Add Chromecast built-in Integration

  • 26 December 2021
  • 95 replies
  • 23894 views
G
Userlevel 3

I live in Italy and here Android users are much more that the Android users that are in the USA…

Personally all my family have an Android device, like Google Pixels, and all the house have integration with Google Assistant and Google Home. We are a Google Family.

We bought a Sonos Move for have a portable speaker with a gorgeous sound, and I can confirm that it have, but we hear the lack of the Google Chromecast built-in integration.

In fact the Chromecast built-in feature is a great opportunity for Sonos, we think, because in this way Sonos Speakers can appear in Media controls of Google Home and so can be controlled by all the people that live in the house. Also Chromecast built-in have plenty of integration with some services that made things really easy.

So, we decide that for now Sonos for us it can be only the Sonos Move or the Sonos Roam that have also the Bluetooth, because we need it for limiting the lack of the Chromecast built-in functionality. But we appreciate that in the future these awesome speakers, that are probably the best in their category, will have the Chromecast built-in feature, so we can buy product that also came without Bluetooth.

Best regards,

Giovanni Galboni

95 replies

jgatie

Sonos is never going to support Chromecast, but here's another 500 words on why it should.  🙄

melvimbe

Sonos have removed every audio input possible without eliminating their use for television.

Not exactly. Line-In is available on Port, Amp, Five, and all their antecedents. The system can be used to distribute sources of any flavour, including a Chromecast Audio.

Plus of course any content can be streamed from an iDevice over AirPlay. 

Do you actually possess any Sonos gear?

I own a fair bit actually. Including more than one of the products you listed. 

These are older products, however, and I think it's fair to say their successors will not have any such feature.

 

 

Port, Amp and Five are not older products, they are the current lineup of Sonos products.  And there is absolutely zero reason to think that Sonos plans to no longer sell any products with aux input capability.  if that were the plan, they would stop producing the Port, since that’s practically it’s primary reason to exist.  It would also have been rather easy to remove the line in on the Five.  Then of course, it would make no sense to allow the Roam to bring in bluetooth input into the system. And stop selling turntables that use the aux input.  Beyond the products themselves though, the ability to play have an analog source, and share the audio with other speakers in the system,  is a strategic advantage for Sonos, since not every multiroom system can do that.

 

And that's fine. Having line-in present on only a portion of the product line does not allow for a full solution to use Sonos speakers within another ecosystem anyway. Half measures and work arounds.

 

 

The aux input was never designed as a way to integrate with other wireless audio systems.

 

Why would a person who has decided Sonos is not for everybody be posting long drama laden missives on a Sonos site lamenting the fact that Sonos is not for everybody?

Why would a person say X, when they have already decided X? Sounds consistent to me..

No drama though. I am not the OP. (Would you consider your dismissal of OP's issues to be speaking for him?) I'm simply weighing in on a post I have seen CONSTANTLY posted for years now.

I think the community's usual response is lacking, as I already explained (I understand it was too long for you).

We shouldn't be telling people they can do all the same things without Chromecast, or Bluetooth, or WISA, or Audio Pro, or Q-Symphony, or any other protocol. There are some things that cannot be done. Whether they matter to you or not is not the issue. They may matter to others, and they deserve the information to make that decision for themselves.

 

 

The reason people ask what features they want to use Chromecast, and anything else, for is because people often assume that Sonos can’t meet that feature some other way.   For example, a person may not understand that Sonos can stream audio directly, not through your phone or tablet like bluetooth, which is why bluetooth is only on the portable products.  OP stated that he wanted to be able to control his speakers through Google Home, which you can do with Sonos without having Chromecast.  The point isn’t to tell customers what should matter to them, but to provide information so they can make an informed decision.

 

These features are also, as I have already made clear, not coming. So telling people to hold on or having representatives inform people they've forwarded their idea to the team in any hopeful capacity is absurd, as if they had never before thought of adding Chromecast. It's nothing more than a strategy to get people to invest in the Sonos ecosystem and keep them there.

 

 

Except that the same sentiment was given for Sonos ever getting DTS, or bluetooth, both features that have actually happened.  That doesn’t mean that chromecast will definitely come to Sonos, but it means it’s not impossible.  There certainly isn’t anything wrong with Sonos staff saying that the request is noted.  If people want to falsely believe that acknowledging the request is the same thing as affirming that it will happen, that’s not Sonos fault. 

 

Now I'm really going to blow your mind:

I'm not a big Chromecast guy.

 

 

Not at all surprising actually.

 

But if it's important to you, if you want to control multi-room speakers from Google Home or a hub, don't buy Sonos.

 

This is not true.  You can control Sonos speakers through Google...or Amazon Alexa, or Airplay, and many other smart home hubs.  What you can’t do is have your Sonos speakers play in sync with other smart speakers.

 

They aren't speakers to supplement your ecosystem. They're a competing ecosystem. A closed-wall garden around multi-room in an era increasingly aware of wireless functionality.

But if that's you, don't worry either. Google could buy Sonos a thousand times over if they ever feel the need. There will be plenty of very capable Chromecast speakers going forward.

 

 

If Sonos wanted to sell, they would have done that already.  I don’t think Sonos will be looking to do that anytime soon, at least while they seem to be on an upward trend. 

 

As I said before, basically every active speaker at this point, outside of Sonos, will have Chromecast (usually alongside multiple other protocols).

 

 

Apple and Amazon speakers will not.  Since Amazon has a huge marketshare, it’s hard to conclude that basically every active speaker has chromecast.  But people don’t expect Echos or Homepods to have chromecast as they recognize them as competitors to Google, rather than subordinate companies paying licensing fees so they can play in Google playground.

 

Sonos has the first-mover advantage and a comprehensive line. They're trying their best to leverage this as long as they can.

If the Sonos ecosystem works for you, you won't be disappointed in the sound.

If not, like in the case of OP, look elsewhere..

 

This is basically true.  My only point to add is that if you like what Sonos seems to offer, than it’s worth while to consider all the features it offers, if you really need chromecast, bluetooth, etc since Sonos has other ways of providing these features.  It’s not about telling people what they should want, but giving them the information to make an informed decision.

 

 

 

Danny
T
Badge

Sonos is never going to support Chromecast, but here's another 500 words on why it should.  🙄

I never argued that Sonos should support Chromecast actually. 

My first, and only, real point is why I very much doubt they ever intend to support Chromecast short of a buyout:

Again, for those lost in the weeds, low budget Chromecast speakers severely undercut Sonos. This allows customers that would otherwise be willing to invest in Sonos to get the multi-room solution they want without paying for a premium product. This, once upon a time, was Sonos' bread and butter. Nowadays, these relatively affordable options are a direct threat.

This is why you see Sonos play nice with some ecosystems and not others. They are attempting to leverage their first-mover advantage to prevent other companies from flooding the market with low-cost multi-room solutions.

Sonos competes well in the hifi market. They simply can't compete with low-budget loss leaders.

Google went all in on these low-cost, multi-room speakers. Sonos doesn't like that. 

No Chromecast. Focused legal resources against Google. Competing voice AI and media ecosystem incoming.

Cause and effect. 

The response following yours is very fair. But if you want to use Google Home/Chromecast, for whatever reason, don't buy Sonos.

Google picked the fight when they launched their Nest speakers. Sonos doubled-down with their lawsuit.

Until Google decides it will cost less long-term to own Sonos, this corporate squabble will continue.

Don't let any PR convince you otherwise.

Buy what works for you today. Understand it may not work for you tomorrow.

The smart home wars are still in their early years..

J

Sonos are defending the patents they secured when they INVENTED wireless multiroom audio. Not to do so would be commercial suicide.

Yes you can get cheaper multiroom systems now and that is a danger for Sonos. But I just don't happen to want an inferior system. Each to their own.

chicks

Sonos … INVENTED wireless multiroom audio.

 

Slim Devices / Logitech probably won’t agree.

106rallye
Userlevel 7
Badge +17

As a former owner of Logitech Squeezebox devices (a Duet and a Radio) I can state Sonos invented working multiroom audio. 😉

melvimbe

Sonos is never going to support Chromecast, but here's another 500 words on why it should.  🙄

I never argued that Sonos should support Chromecast actually. 

My first, and only, real point is why I very much doubt they ever intend to support Chromecast short of a buyout:

 

 

Well, and stating that Sonos was going to remove all aux inputs (they are not), forum users shouldn’t tell people what they should want (no one was), and Sonos staff shouldn’t acknowledge requested features. Those don’t count as ‘real points’?

 

Again, for those lost in the weeds, low budget Chromecast speakers severely undercut Sonos. This allows customers that would otherwise be willing to invest in Sonos to get the multi-room solution they want without paying for a premium product. This, once upon a time, was Sonos' bread and butter. Nowadays, these relatively affordable options are a direct threat.

 

I don’t think anyone’s really lost in weeds.  It’s not a difficult concept.

 

This is why you see Sonos play nice with some ecosystems and not others. They are attempting to leverage their first-mover advantage to prevent other companies from flooding the market with low-cost multi-room solutions.

 

 

The market is already flooded with low cost multiroom options. There certainly is logic that Sonos would intentionally block integration with competitors, but stating that airplay is allowed because Apple doesn’t make cheap speakers...doesn’t seem like it tells the whole story.  I mean, it’s not like Sonos isn’t competing with other premium speakers that are airplay compatible.  Why not block those out too?

There is also the fact that Google did not want to allow Sonos to use GA in Sonos speakers.  They agreed after a while, but still will not allow Sonos to have GA and any other voice assistant on the same speaker.  It’s not like Google is all about integration with other companies.

I’m not saying your wrong, just that there is likely more to it than what we see on the surface.  I really don’t well ever see the full story.

 

Sonos competes well in the hifi market. They simply can't compete with low-budget loss leaders.

Google went all in on these low-cost, multi-room speakers. Sonos doesn't like that. 

 

 

Sonos has stated they don’t like that Big Tech companies sell their products at a lose, using revenue from other markets, creating an unfair advantage.  They also don’t like companies stealing thier tech.  I don’t think they mind companies selling cheaper speakers as long as it’s a fair market.

 

No Chromecast. Focused legal resources against Google. Competing voice AI and media ecosystem incoming.

 

 

I don’t think voice assistant  and whatever they are doing with home theatre really has much to do with chromecast.

 

Cause and effect. 

The response following yours is very fair. But if you want to use Google Home/Chromecast, for whatever reason, don't buy Sonos.

Google picked the fight when they launched their Nest speakers. Sonos doubled-down with their lawsuit.

 

 

That’s inaccurate.  Amazon change the market when they came out with the echo lineup.  Google simply followed suit.  Sonos is suing Google because they stole their IP.  It’s not really different than when they sued Denon or Blusound.   

 

 

Until Google decides it will cost less long-term to own Sonos, this corporate squabble will continue.

 

Sonos has to agree to sell.  Google can’t just decide they want Sonos and take it.  Google will likely have to pay licensing fees, than Sonos will be able to get Amazon to settle out of court (my non-expert opinion).  With, a lot of the IPs expiring in the next few years, Google (or anyone else) doesn’t really need to buy Sonos for the tech.  They could make their own, or buy another audio company if they want name recognition.  Really, if Sonos was going to be bought out, it would have happened years ago.

 

 

Danny
M
Badge +2

Let's just stop pretending like Bluetooth and Chromecast support is just around the corner…

 

Little Sonos Roam adds Bluetooth, isn´t it. Once you have one entry, you are in the Sonos environment. Move too.

ratty

Let's just stop pretending like Bluetooth and Chromecast support is just around the corner…

 

Little Sonos Roam adds Bluetooth, isn´t it. Once you have one entry, you are in the Sonos environment. Move too.

Indeed. It does seem that the poster is a little out of touch. Comments to the effect that Port (2019), Amp (2019) and Five (2020) are “older products” and that successors will not offer Aux/Line-In do rather strain credibility.

T
Badge

Let's just stop pretending like Bluetooth and Chromecast support is just around the corner…

 

Little Sonos Roam adds Bluetooth, isn´t it. Once you have one entry, you are in the Sonos environment. Move too.

Indeed. It does seem that the poster is a little out of touch. Comments to the effect that Port (2019), Amp (2019) and Five (2020) are “older products” and that successors will not offer Aux/Line-In do rather strain credibility.

I was clear aux inputs being available on only a subset of the line places clear limits on it's usability within other ecosystems. Again, workarounds and half measures.

Surely, you acknowledge there is no technical reason such inputs could not be included in a number of other products in the line if they were a priority?

It's a mute point, however, because dongles are increasingly unavailable for any ecosystem. Sonos is not unique in it's efforts to close off their product line (Chromecast audio discontinued for example).

As for Bluetooth, these are products designed for travel and outdoor use. It's a completely different product category. And not one that utilizes any sort of Bluetooth connectivity between speakers like many other ecosystems do, alongside both Airplay and Chromecast I might add.

But you guys know all this. And yet you all consistently go out of your way to obfuscate missing features and devalue the wants and needs of those that come to this forum to voice their opinions. 

Ironically, in your desire to defend Sonos, these comments are likely costing them customers in the long-term.

It's all very sunk-cost, and I don't think it's a good look. But that's fine. We don't have to agree.

Personally, I always try to buy into the most open ecosystem. That used to be Sonos. I sincerely hope they regain that title in the future.

In the meantime, we're all customers; let's try not to give companies an excuse not to live up to their potential.

K

I was clear aux inputs being available on only a subset of the line places clear limits on it's usability within other ecosystems.

Personally, I always try to buy into the most open ecosystem. That used to be Sonos. I sincerely hope they regain that title in the future.

 

I have plenty of Sonos line in jacks in my set up, but I still wish that my Play 1 units had them too; it would have moved a very good product to great category in my book. But it isn't enough these days to offer these - Echo Show devices no longer offer the necessary audio out jacks to allow them to play on Sonos kit. Google speakers have never offered them.

Why do you say that Sonos used to be the most open? It has always been a closed system except where line in jacks allowed wired analog signals to be used and nothing has changed in that respect.

melvimbe

Let's just stop pretending like Bluetooth and Chromecast support is just around the corner…

 

Little Sonos Roam adds Bluetooth, isn´t it. Once you have one entry, you are in the Sonos environment. Move too.

Indeed. It does seem that the poster is a little out of touch. Comments to the effect that Port (2019), Amp (2019) and Five (2020) are “older products” and that successors will not offer Aux/Line-In do rather strain credibility.

I was clear aux inputs being available on only a subset of the line places clear limits on it's usability within other ecosystems. Again, workarounds and half measures.

 

You stated “These are older products, however, and I think it's fair to say their successors will not have any such feature.”

People pointed out that you were incorrect and call out your credibility.  And you respond by saying they limit the usability within other ecosystems?   That does not restore your credibility.  

 

Surely, you acknowledge there is no technical reason such inputs could not be included in a number of other products in the line if they were a priority?

 

 

I don’t think anyone claimed they were a priority, just that they exist and are not going away.  But of course there is no technical reason why not every Sonos device doesn’t have an aux input.

 

It's a mute point, however, because dongles are increasingly unavailable for any ecosystem. Sonos is not unique in it's efforts to close off their product line (Chromecast audio discontinued for example).

As for Bluetooth, these are products designed for travel and outdoor use. It's a completely different product category. And not one that utilizes any sort of Bluetooth connectivity between speakers like many other ecosystems do, alongside both Airplay and Chromecast I might add.

 

 

“We shouldn't be telling people they can do all the same things without Chromecast, or Bluetooth, or WISA, or Audio Pro, or Q-Symphony, or any other protocol.”

 

But it’s ok to tell people what bluetooth should be used for?  Yes, I am stretching this a bit, but the point is that asking people what features they are looking for and providing solutions for the feature within the existing boundaries of a system is not telling people what they should want.

 

But you guys know all this. And yet you all consistently go out of your way to obfuscate missing features and devalue the wants and needs of those that come to this forum to voice their opinions. 

Ironically, in your desire to defend Sonos, these comments are likely costing them customers in the long-term.

 

 

How, does providing information they may not previously be aware of, turning away customers?  Sure, some customers come in upset about a feature they want and leave still upset, but plenty are happy to have a better understanding of the system.  I’ve never seen anyone come in content and leave upset because they were offered alternative solutions to the feature they wanted.

 

 

In the meantime, we're all customers; let's try not to give companies an excuse not to live up to their potential.

“I never argued that Sonos should support Chromecast actually. “

But now you are saying that Sonos should support Chromecast apparently.  If that’s not what you’re saying, I have no idea what sort of potential you believe Sonos isn’t living up to.  

 

Danny
J

I would like to express my admiration for those with the patience and stamina to continue to debate with @Tim23 .

melvimbe

I would like to express my admiration for those with the patience and stamina to continue to debate with @Tim23 .

 

It has nothing to do with patience.  I was bored.

Danny
jgatie

Like I said - Sonos is never going to support Chromecast, but here's another 500 words on why it should.

chicks

As a former owner of Logitech Squeezebox devices (a Duet and a Radio) I can state Sonos invented working multiroom audio. 😉

Synch works perfectly fine with LMS in a proper network.  Sonos had an advantage once with its mesh network, but mesh wifi is a commodity now.  I’ve never really used multi-room, but here’s my LMS setup, with one copy of squeezelite driving the spectrum display in perfect synch with another driving my DAC’s coax digital input.  Too complex for technophobes, obviously, but a lot of fun for those of us who know how, and far more flexible than Sonos (though Sonos speakers work fine as LMS endpoints).  Much better UI, too, with the Material Skin (and the touchscreen, at left). 

 

Oh, and Chromecast integrates perfectly, too - optical in to the DAC from a Chromecast Audio, primarily controlled via the Material Skin, but from any other Chromecast-capable app, as well.  The DAC auto-switches between USB, Optical and Coax inputs with signal.

 

106rallye
Userlevel 7
Badge +17

We're getting somwhat off topic here, but I'm sure LMS wasn't the problem, the hardware was (probably in combination with my network at the time of course - we're speaking 2010/2011 here). Duet that would lose contact with it's base, no sync with the Radio in the kitchen. Sonos/Sonosnet (which I'm into since 2018) works way better in my home.

S

I just wanted to comment that Sonos 100% needs to support Chromecast. It's ridiculous that it doesn't. These devices are expensive and frankly we shouldn't have to compromise fit a feature on much cheaper devices.

Airgetlam

I think the issue is more on the Google side, than it is on the Sonos side. And I suspect that Google’s still a bit upset about the lawsuit for copyright infringement that they lost….

Bruce
S

Hi. An understandable request, and well expressed, but the request has been made many times on here and Sonos haven't done this yet.

What do you want to do that you currently cannot do without Chromecast?

I’m going to buy a portable speaker for my wife’s birthday next month. No matter what I get for her, she ends up just playing music off YouTube. She won’t subscribe to YouTube premium. As I understand it, she would be unable to simply cast to her speaker. I would like to get her a speaker that I could integrate with a larger system. It would have ended up being a perfect gateway to get me to spend a stupid amount of money on Sonos gear. But it would have been a very inconsiderate gift, knowing she won’t be able to use it how she likes to.

 

As the OP of this thread said, they want the ability for guests and family members to simply cast to the device. This is basic support of Android that is very widely supported. Every “smart” TV made for the past decade supports casting. It’s much more ubiquitous globally than airplay. I would expect the same basic utility for my own guests.

 

I’m glad I took the time to search these forums as I was all but ready to buy into Sonos. I’ve seen you opine all over this forum, yet repeatedly fail to get that lack of generic casting support is a fundamental deficit of Sonos in supporting Android, which has 1.5 billion users (to Apple’s 1 billion.) 

S

 

Sonos doesn't sell speakers..

If they did, I'd buy more of them.

 

https://www.sonos.com/en/shop/wireless-speakers

 

They have a whole line of wireless speakers. Your argument is there are cheaper speakers so they need to compete by locking out users? Makes no sense. I’m looking for the best product, not the cheapest. But I’ll probably end up getting a slightly less expensive speaker simply because it isn’t antagonistic to Android users.

J

@scotek . You are looking for a portable speaker on which your wife can play YouTube audio from her Android phone? How about the Sonos Roam?

S

@scotek . You are looking for a portable speaker on which your wife can play YouTube audio from her Android phone? How about the Sonos Roam?

Yes this is the product that I am considering. It would work with Bluetooth, but so would a lot of other speakers. I would probably go with the Ultimate Ears megaboom as it has twice the battery life, if I am going to commit to a BT-only option. 

 

We recently moved to a much larger house and I have lots of outside areas and other spaces that I would gladly place Sonos speakers, but if my wife or guests can’t interact with them intuitively, I may as well just have a traditional setup with an AMP that has several zones, and have her use some BT speakers in the meantime.

 

Bottom line, not being able to cast to the thing means Android users are much more limited in how they can interact with the device. Getting her to use different apps just because Sonos chooses to treat Android users as second class citizens is a big turnoff. 

melvimbe

@scotek . You are looking for a portable speaker on which your wife can play YouTube audio from her Android phone? How about the Sonos Roam?

Yes this is the product that I am considering. It would work with Bluetooth, but so would a lot of other speakers. I would probably go with the Ultimate Ears megaboom as it has twice the battery life, if I am going to commit to a BT-only option. 

 

We recently moved to a much larger house and I have lots of outside areas and other spaces that I would gladly place Sonos speakers, but if my wife or guests can’t interact with them intuitively, I may as well just have a traditional setup with an AMP that has several zones, and have her use some BT speakers in the meantime.

 

Bottom line, not being able to cast to the thing means Android users are much more limited in how they can interact with the device. Getting her to use different apps just because Sonos chooses to treat Android users as second class citizens is a big turnoff. 

 

Youtube music is supported on Sonos.  Google and Sonos obviously don’t have the best of relationships.  Google wasn’t very interested in allowing their voice assistant, Sonos is suing Google for stealing patents, and Google won’t allow their voice assistant on a device with other voice assistants installed.  Assuming that Google is fully on board with chromecast on Sonos speakers, it’s only Sonos that’s holding it back, doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.

Not sure if it’s true anymore, but there was a time when Google did not allow casting of Youtube (video service) to any device that didn’t have display.  So you could cast to a TV, but not directly to a speaker.  Indeed, if you have TVs that have comcast (or devices connect via HDMI to the TV) than you could do that cast and have a Sonos Arc, Beam, Ray, or Amp connected to the TV to play that audio.  I rarely look at youtube on my phone, and rarer still want to cast that...but when I do, I’ve had no problem casting to the TV and hearing the audio over my Sonos speakers.

 

Danny
J

@scotek .  I can understand your point of view. and we all have our own priorities for our systems.  Neither of us is right or wrong.  

I think you are coming at this from the perspective of someone whose mindset is ‘single device sending audio to single speaker’.  Sonos is fundamentally designed to be multiroom, multi-source and multi controller, with an app that is a remote control for the system, not a music player.  It was not designed for all-audio casting.

For me, casting is a complete irrelevance.  I would never use it.  When i started with Sonos, Airplay wasn’t supported any more that Chromecast.  

I think it is rather paranoid and illogical of you to be talking of Sonos being “antagonistic to Android users’, but you are entitled to your opinion, and to your different priorities.

Edit: just as a historical note, the first native app that could be used with Sonos was Google Play Music, until Google scrapped it in favour of YTM.  But you could only use it on Android devices, not iOS.

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