Hi
I have a couple of speakers that mean I have to use S1 controller app, can the new Roam be used with this or is it only S2 compatible
Best answer by GuitarSuperstar
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I have most things Apple and the homepod Mini’s are fairly decent for their price point, currently £90 each in John Lewis which would be a great pairing for £180 if you bought two for your home office. I guess you could use Airplay 2 instead of Sonos to merge your Sonos Speakers and the Homepods for listening to music but I have found Airplay 2 to be a little problematic at times.
My point for posting that link was to show Apple discontinued the product a scant 3 years after launch, and have no replacement product. The Homepod was a bit of a flop, and with Apple, they tend to bury their flops (Ping, Pippin, G4, Apple Maps) as soon as possible, acting like they never existed (especially when it comes to support).
Is it OK if I challenge this assumption, at least a little bit?
If Sonos was indeed concerned about their stock market price falling, wouldn’t they have completely abandon S1 as a concept, and force everyone to purchase new speakers? That would have surely generated much more revenue, supporting the stock price, if there was no longer any function for older speakers at all, and everyone was forced in to purchasing S2 capable speakers.
I would think continuing to support S1 systems is counter profit oriented thinking. But I’m not a market analyst, just a user on a forum.
Ridiculous! No company (*cough* Bose *cough*) is going to abandon an entire current lineup of products (*cough* Bose SoundTouch *cough*) and come out with a brand new lineup (*cough* Bose Smart Speaker *cough*) that is completely incompatible with the old one. Simply ridiculous!
Is it OK if I challenge this assumption, at least a little bit?
Of course Bruce! But you aren’t going to persuade the OP by reason and sense, he and they have clearly parted company. I just thought it not worth the effort.
Hi
I have a couple of speakers that mean I have to use S1 controller app, can the new Roam be used with this or is it only S2 compatible
The best bet (IMO) if you want to stick with S1 for a while, is just use any good blue-tooth speaker with Spotify or Amazon. It won’t be integrated with your S1 system, but it will save you thousands of dollars.
Thanks, I will check into that. I have a Move and it works great (as designed) on my S1 network. That's why I wish the Roam had been designed the same way.
Thanks, I will check into that. I have a Move and it works great (as designed) on my S1 network. That's why I wish the Roam had been designed the same way.
But then it would have had to be a small Move, lacking the additional features that the Roam actually has. The Roam CANNOT be S1 compatible. The whole point of the S1 / S2 split was to lose the restrictions of the older devices. Roam on S1? An impossible and self-contradictory request.
Yes, I’m refusing to pay more money for exactly the same level of service so I can spend more money to buy more of their kit.
As it stands, I’ll replace my TV rig with a dedicated TV set up when the time comes, my music setup - getting replaced with a dedicated Amp/Speakers that don’t obsolete - wired they may be, but so be it.
So your posting in the “Is Roam S1 Compatible?” thread is really just a rehashed whinge from the “End of Software Support” thread you last posted in. Got it.
Userlevel 1
The Roam is only possible because Sonos development is no longer restricted by its oldest devices.
What does the roam do that my Sonos move can’t do? Other than fit in my pocket and produce half of the sound output?
In conclusion its time to return my Sonos roam I just preordered and sell the rest of my Sonos so I can move over to Apple homepods
You mean Homepod Minis - https://www.popsci.com/story/technology/apple-homepod-speaker-discontinued/
Userlevel 7
The Roam is only compatible with the S2 app.
I've got a ZP90, was going to buy a set of headphones to twin with that.
Sonos headphones would indeed be excellent (I asked for some years ago), but I don't know if I could go back to the incessant updates again, it's quite peaceful now on S1!.
a very very long time customer. While i am disappointed in the split. I am less disappointed than those who bought a few years ago. My sonos amps are over 10 years old - so i feel that I’ve gotten my money out of them. Having said that replacing 10 amps is not going to be cheap - but availability has been awful. the whole roll out of s1/s2 was really bad; half of my components updated when they should have asked so i had to spend a few days rolling back.
Bottom line is that Sonos really screwed people that bought a few years ago.
I’d like to be able to buy enough amps so that i can upgrade at least one of my houses. but they’ve been backordered for a while. (I don’t want to drop 6K with a promised delivery date), i want them to ship.
if the S1 system is supposedly legacy, then what’s the harm in ensuring that a new device with supposedly “better specs” is capable of supporting the old software?
It isn’t that the device cannot support the S1 software, it’s that the S1 software cannot support the device. If you haven’t understood that then you really haven’t understood why the S1/S2 split was essential. There would be no Roam if it were constrained to work on S1.
As above, what does the Roam do that the Move doesn't?.
Seems it has an equally poor standby time to boot?.
As above, what does the Roam do that the Move doesn't?.
Here’s one:
With an all-new feature called Sound Swap, you can hold the play/pause button on the speaker to switch the music to the nearest speaker on your system, making it easy to move music from room-to-room.
But that’s beside the point. No company is going to continue to co-develop for two apps for devices that didn’t even exist when the old app was retired. New devices require the new app. Period.
The Roam is only possible because Sonos development is no longer restricted by its oldest devices.
No way. It’s totally just marketing. Some ‘features’ can’t run on the older devices. Airplay2 being a good example. But the system could carry on without them easily (for those opting to use S1 equipment). The S1/S2 divide is pure sales and marketing from the same mindset that brought us the ‘brick your speaker to upgrade’ debacle.
What they should have done is put the electronics on a plug-and-play removable module and then just sold a £50 ‘upgrade module’ for each speaker when they went S3. New processor, new wifi chip upgrade etc
People would buy into that I think.
No point trying to persuade you. It doesn’t really matter what either of us thinks is the reason. The Roam is not, and will never be, S1 compatible.
Moore’s Law will take of that.
Moore’s Law was stated in 1965. So exactly what Law was Sonos acting under when it squeezed almost 20 years (2002 - 2020) out of the original Sonos devices? In addition, Moore himself stated that the Law is not infinite.
Major blunder by Sonos. Very frustrating for a very loyal customer. S2 has been frustrating. This is likely my breaking point.
It's not a blunder, it simply cannot be done.
Userlevel 3
The Roam is only possible because Sonos development is no longer restricted by its oldest devices.
Total rubbish. It's because Sonos is worried about stock market price falling if users don't replace the components they've spent loads on. It is straight forward to allow S1 components to run on S2 controller. Sonos chose not to allow this.
The S1/S2 debacle has been debated ad nauseam, but I can’t help think there was an opportunity here for Sonos to simply ensure compatibility between the two controllers. They did it with the Move and if the S1 system is supposedly legacy, then what’s the harm in ensuring that a new device with supposedly “better specs” is capable of supporting the old software? It’s not like we’re trying to do the reverse here.
The bolded part is incorrect. The Move was released before the S1/S2 split, and Sonos did not do anything at all to make the Move S1 compatible. What’s the harm of making the Roam S1 compatible? First the S1 customer base is surely much smaller than the S2 customer base. Second, making it S1 compatible would add cost to development and testing, since it would be two systems, 2 sets of features to test. Having 2 sets of features also would confusing, as you’d likely end up with customers who believed they could do speaker swaps, or share bluetooth audio with other speakers….only to find out it’s an S2 only feature. And then you would have all the angry customers who upgraded to S2 because they were told there were no new S1 products. And of course, Sonos obviously would more people switch over to S2, both to lower support costs and experience the better S2 features….and that doesn’t happen as fast if they keep making S1 products.
You must work for Sonos. Making the Roam on the same platform as the Move would have been a great fit and service for this low end/cost speaker.
Why is it that if someone disagrees with your perspective, they must be a Sonos employee?
I’m pretty sure that Sonos employees are required by the company to have ‘Sonos employee’ on their account, much like all the moderators do. I also feel fairly confident in saying that not only is melvimbe not a Sonos employee, but that his analysis is correct.
Bruce,
I get his analysis... I just wish Sonos had opted to let this new small portable be available for all users, S1 and S2. I will look into how the experience would be having both an S1 and S2 operate in your house.
It’s perfectly acceptable to have that desire. Many do. The part I am calling foul on is the assumption that because melvimbe has an alternate opinion, he must be a Sonos employee.
You may want to look at third party controllers. I’ve read that there may be the option to simultaneously run S1 and S2 products, but I don’t have any personal experience. However, neither the Roam nor Move will ever operate on S1, the operating system doesn’t have the ability to recognize those devices.
I do concur with melvimbe that it would be highly unlikely to be an intelligent thing for Sonos to officially support running S1 on either device. The challenges outweigh any potential benefits, especially for a vanishingly small population. Sonos will likely continue to prioritize their software choices for the masses, not the individual corner cases.
Userlevel 1
The s1 s2 gap stops me buying any more sonos... I have ten sonos components. Three only work with s1.
I cancelled my roam order as s2 only. Sonos driver to a non customer....as To replace 2 connects and 1 p5 would could me around £1200 for a £140 roam. So in short as a big time sonos customer I can not longer add new products to my system and spend money with sonos. so essentially now am no longer a sonos customer because sonos make it impossible with spending 1000s to get as is function I already have. Suggest you review....
Major blunder by Sonos. Very frustrating for a very loyal customer. S2 has been frustrating. This is likely my breaking point.
Travelling on vacation in a couple of weeks. Shopping for a new travel speaker. I looked at the Roam, but as I’m still on S1 due to my refusal to upgrade (only my bridge would die) because I refuse to go back to the problematic wi-fi issues I had before I moved to Sonosnet, and I also cannot have a speaker jacked directly in to my router. So the Roam is a no go for me. Same applies really for the soundbar upgrade I’m looking at.
I was disappointed when Sonos split the tech stack and remain so. Still, it’s been the kick up the arse I needed to move away from one manufacturer.
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