No Airplay 2 for Playbar. GUTTED !!!!!

Where is the law that says that Sonos' pricing choices have to be "fair"? Who decides what "fair" is?

what is legal and what is fair are two different things. I never said that anything was illegal. I do like to have all necessary information when making a purchasing descision. The fact that the playbar is less “future proof” than the playbase should be reflected in the price.

No, but as someone who hopes that Sonos goes "public" so that I can purchase stock, I'm hoping that they continue to make money. Shoot, even if they don't go public, I want them to make money, so they continue supporting the system that I currently own.

But I was serious in my question. Who decides what "fair" is?

I guess “fair” is a consensus descision by stake holders? But it’s also a personal moral question. It’s a matter of opinion. I didn’t study philosophy, but I am entitled to my opinion as much as you are to yours.

Indeed you most certainly are.

I'm a fan of inexpensive equipment as well. But that being said, I want the company and people who created the device/technology to be fairly compensated, and continue doing what I found to be useful. But that doesn't need to alter your opinion.

But as you say, it's up to me to decide whether what that company is charging is a "fair" value for the device technology. If I feel it's not, I don't spend my money..

There's a similar issue to that floating around these boards, where people are concerned about software features that haven't been released yet, and there are those who tell them that they never purchase a device based on what it might do in the future, but only what it can do at the point at which is was purchased. I'll admit to having been burned by that before, too.

I still feel like we are dancing around the issue. Marketing the playbar and playbase without pointing out to consumers that the playbar has inferior or older tech inside, rubs me the wrong way. A pricing difference would be an obvious way to differentiate the two. It’s not about the money it’s about the price as an indicator of capability. I don’t care about the price per say. In the last 6 months I have purchased over 15 Sonos speakers, including a playbar, a play 5, sub, boost, several play 1s and a Sonos one. I am pleased with the system, however I can’t shake the feeling that the pricing/marketing strategy for the playbar is not ideal. When they release a new model, if I’m not happy with my current playbar, I’ll just buy a new one. It doesn’t mean that I was incorrect above.

Hopefully Sonos will add a sticker to stock boxes, to indicate that airplay2 is supported on that device when it happens.
Otherwise customers are going to think the playbar, play1, play3 will work with airplay2.

I don't think I've ever seen a product advertise it's release date when it's a few or more years old. It clearly doesn't help sell the product. I have seen older models priced lower than newer models, but the reason is always described as a difference in features between the two models, not due to difference of release date. For the playbar/playbase, there currently is no difference in features. Perhaps they will feel compelled to lower the price on the playbar when airplay is available.

Another way to look at this, Sonos was effectively selling the playbase at a discount because it had better future proofing then the playbar. Do you Sonos could have added to the price of the playbase and market the reason as 'more future proofed'? It will possibly be able to have some unknown feature at an unknown date that the playbar won't be able to do? There will be lots of customers who will view that as a cash grab by Sonos, not as them somehow doing the customer a favor. Some customers will probably even assume that Sonos is just blindly favoring playbar users over playbase as some sort of way to steer the market in the direction it wants.

Well with the playbar. If you have the surround speaker as Sonos one. Then that group will be airplay2.

With the connect family. Maybe Sonos will come out with an add on so airplay2 can find the older device groups. They have the tech already. Just rip the brains from a play 5 or Sonos one. And make it a small it to that you can add to connect groups.

Actually according to Sonos support the surround system lead device (Playbar) will be the determining factor in Airplay 2 capability. That means only a Beam or Playbase will be able to be used to make your home theatre setup Airplay 2 enabled.

Directly from Sonos support:

Hi, thanks for reaching out. If you have a home theater setup with stereo surrounds, it is your home theater product (Playbar, Playbase or Beam) that will determine your setup’s AirPlay 2 compatibility. Using Sonos One or the Play:5 gen2 as surround speakers with the Playbar won’t bring Airplay 2 to the setup. However, if you have a Playbase or Beam, you can use AirPlay 2 with your home theater system.

Gutted. Bought the Playbar, 2x Play Ones and bass. Opted for the Playbar instead of play base as reviews mentioned that the Playbase had a bit of a tinny sound. Pretty miffed that I’ve spent $2k on something that sounds great, but doesn’t work with AP2 as we have a predominantly Apple household. What are my options here? Cross over to the dark side (alexa) and purchase a sonos one as an add-on speaker?