New Move 2’s Still Can’t do Bluetooth Stereo?!

  • 6 September 2023
  • 15 replies
  • 483 views
R
Userlevel 1
Badge +1

So disappointed in Sonos. A brand new iteration of the Move is just announced, the Move 2 which they say has been “redesigned inside and out”, and it still can’t handle basic bluetooth stereo? How many hundreds if not thousands of threads have been created over the past few years on this topic asking Sonos to add this basic feature that ALL of their competitors offer at less than ½ the price? 
 

Don’t tell me it can’t be done, you’re fooling yourself if you believe that. This is a choice…one that completely ignores their customers requests.

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15 replies

melvimbe

To clarify, the Move 2 can play stereo all on it’s own (Move is mono), and can be bonded to a 2nd Move 2 while connected over WiFi, including bluetooth audio.  The Move 2 cannot bond to a 2nd Move without WiFi, which means no bluetooth, and surely aux audio too, playing on pairs of Move 2 away from home.

While I definitely agree that it’s a desirable feature, I do wonder if there is a technical complication to bonding speakers via WiFi and/or via bluetooth depending on the local condition. That’s a complication that basic bluetooth speakers would not need to contend with.

Danny
R
Userlevel 1
Badge +1

After 4 years of customer requests for this capability, if there was a technical limitation it would serve Sonos’ interests to explain this, in detail without dummying it down and insulting us further. Their silence on the issue, other than to say their portable speakers can’t do it, comes down to they’re choosing not to incorporate this capability and they’re choosing to ignore their customer’s No. 1 most common request.

I don’t know about the rest of the Sonos community, but I hardly consider one mid-woofer and two tweeters in one enclosure to be capable of anything approaching “stereo” sound. That doesn’t pass the red face test.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m a Sonos fan and I’m heavily invested in the ecosystem. I couldn’t even tell you off the top of my head how many Sonos speakers I own. But the inability to stream stereo to two paired devices over Bluetooth in 2023 is inexplicable at best, and _____ (fill in the blank) at worst.

jgatie

In all the years I've been using Sonos, I've never heard a single technical explanation which was accepted at face value by the hardcore complainers.  Most of the time it simply sparked even more heated arguments from laypersons arrogantly thinking they can outsmart engineers.  It's just not worth it.

C
Userlevel 1
Badge

After 4 years of customer requests for this capability, if there was a technical limitation it would serve Sonos’ interests to explain this, in detail without dummying it down and insulting us further. Their silence on the issue, other than to say their portable speakers can’t do it, comes down to they’re choosing not to incorporate this capability and they’re choosing to ignore their customer’s No. 1 most common request.

I don’t know about the rest of the Sonos community, but I hardly consider one mid-woofer and two tweeters in one enclosure to be capable of anything approaching “stereo” sound. That doesn’t pass the red face test.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m a Sonos fan and I’m heavily invested in the ecosystem. I couldn’t even tell you off the top of my head how many Sonos speakers I own. But the inability to stream stereo to two paired devices over Bluetooth in 2023 is inexplicable at best, and _____ (fill in the blank) at worst.

I couldn't agree more with you, yesterday I received my move 2 and not only everything you say, but comparing the move next to the move 2, in terms of sound, it is quite similar, I am a loyal SONOS customer and I have all the products and more, and things like these and something as basic as pairing two Sonos Move 2 in Bluetooth and allowing the Sonos app to be used outside of a Wi-Fi environment, make me start to lose my interest in the brand, they must be very careful in the steps that are taken and not just launch products with small improvements to increase their price, something that Apple has been doing and that has made me lose interest in obtaining new products

106rallye
Userlevel 7
Badge +17

Why would you want to use the Sonos app outside of wifi? Bluetooth is always a direct connection with music apps isn’t it?

C
Userlevel 1
Badge

Why would you want to use the Sonos app outside of wifi? Bluetooth is always a direct connection with music apps isn’t it?

to be able to use all the functions, for example: pairing 2 sonos moves, EQ settings, etc.

melvimbe

Why would you want to use the Sonos app outside of wifi? Bluetooth is always a direct connection with music apps isn’t it?

to be able to use all the functions, for example: pairing 2 sonos moves, EQ settings, etc.

 

Pairing 2 Moves while off of the wifi network isn’t a feature, so the Sonos app wouldn’t help you with that.  For EQ settings while on bluetooth alone, your phone system or the audio playing app would take care of that.

I have not looked in awhile, but I believe the Sonos app can be used to see the battery life of a Move or Roam, but not awayre of any other features.  It might make things easier if the Sonos app could be use to help make and verify bluetooth connection.   

Danny
I

So disappointed in Sonos. A brand new iteration of the Move is just announced, the Move 2 which they say has been “redesigned inside and out”, and it still can’t handle basic bluetooth stereo? How many hundreds if not thousands of threads have been created over the past few years on this topic asking Sonos to add this basic feature that ALL of their competitors offer at less than ½ the price? 
 

Don’t tell me it can’t be done, you’re fooling yourself if you believe that. This is a choice…one that completely ignores their customers requests.

I have yet to find a portable speaker that can pair 2 speakers to create stereo sound. yes you can pair 2 speakers but they are not playing separate channels. Please let us know who is doing stereo bluetooth.

K
Userlevel 7
Badge +16

So disappointed in Sonos. A brand new iteration of the Move is just announced, the Move 2 which they say has been “redesigned inside and out”, and it still can’t handle basic bluetooth stereo? How many hundreds if not thousands of threads have been created over the past few years on this topic asking Sonos to add this basic feature that ALL of their competitors offer at less than ½ the price? 
 

Don’t tell me it can’t be done, you’re fooling yourself if you believe that. This is a choice…one that completely ignores their customers requests.

I have yet to find a portable speaker that can pair 2 speakers to create stereo sound. yes you can pair 2 speakers but they are not playing separate channels. Please let us know who is doing stereo bluetooth.

 

Here you go, Sony are doing it.

https://helpguide.sony.net/speaker/srs-xb13/v1/en/contents/TP1000200014.html

M
Userlevel 2
Badge +3

Yes, this is an absolute must feature for Sonos to support, and there are now several portable Bluetooth speakers that can be stereo paired, and most are quite affordable. Why on earth would this feature not be supported? The most likely answer reminds me of what they tell journalists, if you are trying to get to the heart of a story, follow the money. Perhaps the Bluetooth hardware does not allow for this, and if that is the case, and clearly I am speculating here, that decision was probably a cost decision.

If that is the case it is extremely frustrating. Why on earth would a company think that customers would not be willing to pay say an additionally $30 retail cost (again just throwing out a reasonable figure) to have this ability? I sure would, and for the record, I do own a pair of Move 2s (among other Sonos speakers) and I absolutely wish I could use them as a Bluetooth stereo pair.

Airgetlam

I’m not sure that I agree it’s an absolute must for most people, and I suspect market research told Sonos that the could sell more speakers at the lower (assumed) price point, and leave those who needed this feature to other sellers.

However, the benefit of electronics is that over time, features in chipsets become cheaper, and it is entirely possible we will see this feature in a future Sonos device, without a cost increase passed on to us. 

Bruce
M
Userlevel 2
Badge +3

I’m not sure that I agree it’s an absolute must for most people, and I suspect market research told Sonos that the could sell more speakers at the lower (assumed) price point, and leave those who needed this feature to other sellers.

However, the benefit of electronics is that over time, features in chipsets become cheaper, and it is entirely possible we will see this feature in a future Sonos device, without a cost increase passed on to us. 

Certainly I have no facts, but who on earth wouldn’t want to have a portable speaker like the Move 2 pairable via Bluetooth? So my pair is of course meant for indoor use, but I have often wished when I am having a little gathering outside where wifi is spotty that I could just bring my Move’s out and have stereo music. Sure a single Move sounds good, but once you have had stereo, there really is no substitute. 

I have a background in research so the answer you get to your inquiry depends on how you ask your question, and whom you ask it of. I cannot for the life of me imagine anybody being asked:

“So if you owned a pair of Move 2s, that you enjoyed with wifi as a stereo pair, would you like if we made it possible to use them as a stereo pair with Bluetooth in case you are ever without wifi?”

And answering no, don’t bother making my expensive product more flexible, that sounds like a bad idea. At worst people would say I probably won’t use that feature, but it sounds like a great idea just in case. No way Sonos asked the right question. IMO.

Airgetlam

Sure. However, if you ask the question : how many devices can we sell at price point X, and how many devices can we sell at price point X +$30, it may be beneficial to Sonos to go the first route. 

I’ve not done this research, I’m just playing devil’s advocate. I have zero knowledge as to Sonos’ perspective on this, or even if that was a question. And I’ll certainly give you the ‘if asked, people will want it’, but there’s no guaranty that it was an aspect that they were concerned with, at the point of design and chip speccing. 

We could continue intelligently discussing this ad infinitum, neither side being wrong, but the simple fact is that the feature isn’t in the current device. No amount of frustration or discussion will change that. Hopefully, Sonos moderators pass this feature request to the necessary group, so it can be considered for the next speaker. 

Bruce
M
Userlevel 2
Badge +3

Hopefully, Sonos moderators pass this feature request to the necessary group, so it can be considered for the next speaker. 

Agreed, and that is the only reason I post, so that they know what customers are asking for. I own 2 x Sub 3, 4 x Five, one Arc and 2 x Move 2s so clearly I am invested in Sonos, and I do want my perspective heard. Thanks for the thoughtful replies. Cheers.

jgatie

And Sonos isn’t going to say why it isn’t a feature or even if it is possible/impossible to do.  The very few times they’ve discussed things like that (Airplay 2 for old devices, for instance) they were bombarded by armchair software/hardware engineers telling them where they were wrong, with claims of “it’s just a few lines of code” or proposals for uber expensive solutions which would put them out of business.  I’ve only seen one poster in 14 years who actually said “Thanks for the info, I can make my decision now.” 

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