Roam severe and frequent airplay stutter

  • 6 February 2023
  • 13 replies
  • 1817 views

The roam is my first Sonos product, a present by my kids, received two weeks ago. I have seen all the reports on playback stutter posted in the forum and elsewhere. I have that issue constantly, usually the second time i turn on the roam on any given day. I got the speaker for its airplay function and it because it does not have run on AC, not for bluetooth. I also have two HomePod minis in my house. While they only run on AC they have performed flawlessly in Airplay. All my iDevices are Airplay 2 compatible. I see no solutions to this Roam problem in the replies posted by sonos, other than „send a diagnostic“. But i see no synthesis of the diagnostics data obtained by sonos that tells forum posters whose speakers airplay-stutter what to do to solve the problem. As a result, I decided to that I will return my Roam and will ask my kids to get me a different brand speaker. It is disappointing because i do like the sound of the roam (the few times airplay actually worked) better than that of the HomePod mini. But for airplay, the Roam is totally useless. And after reading so many posts, I have no hope that So os has a fix for this problem.

Bernd Conrad

Northern Arizona University

Flagstaff, Arizona


13 replies

I’ve tested with my Unifi NanoHD and Enterprise Wifi access points, also my Netgear Nighthawk.  Have tried multiple combinations.  I’m thinking about just using bluetooth only at this point.  Has issues with both 2.4 and 5.0 GHz networks.

Another test was to put one of my HomePods in the same room, they work without any issues at all.  

Have checked I’m on the latest firmware.

PS - When the issue happens (a few times a week) going through a process of pausing audio and playing again will eventually get this working.  Until it re-occurs in a few days time.

Sorry I can’t assist further as I’m not familiar with the WiFi setuup mentioned, so it maybe best to submit a Sonos system diagnostic report from within the Sonos App, note it’s reference and then contact/chat with Sonos Support Staff via this LINK and see what the Staff can perhaps suggest to resolve the matter.

Sadly I’m having the same issues, with 20 and 40 MHz channels, with strong and weak signal.  This is more than widely reported, even discussed on the ATP podcast this week.  Come on Sonos, it’s time to take a look at this issue.

I’m not experiencing the issue mentioned, which WiFi band are you referring to in your post and what router make/model are you using?

I’ve tested with my Unifi NanoHD and Enterprise Wifi access points, also my Netgear Nighthawk.  Have tried multiple combinations.  I’m thinking about just using bluetooth only at this point.  Has issues with both 2.4 and 5.0 GHz networks.

Another test was to put one of my HomePods in the same room, they work without any issues at all.  

Have checked I’m on the latest firmware.

PS - When the issue happens (a few times a week) going through a process of pausing audio and playing again will eventually get this working.  Until it re-occurs in a few days time.

Sadly I’m having the same issues, with 20 and 40 MHz channels, with strong and weak signal.  This is more than widely reported, even discussed on the ATP podcast this week.  Come on Sonos, it’s time to take a look at this issue.

I’m not experiencing the issue mentioned, which WiFi band are you referring to in your post and what router make/model are you using?

Sadly I’m having the same issues, with 20 and 40 MHz channels, with strong and weak signal.  This is more than widely reported, even discussed on the ATP podcast this week.  Come on Sonos, it’s time to take a look at this issue.

@eifelbernd

Despite all the pro-Sonos responses here, this is a real problem as you can see by just two thread I’ve linked to below. I’ve experienced occasionally since I first got a Roam about 1 year ago. I suspected it was a weak wifi connection and restarting the Roam has usually (not always) fixed it. Tonight it happened again with a strong signal. I restarted; no help. I added another sonos speaker and that played fine while Roam stuttered. I switched to playing from iPhone via BT; again the stutter persisted. Finally, I asked Sonos to play jazz and it played without issue.

The issue is real. It seems to be isolated to Airplay2 and the Roam. It really makes the Roam disappointing.

https://en.community.sonos.com/portable-speakers-229130/stuttering-airplay-playback-6878786

https://en.community.sonos.com/components-and-architectural-228999/sonos-roam-skips-when-added-to-airplay-through-ios-but-not-when-added-through-sonos-app-6869237

Try switching WiFi bands as mentioned in my post above and if then using the 2.4Ghz band, set the channel-width to 20Mhz only on a fixed non-overlapping channel of either 1, 6 or 11. That should stop the stuttering - most reports arise because of the local network setup and some users are not even using non-overlapping channels on their router and have interference due to their ‘unnecessary’ 40Mhz channel-widths. So it’s often a network wireless overlap issue rather than an issue caused by the portable speaker.

Anyhow perhaps try the suggestion and then see how that goes. I have two Roams here and not had a single issue with either one and quite regularly use Airplay2 audio sources, sometimes playing for many hours on a daily basis without any interruption.

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@eifelbernd 

Despite all the pro-Sonos responses here, this is a real problem as you can see by just two thread I’ve linked to below. I’ve experienced occasionally since I first got a Roam about 1 year ago. I suspected it was a weak wifi connection and restarting the Roam has usually (not always) fixed it. Tonight it happened again with a strong signal. I restarted; no help. I added another sonos speaker and that played fine while Roam stuttered. I switched to playing from iPhone via BT; again the stutter persisted. Finally, I asked Sonos to play jazz and it played without issue.

The issue is real. It seems to be isolated to Airplay2 and the Roam. It really makes the Roam disappointing.

https://en.community.sonos.com/portable-speakers-229130/stuttering-airplay-playback-6878786

https://en.community.sonos.com/components-and-architectural-228999/sonos-roam-skips-when-added-to-airplay-through-ios-but-not-when-added-through-sonos-app-6869237

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Maybe your Roam is faulty?

I have 4 (crazy I know lol), but a year ago, I did have one that was faulty from new, so sent it back for a replacement.

Would be worth phoning the support team I think.

I have the same issue as Bernd.  Periodically my Roam will not work properly and starts stuttering the music.  I have other Sonos speakers working at the very same time (One, Move, a newer Roam) with no problems at all.    Turning the speaker off doesn’t help.  Closing the Sonos app and restarting it doesn’t help.   If I leave it overnight it’s usually working by the morning.  We have a second (newer) Roam that this never happens to.   Definitely seems to be a bug in that speaker.  Really wish Sonos would fix it.  They have to know it’s an issue. 

Try switching it to the other WiFi band compared to the one it’s currently using - so if it’s currently operating on the 5Ghz band, then switch it to the 2.4Ghz band and place it on a non-overlapping channel (1, 6 or 11) and if the router allows also set the channel width to 20Mhz only and see if that fixes the issue.

As a reality check, have you swapped physical locations of the two ROAM’s?

If you go to “About My Sonos System…” there is a Hardware Version field for each device that reflects any production changes for this unit. If the versions are different for your ROAM’s, something has been changed. None of this change information is shared with us, but SONOS support might know some details.

 

I have the same issue as Bernd.  Periodically my Roam will not work properly and starts stuttering the music.  I have other Sonos speakers working at the very same time (One, Move, a newer Roam) with no problems at all.    Turning the speaker off doesn’t help.  Closing the Sonos app and restarting it doesn’t help.   If I leave it overnight it’s usually working by the morning.  We have a second (newer) Roam that this never happens to.   Definitely seems to be a bug in that speaker.  Really wish Sonos would fix it.  They have to know it’s an issue. 

My experience is the same as @Ken_Griffiths with no issues whatsoever. Have you called Sonos Support directly to discuss it? As a guess, I’d suggest that you’re experiencing some sort of wifi interference between your AirPlay 2 device, and the Roam. To my knowledge, and use, there’s nothing wrong with the firmware that would warrant an update. 

I have the same problem. Shutting it off doesn’t help. Resetting seems to help sometimes but I would have to that frequently. I hope there’s a firmware update soon. 

Really..!! My two Roams here work perfect with Airplay, you did read about the widely reported issue with HomeKit I take it🤔?

Did you follow the steps widely mentioned in other threads here in the community to correct the Apple issue? Apple have been working on the matter and I think the HomeKit issue fix is imminent. Anyhow perhaps see this thread and the information from Sonos Staff…

https://en.community.sonos.com/general-feedback-and-conversation-229090/suddenly-cannot-find-airplay-on-sonos-move-6879260?postid=16637363#post16637363

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