Avid Contributor I

New Sonos User - Questions and Advice - Is Sonos Good or Not?

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Hi there,

I have been wanting to try Sonos for some time I decided to jump in and bought 2 x Sone One speakers and a Sonos Five. I must say I love the sound and so far have loved the app as well. Generally I have no complaints, however……

I have been reading lately about this big Sonos client support dump a year or so ago when they decided to split an S1 and S2 app so older products could keep working. I read the initial plan was to brick older products. I have also been reading a pile of bad reviews about Sonos support, arrogance, bad updates and so on. I gather many long term customers have left Sonos for other product and seem really annoyed.

My question and hope for comments - from those who have been around. Is it safe to start building a system with Sonos. Am I likely in 3 years to have bricked equipment and lack of support. Some people I have read about had spent thousands upon thousands of dollars only to be left in the lurch.

I don’t have any problem with equipment being superseded etc, but would love to get a feel from folk who have invested if I should keep going or just enjoy the three speakers I have and don’t invest more.

Thank you...

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C

castalla

Local Superstar

With a component based setup, you buy a products that do one thing really good, and typically integrate well with your other things. When an improvement happens in one particular area, you replace the component, not the whole system.

That is exactly why I have moved away from bundled Sonos solutions by resorting to Echo for the smart side of things. Fortunately in my case, both Connect and Connect Amp can serve just as well as HiFi components for all the non smart functionality they carry. The move was prompted by a combination of the S2 thing and the complete lack of interest shown by Sonos in Alexa integration for India, but now this looks to be more than a workaround - I prefer the Echo interfaces to music playing that I get this way from what the Sonos controller app provided me earlier. And no matter what rolls out in the future in home audio or smart homes, as long as the excellent Sonos S1 hardware works in dumb mode, I am not affected. I am pretty sure this will be the case even if - worst case - Sonos goes the squeezebox way sometime in the future and server support is pulled. Especially because my interest in enhancing the audio side of TV is limited to what I get today from a simple stereo speaker augmentation of the sound from flat TVs.

Correction!

The squeezebox server based system is alive and well. Logitech stopped device manufacture but the software is still actively supported and updated. Just sayin'.....

It's the courageous bee's knees - all 6 🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝. - - - - - Make Sonos Great Again - - - - -

K

Kumar

Correction!

The squeezebox server based system is alive and well. Logitech stopped device manufacture but the software is still actively supported and updated. Just sayin'.....

Lol. Noted. Who supports it - some company, formally, or is it an open source initiative? And does it retain all the functionality existing before the plug was pulled on it?

PS: and FYI, my Raspberry hosted My Media for Alexa that you helped me set up continues to work flawlessly, allowing me to play local files on Echo via voice command, with album art as well. The only miss there is that I can only play via voice command, unlike in the case of Spotify where I can also cast from the phone to Echo, silently.

C

castalla

Local Superstar

The squeezebox Community have essentially inherited the media server software (as open source) - the support forum is still hosted by logitech. The server software is massively improved compared to the earlier versions with many active Plugins.

In my case, I limit most of my sonos use to Audible, and use squeezebox for everything else. One brilliant feature if you use the free picoreplayer software on a raspberry is the dynamic connection for Bluetooth headphones/speakers.

It's the courageous bee's knees - all 6 🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝. - - - - - Make Sonos Great Again - - - - -

N

nik9669a

Senior Virtuoso

To get back to the original question from @Wobind I’d say “yes” - it is good and it is worth buying into. Some users have experienced system issues and it seems the network demands for sync’d multiroom audio is greater than that for just a printer on a network. If you have problems (as I did, many years ago) there are folk on these forums that freely offer their time helping guide you through troubleshooting and resolving most issues. And as already said, Sonos have committed to support products for at least 5 years after they stop selling them.

K

Kumar

it seems the network demands for sync’d multiroom audio is greater than that for just a printer on a network..

I reckon the OP has all he was looking for and more, so the rest of us may be pardoned for chewing the fat a little…

To the quoted, I have heard this said of Echo devices as well - that they demand less from the network than Sonos, even where multi room is not in use on the latter.

Here is what I don’t have a good handle on - do Echos working in grouped mode also have lower network demands than Sonos? All I know is that mine do groups just fine on WiFi - Echos do not have a Sonos net equivalent.

jgatie

Note to the OP. This thread seems to have been overtaken by two of the most vocal Sonos critics - One who is bitter over the S2 change and the lack of Alexa in India, and another who has a strange, but quaint fondness for a system Sonos put in the grave going on a decade ago. Please don’t take these vocal, but anecdotal posters sway your analysis. The vast majority of Sonos users are quite happy with their systems.

W

WobindAuthor

Avid Contributor I

Hi there - just wanted to say thank you to everyone who commented. I have just bought a turntable too so I am going to buy another five so I have a stereo pair, and that would put me in for 4 speakers in total and I’ll see how that all goes.

Wanted to express my gratitude for the comments and interest folk showed. One thing that does seem to be excellent about the whole ‘Sonos’ thing seems to be the community. Reading through these posts it is interesting to see the support and sharing.

Thanks again guys !!!

C

castalla

Local Superstar

Note to the OP. This thread seems to have been overtaken by two of the most vocal Sonos critics - One who is bitter over the S2 change and the lack of Alexa in India, and another who has a strange, but quaint fondness for a system Sonos put in the grave going on a decade ago. Please don’t take these vocal, but anecdotal posters sway your analysis. The vast majority of Sonos users are quite happy with their systems.

Heres a list of the devices currently active on the system you claim was buried a decade ago. Notice the various headphones in use.

Rumours of this system's demise have been greatly exaggerated. Nevertheless I guess the OP will enjoy his choice.

It's the courageous bee's knees - all 6 🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝. - - - - - Make Sonos Great Again - - - - -

jgatie

I’m sure there are people still driving AMC Gremlins out there too!

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