If it were me, I'd do the Beam, and not use AirPlay 2. It uses way too much bandwidth for me to be happy with it. The Beam would be directly connected to the TV, and use no bandwidth whatsoever.

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You the man.

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If it were me, I'd do the Beam, and not use AirPlay 2. It uses way too much bandwidth for me to be happy with it. The Beam would be directly connected to the TV, and use no bandwidth whatsoever.



That is incorrect and what do you base that on?

Airplay actually uses very little bandwidth. I know exactly how much bandwidth every device on my network uses and Airplay is barely a blip.



I use two HomePods in stereo pair airplayed to my Apple TV for music and a Beam for home theater.

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That is incorrect and what do you base that on?



It is based on fact. Airplay 2 streams through the mobile device, so it uses triple the bandwidth vs. playing via the Sonos app, which simply tells the Sonos device what to play, and the Sonos device gets it directly from the source.



Airplay 2: Source->router->mobile device->router->Sonos speaker (three arrows between router and your devices)



Sonos: Source->router->Sonos speaker (one arrow between router and your devices).







I use two HomePods in stereo pair . . .



I believe Homepods are different, in that they can fetch directly from the source. At least that is what I've heard, I'm not a big Apple guy.

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Also incorrect and even if true it’s a minuscule amount.

Homepods can pull from Apple but obviously when connected to an Apple TV they are both using Airplay 2 to the Apple TV.

You should know more about a subject before giving people incorrect advice.

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Also incorrect and even if true it’s a minuscule amount.

Homepods can pull from Apple but obviously when connected to an Apple TV they are both using Airplay 2 to the Apple TV.

You should know more about a subject before giving people incorrect advice.



No, not incorrect at all. When playing to Sonos Ones (which, unlike Home Pods, the OP actually mentioned), Airplay 2 uses 3 times the bandwidth vs the Sonos app, exactly how I diagrammed it above.



And I'll ignore the snarky advice, thank you.

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The OP's question was about either a pair of Sonos Ones, or a Beam. S/He didn't mention a Homepod.



Also, please note that I used the phases "If it were me" and "for me to be happy with". Nor do I believe I imparted any false information, as jgatie kindly pointed out.

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That being said, if you have data that suggests that this belief in how AirPlay 2 on a Sonos device works is in error, I'd be delighted to hear about it.

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rjpra2,



I have a dining room that’s just 15 x 20 feet and I use a Beam and two Play: 1’s in there. It’s perhaps a bit of overkill for the room, but the 5.0 surround sound is just too good to miss, even in a small room... I would personally start with the Beam and maybe add the surrounds to it later, that way you have music, TV audio, voice control features and AirPlay.

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I had the two Ones via AirPlay 2 since the release of airplay 2 on Sonos with my Apple TV. It had issues with syncing the tv sound about 5% of the time plus you had to occasionally reset up the speakers to the Apple TV. I am confident apple/sonos will fix the lip syncing issues as the software matures but I did switch to the beam. The sound of the ones in stereo is slightly better but the convenience of the beam via hdmi won me over.

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Thanks all

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I don't understand why the amount for bandwidth Sonos uses is something to even be concerned about? This bandwidth is on your internal home network, not traversing your internet connection. It's effectively unlimited for the majority of use cases and is not metered by your internet provider in any form.



I have had a Sonos One for many months and love it. I recently purchased a Sonos Beam and have been really disappointed. When listening to music, the single Sonos One generally sounds better and I assume a stereo pair sound even better. It has a much less constrained sound with noticeably better bass.



For TV usage, the Sonos Beam does a great job with voices and does a good job of imitating stereo but I don't think it would beat a Sonos One pair.



If you're OK with forgoing HDMI ARC and solely using AirPlay2 on Apple TV I'd avoid the Sonos Beam and go for a Sonos One pair.



I've had the Beam for about a week now and am just about to return it. I was really let down as I LOVE my Sonos One. I'm planning to get a second Sonos One and stereo pair.

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