Desired features for upcoming updates

  • 22 September 2021
  • 2 replies
  • 190 views
T
Userlevel 4
Badge +2

Hey everyone,

Every patch / update I always consider posting some thoughts on what I'd love to see in follow-on updates, so posting this time around.

This first set is really what I would consider 'quality-of-life' improvements based on my usage (in no priority order):

  • Separate volume controls for the different audio 'channels' (e.g. the assistant voice, the alarm, the audio streaming, etc.).

    • Why: I frequently find the Alexa voice is not as loud as I'd like, so want to increase her volume while not increasing the music volume

  • Allowing mixing of sound (and volume) between the streaming audio and external input on the Beam / Arc / Fives

    • Why: I have a Beam and Arc hooked up to Xboxes and sometimes my family and I would like music to continue to play while playing a game on the Xbox (easily mix in-game sounds and your streaming music)

  • Setting Assistant microphone sensitivity

    • Why: I have a Roam in the bathroom and Ones in the bedroom and when I call 'Alexa' while in the bedroom the Roam constantly picks up even though the Ones are closer

  • Manually allow switching 'input' on the Beam / Arc / Fives

    • Why: Periodically those speakers do not play from the arc / earc / line-in even when auto-play is on, so I'd love this as a back-up when auto-play fails

  • Auto re-group on Arc / Beam / Fives after the sound from the earc / arc / line-in finishes

    • Why: I have Alexa set to play music on all downstairs speakers BUT if you watch a movie or TV show it un-groups due to the 'ungroup on Autoplay' setting (which I want), but when the show stops, it would be nice for it to regroup back together again. This is likely tougher than it sounds since if you pause a movie/tv show you don't want the music to come back yet.

Here are a few other items that others have mentioned that I'd like to see:

  • A2DP/aptX Bluetooth support on the Roam

    • Why: Cannot connect to some projectors and other systems (particularly those with copy protection)

  • Allowing additional speakers to act as left / right with the Arc / Beam (sounds like this may come soon)

    • Why: Love to get stronger sound separation in movies and TV shows (also, presumably, improve music playback)

  • Self tuning / Trueplay for speakers with mics (or using a Roam)

    • Why: Don't have an iPhone

Curious if others have similar desires or if there are things others would love to see.

Posted this on the sonos subreddit as well.

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2 replies

melvimbe

Hey everyone,

Every patch / update I always consider posting some thoughts on what I'd love to see in follow-on updates, so posting this time around.

This first set is really what I would consider 'quality-of-life' improvements based on my usage (in no priority order):

  • Separate volume controls for the different audio 'channels' (e.g. the assistant voice, the alarm, the audio streaming, etc.).

    • Why: I frequently find the Alexa voice is not as loud as I'd like, so want to increase her volume while not increasing the music volume

  • Allowing mixing of sound (and volume) between the streaming audio and external input on the Beam / Arc / Fives

    • Why: I have a Beam and Arc hooked up to Xboxes and sometimes my family and I would like music to continue to play while playing a game on the Xbox (easily mix in-game sounds and your streaming music)

 

The Five is not designed for use with a TV, so I can’t imagine Sonos would ever do this.  Even with the Beam/Arc, I imagine it would get complicated rather quickly as you would want to set a different volume for each steam in the mix.  Grouping would get complicated as well.  What I’ve done in the past is used to the Move to play music while the Beam place TV.

 

  • Setting Assistant microphone sensitivity

    • Why: I have a Roam in the bathroom and Ones in the bedroom and when I call 'Alexa' while in the bedroom the Roam constantly picks up even though the Ones are closer

 

Amazon was supposed to resolve this issue by implementing logic that determines which voice assistant was closer.  I agree though that it doesn’t appear to be working very well at times.

 

  • Manually allow switching 'input' on the Beam / Arc / Fives

    • Why: Periodically those speakers do not play from the arc / earc / line-in even when auto-play is on, so I'd love this as a back-up when auto-play fails

 

You already can do this.

https://support.sonos.com/s/article/1080?language=en_US

 

The same applies for TV sources.

 

  • Auto re-group on Arc / Beam / Fives after the sound from the earc / arc / line-in finishes

    • Why: I have Alexa set to play music on all downstairs speakers BUT if you watch a movie or TV show it un-groups due to the 'ungroup on Autoplay' setting (which I want), but when the show stops, it would be nice for it to regroup back together again. This is likely tougher than it sounds since if you pause a movie/tv show you don't want the music to come back yet.

 

Yep, you would have to specify how many minutes of silence before re-grouping occurs.  As I understand it, your Sonos system doesn’t keep a history of it’s previous group, so that would need to be added as well.  You probably wouldn’t want it to return to it’s former volume as well.  

 

 

Here are a few other items that others have mentioned that I'd like to see:

  • A2DP/aptX Bluetooth support on the Roam

    • Why: Cannot connect to some projectors and other systems (particularly those with copy protection)

  • Allowing additional speakers to act as left / right with the Arc / Beam (sounds like this may come soon)

    • Why: Love to get stronger sound separation in movies and TV shows (also, presumably, improve music playback)

 

 

Why do you think this is coming soon?  I don’t think anybody would have a problem with this option.  I’m just concerned that adding additional speakers to the bonded room would be too difficult to keep stable in a typical room.  I don’t know, just guessing.  As alternative, it would be nice if you could set up a single room where the 2 additional front speakers are involved in music playback (with the sub) while TV input  uses the ARC/Beam, surrounds, and sub.

 

This is one I agree with this most of your ideas.

 

  • Self tuning / Trueplay for speakers with mics (or using a Roam)

    • Why: Don't have an iPhone

Curious if others have similar desires or if there are things others would love to see.

Posted this on the sonos subreddit as well.

 

For the Amp/Beam/Arc, I would like Sonos to display what’s currently playing through it’s HDMI port, rather than a screensaver.  It would be even better if you could purchase an IR remote (or program into universal remote) the same basic controls you have with the speaker hard buttons.

And of course, I want Sonos to develop their own voice assistant, in addition to Google and Amazon, that will allow you to control audio playback for sources that other assistants don’t support, grouping, and all the standard playback controls.

Danny
T
Userlevel 4
Badge +2

Hey everyone,

Every patch / update I always consider posting some thoughts on what I'd love to see in follow-on updates, so posting this time around.

This first set is really what I would consider 'quality-of-life' improvements based on my usage (in no priority order):

  • Separate volume controls for the different audio 'channels' (e.g. the assistant voice, the alarm, the audio streaming, etc.).

    • Why: I frequently find the Alexa voice is not as loud as I'd like, so want to increase her volume while not increasing the music volume

  • Allowing mixing of sound (and volume) between the streaming audio and external input on the Beam / Arc / Fives

    • Why: I have a Beam and Arc hooked up to Xboxes and sometimes my family and I would like music to continue to play while playing a game on the Xbox (easily mix in-game sounds and your streaming music)

 

The Five is not designed for use with a TV, so I can’t imagine Sonos would ever do this.  Even with the Beam/Arc, I imagine it would get complicated rather quickly as you would want to set a different volume for each steam in the mix.  Grouping would get complicated as well.  What I’ve done in the past is used to the Move to play music while the Beam place TV.

 

 

Definitely agree that the overall experience would need to be tested to see how it behaves and/or complicates. And this use case may not be a big one generally, just something I would use and was curious if applicable to others.

 

  • Setting Assistant microphone sensitivity

    • Why: I have a Roam in the bathroom and Ones in the bedroom and when I call 'Alexa' while in the bedroom the Roam constantly picks up even though the Ones are closer

 

Amazon was supposed to resolve this issue by implementing logic that determines which voice assistant was closer.  I agree though that it doesn’t appear to be working very well at times.

For some of my downstairs speakers things have definitely improved but that one use case has been shockingly brutal.

 

  • Manually allow switching 'input' on the Beam / Arc / Fives

    • Why: Periodically those speakers do not play from the arc / earc / line-in even when auto-play is on, so I'd love this as a back-up when auto-play fails

 

You already can do this.

https://support.sonos.com/s/article/1080?language=en_US

The same applies for TV sources.

 

Definitely thanks for the tip. I’m not sure I’ve ever used the Browse tab in the app before. I did try this tonight to see what would happen and I ran into a different issue.

Once I forced the Beam into the TV input I couldn’t it to go back to music using Alexa. I asked the Beam to play and it says it was but nothing happened. The way I broke out of it was using the Spotify app on my PC and manually selected the speakers from its list. Was strange. I’ll do some more testing on my Arc and Beam.

 

 

Here are a few other items that others have mentioned that I'd like to see:

  • A2DP/aptX Bluetooth support on the Roam

    • Why: Cannot connect to some projectors and other systems (particularly those with copy protection)

  • Allowing additional speakers to act as left / right with the Arc / Beam (sounds like this may come soon)

    • Why: Love to get stronger sound separation in movies and TV shows (also, presumably, improve music playback)

 

 

Why do you think this is coming soon?  I don’t think anybody would have a problem with this option.  I’m just concerned that adding additional speakers to the bonded room would be too difficult to keep stable in a typical room.  I don’t know, just guessing.  As alternative, it would be nice if you could set up a single room where the 2 additional front speakers are involved in music playback (with the sub) while TV input  uses the ARC/Beam, surrounds, and sub.

 

 

Only reason I say it may be coming soon is due to people on reddit with what sounds like legit info.  Interesting alternative though. I oddly have a setup where the office has a Beam and two Ones (as rears) and two stereo Fives (no Sub in this room). The Fives I periodically move around (e.g. outdoor theatre speakers hooked to a projector).  I will say though, right now when I play music I group all five speakers to make a really immersive sound; I love it.  Grouping works fine on music, grouping for movies has horrible delay between the Beam and the Fives :).

 

 

And of course, I want Sonos to develop their own voice assistant, in addition to Google and Amazon, that will allow you to control audio playback for sources that other assistants don’t support, grouping, and all the standard playback controls.

 

Sonos did buy a voice rec/assistant company a bit ago and again there have been rumors which have even been picked up on sites like The Verge, so perhaps soon. 

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