Benefits of upgrading

Hi there @dgsteven, thanks for reaching out. About your question on the benefits of upgrading your system. I can say that depending on what mix of Sonos products you have in your home, you’ll have options to choose from.

If you only have S2-compatible devices in your system, all you need to do is download the new S2 controller app. Your system will automatically update to the new Sonos operating system and you can delete the old S1 app.

If you only have S1-compatible products in your system, you don’t have to do anything. Your system will continue to work as it does today on the S1 Controller app. You’ll still get bug fixes and security patches, and we will work with our partners to keep your music and voice services working for as long as we can. You won’t be able to add newer Sonos devices including Arc, Five, and Sub (Gen 3) to your S1 system. In Addition to this, You’re correct that the newer Sonos products have larger and better hardware and memory. 

Known limitations with separate S1 and S2 Sonos systems.

System control and grouping

• Both the S2 and S1 Sonos apps need to be installed to control the split system. The two apps don’t need to be installed on the same device, but they can be.
   
• Grouping S1 system rooms with S2 system rooms is not possible when S1 and S2 devices have been split into two systems.

Music services

• Some music services, like Spotify, have single-stream limitations. Playback from these music services can only be initiated on one system at a time using the same account.
  • Music from the same service can be played to both Sonos systems if you add separate accounts to each one. For some services, this includes different users under one account, like a family plan.
     
• ​Services that support direct control will show all S1 and S2 system rooms in their respective apps. For services with single-stream limitations, playback can only be initiated to one system or room at a time.

Voice services

• Using the same voice service on both an S1 system and an S2 system requires two separate voice service accounts, one for the S1 system and another for the S2 system. 
  • We don't recommend this as it can cause issues with both systems responding to commands simultaneously.
  • A workaround for this is to use a different voice assistant on each system. For example, Google Assistant can be added to one system and Amazon Alexa to the other.

Let us know how it goes and we're here to answer any further questions you have.

Thanks very much for taking the time to share these thoughts, Simon.  Other than a Beam, all of my Sonos equipment is older (and working fine).  I don’t plan to use S1 and S2 in separate systems and was asking from the perspective of potentially replacing all older gear with newer products and running S2.  I guess my main question is what difference would I notice with this - new amps would presumably be more powerful and perhaps faster in processing.  Future updates aside, is there a listing anywhere of what S2 can do that S1 cannot?  Thanks again. 

If you use Sonos for music - as opposed to TV - you will not find any audible difference in the listening experience via faster processors etc etc or via any S2 features. Bear this in mind while making the decision to “upgrade”.

I’d echo @Kumar - if you’re interested in simply listening to music, and you’re happy with your existing kit and sources, then ‘upgrading’ is a waste of money.

Thanks very much, Kumar and Amun.  I do mostly listed to music, so it’s probably best not to spend the money for new equipment right now.  I imagine my 15 year old ZP100 will go at some point, but I can wait to jump until pushed!  Thanks again for your input.