Is Roam S1 Compatible?

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. 

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. 

That's a cop out. There is plenty of “old” software in the computer world that will run on new hardware. Maybe some of us that have thousands of dollars invested are willing to forego any new features. It's very sad that Sonos has decided to abandon their oldest and most loyal customers.

Melodramatic, ill-informed nonsense

Major blunder by Sonos. Very frustrating for a very loyal customer. S2 has been frustrating. This is likely my breaking point. 

Don’t forget, this is exactly what they tried to do. Initially, they came out and said that we with older equipment had to brick the equipment and then we would get 30% off of the new equipment. It was only when we all blew a fuse that they relented, and came up with this bogus S1/S2 idea. I have a lot of original Sonos gear 5 Play:5’s, a few Play:3’s and Play:1’s, a sound bar, and amps and connects. I can only use S1 for all my equipment, therefore I will not buy any new gear that requires S2. I have invested thousand in Sonos, but I will not buy any additional Sonos gear. When they finally drop support of S1, which I fully expect to happen, I will replace with other equipment. You can accomplish much of what you get from Sonos with other equipment these days, and for a lot less money.

Also, Sonos makes excellent hardware, but their software (apps) suck.

In addition, at some point, Sonos will come out with an S3 option, and pull this bogus concept again. I think many people who invested in S2 equipment will feel the same way we feel when this happens to them.

It's not a blunder, it simply cannot be done.

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. 

What makes you think upgrading to S2 means you can’t use Sonosnet?