Back in April, Sonos sent out its official AirPlay 2 support e-mail. I headed straight to the blog post to confirm the rumors about having to buy new speakers to get what I've wanted since I purchased my $2,000 Sonos theater sound system less than 2 years ago (PlayBar, Sub, & set of Play:1s). Alas, it was true. After contacting Sonos support, I learned I can't simply replace one of my Play:1s with a Sonos One—surround sound won't work properly—cha-ching, another $400 in less than 2 years of buying a $2000 sound system!
Now, I understand the need for new hardware to support AirPlay 2, however, Sonos has missed the boat for an existing customer appreciation hardware upgrade program. As a former Product Marketing Manager for a technology company, I've dealt with with both software and hardware upgrade issues for existing customers. And, obviously, it's much less costly to upgrade software. However, since my days in Product Marketing, hardware manufacturing methods have continued to improve which has led to significantly lower manufacturing costs. To that end, if Sonos really wants to "Value" its customer base, then how about one of two hardware upgrade programs:
• A Grandfather Hardware Discount Program: Those Sonos customers who purchased a complete theater sound system with a minimum purchase of a PlayBar, Sub, and a set of Play:1s within 2 years of the release of the Sonos One speakers get a 20 - 30% discount on the purchase of a new set of Sonos One speakers. This discount has to be a "REAL" discount. The typical 10% discounts don't get anyone's heart started nowadays.
• A Hardware Trade-In Program: Sonos offers Sonos Ones at a 40% - 50% discount with the trade-in of an existing set of Play:1s. And, to make it easy for those customer who may have discarded their Play:1 boxes, they can return their existing Play:1s in the Sonos One boxes—they seem to be very similar in size. This is a win-win because existing customers get a much more gently priced set of Sonos One's and Sonos can sell the used Play:1s as refurbs.
I was planning on purchasing another Sonos theater sound system for my master bedroom, however, unless Sonos really reaches out with a hardware upgrade program like on of those I just detailed, I will be buying a different brand from now on.
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I didn't hear it. But I know that you can't use the rear speakers to create a Sonos net, because they are connected to the PLAYBAR via a 5 GHz net. Therefore I don't see AirPlay working like that.
I really wouldn't trust anything anyone says until it is official Sonos statement. I don't think Sonos Support are likely to know for sure and I don't believe @Bassman1968's comments have any technical validity.
Hi John,
I didn’t say that Sonos Net has anything to do with it.
But the 5GHz connection between PLAYBAR and rear speakers is reserved/limited for surround functionality.
Therefore you can’t use the rear to create a Sonos Net and I think also to use the AirPlay stream via that connection.
Anyway, we will know pretty soon I hope.
Armin
I didn’t say that Sonos Net has anything to do with it.
But the 5GHz connection between PLAYBAR and rear speakers is reserved/limited for surround functionality.
Therefore you can’t use the rear to create a Sonos Net and I think also to use the AirPlay stream via that connection.
Anyway, we will know pretty soon I hope.
Armin
jgatie: As hard as it is for you to believe, I was told by a Sonos technical rep back in 2016 that Airplay support would be coming, but he couldn't provide a timeframe. Also, did I state anywhere in my post that I wanted a refund? Nope! How about actually reading posts in detail before you make a reply. In full disclosure, I really want to keep my Play:1s and install them on my pool porch and simply replace them with Ones in my theater setup—while having AirPlay 2 support. I've been told by Sonos that will work. However, another poster on this forum does not believe that will work, so here we go again. I'm simply stating that if Sonos really wanted to show they truly value its customer base, they could've offered some type of decent discount program back in October when they released the Sonos Ones.
I didn’t say that Sonos Net has anything to do with it.
But the 5GHz connection between PLAYBAR and rear speakers is reserved/limited for surround functionality.
Therefore you can’t use the rear to create a Sonos Net and I think also to use the AirPlay stream via that connection.
Anyway, we will know pretty soon I hope.
Armin
... and at the end of the day you'll get Sonos bouncing around bankruptcy rather than delivering Airplay2 support.
I am not saying I am sure it will work. It sounds like older speakers will need to be grouped to play Airplay 2 and surround speakers don't fit naturally with that. But none of us knows.
Smilja: You've obviously never have been a Product Marketing Manager for a technology company. If you think an upgrade program strictly for existing Sonos customers (i.e those that choose to take advantage of the program) will bankrupt Sonos, then you have no conception of their profit margins—not even close to bankrupting the company. If anything, the goodwill shown with such a program would end up driving up revenues and profits in the long-term.
Oh, while it's obvious, but I failed to mentioned it, either of my suggested Sonos customer programs mentioned above would be for a limited time (i.e. 1 year).
Sonos could not afford to pay what people can get on eBay. What happens to the trade ins by the way? Landfill?
Or maybe Sonos could put them on eBay?
The gaping hole in this suggestion is that it hugely overstates the economic value of Airplay to the average Sonos user (which in my case is very close to zero). If we cared about Airplay we wouldn't have bought Sonos in the first place. For many of us the same is true of voice control - although that can be added with a Dot anyway.
Nope. Still not buying it.
Userlevel 7
+22
I can’t believe A Sonos phine rep in 2016 said airplay was coming. A Best Buy rep yes. But if it happened that person didn’t have a clue what they were talking about. If you really need airplay I would install one of the server side work arounds to make all airplay enabled.
Regarding surrounds. We have long had suspicion that pairing a non-capable and capable may be an issue. Look at how Sonos was firmly planted on not pairing Sonos One and Play:1. They may have know at that time pairing the 2 would loose future stuff from working (like in this case airplay).
Regarding surrounds. We have long had suspicion that pairing a non-capable and capable may be an issue. Look at how Sonos was firmly planted on not pairing Sonos One and Play:1. They may have know at that time pairing the 2 would loose future stuff from working (like in this case airplay).
Userlevel 5
+12
He’s already bought it. I think it was a discount that was being saught for an upgrade 😉
I didn't hear it. But I know that you can't use the rear speakers to create a Sonos net, because they are connected to the PLAYBAR via a 5 GHz net. Therefore I don't see AirPlay working like that.
Actually this conversation above has had me thinking, as I have always thought you can't (easily) group bonded speakers unless you decouple them first.
The Sonos blog announcement only talks about sharing/grouping the three specified Sonos AirPlay devices with their older legacy speakers, like a Play-3 for example, via grouping, but how do you group a Sonos One that is already bonded to a PlayBar?
The announcement seems to say (by omission) that the PlayBar is not AirPlay compatible, so I guess that means the Sonos One will need to be decoupled first and then grouped for AirPlay purposes.
Perhaps I'm just not reading these two 'official' documents correctly?
https://www.sonos.com/en-gb/airplay
https://blog.sonos.com/en-gb/airplay2-coming
melvimbe: If you re-read my follow-up post, you'll see that I wrote, "I did quite a bit of research prior to my purchasing my Sonos sound system. In addition, I contacted Sonos support and asked about AirPlay suppprt..." Honestly, does ANYONE read things carefully before making a post anymore? My speaking with a Sonos rep was in addition to research I had conducted.
Having worked for Apple for a number of years (large K-12 account sales), I met quite a number of people in Cupertino whose role was to maintain relationships with manufacturers—I got to be good friends with the person responsible for working with Mattel and learned a lot. Anyway, let me assure you Sonos was well aware in October. Why else did they increase the processing power within the Sonos Ones?
For me personally, I don't care to use my Sonos speakers to control tech in my home. I simply want support for AirPlay (now AirPlay 2). Why, because I want a much easier way for guests to be able to play their music from their devices when they visit. And, I want an easier way to play ALL my iTunes music (library and Apple Music). With the Sonos iOS app, most of my playlists don't appear.
Having worked for Apple for a number of years (large K-12 account sales), I met quite a number of people in Cupertino whose role was to maintain relationships with manufacturers—I got to be good friends with the person responsible for working with Mattel and learned a lot. Anyway, let me assure you Sonos was well aware in October. Why else did they increase the processing power within the Sonos Ones?
For me personally, I don't care to use my Sonos speakers to control tech in my home. I simply want support for AirPlay (now AirPlay 2). Why, because I want a much easier way for guests to be able to play their music from their devices when they visit. And, I want an easier way to play ALL my iTunes music (library and Apple Music). With the Sonos iOS app, most of my playlists don't appear.
Userlevel 5
+12
Be so funny if sonos announce a trade in or discount scheme for existing plybar owners next week when they announce the ‘next gen’. :8
Then it looks like you will be buying a Play:5, a One, a Playbase, or the new HT unit being announced June 6th.
Like the rest of us who bought older units and want Airplay 2 support. No grandfather, no trade in, no nothing. Just like every other piece of consumer electronics.
Like the rest of us who bought older units and want Airplay 2 support. No grandfather, no trade in, no nothing. Just like every other piece of consumer electronics.
Userlevel 7
+22
Or run server software to make them all show up in airplay
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