Android and Trueplay

So you wish you bought a brand which has no way to automatically tune for your room because the one which does automatically tune for your room requires a specific device?

Late to the party, I wish I could say I am surprised this is a thing.

I’ve been impressed by Sonos so far but exclusivity for any product is a massive turnoff. Lack of AUX in, an oddly restrictive feature set on the amp and now this. I’ll save the rant for another thread. 

If Sonos is all about it’s customers, they could simply release an Android BETA, add on a few YMMV disclaimers inside the app and let us work out what phones give a good result in the forums. Then maybe over time support a confirmed subset of devices - Galaxy S and Pixel could be sufficient. 

Any Android user on the platform for longer than a minute understands that cheaper devices come at a cost and there are no guarantees. It’s both a strength and weakness of the platform.

Ditto.  Sonos should provide mic like my Bose did for room tuning.

I bought the Arc, 2 One SLs as surrounds and a One (gen2) in another room knowing that I would not be able to use Trueplay on my Android.    This was with the expectation that this would eventually be resolved. 

I work with software development with a focus on firmware and I know how hard it can be to align firmware(speakers) with web and app APIs.  I am curious if there is a technical reason why it is not yet supported or whether there is an exclusive agreement as you see with game companies and consoles.

So once again if there is a technical issue, is this Sonos waiting on a future change to Android, difficulties integrating with Android for some existing issue or lack of development resources? 

  I do not have any friends with Apple devices since they are expensive and most people don’t just have one Appple device, they need to convert all (most) existing devices to get the best results.   

As explained on many occasions the main reason for this is there are a lot of different microphones used in different Android phones. Since there are a lot less iPhone models, there’s a lot less difference in micorphones.

SONOS is attempting to measure the room characteristics. A simple wired microphone typically determines conditions at a spot -- and the wire is always too short -- or “I forgot where I stored the microphone” -- or the speaker is sitting on a high shelf (“how do I attach the microphone?”).

Admittedly, I don’t have a proper sample, but most SONOS users that I encounter have iDevices. SONOS would be aware of the actual percentages that use Android.

Sure, SONOS could sell a free standing wireless microphone. How much would you be willing to pay for such a device? Would you be grumbling that iDevice users would not need to purchase such a device? Should SONOS include such a device with each speaker? Of course this would imply raising prices to accommodate development, support (remember that SONOS offers “free” support), and production costs. And, for anyone who has an iDevice, there would eventually be extra junk for the recycle stream.

Hmmmm.  Bose and Samsung to name a couple of high end’s that have included necessary sound pick-up within the product.  For the ARC, how much could it cost to add a mic on a plug-in wire that would give you absolutely control over the sound pickup?

I’ve noticed that every time Apple comes out with a new iDevice, it’s several months before Sonos releases Trueplay support for the device.  That makes me think it’s not just a matter of calibrating the mic on the device in order to make trueplay function properly.  Also, whatever dev and testing that needs to be done outside of mic calibration. is not trivial, otherwise it would be released within a couple weeks at the most.    Also also, it seems possible, maybe likely, that if Sonos made their own mic device, that Sonos would offset the cost by stopping the continual dev and testing of trueplay via iDevices while also increasing the market size.  Obviously, that would make a lot of people unhappy as well.  

And one last thing.  These are essentially single use devices.  Example, someone who just set a home theatre with no plans for expansion will likely avoid buying the device. If installed professionally, the installer will tune it with his own device rather than selling one to the customer.  If you install yourself,  you may decide to go without, borrow  from a friend, or a buy a used one.  If you do buy one, you don’t need it afterwards, so you can sell it or just give it away.  The point is that the actual market size for this device is probably much smaller than the number of Sonos households.

Considering they’d have to retool the line to incorporate that new plug connection into an existing design, it would cost a considerable amount. 

I could be off on this, but I believe other tuning methods have you place the wired mic at the seating location and they tune from that.  Trueplay tuning is different.   Besides the fact that the Arc doesn’t have a port for such a mic, you probably would be required to connect the mic to your phone so that it could be waved around the room.