Hi. If it was easy to do, do you not think Sonos would have done it? Please see this thread for an exhaustive (and exhausting) discussion of this issue. 

https://en.community.sonos.com/announcements-228985/end-of-software-support-clarifications-6835969

Actually, no.  I don’t think that SONOS would have done it.  I think they may have looked at easy solutions, but easy is not necessarily the best solution.

I think they didn’t and don’t get it.  They think that their current option will appease the masses that will live in a legacy world for the foreseeable future. But what they don’t understand is that the environment they are building has no incentive for the current SONOS owner to stay SONOS.  The available options have changed over the years and now with their current solution, existing SONOS customers will have to use two disconnected apps to use their two systems whether is is two SONOS apps or the SONOS S1 app and another vendor speaker and app.

I ran a worldwide three data center environment for a Fortune 100 company for many years and I was always amazed that a good portion of the technical gurus that were out there could not think outside the box when it came to developing a very specific technical solution.  In this case I don’t think SONOS spent much time on a potential hardware/software solution.  

Here is why I think that.  A while ago SONOS owners lost the ability to control the SONOS environment from an Apple Watch.  SONOS took the capability away saying that it was because Apple changed something.  Funny.  An individual in Scandinavia (using standard Apple and SONOS developer interfaces) created the Lyd app that blows away the competition in controlling all of my 4 system, 35 device SONOS world…, elegantly.  I can control any device on any system.  And SONOS said they couldn’t do it.  I rest my case!  SONOS does care and they will losing their dedicated followers to future purchases. 

I have been in contract with the Lyd app developer and just like he allows me to switch between SONOS system on my Apple Watch I am sure I will be able to switch between legacy and future SONOS systems from a single interface,  And guess what.  SONOS is providing me to disparate apps to do the same thing.  I don’t think they get it.

Anyone making definitive statements about what is or is not “possible” without intimate knowledge of the hardware and codebase is a fool.  

And ”think outside the box” is a mantra my IT manager uses.  He’s a fool too.

Your opinion.  Thanks for the feedback. 

SONOS said they couldn’t support the Apple Watch either. One person did it for them with the Lyd app. And elegantly.

What is possible is only limited by saying it isn’t possible.

Thanks again for your opinion.

This has been debated to dearh. Not worth going over the same arguments for the hundredth time. 

Maybe it has been debated, but has anyone TRIED anything.  I just did.

I just in a matter of minutes played music across multiple SONOS systems in two different fashions.

One via bluetooth via two bluetooth adapters that cost me $50 a piece that I use to transmit/receive between headphone jacks.  Out a gen 1 Play 5 transmitting out a headphone jack to a line in on a receiver on any line in on a SONOS device on a different system.  Worked perfectly.   

I have for a long time used an RF transmit/receiver to  connect my Outcast speaker to the SONOS environment.  Just used it to connect two separate SONOS environments together.

Two solutions I just did in less than 30 minutes since I got this negative feedback that bridged, ie. GROUPED to separate SONOS systems is’t possible.  Now if I can do this in 30 minutes.  I would think SONOS could package this into one box and sell it as a solution to bridge the new and the old.

I rest my case. 

Please see this thread

https://en.community.sonos.com/announcements-228985/end-of-software-support-clarifications-6835969

i had already read that.  Nothing new there.

Guess I can GROUP my Old and the New products even if SONOS can’t.

And in your 30 minute experiment, was one Sonos system playing a high resolution audio stream, whilst the other played the same stream 'transrated' on the fly to a lower bitrate (standard) resolution?

Only you may just need to compare 'Apples to Apples' in your tests and not 'Apples to Pears’ before you have me convinced here.

As Sonos S2 hasn't been launched yet, you could  not possibly have produced a more irrelevant and pointless example. 

don’t need SONOS S2.

two PORTS one defined to each environment and a couple of audio cables will do the job.

I will not respond further.  There are solutions to playing the old and new systems as a single group.

as long as the PORT which by design support audio in and audio out…, you are in business…., and that is the purpose of the PORT to take audio from a source and output it to another device…,the new PORT will support HD so it will work fine…, 

Uhh, if you have no need for S2, well that's great.  You do know you can keep your systems on S1, right?   No muss, no fuss, and your systems keep working just like they do today.  Looks like your hours of ranting were for naught.

My opinion backed by 25 years as a software engineer.  I stand by it.

Congrats…., I have 35 years….,

Well done for proving that legacy and modern devices can operate together on the existing software.  Given that that will be an option for you anyway after May/June, I repeat my assertion that what you have done proves absolutely nothing of value.

Rereading your original post you clearly believe the issue is modern vs legacy speakers.  It isn’t - it’s S1 vs S2, which is not at all the same thing, and is impossible to experiment with at the moment.  You have solved a problem that doesn’t exist.

So why should Sonos create a device that you were able to do on your own without a Sonos device?

And how did you conclude that everyone is going to want this magic box the way you do?    Of the customers who have legacy devices (how many is that?), how many would prefer to just upgrade their systems, or have already decided to move on to a different system?    How many of these devices does Sonos need to sell in order to cover the costs of development, testing, manufacturing of these devices?  Do the numbers add up?  Does it makes sense to make a product that has a limited, and ever shrinking, market?

Again, all for a device who’s function you were able to duplicate in 30 minutes with equipment you already had.

Managing is not developing.  Not by a long shot.