Extremely disappointed today to learn that the £700 current and only soundbar from Sonos will NOT have the AirPlay 2 feature, which we (Apple users) have been so looking forward to.
Also gutted as we have just approved a major kitchen rebuild with integrated ceiling speakers and Connect:AMP and there's no alternative for that too.
Airplay 2 for should be for ALL your top price products please.
At least, a very strong trade in programme should be announced soonest.
No Airplay 2 for Playbar. GUTTED !!!!!
Userlevel 5
+6
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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.
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.
Userlevel 5
+6
I don't - which means spending £350 (as you have to buy a pair). I think there will be a lot of unhappy folks out there (while the Airplay news IS good - I very much welcome it - just a bit gutted)
It has not been release yet. They might have a solution in the pipe already.
They haven't. The blog makes it clear.
It is Sonos. They are very closed lip about new product
They've explained that the only devices that have the processing power for airplay 2 are the sonos one, play: 5 and sound base.
It is a clear sign that they will be releasing a new play bar this year though.
It is a clear sign that they will be releasing a new play bar this year though.
Also gutted as we have just approved a major kitchen rebuild with integrated ceiling speakers and Connect:AMP and there's no alternative for that too.
Airplay 2 for should be for ALL your top price products please.
At least, a very strong trade in programme should be announced soonest.
Yes, I have the Playbar so can well understand your anger.
TBH I'm becoming somewhat disillusioned with Sonos as there seems a definite bias towards Apple, whereas Android can go and fiddle. Perhaps it's because their 'home market' i.e. the U.S. is so Apple orientated so they assume the rest of the world is too.
The inability of the older product are due to the processing power the have according to the German blog. So it is not that Sonos did not want to add it to them. They just can not do to the limitations of the hardware inside. It won't make apple users happy. But it was not an intentional omissions on Sonos side I think.
This is an excuse often used by tech companies and quite frankly is wearing thin, especially when it provides a new selling opportunity for the companies concerned.
Sorry while people don't like that about tech company. A 10 year old design just won't work with the demand of the new sw driven tech. It is just the way the tech wagon rolls. The Apple TV one just can not process all the new media that the newer AP TV can. That is why apple had to stop supporting it. The Samsung s3 one of samsung top seller of all time just can not support the newer andriod OS. Lollipop was the last update it received. The first and second gen iPad can not be upgraded to iOS 10. All this is due to hardware limitations. There are countless tech items that just can not keep up with the new times. It was not like they used full computer chips when they design them. They used chip costing a lot less.
The Playbar is not a cheap bit of kit though - it was top of the range re: playbars and as such should have been better future proofed.
I won't be fooled a second time.
The one and only Apple product I’ve ever paid my own money for is the AppleTV (I also have concession iPhone and iPad from my job). It provides AirPlay to my Playbar, though I very rarely use AirPlay. It will soon provide AirPlay 2 to my Playbar. Simple and cheap enough (though typical for Apple, 3X overpriced).
shoturtle, what are these 10 year old devices you speak of?
Userlevel 7
+21
Sonos has more office locations in other countries (9 offices in 7 countries) than they do in the US (3). While their headquarters might be in the US, that doesn't mean they're focused solely on the US.
And if they're so "Oh, Apple!", why did they pick Alexa first instead of Siri for the Sonos One? I bet Google Assistant support gets added to the Sonos One before Siri does. If Siri ever does.
Also, note that today's Airplay 2 announcement only said that you'd be able to give Siri commands to play music on Sonos speakers... not that you'd be able to give Siri commands THROUGH Sonos speakers. You're still using Siri on your Apple devices to play music.
I assume your point was to say that you can't expect such functionality on older devices? May well be true - but I think the point generally being made here however, is that there is no support for devices much newer than that and are in fact still being sold - in the case of this specific thread for a hefty £700 or so.
As a side issue, I'm of the belief that Airplay/Airplay 2 is a stereo only signal, not a 5.1 signal, which might make a mild difference to the OP. Not a complete amelioration, of course.
Hmm. I appear to be wrong about the stereo only statement. Googling it in a different way brought up some evidence to the contrary.
I assume your point was to say that you can't expect such functionality on older devices? May well be true - but I think the point generally being made here however, is that there is no support for devices much newer than that and are in fact still being sold - in the case of this specific thread for a hefty £700 or so.
I kinda misunderstood your 10 year old equipment. If it is about what sonos product can couple that is 10 years old. The play 5 Get 1 will have to piggy back off a sonos one or a new play5 for airplay2. AppleTV one can coup with new tech. So apple stop supporting it. Have you tried using 10 year old android phone, say the samsung S2. Good luck getting it to run some of the new apps.
Actually I was chatting with a coworker about the play 3 that I have when I reply originally. Just wrote the wrong speaker, multitasking to much today 🆒. But the 8 year old play 3 can not coup with airplay 2 it does not have the processor to handle airplay2 either. But at least sonos give you the ability still with adding a sonos one to the sonos ecosphere.
Userlevel 5
+6
I'm still relatively new to Sonos but I bought my Playbar only a few months ago. I thought it was only a couple of years old - not 10 years old. Seriously? Playbar was out in 2008? Wow.
Yup it sucks, that the older units do not have the processor to support airplay2. I use apple by the way. But being able to get the ability on older units like the play 5 gen 1 or play 3 is a bonus. Yes it sucks that the recent purchase of the 5 year old playbar does not support it. You can up and leave sonos it you are not happy with their progression plan or their equipment. But they only future proof things so far. Over all Sonos has found ways to keep most of their equipment relevant with new tech. Not popular for someone that recently pay for something that is not on the upgradable list. But for them to stop selling product do to a pending replacement it just not realistic.
Just take android cell phones. Samsung for instance, you can have a super amount of buyers remorse. If you got a s8 last March, 6 months later a newer top of a line came out with more bells and whistles. The S8 was a 700 dollar item. And it did not have the ability of the Note 8. And just one year later, the s8 lacking even more ability of the S9. And for the Note8 buyer paying 800 dollars, the s9 has even more abilities the their Note8. So if you are a samsung buyer, you never know when you should get a new phone. They come out every 6 months. Buyers remorse really sucks.
So you are left with really 2 options realistically.
option 1, Need airplay2, you still can get airplay 2 with the option of a sonos one. You just might need one to get you whole sonos network to work with airplay 2. Yes it sucks that it means another 200 bucks.
option 2, leave sonos and sell off your equipment and get something else. Being just a couple of months old. You might be able to sell it for a ok price and recover some of the cost another put it toward another system. Then go research bose, panasonic, onkyo, yamaha, samsung, or any of the the other options out there and see which one might have all the features you want and will want. Not sure how many supports airplay 2 by the way. Since apple has not release it. And invest in the other system.
Just hope you got to enjoy your sonos during the time you have been using it. At least that way, it was not a total lost.
Of course there's a point at which some things may not be able to be supported on some hardware - but you mentioned it's not reasonable to expect it on 10 year old equipment - when none of the equipment being mentioned is that - and the equipment specifically mentioned in the title of this thread is nowhere close to that.
You then mention trying to get new things to run on older hardware. It's a valid point to an extent but completely ignores the fact that that hardware isn't even sold any more and hasn't been for many, many years and has been superseded by 5+ iterations. You keep harping on about 'buyer beware' and things being superseded. This kit has not been superseded!!
What's being discussed here, and in other threads, is that it's not being supported on existing, still in the shops, still being promoted equipment! The main subject of the thread being a PlayBar - currently being at £700...
Yes, I have the Playbar so can well understand your anger.
TBH I'm becoming somewhat disillusioned with Sonos as there seems a definite bias towards Apple, whereas Android can go and fiddle. Perhaps it's because their 'home market' i.e. the U.S. is so Apple orientated so they assume the rest of the world is too.
Oh really?
This statistic shows the market share held by smartphone platforms/operating systems in the United States from January 2012 to January 2018. In June 2017, 53.3 percent of U.S. smartphone subscribers were using a Google Android device. Apple was the second most popular smartphone operating system with a 44.9 percent market share.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/266572/market-share-held-by-smartphone-platforms-in-the-united-states/
but playbar is still supported. Sonos is not planning to brick the playbar. But still selling order models are just a fact of business.
This is an excuse often used by tech companies and quite frankly is wearing thin, especially when it provides a new selling opportunity for the companies concerned.
Sonos has absolutely no history of not bringing new feature to all of its players, even those well over a decade old. After 13 years, there was an uproar over the fact they twilighted the CR100, and they only did that because they had to after keeping it limping alog the last 4-5 years. Why would they start now for newer products if there was not an actual technical reason for doing it?
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