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AirPlay 2 sync with Sonos bonded room

  • 3 August 2018
  • 5 replies
  • 1250 views
R
Hi all,

I have two Sonos Ones and a Sonos Beam, as well as a HomePod and a Libratone Zipp (the last of which should be AirPlay 2 compatible within a couple of months). I love that AP2 allows me to play music to all of these devices in sync.

I'm considering adding two Sonos Play:1s to my Beam to create a surround sound setup. What I'm wondering is if I do so will I be able to include this bonded group as an AirPlay 2 target and still have the sound sync with my other AP2 devices, or will the additional processing required for the Beam to send sound to the Play:1s result in some lag? Hopefully somebody else will have a similar setup and be able to shed some light on this.

Thanks,

Rod
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Best answer by rodcaine 4 August 2018, 18:45

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5 replies

Ken_Griffiths
All Sonos AirPlay devices and any speakers that are 'grouped', 'paired' or 'bonded' with them in the Sonos App should all play in perfect sync together for AirPlay purposes, the controlling Sonos AirPlay compatible devices will see to that.

The other devices you mention however, like Apples HomePod and Libratone Zipp cannot be guaranteed (by Sonos) to stay in sync as they are not controlled by Sonos. I think they may do, as standalone products, but most manufacturers, don’t have the grouping, pairing and bonding technology that Sonos uses and so the buffering and timing maybe different for each of the different brands.

Some say other brands of speakers are sometimes in sync with Sonos and other times they aren’t, so perhaps try them and see and let us know the result.
R
I guess I'll have to try it for myself.

The whole point of AP2 is that it actively keeps compatible devices in sync and sets standards for buffering and timing. This works fine for me with the standalone devices, but I was wondering if Sonos grouping would add lag and fall out of sync, or if Sonos' AP2 implementation takes account of this. I will report back.
Airgetlam
I wouldn't think that AP2 would be responsible for the Sonos system....it wouldn't know about it, effectively. If I'm understanding you, that is.

AirPlay 2 would recognize the Sonos device receiving the signal, certainly. At that point, the data is in the realm of Sonos' environment, so it would be up to Sonos' software to maintain any sync with the Sonos device that AirPlay 2 is being sent to.

That being said, I'm delighted in your plan to test this yourself. Makes good sense to me. I look forward to your test.

While I'm not currently at home, I didn't have any issues with AirPlay 2 being synced between my PLAY:5 gen 2 speakers when they were grouped with my PLAYBAR, which has a SUB and a pair of PLAY:1s associated. All of them played (baseball) in sync, from the TuneIn premium app on my iPhone / iPad being sent via AirPlay 2 to the PLAY:5s.
Bruce
Ken_Griffiths
I guess I'll have to try it for myself.

The whole point of AP2 is that it actively keeps compatible devices in sync and sets standards for buffering and timing. This works fine for me with the standalone devices, but I was wondering if Sonos grouping would add lag and fall out of sync, or if Sonos' AP2 implementation takes account of this. I will report back.
My son in law brought his Apple HomePod to my home for a brief test a few weeks ago and it played in perfect sync with my Sonos system. Albeit that was only a short test over a couple of hours. However I’ve seen others here and elsewhere, say that even 'standalone' speakers from different manufacturers can sometimes play in sync, but occasionally they may also fall out of sync for no apparent reason.

It might be the way the current AirPlay-2 has been implemented, and likely to be something that Apple may need to address with future updates, which in turn will filter out to 'other' manufacturers and developers. It is still early days for the streaming protocol and I’m sure there are some 'teething' issues that will need to be resolved by all the parties involved.
R
I bought the 2x Play:1s and added them to my Beam as surround sound speakers. When streaming to that group plus my kitchen One and bedroom HomePod they all remain in perfect sync, so I guess AP2 does take account of any lag in the system.
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