Will Airplay 2 ever be supported via Surround with Playbar and Ones?

Make no mistake... not supporting Airplay 2 in a 5.1 setup with a Playbar and two rear Play Ones is a strategic decision. One that I believe they will regret in time as more affordable, Atmos/AirPlay 2 compatible soundbars hit the market. Sonos should be doing all they can to retain their existing customers as the market becomes democratised. Instead, their focus is on customer acquisition (e.g. Beam), which won’t be sustainable for long.

So why did they support Airplay 2 on the Playbase?

Sonos need to put more development into their grouping, stero pairing, surround bonding to make it a lot easier and far quicker, like drag & drop using graphics, like google home or even sonophone for example. Then you could snap bonded surrounds out into a stereo pairs for airplay2 etc., and drop back in for tv watching surround duties.

Sonos need to put more development into their grouping, stero pairing, surround bonding to make it a lot easier and far quicker, like drag & drop using graphics, like google home or even sonophone for example. Then you could snap bonded surrounds out into a stereo pairs for airplay2 etc., and drop back in for tv watching surround duties.
I would like to see the Playbar surrounds allowed to breakout as a ready made 'stereo pair' and that any such 'pair' could also be quickly dropped back into a bonded setup.

In fact, I quite like the idea of user-created profiles for speakers, so that the user can create and save their speaker arrangement in different profiles. The user then selects a saved 'named' profile and the speakers then automatically group/ungroup, pair/unpair, or bond/unbond as required ...and the user is then ready to play. It would be simple process, though a user may have to wait a short while, whilst the speakers sort themselves out and to let the user know when they are good to go.

I agree this could be fixed by making Grouping/bonding much faster/easier, it has anyways been a tiresome affair.

Maybe we can hope they will implement Siri shortcuts for these functions? That would be great, asking Siri to group or bond stereo pair with just one click or phrase

What is the cheapest easiest way to add AirPlay 2 to a Playbar? An Amazon Dot or should I purchase an Apple TV? I only have Sonos in my living room with a Playbar and Play 1s as rear speakers. Any help would be much appreciated. I just need a way to easily and quickly stream music from my iPad and iPhone without using the Sonos app. I don’t need to worry about bonding and unbending. Thank you!

You would need an Apple TV, but the playbar itself wouldn’t have airplay support so you would need the TV on to stream to the Apple TV, which then outputs to the playbar.

Seems to me that a small, relatively inexpensive Sonos One but without the speaker parts could solve this - it just needs the processing capability.

Just get a few to group one up with each of my legacy systems. I'd buy three of those to get beyond this - but I have no need for Sonos Ones to add more sound as my rooms are already well served there.

Kinda like a Sonos... Dot.

You can still have your surround system as the playbar would be still the master for processing that - the 'Dot' would just pass on anything it gets via AirPlay.

I'd also use one with a pair of 3's in my wife's office and a connect in mine.



Or am I missing something?

Seems to me that a small, relatively inexpensive Sonos One but without the speaker parts could solve this - it just needs the processing capability.

Just get a few to group one up with each of my legacy systems. I'd buy three of those to get beyond this - but I have no need for Sonos Ones to add more sound as my rooms are already well served there.

Kinda like a Sonos... Dot.

You can still have your surround system as the playbar would be still the master for processing that - the 'Dot' would just pass on anything it gets via AirPlay.

I'd also use one with a pair of 3's in my wife's office and a connect in mine.

Or am I missing something?Possibly just the economics. Sonos has thrived until now without Airplay. For many it's a 'nice to have', for others (like me) something I would never use. For some its an essential, but presumably not existing customers or they would not be existing customers. And they do have ways of adding it. New customers will have increasing options to stick to Airplay-enabled devices.

So you are asking Sonos to devote scarce resource to developing something that would possibly hit turnover, have a limited useful life and for which there are already workarounds.

So an interesting idea but I wouldn't hold your breath. Just my opinion.

Hi John B!

Thanks for your response. That makes sense.

In response, I'd propose that the majority of the work has already been done - the very fact they developed some airplay compatible new hardware would suggest they see some business in it.

Just needs a form factor that loses the speaker part. And use the same logic board already in existence.

Given that I just offered to buy three and this whole AirPlay thing has been going on for a while, it seems they are leaving money on the table.

I'm not going to turn over my gear as it is all less than two years old. I'm sure I'm not the only one and it seems that they are missing revenue from me and others.

Another option I have is that I drop all my Sonos and sell it on eBay for cheap - which could cost Sonos an additional customer in the short term. I'd really not rather do that.

I'd also say that the smart speaker functionality is also a nice to have that many wouldn't use either, however it is also on the table. I do concede that there may be more smart speaker supporters here than AirPlay ones.

It was just an idea. If it isn't possible that would be sad. I'd like to continue to support Sonos. But I'm years away from buying more speakers. I'd preorder a 'Sonos Dot' or three tomorrow.

As I said, it is an interesting idea, and certainly worth floating and discussing. Neither of us knows for sure whether it's a good idea or not.

But this talk of even thinking of dumping Sonos over this is TOTALLY illogical. Can we review the facts here? Sonos has added functionality where it can, at zero cost to the customer. Everybody has at least as much as they had before, for the money they thought was worth it. Some have added functionality, others have added options. So if a person was not contemplating dumping Sonos before they added Airplay for free, why would that person think about doing so afterwards?