Splitting iff older and players sounds like a good idea. But Please define older. It won’t impact listening experience but can you tell me anything in regards to features around playback, compatibility between players, music service support? What will you be deleting? 

I don’t trust Sonos to not screw me over and it sounds like you might be opening the door to do so. 

Did not see deleting anything mentioned here, have you seen that somewhere? 

Older, that kinda sounds like ones with lower capabilities, not just age. If that is correct we may see new stuff on some 'older' devices if they have the capability to support it while less capable but newer ones won't get it. Might even see a mix depending on device, capability and how useful the new feature is.

Assuming the worst is of course great fun but isn't generally helpful

Oh speaking from experience Sonos will promise not to delete, I don’t know dozens of features and ruin my ability to use my system in a way I paid for for  over a year.  
 

They drop this on us with zero details. So excuse me if I assume the worst.
 

Feel free to be all sunshine and lollipops with Sonos but don’t tell me my perspective isn’t helpful. 

​@Mark W. Minor observation - The updated App is showing ‘1’ next to speaker icon when there is no group, ie a single player. Previous App  showed +1 next to speaker icon when there were 2 players in the group. If there is a single (1) player in a group, is it technically a group?

I think that it is odd that a separate post is created for a “big” update to Sonos Ace yet a core change to the firmware of the speakers, creating a hierarchy for our speakers, is relegated to a foot note in an announcement to an update to the app.

Thanks for the update! The UI improvements look great—especially the clearer speaker grouping visuals. Appreciate the continued support for older devices too!

Hey ​@craigski,

I think the best way to explain it is that each targetable room (like a Home Theater system, stereo pair, or a single speaker) is represented by a (1). When you group them with other targetable rooms, the number should change to show the total number of rooms in the group.

I can see why my post originally creates some confusion around this, I’ll be sure to edit it - thanks for your feedback!

Sure thing! Older players are:

• Play:1

• Play:3

• Play:5 (Gen 2)

• Playbase

• Playbar

• Symfonisk Table Lamp (first gen)

• Symfonisk Bookshelf (first gen)

• Connect

• Connect:Amp

• Sub Gen 1

• Sub Gen 2

• Boost

These players will continue to get updates for things like improvements to performance, security, etc. So you shouldn't see a degradation of responsiveness or control.

Whether old or new, these players will continue to group, bond, and work together within your household. And you'll still use the same Sonos app to control everything.

Just trying to understand the logic why the (1) is actually displayed at all, when there is nothing grouped. Previously (+1) would only be displayed when rooms were grouped.

Just trying to understand the logic why the (1) is actually displayed at all, when there is nothing grouped. Previously (+1) would only be displayed when rooms were grouped.

I think what’s actually displayed is a “Sonos Room”, as a group consists of multiple “Sonos Rooms”.

What is actually displayed is a single “speaker” icon with a (1) next to it. What this “speaker” icon with a (1) refers to is a single “room” that may contain more than 1 “speaker”. 😀

A "Sonos Room" refers to a standalone device, a stereo pair or a home theater setup.

Rooms

A “room” is a singly-addressable zone in the Sonos app. It may be one speaker, two speakers, two speakers and a Sub/Sub Mini, or a whole surround sound setup. Importantly, each room can only play one source at a time, and all equaliser or TruePlay settings (and others) apply to the entire room.

The largest room possible is one with one soundbar, two Subs, and two surround speakers. You cannot add front speakers to a soundbar - it already contains drivers for playing those channels.

Each room get’s it’s own name, which can be changed at any time in the room’s settings.

Rooms can be added to Groups.

Yes, I understand the concept of a Sonos “Room”. In the App a “Room” is displayed as a “Speaker" icon. I was highlighting the irony of the icon and the number next to it, ie the “Speaker” icon is really a room, and the (1) next to it indicates a single ungrouped room, that could contain multiple “Speakers” in a stereo or HT setup.

Someone thought that the ‘(1)’ was a good idea. I don't. I think that it is clutter . 

Someone who has never seen the Sonos App before, would naturally think its 1 new notification for a ‘Speaker’.

Perhaps it’s technically not feasible to display it in another way. Therefore the group starts with a single “room”.

My setup includes two gen 1 Symfonisk speakers, and a Sub gen 2, named in the ‘older’ list by ​@Mike R. H. 

Anyone got any idea/thoughts on what the mentioned ‘future innovations” might be that will apply fine to the firmware of newer products (say, the One onwards) but that my mentioned speakers will eventually be unable to accommodate?

High-res Lossless?

Features that place enormous demands on CPU and RAM.

This sounds a lot like what a lot of users were asking for when the S1/S2 split happened but was deemed “not possible” by Sonos at that time.

This may actually be the first indication that the “code restructure” has some benefits to users of older speakers. It might also protect those speakers from the disruption inevitable caused by newer innovations that they were not designed to accommodate.

Symfonisk first Gen were discontinued in 2021, it’s crazy that my four year old lamp speakers are now officially “old”. 
 

I find modern tech is ‘old’ by the time you take it out of the packaging, before you have even turned it on. That said, Sonos do try to keep ‘old’ tech useable for as long as technically possible.

But the key thing is that they work to their full potential and that the code that enables them to do this is maintained. Having code on the speaker that cannot be used is a complete waste of memory and processing power. Not addressing this issue earlier caused the S1/S2 pain.

Bottomline is that we should not lose any of the capabilities in our older speakers we will simply have a firmware version that gets the maximum performance out of them. So we’ll have what we paid for but hopefully with a more stable code base protected from innovation that the speakers cannot use.

If you can get past the label “old” this could be the best thing Sonos have ever done for users with legacy products. It should guarantee that they will work as designed in the Sonos eco system for many years.

As someone who is very critical of the fiasco that started in May last year, and is still waiting for parity and reliability, I see this, incredible as it may seem, as good news.

​@Gaham 

I’d not thought of it like that. Very interesting post/point.

It’s what I would have done years ago if I was the Product Manager, optimise and stabilise the code for families of devices. For the developer it does mean that there are multiple deliveries from the code base but for the user, who wants product longevity, it is a definite win. 

I don’t need the code for spatial sound on my Play:1s and other older devices that don’t have the capability.

Hopefully what you describe is what they deliver.