We have six Sonos speakers on S2: 2 PlayBars (3 & 4 years old), 4 Play:1s (3-5 years old). I realize they were all bricked by Sonos, a fact that really peeves me off because now I’m stuck with an expensive speaker system that to my knowledge was never bricked before. I chose PlayBars just as S2 was being introduced because I was told by the salesperson that I could never run them in the same groupings as my older speakers, thus getting newer, lower-quality sound bars would make all of my Play:1s useless.
Our smart home system is Apple HomeKit, using the latest AppleTV as our hub. I don’t care about creating automations in HomeKit with Sonos. Wired systems aren’t an option as we live in an antique home.
While it’s impossible to add Airplay2 to my older speakers. can I somehow link my speakers to an inexpensive hub so that I can Airplay2 to all or some speakers and bypass this terribly outdated and awful app? I’d prefer not to buy a new Sonos speaker and split my system, an untenable option. If possible, I’d prefer not to have to purchase a media server. With a hub or expensive, unneeded new Sonos speaker, would I be able to create 3-4 groupings (e.g. first floor, third floor, all except my office, only my office) for Airplay?
It’s unbelievable that the app has had NO updates since its introduction several years ago. Are there any plans to improve the app’s functionality, or at least the UI?
I’v read older posts and the articles that Sonos support linked in one post; they were less than helpful. Or is all of this wishful thinking, leaving me to I just dump the $1600+ now-outdated but < 5 years old Sonos system, and go with a better, non-Sonos, regularly updated audio system? If so, any recommendations? Thanks for your help.
Details to read only if you want to see what I hate about S2 app:
UI issues: I cannot view by Genre or Composer, can’t designate Search to look for my music vs. Apple Music, I get the wrong album artwork and can’t refresh. Scrolling through music by album or artist is arduous - I can’t type a letter or two to jump ahead, particularly frustrating since search within the Apple sub-app can’t be filtered to select Apple OR My Music. Note that many of these feature are available through Amazon Music (which I rarely use).
Sonos doesn’t provide playlists like Top Played or Recently Played. There is no option to add Notifications for song changes, and no widgets to see current playing and make adjustments. The app is rarely updated except for firmware type changes - NOTHING to the UI has been changed since it was introduced, and there are absolutely no additional features. It is a bare-bones app.
Sonos integration issues (unlikely to be fixed): Sonos app doesn’t sync back to Apple Music impacting play counts (& not updating Recently Played and Top Played), songs marked as favorites, and updating Apple playlists. When listening to an Apple Music song, I cannot add it to an existing playlist unless I immediately go to Music app, search, find it, and add it. Incredibly frustrating especially with iOS (iPadOS/MacOS with multiple screens is slightly better). Sonos playlists are useless since they are not available in the cloud like EVERY other music app.
