Why No Bluetooth Stereo on Move and Roam?


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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?
 
 

109 replies

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I was quite upset when realized its missing on Move. And its even bigger fail for Roam, as its concept is even more portable and lack of BT stereo kills whole concept for me....

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Yes this a major development oversight. All the technology/hardware for this capability is already present in these devices as designed. If they have wifi capabiliy/adapter, then the development team could have figured this out. The Ultimate Ears Wonderboom 2 can do this very easily; it’s definitely not over complicating anything from a customer perspective. Embarrassing oversight!

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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.

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I was going to buy 2 Sonos Roam speakers for stereo pairing over Bluetooth but when I found out that's not possible I was like WTF. Their are plenty of practical reasons why you need stereo pairing over Bluetooth instead of WI FI because WI FI isn't available everywhere but Bluetooth always is. I was wanting to replace my Dennons but at least I can pair them in stereo using my Bluetooth. I own the Arc with 2 One SL s and absolutely love them but I really wanted 2 Sonos Roams for the Portibility factor however without stereo pairing over Bluetooth your stuck with stereo pairing over WI FI only which sucks. Reality check WI FI isn’t portable  but Bluetooth is .I was wanting to take 2 Roams every time I went to a park etc.  When stereo pairing over Bluetooth is supported only then will I buy 2 Sonos Roam speakers. 

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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. 

Maybe so.  That said, I currently own 20 zones of Sonos gear spread over three systems, and absolutely love every single one of them.  As for the Roam, I’d have already ordered two (and probably four for two systems) if Bluetooth stereo pairing was available, but for now I’ll be ordering zero and just staying with one of the other portable Bluetooth speaker manufacturers that supports this feature (which is most of them).  

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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?
 
 

Me too

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I just received my pair of Roams. I excitedly opened them, realized I need to upgrade to Sonos 2 to use them, which means begrudgingly sending my Play 5 to an early retirement. I reluctantly proceed. After getting one Roam added to my system, I was neutral in my reaction to the sound. I opened and setup the second Roam, set it up as a stereo pair on my home SONOS wifi system and was mildly impressed - until the right channel kept dropping. I need to turn it off then on then setup as a stereo again, then again get about three minutes of stereo listening before it does it again. Figuring maybe it would work better as a stereo over Bluetooth (which was the main reason I bought them) I quickly learned that wasn’t even an available feature? WTH..??!! If I want to use this Roam as a portable Bluetooth speaker, I’m stuck using just one, in mono? As others have mentioned, there are cheaper options that offer this feature. Hell, my single first gen Jambox has stereo sound on its own. I am utterly shocked that SONOS didn’t make stereo pairing over Bluetooth an option. I’m probably going to return these, and revert back to the SONOS 1 system so I can keep using my expensive Play 5. I am so disappointed by this who experience.

Yep, you’re preaching to the choir on the lack of stereo pair in Bluetooth.  Or even pair in Bluetooth, and each of them play in mono.   Can’t imagine it was an oversight, just not sure why they would decide to not include it as a premier feature. 

Let’s see… we’re going to market and release a portable Bluetooth speaker that has the ability to stereo pair with another speaker… but not when you are using it as a portable Bluetooth speaker…  

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I just received my pair of Roams. I excitedly opened them, realized I need to upgrade to Sonos 2 to use them, which means begrudgingly sending my Play 5 to an early retirement. I reluctantly proceed. After getting one Roam added to my system, I was neutral in my reaction to the sound. I opened and setup the second Roam, set it up as a stereo pair on my home SONOS wifi system and was mildly impressed - until the right channel kept dropping. I need to turn it off then on then setup as a stereo again, then again get about three minutes of stereo listening before it does it again. Figuring maybe it would work better as a stereo over Bluetooth (which was the main reason I bought them) I quickly learned that wasn’t even an available feature? WTH..??!! If I want to use this Roam as a portable Bluetooth speaker, I’m stuck using just one, in mono? As others have mentioned, there are cheaper options that offer this feature. Hell, my single first gen Jambox has stereo sound on its own. I am utterly shocked that SONOS didn’t make stereo pairing over Bluetooth an option. I’m probably going to return these, and revert back to the SONOS 1 system so I can keep using my expensive Play 5. I am so disappointed by this who experience.

Yep, you’re preaching to the choir on the lack of stereo pair in Bluetooth.  Or even pair in Bluetooth, and each of them play in mono.   Can’t imagine it was an oversight, just not sure why they would decide to not include it as a premier feature. 

Let’s see… we’re going to market and release a portable Bluetooth speaker that has the ability to stereo pair with another speaker… but not when you are using it as a portable Bluetooth speaker…  


Yep. It’s truly shocking that the brand that seems to be leading the space would fail on such an important and expected feature.
 

And I find it even more shocking that after months of countless devoted customers expressing frustration over this issue, that SONOS hasn’t even shown the consideration of acknowledging and addressing the big question – Will this EVER be a feature. I find it insulting and inconsiderate frankly.

There are many of us that feel your pain.  Some say they don’t think this is a widespread issue with the Roam and Move.  The number of frustrations posted on various sites say otherwise.   The only question is (which no one on this forum seems to know), why would Sonos do this?  It’s deliberate, yes, but a huge oversight on speakers that are marketed as being able to stereo pair, and also marketed as portable with Bluetooth capability.  It must have added some sort of complexity from a financial or engineering standpoint.  

As you’re implying, I don’t think a logical argument could be made that Sonos didn’t know this feature would be desired, or that inclusion wouldn’t make it a significantly better product.  It’s something people expected with the Move that never happened then either.  I can’t imagine there is a deliberate reason for leaving the feature off.  More people would buy a 2nd Roam with this feature, and I can’t imagine leaving the feature off somehow generate sales of other Sonos speakers. If there is a financial reason, it would have to be cost of producing the Roam in hardware or development costs.

I know it sounds simple from the outside looking in, but I really don’t know the complexity of a device that can communicate with multiple devices through WiFi and receive a bluetooth signal….and then send that signal to a nearby partner speaker.  I would guess that it requires the ability to send the signal via bluetooth, as I imagine other speakers do it.  Maybe Sonos intended to do it with WiFi, since they have the hardware, and that’s taken more to develop. Don’t know.

 

edit:  I should add that although I want bluetooth stereo pairing, I personally find it more cumbersome to deal with de-pairing of my Roam speakers every time I want to use one of them on bluetooth.  It messes up the connection with Alexa and other smart home settings to the point where I’m considering just never using them for bluetooth, or never strereo pairing them for WiFi.

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I just received my pair of Roams. I excitedly opened them, realized I need to upgrade to Sonos 2 to use them, which means begrudgingly sending my Play 5 to an early retirement. I reluctantly proceed. After getting one Roam added to my system, I was neutral in my reaction to the sound. I opened and setup the second Roam, set it up as a stereo pair on my home SONOS wifi system and was mildly impressed - until the right channel kept dropping. I need to turn it off then on then setup as a stereo again, then again get about three minutes of stereo listening before it does it again. Figuring maybe it would work better as a stereo over Bluetooth (which was the main reason I bought them) I quickly learned that wasn’t even an available feature? WTH..??!! If I want to use this Roam as a portable Bluetooth speaker, I’m stuck using just one, in mono? As others have mentioned, there are cheaper options that offer this feature. Hell, my single first gen Jambox has stereo sound on its own. I am utterly shocked that SONOS didn’t make stereo pairing over Bluetooth an option. I’m probably going to return these, and revert back to the SONOS 1 system so I can keep using my expensive Play 5. I am so disappointed by this who experience.

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Just upgraded my Bose portable speakers which had this feature. Bought a roam and a move assuming they would work the same way… I’m a Sonos fan and this is a bit of a head scratcher.  Please provide an update that will support this. 

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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!  

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I was going to buy 2 Sonos Roam speakers for stereo pairing over Bluetooth but when I found out that's not possible I was like WTF. Their are plenty of practical reasons why you need stereo pairing over Bluetooth instead of WI FI because WI FI isn't available everywhere but Bluetooth always is. I was wanting to replace my Dennons but at least I can pair them in stereo using my Bluetooth. I own the Arc with 2 One SL s and absolutely love them but I really wanted 2 Sonos Roams for the Portibility factor however without stereo pairing over Bluetooth your stuck with stereo pairing over WI FI only which sucks. Reality check WI FI isn’t portable  but Bluetooth is .I was wanting to take 2 Roams every time I went to a park etc.  When stereo pairing over Bluetooth is supported only then will I buy 2 Sonos Roam speakers. 

There are many of us that feel your pain.  Some say they don’t think this is a widespread issue with the Roam and Move.  The number of frustrations posted on various sites say otherwise.   The only question is (which no one on this forum seems to know), why would Sonos do this?  It’s deliberate, yes, but a huge oversight on speakers that are marketed as being able to stereo pair, and also marketed as portable with Bluetooth capability.  It must have added some sort of complexity from a financial or engineering standpoint.  

When the Move came out, there were posts saying that it was incredible that BT stereo pairing wasn't possible. 

So what can we conclude from the fact that the feature is absent from the Roam too? Either Sonos are really, really, really,  really stupid, or their market research says this feature would have negligible effect on sales.

Take your pick.

Clearly Sonos don't consider it embarrassing or important,  as the same comments were made about the Move and they have done the same with the Roam. 

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My speculation is that this feature is coming. They have built the capability into the Sonos app to view Bluetooth devices, which is new. Stereo devices over bluetooth requires streaming to one device, which then streams one of the two audio channels to the other bluetooth device.

There is lots to go wrong in this process, and I am assuming that they have been having difficulty making this super reliable. They concluded there is value in the devices being sold without this capability while they iterate on making this feature reliable, and will release it through a software update once they get to that point.

It’s also worth noting where Sonos is coming from: at their roots they’re a software company that only recently shifted their focus to high quality hardware. Just a few years ago, their device tear-downs show how they effectively were reselling low quality audio components in a custom designed casing, and their differentiation was how the devices worked together over wifi. Competition led to them needing to compete in the acoustic space (which is why I am now a fan of them). However, my speculation is that this has led to a focus in acoustics and less in software capabilities.

For background: I work in tech in a leadership position and have been part of this type of decision making for new product releases.

Are there any plans to add Bluetooth stereo pairing capability to the Roam or Move?  If not, why?

 
 

Sonos does normally comment on future plans, and didn’t say anything about this missing feature on the Move.  I’d be really surprised if they said anything now.

 

As to why, There are typical reasons.  It’s often a technical problem,  which I am not sure would apply in this case.  Yes, other bluetooth speakers do it, but not sure how WiFi capabilities impact that.   I can’t see it being a feature that isn’t high enough on the customer priority list.  Perhaps Sonos thought it over complicated using the speakers?  Don’t think that’s the case.

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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 don’t agree, this is an important feature that my old Bose micro speakers support and I love! I am also sure that many Sonos users would buy more than one roam or move if they could be paired!

100% agree. 

I love my roam but won’t buy a second until Bluetooth stereo pairing is available. I’m aware that may not happen so the ball is in Sonos court 
 

 

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! 

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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 ;)

Haha - well I’m NOT regularly taking two of them away from home because I can’t Bluetooth pair them. ;)  However, if one day I’m able to Bluetooth pair them, the 10 second walk out of my house to my vehicle won’t prevent me from bringing them along to tailgates, beach bonfires, camping or any other outdoor group gathering where I provide the tunes.  Two fit nicely in a small backpack.  If 6 lbs. is too heavy for someone to carry, I suggest subscribing to some lightweight exercise.  Haha    I wonder what those that complain about the weight of the Move do when they have to carry a bag of groceries from their vehicle into their house.   It’s all perspective :) 

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?

 

either way, it seems like a lot of work and extra products to do something that competing speakers already do out of the box (JBL, Bose, etc).  I’m a huge Sonos fan, but this feature is simply missing.  Great job for engineering around it, too much trouble for me, though.

for me, sadly I’m boxing them back up and taking them back.  If that feature is added, then I’ll reconsider.  If I’m the only one that feels that way, then so be it.  From reading this thread string, I really don’t think I am.

 

 

It really depends on what features are your priority.  if you need stereo pairing over bluetooth, then the Sonos speakers are not for you.  If you need a bluetooth speaker that also works with your Sonos home audio setup, then you’ll want to get a Move or Roam. Is it a miss for Sonos not to provide stereo bluetooth? They surely would have appealed to more customers, but whether that was significant to cover cost of development and testing (while maintaining WiFi features) and whether the logistics of customers controlling stereo pairs over both WiFi and bluetooth proved to be confusing and frustrating to customers….I don’t know.

Either way, the feature isn’t there, and it makes perfect sense to buy the speaker(s) that fit your specific needs best.

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. 

To be constructive…

If I want stereo sound from my Roams away from any WiFi, I will use my phone as a hotspot and my £50 Amazon Fire tablet as a Sonos controller.

I am not suggesting that this will suit everyone who wants stereo when not connected to their home WiFi (or their holiday home WiFi, or friend’s WiFi, or whatever WiFi).  In fact, I am unlikely to use this myself, as it would be a bit antisocial on the beach, but some others may wish to try this approach if they have a use case for it.

Maybe it’s just a case that Sonos have been waiting for this BT improvement …

https://www.theverge.com/2022/7/12/23204956/bluetooth-le-audio-completed-low-power-high-quality-wireless-headphones

Maybe it’s just a case that Sonos have been waiting for this BT improvement …

https://www.theverge.com/2022/7/12/23204956/bluetooth-le-audio-completed-low-power-high-quality-wireless-headphones

 

Assuming Sonos Move and Roam can handle BLE audio, which seems likely, and that the source device can produce separate L/R channels over BLE, then Sonos would not do any stereo pairing at all, it’s just receiving a mono channel of audio.  If fact, seems like there would be nothing stopping you from using unlike BLE speakers as stereo pairs, or using as many speakers in the setup as you see fit.

It will be interesting to see how fast this new standard gets adopted.

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