Why No Bluetooth Stereo on Move and Roam?

Show first post
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.

109 replies

G

I was interested in getting a pair of Roam speakers, until I found out that Bluetooth pairing for stereo isn’t available. I’ll probably get some other brand that has that feature, and unless they turn out to be crap I doubt if I would return for Roam speakers even if the Bluetooth feature becomes available later. That’s my 2 cents.

jgatie

I was interested in getting a pair of Roam speakers, until I found out that Bluetooth pairing for stereo isn’t available. I’ll probably get some other brand that has that feature, and unless they turn out to be crap I doubt if I would return for Roam speakers even if the Bluetooth feature becomes available later. That’s my 2 cents.

 

“Or the bunny gets it” posting aside, if you are uninterested in the Sonos Wi-Fi features of the Roam, it is probably best to get a plain old Bluetooth speaker.  

G

I was interested in getting a pair of Roam speakers, until I found out that Bluetooth pairing for stereo isn’t available. I’ll probably get some other brand that has that feature, and unless they turn out to be crap I doubt if I would return for Roam speakers even if the Bluetooth feature becomes available later. That’s my 2 cents.

 

“Or the bunny gets it” posting aside, if you are uninterested in the Sonos Wi-Fi features of the Roam, it is probably best to get a plain old Bluetooth speaker.  

It’s not that I’m uninterested in the Wi-Fi. I would probably use that more often than Bluetooth. When Bluetooth is the only option, I would want stereo pairing.

Z
Userlevel 1
Badge

I bought two Roam SL’s today but I didn’t do my due diligence. I didn’t realise that you couldn’t create a stereo pair when using them away from home in Bluetooth mode. I bought them to replace two Megablast speakers which sound excellent but they are too big/heavy to take away on holiday. I also bought the Roams for garden duty and to compliment my existing Sonos system. I’m quite disappointed that I can’t take them on holiday as a stereo pair but it’s my own fault for not doing my homework properly. For the more technical members of the community and aside from any business considerations that Sonos have made, could Bluetooth stereo pairing be introduced by an update if Sonos chose to do so or has the mold been set? Thanks all. 

Airgetlam

So you said in the other thread.

Bruce
J

There are significant technical differences in the capabilities of a Sonos soundbar and any Sonos speaker that is designed for multiroom music, not TV use.  I am sure Sonos designs its products with the hope of maximising sales and profits.  And if it fails to meet consumer needs it won’t make any money long term.  We’ll have to see.  I suspect the market for two Roams as main TV speakers is not large enough to be on their radar. 

S
Userlevel 2
Badge

STILL no BT stereo pairing?  How disappointing.

L
Badge +1

I posted on this issue a couple months ago:  

 

I continue to see posts related to this issue, so there appears to be a growing number of Move customers that would like to see Bluetooth pairing added to the available features.   

What I haven’t seen is Sonos officially comment on the missing feature; only opinions of posters on this forum.   

Clearly, there must be a good reason why they didn’t include it with the initial release, and continue to ignore the request from a growing number of Move consumers. 

It would be nice to hear from someone within the company versus a bunch of speculation on why it hasn’t been done, and if it ever will be.

I own two Moves and occasionally use them both via WiFi around my house (outdoors and in rooms without permanent speakers installed).   However, I frequently use one of my Moves away from home via Bluetooth and would use the other paired alongside it if I could!  

 

You must have some beefy biceps if you are regularly taking two of them away from home ;)

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...

V

What a life, before I had JBL and when they released third version of their connect system for pairing Bluetooth speakers and non of them works together, I was so mad, that I switched to the Sonos system. Now I find out, that u cant pair Move and Roam together? Not even two Moves or two Roams? 
Is there any company, which offers basic features (like pairing two speakers) and also still supports 2 years old speaker, so it doesn’t consider it as old like JBL does? 

Z
Userlevel 1
Badge

I bought two Roam SL’s today but I didn’t do my due diligence. I didn’t realise that you couldn’t create a stereo pair when using them away from home in Bluetooth mode. I bought them to replace two Megablast speakers which sound excellent but they are too big/heavy to take away on holiday. I also bought the Roams for garden duty and to compliment my existing Sonos system. I’m quite disappointed that I can’t take them on holiday as a stereo pair but it’s my own fault for not doing my homework properly. For the more technical members of the community and aside from any business considerations that Sonos have made, could Bluetooth stereo pairing be introduced by an update if Sonos chose to do so or has the mold been set? Thanks all. 

There are dual-audio mobile streaming BT transmitters on the market, like this example:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07J58KY3X

…such devices will ‘pair’ to two BT speakers and play the streaming BT audio in sync to both. I’ve tried this and they do seem to work okay - handy to play to two Roams at a remote location and the device linked above, also has a built-in rechargeable battery that will last the day.

Thank you Ken, I appreciate the advice.

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.

C

Count me in the camp of disappointed.  I’m a HUGE SONOS user.  I have all KINDS of sonos products around my house and backyard (Ones, playbar, playsub, Play:1s, Play:3s, Connects, connect:amps, etc).  I bought these cause I’m a believer in the SONOS family of products.  I bought them as a speaker pair for my office (not home office) and was so disappointed that they don’t work as a bluetooth stereo pair.  They won’t work on my office wifi either cause “guest networks aren’t supported”.  Which means I have to set up a rogue network on my own to get it to work, and then, of course, they wouldn’t work on my home network.

So, I bought two BOSE Soundlink Revolves… they work effortlessly as a bluetooth stereo pair.  I was ready to give my money and allegience to Sonos here, but they are getting returned, and Bose can take my money.  So bummed.

You could have just plugged in a travel router, or even used a cheap MiFi device instead and got 24/48 streaming audio quality with numerous stereo-paired Moves over WiFi instead, plus access to Airplay, voice assistants etc. It’s really easy to take various mobile WiFi router devices with you these days, with/without internet access.

 

So now I have to buy two Sonos roams, a mini travel Wi-Fi’s router, and pay for a data service on said router to do what comes included on the Bose speakers with my cell phone simply through Bluetooth?

 

I don’t understand why there a few posters on here that can’t understand why this is a miss by Sonos.  I really don’t understand why they created this device without this feature.  I’ve seen a ton of posters frustrated with and either choosing not to buy or return it (like me), so clearly it’s a miss by Sonos.  If they fix that, I’ll be very tempted to go back and buy it… but for now that is simply a dealbreaker miss on the design.  (/sad face)

fyi, the two Bose revolves work beautifully for this and connect in stereo with either a button sequence on the speakers or using a Bose app.  The sound quality is terrific for the size and my application as well.  There are great alternatives.

C

Oh and by the way, ,mifi hotspots are not supported for stereo pair.

C

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 have a Sonos Move and was thinking of getting a Move 2.  But, I will not buy another Move portable speaker from Sonos until they add stereo pairing with Bluetooth.  Too much money to spend to not have that functionality.  I think Sonos purposely  holds off on these features to force you to buy future updated speakers.  Not doing it.

Ken_Griffiths

So now I have to buy two Sonos roams, a mini travel Wi-Fi’s router, and pay for a data service on said router to do what comes included on the Bose speakers with my cell phone simply through Bluetooth?

I don’t understand why there a few posters on here that can’t understand why this is a miss by Sonos.  I really don’t understand why they created this device without this feature.  I’ve seen a ton of posters frustrated with and either choosing not to buy or return it (like me), so clearly it’s a miss by Sonos.  If they fix that, I’ll be very tempted to go back and buy it… but for now that is simply a dealbreaker miss on the design.  (/sad face)

fyi, the two Bose revolves work beautifully for this and connect in stereo with either a button sequence on the speakers or using a Bose app.  The sound quality is terrific for the size and my application as well.  There are great alternatives.

I have several MiFi devices here - the cheapest HUAWEI E5776 cost me £40 off eBay and will work with the Roams without a SIM card if they’re setup/registered and just want to play ALL audio sources over WiFi. It’s a much cheaper option when you have the Roams in your possession already, rather than buying another product.

It’s also much better quality audio plus you can have a lot more than just two Sonos products on the same connection  - There are dual BT transmitters available to use with two Roams too.

In my case the Roams will also work with the rest of my Sonos system when I return Home and moreover they act as a Bluetooth line-in for the rest of my portable and non-portable Sonos products - meaning I can play BT audio to every speaker in my Sonos Household (if I do ever need that option). 

So lots more advantages to sticking with the Roam, for the tiny added cost involved… I think I may have failed to mention other features like SoundSwap, Button Grouping, and Sonos Voice Control in my post here too.🤷‍♂️

Ken_Griffiths

Oh and by the way, ,mifi hotspots are not supported for stereo pair.

That is simply not the case - I have setup my D-Link DWR-2101 with multiple Sonos products, stereo paired and standalone devices, same for the HUAWEI E5776, which I have used with stereo paired Roams and Moves. The MiFi devices work well, similar infact to any other wireless travel router, particularly when playing locally stored audio (with, or without, internet access) and are great for all the streaming services audio too in areas where a 4G/5G signal is reasonable.

3 Attachments
R

STILL no BT stereo pairing?  How disappointing.

It’s now available in certain configurations. See the S2 14.6 software release note here: https://support.sonos.com/s/article/3521

Trying to understand what the release notes mean, especially the when connected to WiFi part.

 

“When connected to WiFi, Roam and Roam SL stereo pairs can now play stereo audio from Bluetooth sources. These stereo pairs will no longer separate when switching to Bluetooth mode. “
 

For example when I take my Roam and a Roam SL with me in my RV to the beach

will I be able to use them as a bluetooth stereo pair?

 

If I add a wifi router to my RV without world wide web connectivity, will that work?

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.

Z
Badge

A deal breaker? That’s the bar that Sonos is trying to meet with its products?

It’s a deal breaker for me because I was considering buying two to add to my sonos system but if they can't be used away from home, I’m going to wait until they add this feature. Clearly other people also care because they have made the same comments. Are you trolling here? I’m just giving honest feedback.

 

And the devices could use whatever protocol works best according to the developers, bluetooth or wifi.

Agreed.  This is a deal breaker for me.  I have one Move and would like to add another for outside patio listening on Bluetooth as a stereo pair.  Considered the Roam also, but limited stereo pairing on Bluetooth makes this a non-purchase for me.

Just add a nearby mobile Hotspot to the network settings in the Sonos App and play to a Roam stereo pair, using Bluetooth, away from Home, just take the mobile with you (which you will need as the Bluetooth audio source anyway.

So what would be the delay in this case?  Is it going to be more like BT 20ms (assuming the stereo pair is “bonded”) or more like 75ms (assuming the pair is “grouped”)?

It is so frustrating that the Sonos doesn’t officially release latency numbers for the different kinds of connection scenarios.

Ken_Griffiths

Just add a nearby mobile Hotspot to the network settings in the Sonos App and play to a Roam stereo pair, using Bluetooth, away from Home, just take the mobile with you (which you will need as the Bluetooth audio source anyway.

So what would be the delay in this case?  Is it going to be more like BT 20ms (assuming the stereo pair is “bonded”) or more like 75ms (assuming the pair is “grouped”)?

It is so frustrating that the Sonos doesn’t officially release latency numbers for the different kinds of connection scenarios.

I haven't noticed the latency and I’m sure it’s not as much as 75ms to a Bluetooth-linked Roam stereo pair (which obviously play in perfect sync with each other when paired). I would notice that kind of delay. 

I say that, because when travelling/glamping in our camper van, I have linked a Roam stereo pair (WiFi linked together) using a Bluetooth connection to the left Roam speaker and an Amazon Fire TV stick and the TV Shows/Movies audio-output all play in lip-sync with the video on screen.

We use a D-Link dwr-2101 MiFi router to stream the A/V to the fire stick and the Bluetooth linked speakers sit vertical either side of the TV - that setup has always worked well and no noticeable delay in the Bluetooth audio.

Obviously the audio is stereo output from the Fire Stick, but it sounds better than our TV speakers by a mile. If there is any delay I couldn’t see/hear it with the video on screen.

Hope that assists.

W
Userlevel 2

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

Ken_Griffiths

A deal breaker? That’s the bar that Sonos is trying to meet with its products?

It’s a deal breaker for me because I was considering buying two to add to my sonos system but if they can't be used away from home, I’m going to wait until they add this feature. Clearly other people also care because they have made the same comments. Are you trolling here? I’m just giving honest feedback.

 

And the devices could use whatever protocol works best according to the developers, bluetooth or wifi.

Agreed.  This is a deal breaker for me.  I have one Move and would like to add another for outside patio listening on Bluetooth as a stereo pair.  Considered the Roam also, but limited stereo pairing on Bluetooth makes this a non-purchase for me.

Just add a nearby mobile Hotspot to the network settings in the Sonos App and play to a Roam stereo pair, using Bluetooth, away from Home, just take the mobile with you (which you will need as the Bluetooth audio source anyway.

Ken_Griffiths

Thanks KG for the thoughtful write up and pics.  How do you get your music if the mifi device the roams are connected to doesn’t have a SIM card and therefore data connection?

Once device setup/registration is complete, internet access is not required if the audio is held locally… or a ‘sending’ device like a mobile using Airplay2 for example, has access to deliver the tracks either online (4g/5g mobile access), or offline (if stored on the mobile device), but I mostly stream from online services anyway and use the offline tracks when travelling if there is no internet access available, which is rare when travelling around a good many areas of the UK.

S

The “stereo pair in Bluetooth” is such an obvious omission. It’s very disappointing that I haven’t seen a comment from someone at Sonos. Do they read these posts? I like many of you made the stupid mistake of assuming that buying two of these speakers would allow me to play my iPhone in stereo via Bluetooth. Of course that would work….right? I mean, why wouldn’t they include that feature? I remember calling Sonos after I bought these speakers about a year and a half ago. I wanted support to show me how to set up my speakers in Bluetooth stereo pair mode. “I’m sorry, but that feature is not available. We add features all the time, and I’m sure you’ll see that in a future firmware update.” Hasn’t happened yet. Hey Sonos. You can do better. 

Terms & ConditionsCookie settings