Contributor I

Answered

Can you connect more than one Sonos Roam via Bluetooth

63 replies
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Aka daisy chain. Many cheap bluetooth speakers can do this so it would be disappointing if the Roam can't. I do know that two Roams will not do stereo in bluetooth but I can't seem to find anywhere if it even supports two Roams or more in mono.

Thanks

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Corry PAnswer

Sonos Staff

Hi @Kh0annguyen

Welcome to the Sonos Community!

Thanks for your feedback - I’ve tagged this topic as a feature request and it will be seen by the development team (though you can assume it’s been suggested before).

"Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen." - Albert Einstein

Show previous replies

J

jrguk

Lyricist III

FYI, Roam and Move cannot connect to Sonosnet like the other speakers.

Sure. This was just a comment, on the back of another suggesting that doing it over Bluetooth would require some whole new development effort. My point was solely that code already exists to do it over Wi-Fi protocols.

You say Move (and Roam) doesn’t participate in Sonosnet, but do you know (and are you able to say) if that is a software or a hardware restriction (beyond a possible protocol assumption that the devices aren’t moving. Latency estimation, I assume)

ah. This Community Post answers my question.

melvimbe

FYI, Roam and Move cannot connect to Sonosnet like the other speakers.

Sure. This was just a comment, on the back of another suggesting that doing it over Bluetooth would require some whole new development effort. My point was solely that code already exists to do it over Wi-Fi protocols.

I don’t think there really are enough similarities between pairing in WiFi and pairing in bluetooth to conclude that there is little different in development between the two. I could be wrong, but I don’t the protocols of the two technologies are that similar.

You say Move (and Roam) doesn’t participate in Sonosnet, but do you know (and are you able to say) if that is a software or a hardware restriction (beyond a possible protocol assumption that the devices aren’t moving. Latency estimation, I assume)

As you found out, it’s more of a physics restriction and not at all a secret.

Danny

E

erktrek

Lyricist III

In my case WiFi only for the Roam has been a good thing given the (frustrating) lack of bluetooth stereo pairing. I was able to solve this with a travel router set to my home WiFi configuration. I even was able to use a universal WiFi adapter connected to the travel router and pull in my phone’s hotspot and use that for beach/picnic time goodness. Did need to bring a battery pack though to power the router and adapter.

Remote Stereo sound FTW!!!!!

:wink:

I

inmaterichard

Contributor I

I was just about to press “buy”, to add two Sonos roams to my collection, but then I read this thread. I’d assumed Daisy chaining multiple roams via Bluetooth would be a given, considering it’s common in competitors like UE. It would be great if Sonos could say if this is, or is not coming. If it is, when…..?

Ken_Griffiths

There are dual-audio streaming BT transmitters on the market, like this example:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07J58KY3X

…such devices will ‘pair’ to two BT speakers and play the streaming BT audio in sync. I’ve tried this and they do seem to work okay - handy to play to two Moves or Roams at a remote location …and the device shown in the link above also has a built-in rechargeable battery that will last all day.

I

inmaterichard

Contributor I

Hi Ken, appreciate the response. I’ll have a look into that. I think the main interest is when I go away with friends and 2 or more people just so happen to have a Roam with them, we can connect them up on say, the beach or out and about, without having to pre-plan it. But that is useful to know none the less. Much appreciated.

There are dual-audio streaming BT transmitters on the market, like this example:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07J58KY3X

…such devices will ‘pair’ to two BT speakers and play the streaming BT audio in sync. I’ve tried this and they do seem to work okay - handy to play to two Moves or Roams at a remote location …and the device shown in the link above also has a built-in rechargeable battery that will last all day.

Ken_Griffiths

@inmaterichard,
I sometimes carry a MiFi device with me instead - see attached. They can vary in price depending if you want a 4G or a 5G LTE connection. 4G works fine, but I recently switched to 5G (Amazon Summer Sale ).

These devices seem to work well when out and about here in the U.K. (I’m using EE mobile network). You can of course simply use a mobile ‘hotspot’ instead if you prefer, but if using a phone’s hotspot, then a second phone is needed as a controller, so I prefer to use MiFi.

Anyhow I have added the MiFi’s WiFi network (MobileLink-2G or 5G in my case) to my two Roams and that means all will connect/run on its WiFi signal with my iPhone connected too as their controller.

That all means I can play music stored on my phone (over Airplay), or even stream music from online services (Spotify etc.) allegedly to upto 32 speakers paired and/or grouped (ooeerrr)!! .. I only ever use two Sonos speakers of course when travelling, but it works really well, I find …and it is a great alternative to ‘Bluetooth’ audio whilst out and about with Roams (or Sonos Moves).

So that’s another option to perhaps consider if wanting to play to multiple Roams/Moves, either ‘paired’ or ‘grouped’, outdoors.

H

HeadphoneJackster

Lyricist I

Connecting multiple devices (eg. speakers) is a feature of Bluetooth 5.0

Bluetooth 5.0 announced 16th of June 2016

Dual Audio

Bluetooth 5.0 also enables a new feature that allows you to play audio on two connected devices at the same time. In other words, you could have two pairs of wireless headphones connected to your phone, and them stream audio to both of them at once, all via standard Bluetooth. Or you could play audio on two different speakers in different rooms. You could even stream two different audio sources to two different audio devices at the same time, so two people could be listening to two different pieces of music, but streaming from the same phone.

C

callumx26

Contributor I

I'm guessing this feature still doesn't exist? Madness that my £10 Anker speaker can do this flawlessly.

Airgetlam

How well does your Anker speaker communicate with other speakers when in WiFi mode?

Horses (and electronics) for courses. Just because one speaker is Bluetooth and has a feature doesn’t mean that all speakers that have Bluetooth have the same feature set. If that were the case, why bother making other speakers, the ‘one’ with all the features has already been made.

Sonos makes a network speaker that also allows Bluetooth, and has the capability to pass that Bluetooth connection to other WiFi connected speakers. They’ve chosen the electronics to match that function. What they haven’t done is make a clone of the Anker and the features of a merely Bluetooth speaker.

Bruce

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