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cutting in and out - but only on Amazon UNLESS I ask Alexa to play the same thing!

  • 23 September 2021
  • 41 replies
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J
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Hi there, I’ve got 6 SONOS devices in the house, all work perfectly at the same time or individually. However, over the last week or so I’ve noticed if I choose an album or playlist on the SONOS app via Amazon Music then almost all the speakers skip, hang, stutter or delay in playing the song. 

So as a 3rd line IT engineer with 21 years experience I started looking at the obvious. Router, dup IP’s, Wi-Fi interference etc and couldn't fix the issue. However I’ve discovered that if I ask Alexa to play the same album or playlist the issue never happens. It also wont happen if I use SONOS radio, TuneIn Radio or BBC Sounds etc 


For example, I can open the SONOS app and search for Fleetwood Mac Best Of. I find the album and press play. All the speakers start skipping and juddering, some don't play at all for 30 seconds and then start cutting in and out. If I press stop and then say “Alexa….. play Fleetwood Mac Best Of” - Alexa will find the same Album on the only streaming service I have (Amazon Music) and play it without fault.

 

I’ve repeated the procedure 50 times and its consistent.


Any ideas or advice? 

 

I have submitted a diagnostic - the number is  538115433

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Best answer by Richard_51 25 September 2021, 15:34

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41 replies

UKMedia
Userlevel 7
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It may be the lead device in your group.  When you create a group within the Sonos App, the first device co-ordinates the synchronisation across all of the grouped players.  If possible can you test this by ungrouping all players and then selecting either a wired player or one closest to your router.  Make sure that is playing okay and then add the devices to that player.  Let us know if this improves things.

Remember: Sometimes Red Wine helps :)
J
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Thanks, I’ve just tested this and the first speaker alone works fine, as soon as I start adding more in the issue begins. I’ve got a high end access point that I’ve placed in the same room as all the devices, I’ve also swapped out this access point for a different one, and tried just using the Wi-Fi built into the router. I’ve run some Wi-Fi tests, there are no overlapping channels in the area and my access point support DCS.

UKMedia
Userlevel 7
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Are you able to connect one of your Players via an ethernet cable and then remove the wi-fi credentials?  This will create a Sonos mesh network and may be better than an AP.

Remember: Sometimes Red Wine helps :)
J
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let me try that now

J
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no joy, same issue. Only with Amazon Music though. If I ask for the same album via Alexa or anything like TuneIn radio or even Sonos Radio its just fine

UKMedia
Userlevel 7
Badge +20

no joy, same issue. Only with Amazon Music though. If I ask for the same album via Alexa or anything like TuneIn radio or even Sonos Radio its just fine

I've flagged to Sonos to investigate your diagnostic. Probably best to wait for their investigation now.

Remember: Sometimes Red Wine helps :)
James L.
Badge +17

Hey @jamescodefour,

 

I’ve taken a look at your diagnostic and I can make the following observations:

 

  • There is indeed a difference between starting playback via Amazon Music via the Sonos app and requesting playback via Alexa. When using the Sonos app the speakers are requesting FLAC files, but not so via Alexa. This will definitely increase the data stream from player to player as FLAC files contain a lot more information than their compressed counterparts.
  • The speaker that leads the group, or “group coordinator” (GC), is important when playing music in more than 1 room. We’d ideally like to see the player with the strongest WiFi signal (or a wired unit if present) to be the GC to ensure a more stable connection. For you, that’s your Beam + Sub. Try ungrouping your players, and instead of hitting the group button next to your Play:1, instead select the Beam and group from there.
  • Your players have good connections between themselves, so I don’t suspect there’s an interference problem or a player-to-player issue here.
  • If possible, please try wiring one of the speakers, and use that as a group coordinator, just to see if that makes any difference at all (provided the previous test yields no results).


I hope this helps! Let me know how you get on.

 

Thanks for flagging @UKMedia :slight_smile:

Mark good posts by pressing the like button, and select the best answer on questions you've asked to help others find solutions.
J
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Thanks James, very helpful and interesting about the different formats. So I did as requested and set the Beam (TV) as the lead speaker and played successfully on this alone. I then added the next closest, and the next until the 4th speaker (play:1 Dining room) and it all went pear shaped again. The thing is I get the same issues even when I put all the units in the same room and put the access point in the same room. Nothing has changed network wise. I’m getting 35mbps download on FTTC with single digit latency. My access point is a Wi-Fi 6 high throughput enterprise model (Zyxel WAX650S)   

Hard wiring ins’t a solution for me (even just one unit).

Any other ideas? I’ve updated the diag - 667178478

R

I’m having exactly the same problem, starting in the last couple of days.

If I play any music source, internet or from a local NAS system, playback is flawless, across my entire setup of 4x Play1, 1x Connect, 1x Connect Amp, 1x Play5. As soon as I play anything from Amazon music via the Sonos S1 App, I have this major stuttering and skipping issue. I don’t use Alexa, so can’t test this aspect.

My Connect and Connect Amp are wired. All other units are on wifi, rather than SonosNet.

Picking up from James L. from Sonos, I have tested my set up a number of times each with a different unit as the “group coordinator”. My findings are:

  • Any one unit on its own, plays absolutely fine.
  • My Connect or Connect Amp (both wired) as GC, very occasional skipping issues. Barely noticeable, but still present.
  • My Play5, wireless, as GC occasional skipping, slightly worse than Connects above.
  • My Play1s, wireless, any of them as GC, major skipping issues.
  •  
  • My Play 1s are distributed all around the house, but wifi signal strength is excellent. The most used Play 1, the issue with which prompted this post, is in my kitchen, which is 20 feet across an open plan space from my wired-in Connect Amp. Like the OP, I’m an IT Engineer. I’m sure some improvements could be made to my setup, but overall wifi performance and sonos performance around my property is excellent. It’s not an internet speed issue, I’m on 300Mbit FTTP with 18ms ping.

 

J
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Thanks Richard, my observations are almost identical. I hadn't thought about what model of speaker at any point but you're right, the only ones that skip are the Play1’s. All the others, regardless of distance from my Wi-Fi are fine. They are The 5, the Beam, The Roam etc only the Play1’s are skipping

S

Hi,

 

just to add some weight to this I also have exactly the same issue. I have a speaker group that's always worked without issues. The past week or 2 Amazon music stops randomly and stutters most of the time making it unusable. I've tested most of the steps mentioned already and nothing other than removing the Speaker group.

I'm a UK Amazon Music HD customer just incase that is part of the issue.

I get the issue regardless of starting from Alexa or the Sonos app.

Streaming is working on all other devices without issues including phone, laptop and various echo devices.

 

J
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@Richard_51 are you a UK Amazon HD user too? I am….

I have changed my streaming preferences on the Amazon App to stream “standard” def bu the issue persists, However I wonder if this is taken into consideration when using the SONOS app?

S

So I just altered my Sonos compression settings to compressed and the stuttering seems to have gone, at least temporarily.

Can be found under settings, audio compression. After that I switched back to uncompressed and it's still working.… I was originally on automatic.

Very confused.

J
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Just tried that but no difference for me, still stutter on the PLay1’s only and only when selecting music from Amazon

J

Compression settings only affect music played through an analog line in. This setting is irrelevant to this problem.

J

@Richard_51 are you a UK Amazon HD user too? I am….

I have changed my streaming preferences on the Amazon App to stream “standard” def bu the issue persists, However I wonder if this is taken into consideration when using the SONOS app?

I am not totally sure but I think not.

Do you experience the skipping problem if you play to Sonos using the Amazon Music app rather than the Sonos app?

J
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@Richard_51 are you a UK Amazon HD user too? I am….

I have changed my streaming preferences on the Amazon App to stream “standard” def bu the issue persists, However I wonder if this is taken into consideration when using the SONOS app?

I am not totally sure but I think not.

Do you experience the skipping problem if you play to Sonos using the Amazon Music app rather than the Sonos app?

Thanks John, but the Amazon app only allows you to send music to one speaker at a time, not multiple. 

J

Then group the other speakers. 

J
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Then group the other speakers. 

how is this done, I can’t see how within the Amazon Music app

S

@jamescodefour not sure but I think he might mean initiate the playback from Amazon app to one speaker then group them in Sonos app.

J

@jamescodefour not sure but I think he might mean initiate the playback from Amazon app to one speaker then group them in Sonos app.

Exactly.  It will either behave the same as it does when you play from the Sonos app, or it will play without skipping.  Either way, it will probably tell us something. I was viewing it as a troubleshooting exercise primarily. 

J
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Interesting,. I see what you mean now. I tested this and the skipping/hesitancy does NOT appear! 

so we can safely say it only occurs in my setup when using the Sonos App

S

I tested also, no skipping here when casting to the same 3 speakers from the Amazon music app on the same wifi connection to internet etc…

 

Only difference is the Sonos app isn't used to initiate the playback.

Airgetlam

Since Amazon uses different servers to feed different types if streams, that points the finger at Amazon’s server, for the most part, and particularly the one that they’ve given Sonos to point to when using the Sonos software, rather than other pieces of software. Although it’s randomly possible there’s an issue between your system and that server, versus your system and the other server. 

Bruce
J

Since Amazon uses different servers to feed different types if streams, that points the finger at Amazon’s server, for the most part, and particularly the one that they’ve given Sonos to point to when using the Sonos software, rather than other pieces of software. Although it’s randomly possible there’s an issue between your system and that server, versus your system and the other server. 

The thing that would make me question this explanation is the fact that everything is OK with a single speaker; it’s only when the user goes multiroom that issues occur. 

When Amazon HD became available on Sonos, only lossy format was used when initiating by Alexa.  There was talk of this being changed in due course, but the results of the diagnostic earlier in the thread suggest it is still the case.  Now, Amazon casting to Sonos uses Alexa (even though not voice-triggered) so I bet that is streaming lossy too.  So my money is on systems that are borderline stable on lossy formats but can’t cope with lossless over multiroom.

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