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

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?

If you are still within your return period then just return the playbar for playbase. If not you can just sell the playbar on craigslist and get the Beam when it comes out next month. Either solution will give you Airplay 2 for the whole 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?

If you are still within your return period then just return the playbar for playbase. If not you can just sell the playbar on craigslist and get the Beam when it comes out next month. Either solution will give you Airplay 2 for the whole system.

***Update***

I went back to the store today and explained the situation. They were really understanding and were very happy for me to return the Playbar and swap it out for the Playbase. Have set up the unit and although it does seem a bit tinny in the top end for treble compared to the Playbar, it’s overall a great sound. I’m hoping that overtime as more software updates are released the sound gets even better. Very happy!

I too am super disappointed Sonos didn't at some point just update the CPU without a major overhaul to ensure future proof. My playbar is about 6 months old..
I didn't buy Playbar to buy into Sonos, it was more practical, hang under TV that can turn and it works well for that
It's plugged to Apple TV anyway so no for Airplay on playbar. I try not to use their App at all but what annoys me is I can't even change the EQ without being forced to update the Playbar - I don't want to update the Playbar software, leave it alone it works fine the way it is!

It's not the CPU, it's the memory. And although upgrading the memory a while back makes sense in hindsight, it never did in the past. Sonos couldn't have predicted that Apple (or someone was) going to coming up with a protocol that was going to need more memory than the playbar could give to it.

As far as the software updates. you can change the settings so that it won't look to update whenever an update is available.

And honestly, you're super disappointed that Sonos doesn't have more hardware updates, want more future proofing, disappointed the playbar won't have a software update for airplay 2, but don't want any software updates because you think the playbar is fine the way it is?

And honestly, you're super disappointed that Sonos doesn't have more hardware updates, want more future proofing, disappointed the playbar won't have a software update for airplay 2, but don't want any software updates because you think the playbar is fine the way it is?

haha, yes indeed, as I said I didn't buy Playbar to buy into Sonos; think I was aware at the time about Airplay 2 so didn't matter but I'm disappointed nonetheless. I like to choose when to do my updating, not being forced to update before I can change the eq setting. I'll check the updates option. I hate autoupdating; as a long time computer user, updates don't always mean BETTER, sometimes they do worse things.

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.

ENTIRELY WRONG! Sadly... It's clearly indicated in the FAQ section of Sonos website that it's not the surround speakers but the home-theater speakers that determine if the setup will be compatible with AirPlay 2. They give the exemple of the Playbar connected with Sonos One and NO it will not be compatible with AirPlay 2.

Personally I don't buy that BS about the Playbar being to old. As a manager I know for certain that it's a business decision from Sonos. That the old Playbar bought 7 years ago can't be compatible ok I can easily accept that. But that the Playbar a customer bought last year doesn't have an updated hardware compatible that's unacceptable. The whole world knew for the last 12 months, since Apple's 2017 WWDC, that Apple was coming with an important update to their streaming protocol for multi-room audio. We've have been waiting a whole year for that. So when Sonos sold Playbar last year they knew about Airplay 2 (probably not the new name, but what was coming). They could have made sure ALL their line-up of products would be compatible. They have done do it with the Playbase BEFORE Airplay 2 was released. They could have done the same with their flagship Playbar. They didn't. That was a marketing/management decision. And now soon this year they will most probably release a Playbar 2.0

Now we know that Sonos is like most companies in the electronic industry and in this capitalist world, they want us to throw away our current products and buy new ones. I naively thought Sonos was better than that.

ENTIRELY WRONG! Sadly... It's clearly indicated in the FAQ section of Sonos website that it's not the surround speakers but the home-theater speakers that determine if the setup will be compatible with AirPlay 2. They give the exemple of the Playbar connected with Sonos One and NO it will not be compatible with AirPlay 2.
Wrong, in the beginning the stated that any sonos device grouped with an airplay compatible device would work.no mention of 5.1 rules. Even worse, long time ago sonos stated all sonos devices would work. Strongly disappintment by Sonos. (Again)
I bet this comes pretty handy when Sonos is going public....(many will trade in their bar now)

Personally I don't buy that BS about the Playbar being to old. As a manager I know for certain that it's a business decision from Sonos. That the old Playbar bought 7 years ago can't be compatible ok I can easily accept that. But that the Playbar a customer bought last year doesn't have an updated hardware compatible that's unacceptable. The whole world knew for the last 12 months, since Apple's 2017 WWDC, that Apple was coming with an important update to their streaming protocol for multi-room audio. We've have been waiting a whole year for that. So when Sonos sold Playbar last year they knew about Airplay 2 (probably not the new name, but what was coming). They could have made sure ALL their line-up of products would be compatible. They have done do it with the Playbase BEFORE Airplay 2 was released. They could have done the same with their flagship Playbar. They didn't. That was a marketing/management decision. And now soon this year they will most probably release a Playbar 2.0

Now we know that Sonos is like most companies in the electronic industry and in this capitalist world, they want us to throw away our current products and buy new ones. I naively thought Sonos was better than that.

You obviously don't know Sonos very well if you think thats how they operate and you being a "manager" means absolutely nothing unless you are a manager at Sonos. Their business decision is to support their products as long as possible with as many features as possible. Most of the products in their lineup are pretty old and have not seen updates. The Connect and Connect:Amp are VERY old products that were previously known as the ZP90 and ZP120. With the exception of Airplay 2 the original products support every feature that the beam coming out next week supports. Just because they may or may not have known about Airplay 2 since early last year doesn't mean they can just magically change the specs of all of their products to be compatible. Especially if the guts of the playbar are in the 6-7 year old range it likely requires significant engineering work to update plus testing etc. I am sure at some point probably sooner than later a new version of the playbar is coming that will support airplay 2 and when it does it won't be just a quiet update done on the manufacturing line.

You obviously don't know Sonos very well if you think thats how they operate and you being a "manager" means absolutely nothing unless you are a manager at Sonos. Their business decision is to support their products as long as possible with as many features as possible. Most of the products in their lineup are pretty old and have not seen updates. The Connect and Connect:Amp are VERY old products that were previously known as the ZP90 and ZP120. With the exception of Airplay 2 the original products support every feature that the beam coming out next week supports. Just because they may or may not have known about Airplay 2 since early last year doesn't mean they can just magically change the specs of all of their products to be compatible. Especially if the guts of the playbar are in the 6-7 year old range it likely requires significant engineering work to update plus testing etc. I am sure at some point probably sooner than later a new version of the playbar is coming that will support airplay 2 and when it does it won't be just a quiet update done on the manufacturing line.

First, that is exactly what I said, I though I knew Sonos, I thought they were better than this, clearly they're not. So don't repeat what I said to start your argument, that's pretty lame.

Second, you on the other side don't no squat about how today's high tech businesses are manage. So go get your MBA boy, go work and manage people in a high tech international company, then come back to continue the argument.

Sonos put the Playbase on the market in April 2017. The Playbase is compatible with Airplay 2. Sonos could have use the Playbase new hardware to update the Playbar. Period.

Not putting a new Playbar 2.0 on the market. Simply updating the Playbar 1.0 hardware. The hardware had already been tested inside the Playbase. It was working for the Playbase, so it would have worked for the Player 1.0 without drastic modifications, I'm certain of it. We're not talking about a visual facelift, simply an internal hardware update. And the Sonos speakers are not rocket science, they're actually pretty low tech devices. The real deal in Sonos is their app. Modifying the new Playbase hardware to physically fit in the Playbar would have been an easy task. These days, electronics components are so small, you can rearrange them extremely easily into the layout you want. The Chinese would have done that in a week for Sonos.

Like I already said, I'm 100% certain that was a management / marketing decision from Sonos. Nobody will convince me otherwise.