OK.
I posted a while back about this but out of desperation I tried a few things including:
Purchasing a 2nd CONNECT that is S2 compatible, AND
Moving the music library drive to a different host, AND
Downloading and installing S2 to all hosts, and yes EVEN…
Copying the .music library to a NEW standalone drive; I have tried that on the regular host as well as another host PC on the network.
Oh, I even rebuilt two operating systems thinking that maybe there were some files that had been corrupted. That’s right, I actually completely rebuilt the O.S. on two machines and reinstalled all software that I had previously installed on them. ALL of this in an attempt to make these two pieces of electronic excrement work reliably.
NOTE: This DOES NOT happen with streaming services. However, I have a broad record / CD collection that is in-house, and I like having them available rather than a possibly somewhat compressed stream version. The fact that this doesn’t happen with streaming does not, in any way, make this less annoying.
No matter what I do... either player - when playing alone, together, or different files (and this is ALL from my music library) will cease playing, there will be 2 - 10 seconds of silence, and then playback will continue. I have tried everything...checking firewall, turning off VPN, all manner of system checks over, and over, and over.
It is SUCH a downer when I have people over, because it kills the vibe. Also, as an audio professional it reflects poorly upon me. I have to admit I was a fool to purchase the first CONNECT. I should have
I can’t believe that I thought switching to S2 would fix the issue. I feel like a chump. I should have just purchased a real, reliable playback device; all of the hours (yes, hours) would have been avoided with a reliable system.
For all the geeks out there, yes, I reset the gateway, I reset the switches, I verified all switches were Connect-compatible.
Do you know what’s REALLY AWFUL? I had the interruptions before running S1 (with an S!-only CONNECT and an S2-compatible CONNECT) but they were actually less frequent.
That’s right...by spending more money on Sonos products (a used S2-compatible CONNECT) and the time to set up the system once more things are now actually WORSE.
The ONLY thing that seems to be consistent? Once my girlfriend downloaded S2 on her Android phone the issues seemed to start again; for a while I heard none of the interruptions. Maybe it’s coincidence (almost certainly).
Oh, and before anyone asks whether I have tried running wired instead of wireless, that’s how they have been set up since day one; I’ve never used wifi to get the music to the CONNECT units - always an Ethernet cable.
I’m DONE with Sonos. I know there are some much more expensive units out there. I don’t think I will sell these - why should some other person have to deal with crap hardware? I may just take all of the units (three of them now, two S2 “compatible” and one S1 only) to the recycling station.
I have been bounced around by Sonos support so many times, and each time it’s the same raft of pull-down menu questions to ask - EVEN AFTER I EXPLAIN THAT I HAVE DONE ALL OF THAT UP FRONT. All this time wasted on something that should bring happiness.
As an engineer nothing frustrates me more than unreliable equipment.
What an enormous disappointment.