Wirecutter no longer recommends Sonos as top

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Dunno maybe Wirecutter should fix their network, reboot, get a new mesh system.
I’m having no issues with the app, must be them. 🤣

But in all (not) seriousness this is very brave of them 🤣

Will be interesting to see what they recommend when they finish redoing the article.

Quote, emphasis mine:

We are completely re-envisioning this guide and will no longer recommend the Sonos multiroom audio platform as the best overall choice. Please see our note at the top of the guide for more details.

After careful consideration, we no longer recommend the Sonos multiroom audio platform as the best overall choice. Sonos recently rolled out a major update to its control app that had a ton of problems, leaving its customers with a much less intuitive experience than they had before. While the company is slowly addressing some of the major issues with the new app, this is not the first time Sonos has hurt customer trust through poorly executed changes.

That said, Sonos still makes great speakers that work well within other wireless control platforms like AirPlay, Spotify Connect, and (in some cases) Bluetooth. So we are not discounting Sonos products entirely. We just no longer hold up the company’s own ecosystem as the best way to interact with the system.

https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/sonos-player/

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K

Kumar

Maybe Sonos didn’t want to ‘split’ the system into S2 & Sonos App, because people strongly complained about such a split last time around, just as a thought🤔?

If it was as simple as this, by now they would have taken the chance on those complaints as against the firestorm that continues for 4 months now. And any such split would not be a permanent one as the S1/S2 was; it would not be needed once the new app was made fully fit for purpose.

sigh

Prodigy II

@Ken_Griffiths I can see where you are coming from and it would be curious if those settings are only needing changing now.

When first adding Sonos to a network it would make sense, as the router could impact all multicast for any device, not just Sonos. When the system has been working already for a long period of time it seems unusual they would only just be required, but who knows what is going on inside the Asus router 😀

Asus have changed the wording and phrasing in their current routers and provide instructions for IPTV setup with images showing where the settings can currently be found and their names.

https://www.asus.com/uk/support/faq/1011708/

sigh

Prodigy II

Another router that springs to mind is Unifi and in their case the manufacturer themselves have added some instructions on their website to help prevent network loops. See link below:

https://help.ui.com/hc/en-us/articles/18930473041047-Best-Practices-for-Sonos-Devices

Not sure how Sonos can force these manufacturers to change things to have them support multicast discovery or prevent network issues and there’s other network hardware too, such as switches. that may need a settings change. Fortunately these things are by-far in the minority, but I would not rule out a network issue in some cases, as not everything may work straight out the box and it’s good to keep an eye on the Sonos System Requirements and Controller Requirements aswell, as things can and do change from time to time, as is often the case with 3rd-party hardware on the local network too.

My WiFi mesh hubs have received at least two automatic updates so far this year, just as an example.

Unifi are in a curious position as they don’t target the home market with their products, but are aware people are buying them for home use. They are still really aimed at commercial and large scale projects, with an expectation that the buyer/installer understands how to configure them imo.

The pricing of their products makes them competitive price wise when compared with mesh systems. Unfortunately when people ask for advice about products online, unifi are regularly recommended in places with a higher ratio of technical to non-technical users.

To their credit unifi do publish articles for common issues people run across as more of their products are ending up in the consumer market.

It is not for Sonos to force network manufacturers to enable or disable specific features, in many commercial environments the requirements for the network are different to a simple home network.

Neither of those Sonos articles make mention of a network requirement for multicast or igmp snooping, only STP on wired setups.

The usage of home networks has changed over the years, huge increases in streaming, broadcasters moving to IPTV delivery only with IPTV set top boxes.

It isn’t realistic for Sonos to test every combination of their products with different manufacturers, but at the same time consumers buying prosumer and commercial networking equipment need to learn and understand how to set it up.

Where common combinations start appearing, such as unifi, both unifi and Sonos can help users with appropriate support documents. It is in both the companies and buyers interest as it helps reduce support volumes.

Ken_Griffiths

Maybe Sonos didn’t want to ‘split’ the system into S2 & Sonos App, because people strongly complained about such a split last time around, just as a thought🤔?

If it was as simple as this, by now they would have taken the chance on those complaints as against the firestorm that continues for 4 months now. And any such split would not be a permanent one as the S1/S2 was; it would not be needed once the new app was made fully fit for purpose.

Yeah I guess so - but the water is under the bridge now and it seems that a ‘point of no return’ has already passed. By all accounts, there’s just no going back to S2, presumably due to the combined changes that have taken place in firmware, software and the Sonos cloud infrastructure.

It appears it’s now a case of ploughing forward until all the software issues are resolved. At least that’s what seems to be the position and I don’t see anything changing the Sonos plan from all the things I’ve read online and mentioned here in the community. We’ll just have to wait and see how it all pans out.

Admittedly, I’ve not seen that much change with the (still excellent) Sonos hardware, in terms of playback/control outside of the Sonos App itself. I’ve always been able to use AirPlay, line-in, direct control, UPnP/DLNA, Bluetooth, SVC/Alexa voice services and 3rd-Party Apps (eg. Soro etc.) for audio playback/control - but I guess there’s all the system setup requirements and administration features too when it comes to the Sonos App - so perhaps a lot has changed there that’s stopping the re-release of S2. Even Trueplay has altered and seems quicker in the new Sonos App.

Anyhow it seems it’s now a case of ’all change’ and that S2 has gone for good.

Ken_Griffiths

@Ken_Griffiths I can see where you are coming from and it would be curious if those settings are only needing changing now.

When first adding Sonos to a network it would make sense, as the router could impact all multicast for any device, not just Sonos. When the system has been working already for a long period of time it seems unusual they would only just be required, but who knows what is going on inside the Asus router 😀

Asus have changed the wording and phrasing in their current routers and provide instructions for IPTV setup with images showing where the settings can currently be found and their names.

https://www.asus.com/uk/support/faq/1011708/

No, I do agree with what you mention @sigh. However in some instances in the community here, I have come across users pointing their finger at the Sonos App for audio playback interruptions and tracks stopping playing or skipping etc. In some of those cases, I may have access to the same music service/playlist and either identical, or similar, sonos hardware and the tracks/playlist will play without issue here. So there’s ’likely’ a local issue involved in some reports here.

If I suggest trying some things to perhaps try to help resolve matters, such as changing WiFi channels or channel-width, or moving a device, rebooting the router etc. then I sometimes get… "It worked before the switch to the new Sonos App” and what I was eluding to, is that some things in a local network may coincidentally change too, particularly WiFi channels or even firmware updates to devices on the network that may give rise to some problems seen.

Not everything is going to be caused by the Sonos App, which clearly works okay for some users, (myself included). I’m just suggesting that users perhaps don’t sit back hoping one day that a Sonos App update might fix things, when there might perhaps be another solution nearby that might solve their problem now, straightaway.

I

Ian_S

Prodigy III

But here we go again. It’s not just the app. The new Sonos service is a combination of completely new app, calling new API’s in updated firmware that interacts with new cloud stuff which the previous app did not, and 3rd party apps don’t either.

If those new functional routes through the code introduce new behaviour and requires additional interactions that cause issues where before there were not issues, user shouldn’t have to go off and get new routers, networks and completely reconfigure it, unless Sonos publish up front, we are going to make these changes and it requires you to do x,y, and z in preparation.

As for it being related to router firmware, *if* a major home router maker screwed up a firmware release that caused this level of grief, Sonos Support would start to see a common thread, i.e. make X of router with firmware A.B.C and could issue a support doc saying either don’t upgrade, or if you make these changes it will fix the issue. However 3 months on and none of that is forthcoming, so I think it’s pretty clear that is not a large contributing factor.

They have made too many changes impacting so many areas and clearly haven’t tested properly.

They MUST have an idea by now what is at the heart of the poor discovery/stability issues and could help everyone hugely if they gave an overview of what’s gone wrong. Then we’d know if there were things we *could* do that might help based on good information, or that we just have to hang tight until they get it right in their code.

Some people are going to get lucky, others completely the opposite and STILL no-one knows why, which makes most changes like playing a game of pin the tail on the (missing) donkey.

Ken_Griffiths

There maybe a wait-time, but if anyone can’t resolve their Sonos issues, or perhaps do not want to try any suggestions that some other users may suggest here, or the suggestions perhaps do not work, then they can always go onto contact Sonos Support to seek their advice.

If a user prefers to wait to see if a Sonos update fixes things, then that’s up-to them aswell.

Here’s the Sonos Support link:

https://support.sonos.com/s/contact

If Sonos cannot fix it, then at least the data can be provided which may help lead to a fix, but on some (hopefully rare) occasions not everything maybe compatible, such as old SMBv1 only NAS drives (just as an example) and so an alternative solution may sometimes need to be explored. The same can perhaps be said of some other hardware too.

almazri

Prodigy I

Not everything is going to be caused by the Sonos App, which clearly works okay for some users, (myself included). I’m just suggesting that users perhaps don’t sit back hoping one day that a Sonos App update might fix things, when there might perhaps be another solution nearby that might solve their problem now, straightaway.

Chasing my tail for 4 months trying to fix this isn’t “sitting back and hoping for a fix”. I’m sure there are many others like my self.

I’m done wasting MY time trying to fix it. And no Ken I’m not going to trash my perfectly good wifi appliances cause you have a new mesh system and it works for you. I’m not gonna reboot my network for the 500th time. I had a perfectly good working system until May 7 and just cause your system works doesn’t mean I’m doing something wrong on my end.

K

Keithmac

Virtuoso

I've stayed on S1 with no issues, using a Deco S4 Mesh system so all wireless units (8 speakers).

S1 App plays my local files fine.

Most usage though is though Alexa (Spotify) or the Spotify App which also runs flawlessly.

Sonos have only got themselves to blame really for pushing out a half done and relatively untested App with no way of reversing it.

Feel sorry for everyone affected, I'd be livid personally!.

Ken_Griffiths

Chasing my tail for 4 months trying to fix this isn’t “sitting back and hoping for a fix”. I’m sure there are many others like my self.

I’m done wasting MY time trying to fix it. And no Ken I’m not going to trash my perfectly good wifi appliances cause you have a new mesh system and it works for you. I’m not gonna reboot my network for the 500th time. I had a perfectly good working system until May 7 and just cause your system works doesn’t mean I’m doing something wrong on my end.

So what are your issues @almazri and other than a network reboot what else have you tried so far? Did you log your issue with Sonos Support too?

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