Sonos Beam as desktop solution for 2 sources?

  • 9 July 2021
  • 5 replies
  • 101 views

I’m thinking of buying a Beam to use in my home office. 

I have the following requirements:

  • Able to take sound from Macbook, without lag (used for Teams calls etc)
  • Able to take sound from gaming pc
  • Easy to switch between sources

A few questions:

  • Has anyone got a similar setup? If so, how do you find it?
  • Does the Beam cope will with being sat <1m away? I was a bit concerned at the soundstage not being ideal.

I was on the verge of buying some Audioengine a2 speakers but would rather a Sonos product to integrate with the rest of the kit at home. 


This topic has been closed for further comments. You can use the search bar to find a similar topic, or create a new one by clicking Create Topic at the top of the page.

5 replies

Userlevel 7

Does your MacBook or gaming PC have an optical port?

Yes, the pc has optical. 
 

The MacBook only has usb, 3.5mm, Bluetooth or airplay. 
 

My thinking was that I can use optical for the pc and then Airplay for the MacBook?

Userlevel 7

Connecting the Beam via optical to the PC should work just fine. Using AirPlay to connect to the MacBook will work too but you may experience a delay. Can you test AirPlay on your Mac with your other Sonos speakers?

Unfortunately they are all Pre airplay versions!

How bad is the lag?

Userlevel 7

You shouldn’t experience any lag at all. But some users have experienced up to two seconds of delay primarily because of a home network issue. You can always get the Beam, test it out, and if it doesn’t work with your setup, you can return it.