still waiting for Dolby atmos over airplay 2

It’s probably on a list somewhere, that Sonos will get to at some point. I think they’re still busy getting the mobile clients back to parity with where they were before. 

Sonos does not comment on future development. I expect you will not get the clarity you want.

It’s been months since ios 18 was released

it would be appreciable if they at least gave a timeline for the release but so far no mention of Dolby atmos anywhere on future software updates 

instead when I talked to customer support they told me that it was an issue due to Apple not allowing third party speakers to airplay Dolby atmos which is clearly false

It’s also been almost a year since the software update that Sonos released that regressed the controller’s functions, and since then, Sonos has lost a lot of folks/resources.

Sonos doesn’t give timelines, something any software developer understands, as writing software, running it through QA, and releasing it doesn’t always occur on a schedule. Or not one that can be released. 

In the past, Apple didn’t allow it, that has changed now. It doesn’t surprise me terribly much that Sonos CS hasn’t been told of the change in Apple’s stance. As I said, I suspect it is somewhere on a list, and Sonos will get to it eventually. I’m sorry that doesn’t meet your expectations. 

Sonos did provide the following timeline for fixing the Sonos app features -

• Screen reader for visually impaired customers: May 21
• Adding and editing alarms: May 21
• Adding to queue and playing next: early June
• Sleep timer: mid-June
• Local music library search and playback: mid-June 
• Update Wi-Fi settings: mid-June

Also the official iOS 18 release notes did state third party speakers included in the new airplay 2 update but mentioned availability will depend on concerned third party updating their existing software.

The link i provided is from the Dolby site which has been available since 24th December so its been nearly 3 months and still not a word from Sonos.

All of this obviously points to the fact that Sonos is at fault, blaming apple for everything won’t work. They already messed up a functional app and made it barely useable. The least they could do is release an update for airplay 2 so at least consumers can stream music without the buggy app. But i guess advertising for Sonos Ace is the priority which wouldn’t be possible via airplay so they are more focused on updating the buggy app (which displays Sonos advertisements) instead of providing an alternate option to play music without the app.
 

IOS 18 was released in September, and 3rd party speaker support has been available since then (as confirmed by apple customer support) but concerned third party needs to update product accordingly to make use of the feature (also confirmed by apple support).

It’s not just me, i have read multiple posts on Sonos community as well as Reddit highlighting this issue which has a real simple solution but instead Sonos team is taking their time to update the app which will take God knows how much longer.

If the company continues to prioritise their failed app and failed products over quick practical solutions, they will obviously lose more loyal consumers.

How do you know this “issue” is simple to solve within the Sonos software and hardware environment? And that Sonos could implement it within half a year after Apple making this available? All while getting the app back up again?

To you Sonos not implementing Atmos over AirPlay (yet) is a “fault”. Has Sonos ever promised this? Have any of Sonos competitors implemented this yet?

Sonos promised quality when i bought the speaker at a premium price.

And it has failed to deliver the promised quality via the app. I did not buy Sonos to be a test subject for future products and their marketing in their app.

Other competitions are not bragging Dolby atmos or Spatial Audio as the main selling point for a premiumly priced speaker.

And i don’t need to defend my expectations to you.

Are you their representative? Why you so salty? 😂

Sonos promised you squat about Dolby Atmos over Airplay, and you paid the price for the feature set it had when you purchased it.  You are correct about one thing, your expectations are your expectations, and when your expectations do not match reality, that is your fault, not Sonos’.  Sonos has screwed up massively on some things, but lack of Atmos over Airplay is not one of them. 

whatever helps you sleep at night bro, everyone’s entitled to their own opinion

No idea what your issue is 😂😂

I posted this for users who have been asking same question for months and Sonos is repeatedly misleading them with lies

u are clearly not the target audience for this post

 I’m done 👍 

Moderator Note: Modified in accordance with the Community Code of Conduct.

For reference  here’s a Sonos thread where a Sonos employee commented on atmos via airplay a couple months back.   I don’t see anything about Sonos promising that this feature was coming.

“misleading them with lies”

Can I get a cite of exactly how Sonos is “misleading them with lies”, please?  A link to any statement and/or article will do.

“Apple has not extended that support to work with non-apple devices”

 this is clearly a lie as I’ve stated earlier too 

I’m not here to argue with Sonos employees

 my post is here for other users facing similar issues (there are plenty) to read and judge for themselves

 have a great day

 bye 🙏

“misleading them with lies”

Can I get a cite of exactly how Sonos is “misleading them with lies”, please?  A link to any statement and/or article will do.

 

 

 

“Apple has not extended that support to work with non-apple devices”

 

 this is clearly a lie as I’ve stated earlier too 

I’m not here to argue with Sonos employees

 my post is here for other users facing similar issues (there are plenty) to read and judge for themselves

 

 have a great day

 bye 🙏

You aren’t arguing with Sonos employees.  Sonos employees are clearly marked.

So you’re complaint isn’t about Sonos promising atmos airplay and not delivering...as that never happened.  Your issue is that a Sonos employee was incorrect about the availability of the feature to third party speakers.  Fair enough. I would agree that Sonos probably should just state that it’s not supportted on Sonos speakers, nor can they comment on when/if it ever will be.  That is the usual response, but I think employees try and give more information on the matter, sometimes incorrectly, when they can. I wouldn’t really call that misleading and lies though, as it’s just an incorrect assumption, the same way that you’re assuming certain posters are employees when they are not.  Call it what you want I guess.

I tried an internet search to see which non-Apple devices  support atmos over airplay.  I didn’t find anything.   Maybe they are out there, don’t know.   Apple does provide a list of 3rd party devices  that support airplay, and states that many support spatial audio, but does not designate which ones.  

It wasn’t even an incorrect assumption.  It was actually Apple’s policy until recently.  The Sonos rep just didn’t have the latest information, and was posting what they knew in good faith, which I’d hardly call “misleading them with lies”.

ETA: Looking at that post by the Sonos mod, the actual date on the post is Oct. 18, 2024 (typical of Gainsight’s crappy software, October counts as “4 months ago”).  The articles I’ve found announcing Atmos Airplay on 3rd party speakers (including the one listed in the OP) are dated Dec. 23, 2024.  Anything before that says the feature is “coming” or “coming soon”.  So unless one can find an earlier announcement of this feature being released, the post from Sonos was not “misleading them with lies”. 

https://en.community.sonos.com/controllers%2Dand%2Dmusic%2Dservices%2D229131/dolby%2Datmos%2Dvia%2Dairplay%2D2%2D6905578?tid=6905578&fid=229131

Also ETA:  Matter of fact, later in that thread, a poster pointed out an article where the following was stated:

https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2024/06/updates-to-the-home-experience-elevate-entertainment-and-bring-more-convenience/

Additional features coming to the Home app and Apple TV include:

. . . 

• AirPlay adds Spatial Audio so users can get an immersive audio experience, including support for Dolby Atmos, when using AirPlay to stream audio from iPhone and iPad to HomePod and compatible third-party audio equipment.

To which the Sonos rep replied:

That’s, um, interesting!

. . . 

As they only mention HomePods specifically, it might be worth asking them exactly which “third-party products” support it, as, as far as I am aware, we would be interested in doing so.

Leaving out this obvious acknowledgment of coming changes and only listing the first quote as proof of “misleading them with lies” is the only thing even close to a lie I have seen in this thread. 

I like to give this thread a push… not to stress any further discussions like before but just to share some facts I found out for myself. 
Since the end of 2024 I decided to wait and  see how the atmos via airplay topic will go on. Now after iOS 18 came to a stable status and Apple announced 3rd party support for atmos airplay, I did some testing yesterday. 
As I don’t use Apple Music but Amazon Music Unlimited I played some atmos tracks from within Amazon Music app on my iPhone (running latest iOS 18.4). 
I was able to switch between UHD and atmos music while playing the track. 
I switched audio output from iPhone to Airplay and selected my atmos ready Beam2 surround setup. 
Sonos app always just showed „Airplay“… 

But Amazon Music app during Airplay output still was able to switch between UHD stereo and atmos music. 
 

And for me the most important fact is, that I definitely heard a difference in sound immediately every time when switching the format. So I absolutely assume now there already is atmos music playing on Sonos via Airplay though Sonos app constantly just shows „Airplay“. 
If I‘m right the only thing still missing is an advanced format information within Sonos app what kind of format is playing on Sonos via Airplay at the moment. 
 

Any comments especially about your own testings and what you are thinking about that are welcome. 

No one who can confirm what I assume regarding to Atmos music via Airplay? 

​@Corry P 

Any official news about that? 

Hi ​@Schlumpf 

No news, but I think it is incorrect to assume that because you can hear a difference when switching, that that means the Atmos stream is reaching the Sonos speaker - instead, it just means the different input to the AirPlay compressor means that it sounds slightly different when decompressed - I doubt you are actually getting Atmos. If Apple have recently changed something, perhaps I am wrong, but as I understand it, supporting Atmos over AirPlay would require work from us too (not that we are against doing so - I think we would be happy to support it).

I hope this helps.

Thank you ​@Corry P for the input. If Sonos will have to do something on their side too, the „switching signal“ I realized indeed might be the compression to stereo of the changing stream. I didn’t have time to listen to the track long enough on my ht setup to judge, if it’s stereo or multichannel.

So let’s wait and see what Apple exactly does mean by saying „3rd Party devices“.