Sonos,
After all this waiting. And after multiple articles. And after multiple phone calls to your service reps (including today), I’m now being told that you cannot group your Sonos system devices with your Google Home devices (after being told for months and more than a year that the aid be able to group them). Even the rep I spoke with today tried to help me and didn’t find out it wasn’t possible until he spoke to a system engineer. You can do it with Amazon devices, but STILL not with Google devices
In all honesty, what is the point of adding Google assistant to Sonos if you can’t even use Sonos speakers with Google Speakers together in a group? It’s pretty useless for me to be in living room, have to get up and walk to my kitchen to say “hey google, play x in my Living Room” and then walk back.
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Basically it comes down to whether you were looking to buy Sonos with a google assistant, or a google assistant with the Sonos brand on it.
I think this is a great summarization. Thus far--for my Sonos Beam soundbar--it feels like a Sonos with GA but I really just wanted a high-quality GA that has native support for TVs.
Knowing that they don't typically communicate their feature roadmap, it's somewhat comforting that we have not gotten confirmation that using Sonos within a Google Home speaker group is not something they're planning on doing.
Knowing that they don't typically communicate their feature roadmap, it's somewhat comforting that we have not gotten confirmation that using Sonos within a Google Home speaker group is not something they're planning on doing.
This article says about the same thing.
https://9to5google.com/2019/05/17/google-assistant-sonos-home/
Here’s a workaround I tested yesterday morning:
Using a Chromecast on the TV you’ve paired with your Sonos Beam create a group using the Chromecast and any other Google devices you own, call the the TV Chromecast Group.
Cast to the TV Chromecast Group and then using the Sonos app select all the Sonos speakers you want to play along with Google devices.
You may have to adjust for a lag between the Sonos and Google devices but it works.
Using a Chromecast on the TV you’ve paired with your Sonos Beam create a group using the Chromecast and any other Google devices you own, call the the TV Chromecast Group.
Cast to the TV Chromecast Group and then using the Sonos app select all the Sonos speakers you want to play along with Google devices.
You may have to adjust for a lag between the Sonos and Google devices but it works.
I bought Sonos One last year hoping it would be able to be grouped with other Chromecast speakers including google home in the other rooms once upgraded. But now it's disappointing...
Add me to the list of disappointed customers. I really hope they add the ability to add the Sonos speakers to Google Speaker Groups.
After all this waiting. And after multiple articles. And after multiple phone calls to your service reps (including today), I’m now being told that you cannot group your Sonos system devices with your Google Home devices (after being told for months and more than a year that the aid be able to group them). Even the rep I spoke with today tried to help me and didn’t find out it wasn’t possible until he spoke to a system engineer. You can do it with Amazon devices, but STILL not with Google devices
In all honesty, what is the point of adding Google assistant to Sonos if you can’t even use Sonos speakers with Google Speakers together in a group? It’s pretty useless for me to be in living room, have to get up and walk to my kitchen to say “hey google, play x in my Living Room” and then walk back.
Sonos Team,
First let me say congrats on the release / integration with Google Assistant. I am technical product owner and my hope for you all is that it feels good to accomplish this milestone. The role is such that you will never arrive at the destination so celebrate and enjoy the wins along the journey.
I’m certain that I’m just adding a vote here to many internal discussions but please add my vote to the need to sooner than later add the capability to group speakers together. I would prioritize the opportunity and not the feature so initially worry less about the experience and just deliver the capability. The ability to group speakers I would believe to be a core functionality that attracted many to the sonos product. I myself have 12 sonos speakers across the house and want to group and add to group with voice. You should not over complicate this. For MVP it would be fine to add one at a time to initial speaker. Eg. “Hey Google play XYZ on living room”, “Hey Google group TV Room to Living Room”, “Hey Google group Office to living room”, etc... I could list many others that like this I’m sure are already on your roadmap.. I mostly just wanted to encourage you to not over complicate that could delay delivery.
Thanks and again congrats!
First let me say congrats on the release / integration with Google Assistant. I am technical product owner and my hope for you all is that it feels good to accomplish this milestone. The role is such that you will never arrive at the destination so celebrate and enjoy the wins along the journey.
I’m certain that I’m just adding a vote here to many internal discussions but please add my vote to the need to sooner than later add the capability to group speakers together. I would prioritize the opportunity and not the feature so initially worry less about the experience and just deliver the capability. The ability to group speakers I would believe to be a core functionality that attracted many to the sonos product. I myself have 12 sonos speakers across the house and want to group and add to group with voice. You should not over complicate this. For MVP it would be fine to add one at a time to initial speaker. Eg. “Hey Google play XYZ on living room”, “Hey Google group TV Room to Living Room”, “Hey Google group Office to living room”, etc... I could list many others that like this I’m sure are already on your roadmap.. I mostly just wanted to encourage you to not over complicate that could delay delivery.
Thanks and again congrats!
This feature would be great to have. The other features that seem to be missing, that cripple the current implementation are the ability to shuffle a playlist, and the ability to ask to play one song and have Sonos keep playing other songs based on the first selection. These two things do happen when I use Google Assistant with my chromecast devices.
Team, I figured out a way to group the Sonos system into the Google Play Room Groups. I had a Chromecast audio that I plugged into the Sonos AMP. The Chromecast Audio is like a speaker so once I set the Sonos delay (slightly off from Google Home Speakers I can group all my Sonos and Google Home Speakers together as one Home Group, voila, SOLVED!!!!! Sure the AMP is pricey, but I needed it for my outdoor waterproof speakers anyway. Let me know if you have any questions!!!!!
Me too. Make grouping happen.
Again, regarding grouping capability. I would suggest you prioritize the grouping of Sonos branded speakers first (using google voice assistant). Focus initially on satisfying those consumers that purchased your branded products with the promise of google assistant functionality. It doesn’t need to be overly intuitive or a highly friendly initial experience but the capability should exist sooner than later to “group” and “remove from group” any sonos branded speaker using google assistant.
I would rather be able to set sonos as default speaker for google home hub and mini.
We will soon know if bose will let their speakers be grouped with non-bose speakers with google assistant, if not, then no pressure on sonos to do it either.....
We will soon know if bose will let their speakers be grouped with non-bose speakers with google assistant, if not, then no pressure on sonos to do it either.....
Forgive me if it's already been covered in this thread, tried to make it all the way through but have limited time to do so at work.
Is it fair to say the main concern is that 3rd party speakers are not grouping within the Google Home app, so each speaker can play music simultaneously?
Just trying to confirm because Sonos does have the option to play music to all your Sonos speakers at the same time through the Sonos app. But that doesn't appear to be the issue, right?
Thanks for clarity.
Is it fair to say the main concern is that 3rd party speakers are not grouping within the Google Home app, so each speaker can play music simultaneously?
Just trying to confirm because Sonos does have the option to play music to all your Sonos speakers at the same time through the Sonos app. But that doesn't appear to be the issue, right?
Thanks for clarity.
You have to set a group in the sonos app first, to play to more than 1 sonos device via GA.
You cannot group sonos with other "works with google" speakers you may have for ALL house playing same thing , sonos's previous main usp and hence need to still keep some sort of closed eco-system.
If this did happen you would basically turn sonos into an expensive google cast enabled speaker.
Tricky.....alot of people want ALL their speakers to play nicely together. and will decide to sell sonos.
Iam not that bothered about "all house", what i want is bbc iplayer radio support
You cannot group sonos with other "works with google" speakers you may have for ALL house playing same thing , sonos's previous main usp and hence need to still keep some sort of closed eco-system.
If this did happen you would basically turn sonos into an expensive google cast enabled speaker.
Tricky.....alot of people want ALL their speakers to play nicely together. and will decide to sell sonos.
Iam not that bothered about "all house", what i want is bbc iplayer radio support
OK, that helps me better understand. I, too, wouldn't expect Sonos to ever have exactly the same functionality as a Google Home Max.
I just wanted to add my voice to this to say that I was one of the people dissapointed that the Google Assistant integration was not complete. I expected my Sonos to behave is the exact manner as my Google Home, but that's not what I'm getting. The lack of grouping is only one of my issues. It also has difficulty controlling my other Google speakers and I'm sure there are many other things missing from its abilities when compared to the Google Home. Anyway, I'm hoping that Sonos will reach full integration sooner rather than later. I'd love for Google to simply recognize it as another speaker in the system as it it had been a native Google speaker.
I stated earlier in this topic that I put my Sonos Play 5 for sale. Sold bought Google Home Max. Sound just as good as Play 5 and obviously fill GA. Yes I know it's made by Google, but even cheaper speakers JBL, LG and Sony have almost full GA integration. The only thing they lack is voice calling. Google didn't block those manafactures. I would suggest this is down to Sonos thinking they are superior and don't need Cast build in and full GA.
I believe in years to come this will be the death nail for Sonos. They have regular discounts, that rarely happened in the past.
Nest thing I will sell in my Play 1 & 3. They will be the end of my Sonos ownership.
Sorry you feel that way. Out of curiosity is that a gen 1 or gen 2 Play:5?
Sonos have made a good start with GA, even if it has taken over a year. This has breathed fresh life back into my PLAY1s, and one has regained it's lost position in my Kitchen to join my google home hub.I still think the PLAY1 sounds great and i still believe it is a winner for the price.
Will i buy anymore.........not until i can get BBC sounds out of it.
Will i buy anymore.........not until i can get BBC sounds out of it.
Play 5 Gen 2.
Another disappointed Sonos user here. I've been wondering why I wasn't seeing my Sonos speakers as addable to GA speaker groups. Finally took the time to do a little searching and ended up here. I was assuming it was just me overlooking something.
This really screws up my whole configuration--not being able to simultaneously play on all my speakers throughout the house. Guess I'll give it a little time and see if they make any progress but seems likely I'll soon be dumping my Sonos gear for something that plays nicely with the rest of my home.
😞
This really screws up my whole configuration--not being able to simultaneously play on all my speakers throughout the house. Guess I'll give it a little time and see if they make any progress but seems likely I'll soon be dumping my Sonos gear for something that plays nicely with the rest of my home.
😞
Will be interesting to see if grouping with non-Sonos speakers is something that ever happens.
One of the main reasons I invested in Sonos was the idea that their approach to hardware, use of Sonosnet and commitment to this market meant they were the best for syncing whole house audio and not dropping streams. Maybe tech has improved since but it would genuinely surprise me if they can achieve a similarly solid experience with third party speakers mixed in.
One of the main reasons I invested in Sonos was the idea that their approach to hardware, use of Sonosnet and commitment to this market meant they were the best for syncing whole house audio and not dropping streams. Maybe tech has improved since but it would genuinely surprise me if they can achieve a similarly solid experience with third party speakers mixed in.
The Sonos system is the best by far, however that was before the rise of assistance voice. Sonos admitted they really didn't expect voice enabled speakers to take off and were very late to the party.
I do feel that Sonos have joined this party begrudgingly, they really didn't want to do this and stick with their very unique and excellent system.
However the method of listening to music had and we'll develop further towards voice enabled speakers. Be that asking for your music on a single speaker, group of speakers or the whole house.
I feel Sonos have done the bare minimum to say they have Assistant build into their system, but it's basic at best. Just look at what they launched for GA after 2 years work. No voice recognition, no direct play to Sonos from within Google app, no ability to select Sonos as a speaker with Google app.
Its very achievable just look at Sony, JBL and LG. Yes I know the music quality of these products does not compare to Sonos, it's just that Sonos have done the minimum which pleases no one. Myself as a Sonos use who has GA; it's just not capable enough. It will also not suit individuals who are looking to buy into smart speakers, if these individuals to the research they will probably look at Amazon, Google, Sony, JBL, LG the list goes on and on.
I regard this as a defensive decision by Sonos which will hurt their headline sales.
I loved and still love the sound and quality of my Sonos but I took the plunge and sold my Play 5 at bought Google Home Max cheaper and sounds very good with full GA. I waited for the UK launch to see how good/ bad the integration is before making a decision on my Play 1 & 3. Suffice to say I'm not impressed. The vast lack of integration is enough to tip me over to other makes. I will accept a slightly lesser sound quality, even that's subjective with the better GA speaker's, to get a full Google Voice speaker with Google or 95% there for every other third party speakers who only stop short regarding voice calling.
Sonos is and I believe will be light years behind of their current strategy.
I do feel that Sonos have joined this party begrudgingly, they really didn't want to do this and stick with their very unique and excellent system.
However the method of listening to music had and we'll develop further towards voice enabled speakers. Be that asking for your music on a single speaker, group of speakers or the whole house.
I feel Sonos have done the bare minimum to say they have Assistant build into their system, but it's basic at best. Just look at what they launched for GA after 2 years work. No voice recognition, no direct play to Sonos from within Google app, no ability to select Sonos as a speaker with Google app.
Its very achievable just look at Sony, JBL and LG. Yes I know the music quality of these products does not compare to Sonos, it's just that Sonos have done the minimum which pleases no one. Myself as a Sonos use who has GA; it's just not capable enough. It will also not suit individuals who are looking to buy into smart speakers, if these individuals to the research they will probably look at Amazon, Google, Sony, JBL, LG the list goes on and on.
I regard this as a defensive decision by Sonos which will hurt their headline sales.
I loved and still love the sound and quality of my Sonos but I took the plunge and sold my Play 5 at bought Google Home Max cheaper and sounds very good with full GA. I waited for the UK launch to see how good/ bad the integration is before making a decision on my Play 1 & 3. Suffice to say I'm not impressed. The vast lack of integration is enough to tip me over to other makes. I will accept a slightly lesser sound quality, even that's subjective with the better GA speaker's, to get a full Google Voice speaker with Google or 95% there for every other third party speakers who only stop short regarding voice calling.
Sonos is and I believe will be light years behind of their current strategy.
Damnit, should have read this topic sooner. Just bought two Sonos One to group them with the Naim muso 2 and didn't understand why I couldn't do it on google assistant.
So sadly, it will be a refund 😕
So sadly, it will be a refund 😕
i waited for Google:Sonos integration assuming speaker grouping is a given, fundamental feature. Was about to add 2 more Sonos speakers. How glad I’m I didn’t buy those ahead of release. You lost me Sonos. Simple as that.
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