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Sonos Era 100 - Stereo pair drifts out of sync

  • February 4, 2026
  • 8 replies
  • 57 views
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I’ve had two Era 100s in a stereo pair, and I regularly AirPlay content from Apple Music on iOS or macOS. I love them a lot but one problem that’s persisted for the couple of years I’ve owned them is that after playing music for an hour or so, the audio on one of the two starts to fall out of sync, becoming delayed from the other speaker. This gradually increases if I don’t do anything, creating more and more of an “echo” sound.

If I pause the playing music and play again, it syncs the speakers immediately. I have the speakers connected to Ethernet using the 3.5mm/Ethernet USB-C adapter.

Is there not a way to have a gradual drift correction software-side to sync the speakers every so often without it being perceptible? 

Best answer by Airgetlam

Unusual. Are you sending two AirPlay 2 signals, one to each speaker (effectively mono), or are you using AirPlay 2 to send a stereo signal to one, and letting the other be set up as a stereo speaker in the Sonos software? Why do you use AirPlay 2 rather than streaming directly from the Sonos system itself, using the controller?

Have you tried a reboot (power cycle) of both speakers? Have you submitted  a system diagnostic within 10 minutes of experiencing this problem, and call Sonos Support to discuss it? 

There may be information included in the diagnostic that will help Sonos pinpoint the issue and help you find a solution.

When you speak directly to the Support staff, they have tools at their disposal that will allow them to give you advice specific to your network and Sonos system.

8 replies

Airgetlam
  • Airgetlam
  • Answer
  • February 4, 2026

Unusual. Are you sending two AirPlay 2 signals, one to each speaker (effectively mono), or are you using AirPlay 2 to send a stereo signal to one, and letting the other be set up as a stereo speaker in the Sonos software? Why do you use AirPlay 2 rather than streaming directly from the Sonos system itself, using the controller?

Have you tried a reboot (power cycle) of both speakers? Have you submitted  a system diagnostic within 10 minutes of experiencing this problem, and call Sonos Support to discuss it? 

There may be information included in the diagnostic that will help Sonos pinpoint the issue and help you find a solution.

When you speak directly to the Support staff, they have tools at their disposal that will allow them to give you advice specific to your network and Sonos system.

Bruce
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  • conor8
  • Author
  • Trending Lyricist I
  • February 4, 2026

I have the speakers in a stereo pair, so they act as one speaker. I am AirPlaying just one stream to the pair, so they each take one of the stereo channels in the stream.

I stream from Apple Music as I prefer dealing with the native official app that I use even when not using my Sonos speakers, rather than playing from a separate app.

I have not tried submitting a system diagnostic, but I can try doing that the next time this happens.

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    • nik9669a
    • Senior Virtuoso
    • February 4, 2026

    If the occurrence is every time, it might be worth doing two diagnostics reports - one when you first start the music and the other an hour or so later when you perceive the drift. When you contact support, give them both diagnostics numbers so they can check data in both. 

      Airgetlam
      • Airgetlam
      • February 4, 2026

      And just to reiterate, I’d definitely try a reboot. It could be the ‘drift’ you’re experiencing is caused by the firmware on the speakers not communicating properly between the two, which might be resolved by a restart. If that doesn’t work, I’d certainly go the route suggested by ​@nik9669a 

      Bruce
        AjTrek1
        • AjTrek1
        • February 4, 2026

        Airplay2 piggy backs on your home Wi-Fi so as it goes so does your AirPlay2 signal. It typically uses the higher 5GHz band therefore walls and distance can be a factor. If your speaker is using 2.4ghz vs Airplay2 using 5GHz you could experience signal fade. As a test I suggest you try streaming via the Sonos app over the same length of time to see if the issue occurs.

         

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        • conor8
        • Author
        • Trending Lyricist I
        • February 5, 2026

        Airplay2 piggy backs on your home Wi-Fi so as it goes so does your AirPlay2 signal. It typically uses the higher 5GHz band therefore walls and distance can be a factor. If your speaker is using 2.4ghz vs Airplay2 using 5GHz you could experience signal fade. As a test I suggest you try streaming via the Sonos app over the same length of time to see if the issue occurs.

         

        Using Ethernet--so WiFi is not a factor here

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        • conor8
        • Author
        • Trending Lyricist I
        • February 5, 2026

        If the occurrence is every time, it might be worth doing two diagnostics reports - one when you first start the music and the other an hour or so later when you perceive the drift. When you contact support, give them both diagnostics numbers so they can check data in both. 

        I just had it happen again tonight--took a diagnostics report. Then paused and played again so that they were back in sync, waited a few seconds, and took a second diagnostics report. Will reach out to support.

          Airgetlam
          • Airgetlam
          • February 5, 2026

          Great. They won’t look at the diagnostics unless you call. Happy to hear you were able to capture it. Had you rebooted, like I suggested?

          Bruce
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