School me on SONOS and other home streaming systems

I can't find a specific thread about this other than some discussion buried in the Spotify thread. Most of my home listening nowadays is through to streaming audio (either digital files or Spotify) straight from my laptop to my living room stereo via an Airport Express. This is fine sound quality-wise but patchy in terms of reliability, and having to open up my laptop whenever I play music is a pain in the arse. I want to upgrade to something better, seemingly bewildering array of options out there, so help me ILM. Criteria are:

- I have an excellent separates system and really good speakers in my front room, I do want or not need something that comes with its own speakers.
- It might be a decent option for other rooms in the future though, so the option to add speakers later would be nice.
- Without wanting to be a tossy audiophile about it, sound quality is important, but without having to resort to a two grand Linn streamer. Good enough is good enough.
- I don't currently have a server and I don't really want to keep a computer on 24/7. The ability to just plug an external hard drive into the back of it would be ideal.
- Ability to stream Spotify in high quality is essential
- So is internet radio (primarily BBC)
- Ability to control via an Android phone would be nice

Does anything actually exist that fits the bill here?

The Marantz M-CR611 is the one I crave. It does everything you want, I think. as soon as I have the money...

Another not-inconsiderable concern is how long developers will continue to support the hardware, so I'd rather not drop a bomb on it unless it's relatively future-proof.

I like Sonos pretty well, sounds good, was relatively cheap, mostly works fine. But I don't like my internet connection so much. Mostly it all works fine but occasionally bad internet connection makes me wonder wtf was wrong with a stereo and physical product.

I went with Sonos (after also using Airport/Airplay for years) and am totally in love with it. The only downside to it for my purposes is the expense — the unit you would need for your existing setup is the Sonos Connect, which at $350 seems overpriced to me to attach your amp to the network. But the ease of use and rock solid reliability makes the cost worth it for me.

It ticks every one of your requirements except being able to plug in an external hard drive. If you don’t want to leave your computer on you’ll either need a NAS or do what I did — upload your library to the Google Play Music cloud (the first 50,000 songs are free, which has been plenty for me so far — and now I can also access my library from work or anywhere else, which is pretty neat). I believe it limits your local library to around 65,000 songs.

One thing I really like about it is that everything goes through the Sonos app, so playing music from multiple services is pretty seamless and you have a unified interface. Some people don’t like that aspect of it because certain features might not be ported over from a service’s native app and if the service isn’t supported within the Sonos app you can’t stream it — e.g. no YouTube which bugs a lot of people. But you’d want to be sure that any specific features you like about your current apps are supported.

I believe it's been around the longest and as far as I can tell is the current market leader, so it’s probably the safest bet as far as future-proof.

A much cheaper though much less slick option is the Google Chromecast Audio. You’d still need to upload your library to the cloud, and you’d need to use different apps to play your music — Google Play for your library, Spotify, whatever radio app you use, etc. It’s sort of a low budget cross between Sonos and Airplay.

Lots of info on Sonos and comparisons with competition both here and on the horizon: http://thewirecutter.com/reviews/sonos-player/

I have a multi-zone Sonos setup at home. Have used it for the last two years and I love it. My only issue is the iTunes library limit is something weird like 80K tracks.

The limit is 65,000 tracks. There's ways to get around that - installing a Subsonic server is one of them. You can also connect to Sonos speakers via DLNA - I use BubbleUPNP on my Android phone for just such a purpose, connected to my JRMC Media server. Setting up all this stuff isn't all that hard, actually.

I've got one Sonos Play:1 speaker (a gift) and I quite like it, though it's technically mono. The newer, more expensive stereo Play:5 has a line-in port which opens up other possibilities. The primary appeal of Sonos is IT JUST WORKS. You don't have to buy anything other than a speaker or two and use them via their app or another that supports DLNA. And the word on the street is their customer service is second to none.

I've also got a Chromecast Audio and find it a terrific value ($35) and an easy way to connect to regular speakers that have a line-out. You could add one to a Sonos Play:5 for the best of both worlds.

My setup is so hodge-podge that I never bother with playing something in multiple rooms. That's now how my life and house is configured anyway.

Having said all that, there are new Sonos competitors on the market. Samsung has multi-room speakers as does Denon. You can set up multiple Chomecast Audio's and sync them together.

If were starting from scratch I very well might just go with Sonos, in part because I like how they sound, it's dead simple to set up, and their app is quite clever in the way it can easily combine tracks from various sources.

This may well be a dumb question but can you plug Audiocast into the back of an amp, or does it need to go straight into the speakers?

Here are the various ways you can connect Chromecast Audio to an amp, speakers, or whatever:
https://support.google.com/chromecast/answer/6280276

Sonos looks good but is a little pricey for my budget. If I were setting up a new multi-room system on the cheap, using existing stereo systems, I'd probably go with Chromecast Audio. But those would not support Matt DC's requirement of being able to plug in an external hard drive rather than running a server.

Currently I use antique Squeezeboxes and the free Logitech Media Server software, which streams the contents of my iTunes library and (via a plug-in) Spotify. I love being able to synch audio throughout the house. Based on what I've read, I think I could get my server talking to Chromecast Audio devices without too much craziness ... I hope I won't have to test that for a while!

chromecast audio is frustrating in what you can use with it. on a pc, you can only stream browser tabs, not from stuff like itunes or spotify. you can basically only stream from paid mobile apps, etc. it's useful sometimes, but you can only do exactly what google wants you to do with their platform.

But on an Android phone you can stream all output, regardless of source, to a Chromecast Audio.

xp There are some ways to work around that, both in and outside the browser, but yes, it is frustrating.

In the browser, you could use the Spotify web player and stream that tab. There are some Chrome extensions that can play media files from your computer, and I guess those tabs could be streamed too, as a way to send things from your iTunes library to the Chromecast ... I doubt this would work with DRMed stuff.

So many devices now support streaming that it's hard to keep up with what they can do. The other day I replaced the Blu-Ray player on our home theater system and without my doing anything the new player discovered and connected to my local music server. It has a Spotify app too, so that is an option for streaming music that appeared in my living room more or less by accident.

okay, i knew you could stream from the regular android music player but didn't realize you could just do anything. lol obv i have an iphone.

Chromecast audio using the optical into a DAC is really great. CCA is the greatest value audio product in history

thanks for this thread, had been meaning to sort this shit out for ages and it made me think about properly - in a similar situation to Matt DC, but a little less worried about quality. On top of that, also need something the family can use - like I love thinking about clever cheap solutions, fiddling with connections, weird off-brand black boxes from tottenham court court road, but everyone else in the house will want something that just works, ie as-if-by-magic players that they can control, rather than me saying "it's quite simple. First, open terminal…"

Always dismissed Sonos before - expensive, a bit too single-company dependent, and multi-room was never a need… but shit it does look easy and clever, so… a Sonos 1 to start, get another down the line if it works & have stereo or second room, and maybe build from there. Get my library into Google Play, and down the line run a sonos connect into my old amp and speakers if it all seems to be working. In the meantime, a chromecast audio for them because it's cheap and interesting and why not.

Yeah both my wife and I have Android phones and will I think continue to for the foreseeable future, so the Chromecast Audio looks a pretty easy solution. Although getting my entire library into the cloud, while probably sensible in the long term, still feels like a massive ballache.

Are there really no options that involve just whacking a hard drive into the back of them? TV streaming boxes have been offering that functionality for years, with the ability to zip files round the network vi wifi.

Quality is an issue for me (this is a really good Linn system that we were amazingly lucky to get second-hand) so any option has to sound good on that kind of setup. Then again streaming any source to the Apple Express sounds good in that setup, and I doubt the Chromecast will be a big step down from that.

NAS + Sonos Connect might be the way to go, happy to pay a bit more for something robust in the longer-term. But that Marantz box in the first response does look tasty.

Really useful thread, thanks! I figured I was unlikely to be the only person wondering about this stuff.

I'm running a Chromecast Audio through optical to Musical Fidelity VDAC II into s Cambridge Audio amp and nice speakers. Even using Spotify it gets pretty close to vinyl and CD, there's still some harshness which I think midrange speakers that aren't so revealing might be better... But all said I spent $35 for the CCA and $150 off eBay for the DAC and it's great

One thing to point out, Chromecast Audio doesn't "stream" from your phone. It has its own broadband WiFi connection. Your phone just "points" the CCA towards what you want to play. That means it's not compressed like Bluetooth streaming and even better you can go to another app like YouTube or take a phone call and it won't affect the music. Even if you turn your phone off it will continue to play until the end of the current album or play list.

I'm sure Chromecast works best with Android devices, but I've had good luck using my iPhone and a regular, video-oriented Chromecast -- no problems using the iPhone to control Spotify or YouTube on the Chromecast.

also need something the family can use . . . everyone else in the house will want something that just works

This might actually be my favorite things about Sonos. My wife had just about given up on listening to music between her frustration with Airplay and the impracticality of CDs/vinyl on our main stereo with two kids under the age of 5 running about pressing any button within reach. Now she has music playing all day long and is rediscovering her love for forgotten bands, the kids are being exposed to so much more music, everyone is asking for more speakers throughout the house . . .

I got my parents into Sonos w/ Spotify. My mom is the kind of person who types GOOGLE.COM in the search bar on Google.com. She can work the Sonos from her phone.

Anyone here with experience replacing a Squeezebox 2/3/Touch with a Sonos Connect? I guess since it doesn't have a screen you need an iPad or something to control it?

I was also thinking about this recently. My hifi is very old and i haven't listened to any of my cds or vinyl in years. It's also difficult to find a space for it in my current living room.

How are the actually sonos speakers? I don't care sooo much about sound quality but I certainly don't want anything that sounds like a portable bluetooth speaker.

Or is it a better option to investigate a new standalone hifi and then get a sonos connect or similar?

Sonos app makes it unusable to me. True heads can't even listen to Youtube & my 64 gb itunes library never fully syncs. Currently use apple airplay thru vintage gear but it buffers so I'm interested in other options as well.

Thanks for the tips in this thread, I've been looking for a streaming device too. I have only one audio set in one room I would need to stream to, so I ended up ordering Chromecast Audio... However, upon looking at Google own streaming app, Google Play, it noticed that it transcodes all the FLAC into MP3s. And I know Plex does the same... Most of the music files on my computer are FLACs, and Chromecast itself supports that format, so are there any good music streaming apps that would stream FLACs to Chromecast without transcoding them?

I agree with ums that chromecast audio is THE best bargain on the market. But for multiroom purposes I think Sonos, HEOS or Bluesound are better (though more expensive) choices, in part because of the dedicated control app.

Sonos Connect is a great way to get started with streaming on your current stereo system, it's probably the most stable and developed system on the market. Heos Link and Bluesound Node 2 are good alternatives, they offer more connectivity (usb, optical input, bluetooth-adapter, subwoofer pre-out, triggers) and improved sound (24 bit support, better built-in DACs, better optical outputs).

If you're looking to replace you current amplifier, you'll need active speakers or streamer-amps. The stand alone speakers (like the Sonos Play 1) are impressive but can be a bit tiresome to listen to for very long - unless you're allergic to passive speakers I'd recommend the Sonos Connect Amp, Heos Amp or Bluesound Powernode 2 with a set of budget passive speakers for your main listening room. Price will be similar to a Play:5 or a stereo pair of Play:3s, sound is going to be a lot better.

No matter what system you choose, I think you'll experience improved functionality with a NAS - so if streaming your own collection of music files is important, I think that's a solid investment.

As a final note, I'll add that your streaming system is never going to function any better than your router - so if you're using the one supplied by your ISP, getting a proper router (~80$) can make all the difference.

No matter what system you choose, I think you'll experience improved functionality with a NAS - so if streaming your own collection of music files is important, I think that's a solid investment.

Sorry if I sound stupid, but what's a NAS and how do you acquire it?

and can i eat it?

NAS, Network Attached Server. dedicated file server running something like FreeNas or MediaVault.

NAS : network storage.
basically a big hard disc that you access via your home network.
they are not too pricey these days :

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/computing-accessories/data-storage/data-storage/wd-my-cloud-personal-cloud-storage-4-tb-21817659-pdt.html

i use the NAS/Sonos Connect setup, and its brilliant.
not fussed re speakers round the house, just needed to get my digital archive into my stereo, and figured this was the best option for my needs.
and yeah, the desktop app is very easy to use, and i love the way you can flip from digital radio, various streaming services (i got 12 months free deezer when i bought the sonos connect), and your local digital library without any trouble whatsoever.

Rather than full-blown NAS enclosure… can i kill 2 birds/1 stone: buy a new, stronger router with a USB port, plug a terabyte hard drive into that, then point Sonos and/or CCA towards that?

So basically it's an external hard drive that also works as a cloud? The price is pretty steep, but I guess it'd eventually pay itself back since you don't have to pay a monthly/yearly like with net-based cloud services...

One thing that seems a bit worrying, in order for it work you have to keep it and your modem on all the time, right? That seems like a bit of fire hazard, or am I overtly cautious?

(xpost)

yes, to keep your network up and running, then you do need to leave the router on.
i dont think this is a fire hazard !
re router+ USB : no idea, i would suspect it is possible, just depends on how the router maps the USB drive.
if you can access the USB drive as a standard external network drive, then i see no reason why you cant point Sonos to that location and pick up the digital files.

One thing that seems a bit worrying, in order for it work you have to keep it and your modem on all the time, right? That seems like a bit of fire hazard, or am I overtly cautious?

people turn off their modem/router???

One thing that seems a bit worrying, in order for it work you have to keep it and your modem on all the time, right? That seems like a bit of fire hazard, or am I overtly cautious?

You're being overly cautious. The equipment is designed to be on 24/7 and to just burst into flames would represent a major design flaw. Virtually every office building in the developed world has a server on constantly, if your concerns were realistic they'd be burning down all the time.

I don't think I've turned a router off except to reboot it in about 15 years.

Rather than full-blown NAS enclosure… can i kill 2 birds/1 stone: buy a new, stronger router with a USB port, plug a terabyte hard drive into that, then point Sonos and/or CCA towards that?

I think my BT Homehub might do this but I've never worked out how to actually set it up properly.

if you think about it there is also electricity CONSTANTLY running into the house. you can prove this by flipping a light switch on, there is no latency, i.e. the electricity is storing up behind the walls in an active state.

haha that is not how electricity works

Like even if any of that post made sense, "you can prove this by flipping a light switch on, there is no latency" is cartoon funny - the idea you could see the delay between your fingers flipping a switch and a light turning on if it wasn't "storing up behind the walls".

You're being overly cautious. The equipment is designed to be on 24/7 and to just burst into flames would represent a major design flaw. Virtually every office building in the developed world has a server on constantly, if your concerns were realistic they'd be burning down all the time.

Yeah, I get this, but those servers have inbuilt cooling, unlike my modem, which gets fairly hot if I keep it on for two days in a row. I assume this NAS has its own cooling system, though?

i acquired a sonos player last year and the sound is really good but

It ticks every one of your requirements except being able to plug in an external hard drive.

this was just a bit of a deal-breaker - i play all my music off an external HD and the speaker seemed to be requiring that i never switch my laptop off? i don't really see how that's remotely desirable.

Yeah I think this is why people are talking about servers/moving everything to the cloud. Always-on laptop is the scenario I want to avoid.

what about an always-on raspberry pi?

it really confused me when i got it because it was like...how on earth did sonos not take that into account when designing their weird system?

xp

I have the older version of the Marantz mentioned near the top of the thread.

I went for this because, after selling all my high-end gear in 2012 and going with a basic separates system (10yo Sony DVD player into 30yo Cyrus amp), and then giving those up too, I wanted to start from scratch with something good but simple. The sound quality is great (basically just the Marantz into Q-Acoustics monitors and Sennheiser headphones), but there are a few niggles with it dropping off my network with some regularity - so it can't find Spotify, or my iPhone / tablet app can't find the Marantz. CD playback was essential for me (again, it would be nice here if, seeing as it's a networked device, it could do a Gracenote-style lookup and not just say "11 tracks 55:12" like a dumb CD player), but there is a cheaper model without.

It also has a useless Last.fm mode (support for that was withdrawn before I bought mine), good FM/DAB and NAS/USB/Bluetooth/AirPlay connections (the last of which I use a lot when I can't be bothered navigating Spotify via the clunky Marantz app).

As an amp, it's perfectly fine - I route the TV and MD deck in via S/PDIF, and the turntable pre-amp via analogue. I think that's about all the connections taken up, mind.

it's tempting to think there's a NAS out there that you can dump your music onto, and feed your Spotify Premium details, and it would provide a unified search/playlist interface to? with RCA out?

I'm looking to reconfigure my home audio system, hopefully in a way that also integrates with my TV. My main music source is Spotify and my main TV platform is Roku. The essential apps for me on Roku are Netflix, Amazon, YouTube, Twitch, and Spotify. Unfortunately, the Roku Spotify app is pretty bad. It doesn't allow you to play from folders, only from individual playlists, and it doesn't support local files, only songs in Spotify's library. I've tried doing screen mirroring from my Android phone to Roku for Spotify, but Roku's screen mirroring is junk, it crashes a lot and pretty much disrupts my wi-fi.

I don't think SONOS is the answer to this, but I'm curious about Chromecast. My main reservations are the lack of Amazon and the concern that casting from my phone to my TV/stereo will cause similar wi-fi issues as the Roku.

I wonder if there are any players that would do the same as what the Marantz does, but also work as an bluray/net video player with an HDMI out and surround sound? I have 5.1 speaker set and I watch movies and play music through the same Yamaha A/V receiver... It feels pretty pointless to have separate systems for music and videos, but most audiophile players/receivers seem to be for audio only.

(xpost)

I have been looking at that Marantz thing for a while actually. If it had phono input I would have bought it already. But I've been in a state of indecision for a while now about whether to get that plus separate phono preamp OR vintage integrated amp plus bluetooth adapter (plus separate CD player I guess).

Oppo players might they are supposed to be great dacs

good god the new app is utter dogshit. how could they make something already quite bad worse

it seems i was forced to update to the new sonos app later than most people were, but i've finally been forced to update and, good god, this is by far the biggest fuck-you sonos has ever fucked me with (and there was a lot of comopetition).

in addition to everything else that's bonkers about this update, am i missing something or can i no longer create a playlist?

yeah, i have heard a lot from my friend re how bad this has been.
the sonos forums are just full of chaos and anger.

i refused to update and at some point it told me my library wasn't available anymore and that i needed to update to fix that
i said fuck that and just listened to radio and bandcamp - and now the library is magically back

between Spotify and sonos im kinda getting over the idea of listening to music at all anymore tbh

I splurged on the Sonos Ace headphones – my old pair died, I've never owned a "really nice" pair of headphones, and there was a discount available to me.

How are they so far?

I like them... the sound is nice, and the settings can be adjusted thru the Sonos app – even when they're paired with a different device – or by fiddling with the side button. The app has an EQ with three sliders, which suits me fine. Apparently they'll do the Sonos Wifi thing only with a soundbar (which I don't have), so for my purposes they just work like standard headphones.

The pads are the kind that fully enclose your ears, which I find a little weird (my last pair sort of rested on top of my ears). They're metal but lightweight, and seem nicely put together.

Surprising so many people use the Sonos app. I've had Sonos for years and exclusively use Apple Music app to control it. Works fine.

Opposite for me; I’m always surprised to see how many people buy Sonos speakers only to use Airplay instead of the app! Getting away from all of the limitations of Airplay was one of the primary reasons I went with Sonos.

sonos earphones don’t integrate with rest of your sonos system so you can’t hand off from one to another ?

Apparently they couldn't build wifi into them without killing the battery life. So it's kinda just like buying whatever other pricey wireless headphones?

Yeah you can hand off TV audio from your soundbar, but that’s it for now. Supposedly the soundbar connection does use WiFi though, so there’s speculation that there could potentially be more integration with the system down the line.

I primarily use the Sonos app to connect my turntable to my Sonos speakers, which is run through a Connect. The app redesign unfortunately makes this completely unintuitive and pushes streaming apps to the forefront.

Getting away from all of the limitations of Airplay was one of the primary reasons I went with Sonos.

Hmmm...what are the limitations? Maybe I should move to the app.

Well the app sucks now so maybe wait a few months

I still use an old-ass Sonos speaker with the old-ass android app, works fine most of the time. I mean sometimes it stops working entirely but then it's time to put on a record.

Anyone use the Windows desktop app? Do the recent updates cripple it as much as the mobile app? I've been scared to update mine since it seems to be the only way to properly manage my queue.

for some reason the app likes to lose track of my Amp (I've got an Amp driving my old speakers connected to my tv) which sometimes knocks out the surround sound (two Play:1 speakers) on the other side of the room. so the app lets me stream directly to those and a couple other speakers I have but the room's no longer coordinated

might be a me problem. restarting my router makes everything speak again so it might be forgetting how to route between the wired device and the wifi ones

Well the app sucks now so maybe wait a few months

yeah they REALLY fucked it up. I want to beat up everybody who was at the meeting where they ok'd it

Hmmm...what are the limitations? Maybe I should move to the app

Depending on how you use the system, Airplay might not be a limitation for you. Like if it’s just you using it, Airplay might be fine, or if you’re Airplaying from a computer rather than a phone. The big thing for me is that when you use the app the speakers themselves are handling the streaming, rather than your phone pulling the stream and then sending it to the speakers. With the app your phone is basically just a remote control for the streamer rather than being the streamer itself. For family use especially this makes some things possible that you can’t easily do with Airplay:

- At night I can start a stream of rain sounds in one kid’s room, white noise in another kid’s room, and music in my room.

- My wife and I are often listening to music together; either one of us can drop a song that we suddenly want to hear into the queue from our own devices without interrupting the rest of the queue.

- If I start playing music in the morning that the family is listening to I can leave home with my phone to pick up breakfast without the music being interrupted. Or during a party I can walk out of WiFi range in the yard and the music doesn’t stop.

- Any one of us can adjust the volume of the room that we’re in regardless of who started the stream.

That stuff is useful for me on pretty much a daily basis, but probably doesn’t matter for a lot of people. Other perks are not using up phone battery power, and Apple Music streams lossless through the app which Airplay can’t do (though I think it might be getting that in iOS 18 later this year?). But I should add that I still have the older S2 app on my phone which has always worked great for me; my wife updated to the new app and as DJP said it’s got some issues.

I primarily use the Sonos app to connect my turntable to my Sonos speakers, which is run through a Connect. The app redesign unfortunately makes this completely unintuitive and pushes streaming apps to the forefront.

Yeah they dropped the Autoplay option from the Connect input settings in the new app. Supposedly it’s on the list of things that will be coming back in an update and that should make it much easier.

The new app must be a crazy fucking refactor if they can't reuse an autoplay function

but detecting nonzero voltage on a line-in and switching that speaker on doesn't seem to involve "new APIs"

checking in a couple months and however many updates later to report that sonos 2024 remains a complete disaster.

speakers dropping out constantly. like literally every 10 or 15 minutes.

volume doesn't respond to adjustments in real time.

artist discographies are barely navigable blobs that don't distinguish between albums, singles or anything else.

the back button doesn't work in any recognizable way. go to a discography. click on a title. hit "back." good luck.

still can't make playlists or find any of my old ones.

etc.

Sorry to hear about your troubles, I seem to gave come through without a hitch (I have 6 Sonos products). I use Spotify to stream from the cloud and Bubbleupnp to stream my personal digital library and it all works.

The new app interface is definitely a mess, though.

https://www.pcmag.com/news/sonos-ceo-resigns-following-mobile-app-flop

good!

are you saying “good!” about the $7500/mo consultant rate, the $1.8M severance, or the advanced vesting of stock?

good that he's gone.

(and while i'm all for *not* rewarding corporate incompetence, i'd note that those amounts are pocket change next to the golden parachutes that await other tech ceos.)

good that the guy who was actively leading the company is no longer in charge of the company, which some of us care about because we own some of their products? executives being overpaid and overprivileged is a separate issue from "will top management keep aggressively pushing bad directions"

intertwined, for sure, but it's a more tacit "we're making changes" move than saying that and keeping the same leadership

I got a Sonos speaker the other week and it's... okay. I've had a fair few issues getting my phone to connect to the Bluetooth but it eventually figures it out.

The lack of instructions along with the app being as useless as an accordion on a deerhunt did not thrill me. Their website and access to customer service is terrible too.

I hate that whole thing with sites now where it says "Contact us..." and you click and it gives you a million options for different topics, eventually sending you to a troubleshooting page, or worse a customer forum, but never an email address you can write to them with.

try typing "fuck off" in the chat window, it might connect you to a real person (worked for me, cf. upthread!)

our current functionality is tolerable, rhe speakers usually take a while to show up on the phone, and less frequently but more annoyingly just stop playing. top tip, if it says "unable to connect try again later" then the speaker needs updating even if it says it's up to date, you can do it manually in the app.

> the speaker needs updating

is a phrase that belongs in the terrible tech things thread

What a load of old overpriced crap

I would investigate alternatives if I were doing this again, I doubt any of them are perfect and error free though.

My Sonos works very well and sounds good, I have two of the older sonos "ones", and tho the app had its moments during the great freakout it seems to be stable again.

I would like to upgrade my home setup though and the decision on whether to add another Sonos or get out is difficult.

They do sound nice imo, but obviously are proprietary etc. And tho they aren't cheap getting a hifi setup would be a lot pricier than adding one speaker to the two I use daily.

You get a "tradein" discount without having to exchange your old ones, I guess to keep you in the cult, and if I did get a new setup I wouldn't be throwing away my Sonos speakers, idk.

What's your experience, DL? Did Santa give you a Sonos?

I'm pretty happy with ours. Only issue is the microphones keep thinking I'm addressing the ones in the sitting room when I'm in the kitchen.

We can't use the mics to play music any more - it says 'ok!' then nothing happens. I could probably figure it out if I had the emotional energy. We can still ask it stupid questions. My favourite is when it makes the beep to indicate it's listening after random dialogue on the tv. Rustling a bag of crisps even set it off once.

Mine is from before the mic function, but I'm not sure I would use that, I don't like voice control generally. The app works fine now again.

Don't have spotify but have a huge curated mp3 library.

It used to work fine file-pathing to my music folder but, because it generates corresponding metadata to index things when you link it, I ran into a bug that apparently bricks this feature due to some sort of bullshit metadata cap that I hit. Basically when you try to queue up it errors, so this cap may not be "intended", but it's bonkers that there'd be any reason that "too much" metadata would be a problem for any program... it's kilobytes. Now Sonos is nearly unusable currently. A friend has even set up a huge cloud server and I've loaded ALL my music there so I could then use Plex to play it through Sonos instead, but even that is bugged and not working right now. Silly.

Plex's music player can handle large libraries but has what is for me a fatal problem of not dealing with compilations or multi-artist albums in any predictable or useable way.

I got out & into separates (with a wiim for streaming) but my wife still uses our sonos 1s (I think she just casts spotify rather than using the sonos app).

It's a hard initial decision - there's the sunk cost thing & they're good speakers. But I didn't want to be tied to one company & was deliberately coming back to physical media where imo sonos is a bit weaker & thought it would be nice to be more modular and upgradeable (plus you get to tinker more).

What's your experience, DL? Did Santa give you a Sonos?

― LocalGarda, Thursday, 8 January 2026 14:13 (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

So each year my company gives us a not-ungenerous John Lewis voucher for Christmas. Trouble is, there's not a whole bunch at JL I would generally buy that I couldn't get cheaper elsewhere. But it has been handy.

One year I bought a Sony Bluetooth turntable. And last year I bought a Sonos Era 100 to go with it (I'd been using some POS bookshelf speakers I'd salvaged from a studio clearout at work up till then).

The Era worked okay - a few teething problems occasionally where it wouldn't pair, but on the whole, fine.

But I do most of my record listening in the kitchen when I'm making food or doing the washing up. So naturally I bought a second Era to go in there.
Looking forward to finally be able to listen to my records around the house, I was disappointed to find the audio kept cutting out just a little bit every few seconds or so. It wouldn't be too bad, but just enough to make me annoyed.

So I went on their chatbot thingy and after the usual "Try unpairing and repairing them", "try moving the speakers" etc, it told me that this issue was a "Known problem" with Sonos (the fuck?) and that I would benefit from a direct line-in connection from my turntable into the master speaker.

So after much pondering and personal consternation, I shelled out another £25 for a tiny little wire that allows me to plug my turntable into the speaker. It arrived, then I realised I needed ANOTHER (thankfully cheaper) wire to go with it, so I ordered that.

Finally I had everythign plugged in, but the glitching still occurred. I eventually worked out that there's a setting in the app that creates an audio delay - and this seemed to fix the dropouts. HOORAY!

I thought I had everything fixed-up fine. But now, if the record stops or even sometimes when there's a quiet part in the music, the system suddenly decides to play the music really loudly in the kitchen while playing it really quietly and with a delay off the main speaker. This will just happen apropos of very little.

And then, if I want to switch to Bluetoothing from my phone it's just a proper old carry on based entirely on luck and the whims of whether the system wants to let me that day.

Honestly, it's been a headache from the start, and the fact it doesn't seem to be able to do what it's advertised to really frustrates me. The fact theey call the fact you get significant audio dropouts a "known problem" really boils me. "Oh yes, the car doesn't always drive in a straight line - that's a known problem. You have to buy a special steering stabilizer to make it not do that".

Plex's music player can handle large libraries but has what is for me a fatal problem of not dealing with compilations or multi-artist albums in any predictable or useable way.

FWIW I don't have this problem with my local Plex server + Plexamp (which I just discovered has replaced the old Plex phone app for music streaming).

When I've had problems with comps and multi-artist albums, it's usually been related to how the tracks were tagged before I added them to my Plex library.

That sound really annoying, DL. Mine works well in bedroom and kitchen/living room but one did break to the point that I had to plug it in to the router via Ethernet cable permanently to get it working again. Similarly the support was not too perturbed when I reached a dead end and couldn't fix it.

When I've had problems with comps and multi-artist albums, it's usually been related to how the tracks were tagged before I added them to my Plex library.

It's a known issue with how Plex handles tagging... if I have an album like the Plateaux of Mirror by Brian Eno and Harold Budd, I want it to show up in my catalog under both artists. Plex cannot do this no matter how you tag the files. Plexamp will try but there's no way to control its behavior and it fails in too many cases, which is worse than doing nothing at all. LMS does just fine with multi-artist albums if you tag them properly.

So my home listening ecosystem is a Lyrion server (aka Logitech Media Server) with various Squeezeboxes hooked up to my stereos, one of which has died of old age. Got a WiiM Pro Plus for Christmas and I've gotta say as a Squeezebox replacement it's fantastic. Hooked it up and turned it on and it appeared as a named player on my LMS immediately, and sounds great. I'm wary of the device's reliance on a non-open source app for most of its functionality but as long as it shows up as a player on my LMS server I think I've finally found a drop-in Squeezebox replacement.