Why No Bluetooth Stereo on Move and Roam?

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109 replies

P
Userlevel 1

This is an incredible product that lets itself down shockingly on this one point. I bought two speakers to put on our boat and on holiday home garden where there is no wifi. So disappointed to discover no stereo bluetooth pairing. What’s so annoying is that this is a simple software update presumably. It really coloured my relationship with the brand after me being blown away by how good the product was. Get on with it Sonos! Write some code, test it, push it out! 

melvimbe

This is an incredible product that lets itself down shockingly on this one point. I bought two speakers to put on our boat and on holiday home garden where there is no wifi. So disappointed to discover no stereo bluetooth pairing. What’s so annoying is that this is a simple software update presumably. It really coloured my relationship with the brand after me being blown away by how good the product was. Get on with it Sonos! Write some code, test it, push it out! 

 

I would be curious to see some information that shows how hardware that was built and designed to work as a mono speaker via bluetooth can easily be converted over to work as a stereo pair via a software update.  I’m not saying it’s not possible, just don’t think I can assume that it’s an easy code fix scenario.  And I certainly don’t know enough about bluetooth transmission/receiving.

Danny
P
Userlevel 1

This is an incredible product that lets itself down shockingly on this one point. I bought two speakers to put on our boat and on holiday home garden where there is no wifi. So disappointed to discover no stereo bluetooth pairing. What’s so annoying is that this is a simple software update presumably. It really coloured my relationship with the brand after me being blown away by how good the product was. Get on with it Sonos! Write some code, test it, push it out! 

 

I would be curious to see some information that shows how hardware that was built and designed to work as a mono speaker via bluetooth can easily be converted over to work as a stereo pair via a software update.  I’m not saying it’s not possible, just don’t think I can assume that it’s an easy code fix scenario.  And I certainly don’t know enough about bluetooth transmission/receiving.

I said ‘presumably’ because if Sonos released this product without the possibility of this while simultaneously trying to win the category of mobile speakers where the other top competitors do offer stereo pairing via Bluetooth...well then that’s even worse. Eitherway, the engineers facing the challenge should be more transparent with customers so we know eitherway because clearly a lot of non-technical customers are purchasing it on the assumption this is the case, wouldn’t you agree? 

melvimbe

 

I would be curious to see some information that shows how hardware that was built and designed to work as a mono speaker via bluetooth can easily be converted over to work as a stereo pair via a software update.  I’m not saying it’s not possible, just don’t think I can assume that it’s an easy code fix scenario.  And I certainly don’t know enough about bluetooth transmission/receiving.

I said ‘presumably’ because if Sonos released this product without the possibility of this while simultaneously trying to win the category of mobile speakers where the other top competitors do offer stereo pairing via Bluetooth...well then that’s even worse.

 

 

In a way, yes.  You could make a similar argument for other speakers though.  A bluetooth speaker that can’t be used as a WiFi speaker doesn’t compare to Sonos.    It really comes down to what features are more important to you, being part of the Sonos system or bluetooth stereo pairing...if both isn’t a viable option.  Again though, I don’t want to assume anything either way. I have thought about some of the technical and functional complications that would need to be worked around, that I don’t think exists with normal bluetooth speakers, but it’s really neither here or there.

 

Eitherway, the engineers facing the challenge should be more transparent with customers so we know eitherway because clearly a lot of non-technical customers are purchasing it on the assumption this is the case, wouldn’t you agree? 

 

I’m sure you mean the marketing department, as the engineers don’t decide how to communicate with customers.  But anyway, I see two locations on the Roam product page (currently) where it states it does not do stereo pairing.  One in the FAQ and once in a link labeled “WiFi and Bluetooth Features”.  How hard Sonos needs to try to dispel assumptions is a debatable topic.  It should be mentioned for sure, but it also shouldn’t be part of the main marketing slogan either. Highlighting all that a product  won’t do doesn’t sell products very well, and neither does customers who feel mislead.  .

Danny
R
Badge

Ouh! right in time I see this thread! I was JUST about to order one more SONOS Roam, to use in the garden as a stereo pair 😱 my WIFI doesn’t reach my garden at all, so I was planning on just using Bluetooth for this, but quite shocked to find out that this would not be possible. I guess i will have to live with mono sound in the garden then.

N

I’m glad I’m not the only one disappointed that Bluetooth stereo pairing is not possible with two Roams. My main use case for my Roam is watching tv and movies at the inlaws on my laptop. The sound on the Roam is a good improvement from laptop speakers, but it is at the expense of stereo separation. I’d buy a second Roam immediately if they added this feature. I agree, it really seems like a missed opportunity and a blemish on an otherwise great portable speaker.

G
Userlevel 1
Badge +2

Hello all,

 

Just wanted to add in here that I would also like to see stereo pairing of my roams or moves in Bluetooth mode, I’d even be fine with just dual mono, but rather than starting a new thread figured I’d jump on this band wagon. 
Currently use the roams around the campfire and when more people arrive I switch to the move. It’s not just for the overall sound being louder but for the fullness of the sound. 
 

From what I understand the Samsung phones can split the Bluetooth signal into two devices(mono), sadly iPhones seem to be lacking in that option (hoping the iPhone 13 or whatever they name it will be offering that option)

Anyways, hoping it comes sooner than later!
 

G 

P

Sorry I'm late to the party.  Just wanted to add my voice in favor of the roam's stereo pairing over bluetooth.

My usecase:  I use a pair of roams in my bedroom at home using wifi.  (With two other rooms equiped with play one's and a play bar).  Half my days are spent away from home in a camper with no wifi.  (Hotspot + additional device as control not an option).  Would be nice to listen in stereo in the field as well as home.

My wireless earbuds do it.  Don't see why this is difficult for such an established audio company already pushing the technological boundaries.

W
Userlevel 2

Please add BT stereo pairing to the roam.  It should not be difficult to do. 

Airgetlam

Unless it requires a second set of electronics and antenna to handle a separate signal coming from either the other Roam or from the bluetooth generating device.

Not difficult at all. Sonos could just have everyone send in their  Roams for them to get the second set of electronics. They’d likely need to charge for such a service, since opening up the older devices and inserting new electronics might be challenging….if there’s even space for it. And they’d likely have to change their current manufacturing process to reflect the new stuff inside the Roam, and charge more, since the cost of goods would be going up. 

Piece of cake. Nothing to it, especially if the current antenna and electronics already handle all of that. In which case, why wouldn’t they have already done this for release?

Bruce
W
Userlevel 2

Hardware already supports.  It’s an app change.  Guess you are not a technically savvy person.   

airforceteacher
Userlevel 6
Badge +15

Hardware already supports.  It’s an app change.  Guess you are not a technically savvy person.   

 

You’ve looked up the Bluetooth chipset and confirmed this? 

Airgetlam

I certainly haven’t opened one, nor have I found any published information about the hardware inside, so perhaps I don’t know which chipset the network stack is interacting with. 

Bruce
W
Userlevel 2

Network stack doesn’t matter with BT. That is for tcpip protocol.   
each Bluetooth device has a unique identifier known as BD_ADDR.  your phone/tablet can connect to multiple BT devices simultaneously.   
as with UE,  it will be the app that does the work of addressing the 2 speakers in stereo. 
so yes, the chipset supports it.  

M

I would also like to put my vote in to add bluetooth stereo.  I love most of the sonos products (I have speakers in every room!) but I have to say not having bluetooth stereo on the Roams is extremely disappointing, especially when when it’s a highly available feature in other portable speakers.  For now, I have to bring a hotspot around so I can use them...

D

Why isn't stereo pairing via Bluetooth available on either the Move or Roam?

I have Bluetooth speakers from 2015 that cost $50 each that have stereo pairing capability.  I spent over $850 on a pair of Move's and was shocked to find they didn't have this capability.  It's a little mind boggling of an audio tech leader (and premium priced) Sonos product.
 
I'd be interested in purchasing a pair of the new Roam's, but without Bluetooth stereo pairing capability, I'm going to pass.  My primary use for these would be the beach, which obviously doesn't have Wi-Fi.
 
Are there any plans to add Bluetooth stereo pairing capability to the Roam or Move?  If not, why?
 
 

It appears SONOS isn't listening to us customers.  BOYCOTT THEIR PRODUCTS...   I have spent upward of 3K on the system I have in my home. Next upgrade I will steer far away from SONOS. The Bluetooth stereo pairing is a big disappointment.  Their customer service sucks as well...

 

No comment or update from SONOS means they probably aren't working on a solution, got our money, and just don't care.

BOYCOTT SONOS.

G
Userlevel 7

@Diablo60 You spent “upward of 3K” on Sonos devices… they must be doing something right.

"Receive with simplicity everything that happens to you." - Rashi
M
Badge

The question that really matters, surely, is: "For how many potential purchasers is lack of stereo pairing over Bluetooth a deal breaker?"

I would venture to suggest that the answer is "hardly any".

If so, Sonos' decision not to have this feature is neither embarrassing nor inexplicable. 

I’d venture to suggest that you are wrong. Roam is designed to be portable--i.e. travel--speaker. You cannot pair them to hotel internet. There are LOTS of people working as digital nomads that would be looking for this feature. Any $20 pair of wireless earbuds can pair as a set. It is ridiculous that these cannot. 

R

The question that really matters, surely, is: "For how many potential purchasers is lack of stereo pairing over Bluetooth a deal breaker?"

I would venture to suggest that the answer is "hardly any".

If so, Sonos' decision not to have this feature is neither embarrassing nor inexplicable. 

I’m impressed with the speakers quality but the fact that I can’t use my pair on the move is ridiculous! If it can be done via Wi-Fi why not via Bluetooth?

it’s totally inexplicable, embarrassing and ridiculous! I’m selling mine as battery life is also an issue for me. 

M
Badge

The question that really matters, surely, is: "For how many potential purchasers is lack of stereo pairing over Bluetooth a deal breaker?"

I would venture to suggest that the answer is "hardly any".

If so, Sonos' decision not to have this feature is neither embarrassing nor inexplicable. 

I’m impressed with the speakers quality but the fact that I can’t use my pair on the move is ridiculous! If it can be done via Wi-Fi why not via Bluetooth?

it’s totally inexplicable, embarrassing and ridiculous! I’m selling mine as battery life is also an issue for me. 

Someone is bound to mention that Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are different technologies. So that isn’t the issue.

 

But everyone knows that Bluetooth can already pair two wireless devices as a stereo pair. There is no technical reason that these should not be able to be paired via Bluetooth.
 

Also, Bluetooth pairing is much simpler than Sonos’ implementation of Wi-Fi pairing. It takes forever to repair them when I change locations, and they can only be paired if the location uses a standard Wi-Fi login/password combination. If your location requires a proprietary login screen one of you speakers is going to be a brick.

J

Isn't the fact that WiFi and Bluetooth pairing are different technologies part of the explanation why Sonos has not incorporated BT pairing? It is certainly possible and Sonos have chosen not to add it. I presume this was a purely commercial judgement. Sonos may be right and they may be wrong, but despite what some contributors to this thread seem to think, they are not stupid.

M
Badge

Isn't the fact that WiFi and Bluetooth pairing are different technologies part of the explanation why Sonos has not incorporated BT pairing? It is certainly possible and Sonos have chosen not to add it. I presume this was a purely commercial judgement. Sonos may be right and they may be wrong, but despite what some contributors to this thread seem to think, they are not stupid.

I kinda answered this above. The earlier poster was wrong to say “If it can be done via Wi-Fi why not via Bluetooth?” That’s not relevant because they are different technologies and cannot be compared. But both technologies are independently able to use two independent speakers as a stereo pair. 

Also, whether they are stupid or not is irrelevant. But it IS ridiculous that speakers that were designed to travel speakers with stereo pairing CANNOT BE USED IN ANY HOTEL CHAIN IN THE WORLD as a stereo pair. So it is is not a stretch to say, “Yeah, that decision (or oversight) was pretty stupid.”

J

Also, whether they are stupid or not is irrelevant. But it IS ridiculous that speakers that were designed to travel speakers with stereo pairing CANNOT BE USED IN ANY HOTEL CHAIN IN THE WORLD as a stereo pair. So it is is not a stretch to say, “Yeah, that decision (or oversight) was pretty stupid.”

Sorry, I disagree.  Your statement is only valid if this is how a worthwhile proportion of users want to use the speakers, and don’t buy them because this feature is absent.  I don’t know if that is the case or not.  My guess is that Sonos think not, or at least that its absence at launch would not significantly affect sales.  I suspect they are right, but of course I don’t know that.  It cannot possibly be an oversight, because the same things were said about the Move.  Right or wrong, it is a deliberate choice.

But anyway, there are clearly some users - and potential users - out there who would value this feature highly, and they have every right to make that request on here.  I would not be at all surprised if this feature were added at some point, and I shall be happy for those who want it if it happens.

melvimbe

One aspect of this that has not been mention is that the feature needs to be easy to use.  Sonos surely would not want to implement a feature if it’s too complicated for most customers to want to use.  And although bluetooth stereo pairing is an easy feature for a device that only does bluetooth, it gets a bit more complicated when the speaker also does WiFi.

So in the case where a Roam/Move can be paired in WiFi (Sonos room) or bluetooth, you can configure two speakers (call them A and B in the following ways.

1 -  A  is a Sonos room, and B is a separate Sonos room

1a  - A is a Sonos room, B is bluetooth

1b -  A is bluetooth, B is a Sonos room

1c - A is bluetooth, Bi is bluetooth, but not a stereo pair

1d  - A &B are a bluetooth stereo pair

2 - A&B are a stereo pair Sonos room

2a  - A is a Sonos room, B is bluetooth

2b -  A is bluetooth, B is a Sonos room

2c - A is bluetooth, Bi is bluetooth, but not a stereo pair

2d  - A &B are a bluetooth stereo pair.

 

(1) and (2) would be done through setup, but all the variations need to be able done quickly, likely through hard buttons on the speaker, in order for them to meet an ‘ease of use’ standard.    You also need to easily be able to get them back to their original Sonos room(s) state….something they don’t do very well right now, in my opinion.

Oh, and lets not forget that a Roam can be on Wifi and bluetooth at the same time, which complicates things a lot more.  How would that work for the different scenarios?  Say you had a stereo pair Sonos room, that you wanted to split to two different bluetooth sources, and then share the two audio streams with the rest of your system.  How can you send two stream from what Sonos sees as a single Sonos room? Or perhaps you have two Sonos rooms, but you want to use them as a stereo pair over bluetooth, while sharing the audio stream with the rest of your system.  Maybe you have to put in some rules that allows some situations but not others?

There’s also auto trueplay tuning, and smart home control impacts that need to be looked at.  Not sure they are more complicated with bluetooth stereo pair, but that would need to be thought through.

The point is that although bluetooth stereo pairing is easy to do in abstract sense, when you get down to the practicality of a pair of speakers used for WiFi and bluetooth in multiple ways, ease of use gets a lot harder to accomplish.

 

Danny
J

Excellent insights Danny.  It shows how daft a comment is “There are $20 BT speakers that can pair” (apart from probably being incorrect).  To dredge up an old analogy, a Dacia Duster can go off-road and a Ferrari Testarossa can’t, but it doesn’t mean that the Dacia is a better car, or that you’d want to modify the Ferrari.

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