Sonos HD Radio Cutting Out

  • 17 November 2020
  • 9 replies
  • 497 views

My system is new, and dealer installed.  Dealer also installed state of the art high-speed internet completely replacing previous system.  Everything has worked great, except I just “upgraded” to Sonos HD and it constantly cuts out as if it is buffering.  Doesn’t happen on Prime HD, Spotify, Pandora, etc.  Anyone else have this problem?


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.

9 replies

Same here just signed on for the free HD trial last night. HD pausing. I talked to a Sonos rep today she did a diagnostic and claimed my system has no issues. I just think it’s a glitch being a new service offered in HD? My Amazon unlimited is fine. 

Badge +1

I'm getting this too. If I play a Sonos HD station on all my speakers at once, it will pay through on some speakers, but drop out for a few seconds once in a while on one. I'm always in the living room when I notice this, so I know it's dropping on my Playbase + two Ones + Sub setup. I can hear it in the bedroom (Beam) and/or bathroom (Move), but I don't know if it ever drops on these speakers.

The weird part is that the Playbase is the one that's wired to my network. I would think it was a WiFi bandwidth issue if it was one of the other rooms.

The weird part is that the Playbase is the one that's wired to my network. I would think it was a WiFi bandwidth issue if it was one of the other rooms.

It could be a wireless issue. The first room in a group contains the Group Coordinator, responsible for fetching the stream and distributing it to the group peers locally. If the Playbase isn’t the GC, the stream would have to go out over wireless and then loop back again to reach it. For optimal group performance, always start from the wired room and add the rest.

Badge +1

Oh, that’s interesting. Hmm. I really hadn’t given it that kind of thought. I usually group the speakers first and then start the station from the group. Is there any way to tell which room is the GC once a stream is playing? Just asking out of curiosity.

The GC is in the first room in the list as shown on the controller, either on the System tab or at the top of the Now Playing display.

Where wireless bandwidth isn’t choked by distance/obstructions/interference then typically one doesn’t need to give any thought to what happens behind the scenes. It’s when things get tight that choosing the room to begin the group can matter.

Badge +1

Yeah, I was just playing with it. I think this is exactly what’s going on with me. Thank you so much! I did some fiddling with how I routinely get this particular setup going and I’ll see if I still have trouble.

I really appreciate the help. I was ready to ditch the HD subscription because I thought it must be the service since I don’t get this with other streams I routinely listen to.

The HD service is lossless FLAC, which typically demands 3-4 times as much network bandwidth as other (lossy compressed) radio streams.

Badge +1

Yep. It all makes sense now!

On another note anyone have the Move? Just got mine a few days and it sounds fantastic! My only concern so far is the battery life . Sonos claims it has a 10 hr  life and so far I see no evidence of that I’d say about half that. Also when turned off it loses battery life as well? Anyone else experiencing this?