Question

Roadmap for integration of microphones into all speakers

  • 17 October 2017
  • 4 replies
  • 611 views

Hallo all,

since you wont stop with the SONOS: ONE i would like to ask if there is a roadmap for the integration of microphones into all SONOS speakers.

The reason for the questions is I would like to buy a Play 5 because i would like to have the ability of connecting my pc with the aux line in to be able to hear system sounds.

The problem with that is that is that in the current iteration of the play 5 i would have to buy another Alexa Dot but then I would buy two devices which will in future probably be one. On the other hand it is unsure if the Airplay2 integration gets all old devices so I want to be sure that when i spend so much money on a speaker to be sure it fits all my needs and is the newest iteration.

Greetings

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4 replies

Gazzi2703,

You're unlikely to get an "official" response from Sonos. Traditionally, they don't share their roadmap. I assume that this is because it is frequently influenced or changed by other events that require modification to it. There have been only a few deviations from this, and they've all been on the software side, not the hardware side. In fact, this community, as far as I can tell, had absolutely no clue that the Sonos One was coming before the announcement that it was to be in stores on October 24. I'd honestly expect the same thing on future product. Occasionally, you can find this community speculating on data released by the FCC (a US regulatory body governing radio) in a thread or two. But that is all speculative, and certainly not an official announcement from Sonos.

Is your speculation right? Will there be a Sonos Three and a Sonos Five (or names similar to that)? I'd be willing to bet that you're correct, there will be. But when will they be announced? We'll know when it happens. My current supposition is that they've announced everything they can through the end of this year, in order to take advantage of the holiday season purchasing rush. But I'm not sure how soon after the new year they'd be announcing. No matter what, it takes time to spin up a new manufacturing line, and source all the components.

So, as correct as I think you are in your assumptions, I'd recommend not holding your breath on getting an official answer.
Thank you for your answer. I was already thinking your way and to be honest I can understand SONOS that they won't announce anything before Christmas. On the other hand the reason why i wrote this thread is that perhaps a developer will read this.

From my point of view I don't want to wait forever until i can use my pc with sound and know that I don't buy hardware which soon will be upgraded. I would be nice when there was a date or month in which SONOS usually announces hardware and you can wait just for a date but in this situation you have to wait until a miracle occurs. For example like the october event - you knew there will be an annoucment and you just had to wait which is fine. It's really dissatisfying and I think that more people like me are existing and waiting to go into a full sonos system but I'm already considering switching to another system because there I can see what will be the path for the future hardware.
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but I'm already considering switching to another system because there I can see what will be the path for the future hardware.

Really?

I think we'd all like to know which system(s) those are!
While I understand your position, I think that Sonos has demonstrated the best way to do "whole home music". Other manufacturers that have tried have seemed to stumbled, although that's just my view of it. I'm not a fully trained engineer, but I imagine that doing it "properly" is hard, and Sonos seems to have hit the nail on the head. But doing the whole home thing properly means making some compromises along the way, which includes not being effective computer speakers. The difficulty is that the multiple applications that we expect from speakers aren't mutually viable, so we try to force a "whole home music system" into other areas, like TV, and computer speakers, which aren't quite as easy as we'd like.

Is there space for Sonos to grow, and be more effective? Sure, I happen to think that there is. I don't happen to think that any company is perfect for what I want to do, but they check off more of the boxes that are in my list than anyone else does, especially as long as I'm aware of the limitations inherent in the way the system works. and how it causes issues to other applications.

But I'll echo Stuart_W's question (as I often do, although maybe not always typing it in to the forum), if you find something out there that's better, we'd all love to know about it. I do have a heavy investment in Sonos right now, with a plethora of speakers, but they don't pay me, and honestly, if there's something out there that's better across all fronts, I'd be willing to look in to changing.

So far, all I've seen are imitations of Sonos, and certainly no one with a similar track record.