Delighted to see AirPlay 2 support annouced. However, bubble well and truely burst by twitter support confirming it only works on newest devices - the play5 gen 2, and play base.
Can this be explained further, is it :
(i) Only new devices will support AirPlay 2. So if I have 6 Sonos speakers, 2 of which are play5:gen2, only those 2 will show as airplay speakers?
Or
(ii) You need at least one compatible device in your ecosystem, which acts as a bridge for older devices. So in scenario above, as at least one play5:gen2 is in the mix, all speakers are available.
I am crossing everything that it is (ii)... or there will be a lot of very unhappy people!
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The make or break element of this chris will be whether you have to leave the airplay controller on your iOS device to do the grouping. If you airplay from iOS then group in SONOS app, it’s a very poor user experience. If however one device acts as the hub for all other speakers, perfect.
We live in hope...
From the Sonos Support twitter - it sounds like option i. Huge disappointment. I would hope they could use newer speakers as an enabling hub or even release a separate hardware hub to enable Airplay 2 on all speakers (similar to how the Boost connects to the network).
I may be off base here, but (i) doesn't make any sense to me, (ii) does. The reason I'm thinking that is that you just need a way to get the signal in to the Sonos ecosystem, which apparently requires some "extra" chip, or something special, that is in the PLAY:5 gen 2, or the upcoming Sonos One. But once it's in the ecosystem, you should be able to share it all the way around, the same way a line-in works, or the optical connection on a PLAYBAR/PLAYBASE. Once it's "in", then anything can be done with it.
That seems like a logical assumption to me. Happy to have opposing viewpoints discussed.
That seems like a logical assumption to me. Happy to have opposing viewpoints discussed.
We're not quite sharing all the details on this yet, still early into development. Newer players have the needed hardware. So the PLAYBASE, PLAY:5 gen2, and the Sonos One will all have it.
I am going to assume if you have one Sonos device hat is capable you can group any other Sonos unit to that one to get the signal. Ie if you have a play:5 gen2 you can play from iOS tonthat speaker then group in any other speakers you want to play the same music. But you have to have the play:5 playing that stream. Kind of like with playbar you can play tv sound to any speaker in the house as long as the playbar is playing tv.
Someone might not need another speaker. ;)
Exactly. I would settle for a hockey puck size device I can plug in or put in a closet. A bridge for Airplay 2 compatibility..
The earlier you announce it, the earlier you can help consumer to make up decision how they can setup their system and stop them running into competitors like HomePod
Yet one of the main complaints about Alexa support was it was announced too soon, so people were getting impatient and looking to competitors. Damned if they do and damned if they don't. Plus, some people will complain about anything.
Sonos has given no details about the Airplay 2 implementation. Maybe waiting until Sonos actually states what is or is not coming with Airplay support before complaining is in order. Also, if it is a requirement of Apple to have special hardware in the unit, what exactly is Sonos supposed to do to make your legacy hardware compliant?
I thought both were in context and were referring to the hardware.
Equally, had anybody else (bar a select few) quoted a 95% figure they would usually have been met with a ‘How do you know this?’ response so assumed you knew this figure as fact and hadn’t just plucked it out of thin air and used it to make a point as you now appear to have done.
While there are reviews that say there are audible differences between the Play 1 and Sonos One, there are also others that say otherwise. I haven’t heard either so don’t know just how different they do sound, if at all – but wouldn’t be surprised to hear there’s lots of confirmation bias happening when listening and would be interested in users and reviewers blind testing the two. Even if there are differences, I’d wager they’re so small as to be unheard by the majority – or effectively eliminated completely after Trueplay tuning.
Personally, I feel they didn’t realise the size of the ‘backlash’ from the lack of stereo pairing functionality and now realise they will probably sell a whole load more with this option than without it. Not keeping the sound signature the same or allowing pairing from the off is a mistake and we will need to see how this all progresses. Most seem to feel the Sonos One is a replacement, in time, for the Play 1 – but, if this does happen then Sonos leave those Play 1 owners without an easy way of making their existing speakers into stereo pairs. Adding the option will demonstrate further support for existing hardware.
I suppose we’ll see...
Equally, had anybody else (bar a select few) quoted a 95% figure they would usually have been met with a ‘How do you know this?’ response so assumed you knew this figure as fact and hadn’t just plucked it out of thin air and used it to make a point as you now appear to have done.
While there are reviews that say there are audible differences between the Play 1 and Sonos One, there are also others that say otherwise. I haven’t heard either so don’t know just how different they do sound, if at all – but wouldn’t be surprised to hear there’s lots of confirmation bias happening when listening and would be interested in users and reviewers blind testing the two. Even if there are differences, I’d wager they’re so small as to be unheard by the majority – or effectively eliminated completely after Trueplay tuning.
Personally, I feel they didn’t realise the size of the ‘backlash’ from the lack of stereo pairing functionality and now realise they will probably sell a whole load more with this option than without it. Not keeping the sound signature the same or allowing pairing from the off is a mistake and we will need to see how this all progresses. Most seem to feel the Sonos One is a replacement, in time, for the Play 1 – but, if this does happen then Sonos leave those Play 1 owners without an easy way of making their existing speakers into stereo pairs. Adding the option will demonstrate further support for existing hardware.
I suppose we’ll see...
No need to group, then ungroup to pass music room to room. Press Group on the source room or group, deselect non-destination room(s), select destination room(s), press Done. Easy peasy.
... Or just buy a Sonos ONE.
This would indeed be magically.
Someone might not need another speaker. 😉
Someone might not need another speaker. ;)
Exactly. I would settle for a hockey puck size device I can plug in or put in a closet. A bridge for Airplay 2 compatibility..
It has been mentioned amongst my own friends, since reading the recent Sonos 'AirPlay-2' announcement, that Sonos could perhaps build a kind of AirPlay-2 'control centre' hub into their next generation Boost ?... but to me, that really just seems so unlikely at the moment, as Sonos are always going to want their customers to buy their next generation speakers. They are a speaker hardware (sales) company first and foremost.
I think the processors in the older Sonos units (Play-1/Play-3 etc.) are not powerful enough to deal with the upcoming AirPlay-2 (stereo and 5.1 audio) requirements ... so a more powerful 'gateway' or 'handler' is clearly going to be needed to deal with the streaming process.
I can see why Sonos would install such a 'gateway/handler' in all their latest products (Sonos One etc.) and next generation devices, rather than it being a small 'add-on' device with some extra processing ability.
I'm just grateful that the solution Sonos is suggesting in their announcement, appears to be a reasonable compromise, as it still keeps my older speakers, (Play-1, Play-3 etc.) on the development path with a way of playing AirPlay-2 sources through all of them.
I don't think so. Probably in 10 years from now the entire lineup will possess built-in microphones; but for the Connect/ConnectAmp, that is. I would be surprised if that was not considered industry standard by then.
I believe if you have them all grouped, yes. I have a couple of Sonos Ones, but I have a connect attached to an old amp down in my basement that is tied into my outdoor speakers. I don't want to group the kitchen one with the outside speakers just to get Airplay 2 to work. So I took an old Airport Express (not the first generation, which means it should also hopefully support Airplay 2) and have it as a line in to the Connect, just in case. I'm hoping that will allow me to use Airplay 2 for both ones, the connect, and all of my apple TVs that are currently hooked into my theater setups. Fingers crossed.
I recommend ignoring all social media rumours on this topic for a few days.
So I'm assuming that a current Sonos:Connect will not get the Airplay 2 support, correct?
Very interested in this. Which Sonos products will specifically support airplay 2? Are there any limitations to specific products? Would love to hear directly from Sonos on this.
We're not quite sharing all the details on this yet, still early into development. Newer players have the needed hardware. So the PLAYBASE, PLAY:5 gen2, and the Sonos One will all have it.
The earlier you announce it, the earlier you can help consumer to make up decision how they can setup their system and stop them running into competitors like HomePod
What good are my other play 1s and soundbars going to be with no airplay support? Some of my speakers will work with it and some won’t? That doesn’t sound like whole home audio. Alexa is fine but I only use it because airplay and Siri aren’t available yet.
I’m not complaining. I’m just trying to find out if I should replace my play:1 speakers now while they are worth more. Once the ONE speakers are available people will pay less for used Play:1 speakers. But if I don’t have to replace them I won’t.
My hope is if you have a Play:5 gen 2 or Sonos ONE that it acts as the hub of sorts. So if I have audio playing in Apple Music and open my speaker options in Control Center, I want to see ALL my Sonos speakers listed as an audio target. Just as it currently works within the Spotify app, I want to see as I do now: living room, kitchen, and bedroom. That is the implementation I want at minimum.
That sounds reasonable to me. As long as your Airplay 2 sending unit can see the receiving unit, it should extend to all the connected devices.
I'd actually have a hard time understanding if it were implemented in any other way.
I'd actually have a hard time understanding if it were implemented in any other way.
Check post #6 in this thread. Sounds like good news.
https://en.community.sonos.com/announcements-228985/exciting-partnerships-in-the-queue-6791309
https://en.community.sonos.com/announcements-228985/exciting-partnerships-in-the-queue-6791309
Ah that’s a bummer, I just ordered a Play 1, should of went with Sonos 1 instead. But since Airplay 2 isn’t coming until 2018, I probably will end up ordering a Sonos 1 by then.
Airplay 2 is software only no hardware required.
I have seen varying reports if Airplay 2 will be provide on current hardware.
Airplay 2 works with multiple devices although there are ways to do that with current Airplay. It also has a much larger cache and streams faster than real time to eliminate lag.
I just got my Sonos One by the way and its sounds great 🙂. I was going to buy two Homepods but this is more flexible.
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