit recordings are easily converted to 16 bit 44.1 using any number of programs like foobar 2000 or dBPoweramp. They will even do it in batch form. That way you get the better mastering, without the intermodulation distortion that can make your equipment sound worse with hires recordings, not better.

Do you have a recommendation for a free conversion program for Mac OS?
Sorry, not a Mac person.
I'm not a Mac person either. A quick search turned up this discussion that compares a few options.