I could make use of a Sonos adapter dongle that would take whatever audio source device its connected to and stream that audio to your Sonos Speakers. Think of something like a Chromecast Audio, but for Sonos.
You could have one dongle for different connections (interchangeable plugs) or attached connections with different versions of the adapter
My thinking behind that is to take something without sonos support for example a computer, I would plug in a sonos adapter into the 3.5mm headphone jack and have my computer audio stream to a stereo pair of Play ONE. I could have that stereo pair sitting on my desk and act as my now computer speakers.
Also, now that Im typing this, I thought, You could also have a dongle for HDMI ARC. It could benefit in several ways. A cleaner set up without the hdmi cord running up to the tv from your sound bar, for those of us who dont have our wires running behind walls. Maybe a rare situation i want my tv audio to play on a certain speaker without having the playbar have to play the audio as well.
Im not knowledgeable on projectors but I imagine it could help with getting audio from a projector to a playbar in a home theater set up. (but also Id imagine the 3.5mm aux port would do the same, but limit the audio to stereo. again im not to knowledgeable in all the specifics. just ideas)
Ultimately, I think the 3.5 aux adapter could provide the MOST use to people and allow us to integrate our non-SONOS devices into our Sonos ecosystem. That way people interested in your less expensive speakers wont be turned away because they're required to buy a play:5 in order to run something they already own through a headphone jack.
Not necessary to read, but Other examples i thought of...
1. Sonos 3.5mm adapter into an echo dot - could allow people with older sonos equipment that are not alexa enabled to have alexa play audio through their older Sonos speakers. Or from any other voice assistant device with a 3.5mm output.
2. Sonos Adapter (3.5mm or HDMI) into Projector - Sonos engineers can figure out the whole 5.1 surround thing, but would ultimately help for projectors that are at the back of the room connect to a playbar in the front of the room
3. Sonos HDMIAdapter into TV - more of a preference, but would help clean the look and prevent needing a wire run from playbar to tv. especially if (for whatever reason) the tv is further from the playbar than normal.
4. 3.5mm Adapter to Computer - allow sonos to work as computer speakers
5. 3.5mm adapter into a 3rd party bluetooth receiver - for those who cant get over not having bluetooth. I myself enjoy not using bluetooth and the music not being limited by range and phone usage. Love being able to start a song and then watch a video or scroll through facebook videos without interrupting the music. BUT, it would work for those people.
6. 3.5mm adapter (along with a RCA audio adpater) to Whatever RCA device people may have.
At this point, I think everyone gets the picture and i definitely think the SONOS Community can make great use of a device like that. Ideally, it would be small and unobtrusive like the chromecast audio in size. power wise, Id like it to remain universal. the pretty standard micro usb (or i can even live with the new standard usb-c) to usb. that way it can be powered by a usb port or usb wall adapter.
This topic has been closed for further comments. You can use the search bar to find a similar topic, or create a new one by clicking Create Topic at the top of the page.
You've got great ideas, but the majority of the features you're asking for are covered in the Sonos Connect product. That Connect will take in the RCA inputs and can bring them to other Sonos speakers or to a 3rd party amp.
You're correct though, if all you really want is the input, then $350 is a heavy price to pay. If Sonos could drop output to an amp and perhaps make it an accessory to an existing room, rather than it's own separate room, perhaps the price could drop significantly.
Also, it's worth noting that outside of current HT setups, Sonos operates by buffering the audio slightly to allow for multiroom audio. This means that if your source needs to be in sync with video, from a PC, TV, or bluetooth from a portable device, than you're going to have lip sync issues. Sonos can resolve this by bonding with other speakers in the room by 5.0 GHz like it does for HT setups, but that changes these quite a bit and will surely raise the cost. It could also cut into sales of the existing HT devices, so I don't know if Sonos would gain from making this dongle work with video sources.
Edit: Glanced at your post again and forgot to talk about the idea of this dongle sending a DD 5.1 signal to a playbar. The playbar wasn't to take in anything more than a stereo signal over wifi, so I'm not sure if that's possible. It cause delays in the audio causing sync issues. it would be a great solution for projector scenarios though.
You're correct though, if all you really want is the input, then $350 is a heavy price to pay. If Sonos could drop output to an amp and perhaps make it an accessory to an existing room, rather than it's own separate room, perhaps the price could drop significantly.
Also, it's worth noting that outside of current HT setups, Sonos operates by buffering the audio slightly to allow for multiroom audio. This means that if your source needs to be in sync with video, from a PC, TV, or bluetooth from a portable device, than you're going to have lip sync issues. Sonos can resolve this by bonding with other speakers in the room by 5.0 GHz like it does for HT setups, but that changes these quite a bit and will surely raise the cost. It could also cut into sales of the existing HT devices, so I don't know if Sonos would gain from making this dongle work with video sources.
Edit: Glanced at your post again and forgot to talk about the idea of this dongle sending a DD 5.1 signal to a playbar. The playbar wasn't to take in anything more than a stereo signal over wifi, so I'm not sure if that's possible. It cause delays in the audio causing sync issues. it would be a great solution for projector scenarios though.
Enter your username or e-mail address. We'll send you an e-mail with instructions to reset your password.