AirPlay 2 Coming to Sonos Speakers in July

[ringoroo]

One reason I'm considering buying two Sonos Ones is that they actually have a mounting solution and fitting floor stands. The HomePod has neither of those things. Surely I can't be the only one who doesn't have one or two tables at the exact spots that are ideal for a stereo setup?

If the HomePod had a mounting solution and there were great first or third-party floor stands, I'd buy two of them in a heartbeat. Now I'm not sure.

I have bought 2 Homepods - the sound is fantastic - but I too really want proper Homepod stands (if for no other reason than to stop the tremendous bass shaking the floor, which is the ceiling of the flat below !!

I searched all over the net but couldn't find any purpose built stands - I guess one of the reasons is the Homepods lack of any mounting points.

I've bought a couple of 60cm high, sturdy stands (£50) but the top is rectangular and they look quite ugly with the speakers on them.

Hoping that some manufacturer sees this gap in the market and comes up with a decent solution... I'm sure in time it'll happen - and that they'll probably come from China.

 

[PickUrPoison]

The Sonos Beam webpage needs at least one correction.

Near the top of the page it says:

Premium sound
Full-range woofers and tweeters harmonize low and high frequencies.​

But at the bottom of the page under Specs it says: “One tweeter creates a crisp and clear dialogue.”

So there’s only a single tweeter, presumably located at the center of the sound bar since they reference dialogue. Maybe it also produces some of the L+R signal of the left and right channels, or maybe it’s only for the center channel, who knows.

 

[Cashmonee]

Hi,

Stupid question:

Will Sonos Connect & Sonos Amp support Airplay 2 and therefore indirectly Siri?

I have the above, currently connected to a Yamaha amp which has Kef speakers connected to it.

Am I likely to benefit in any way with this new announcement?

Cheers
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I'm also hoping the Yamaha amp eventually supports Airplay 2 itself too

Connect and Connect Amp are not getting AirPlay 2. Only the Playbase, Sonos One, Play:5 and now Beam will have support. Any speakers (or presumably Connect, Amp, or Sub) group with one of those will play whatever you stream using AirPlay 2, but they have to have one of those four in the group.

 

[Kbceric]

One reason I'm considering buying two Sonos Ones is that they actually have a mounting solution and fitting floor stands. The HomePod has neither of those things. Surely I can't be the only one who doesn't have one or two tables at the exact spots that are ideal for a stereo setup?

If the HomePod had a mounting solution and there were great first or third-party floor stands, I'd buy two of them in a heartbeat. Now I'm not sure.

I have put two HomePod right in front of my tv and compare it to my high end AV system, it’s sound quality is so good that really can match my AV system though not 100% and I am sure you don’t need a floor stand as it is not a common stereo speaker, it’s technology is really amazing and I am sure Apple can make it even better with the software

 

[Mabus51]

As paired stereo though right?

No you can not pair Sonos One with the Play 1’s for stereo sound.
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View attachment 765114

I have put two HomePod right in front of my tv and compare it to my high end AV system, it’s sound quality is so good that really can match my AV system though not 100% and I am sure you don’t need a floor stand as it is not a common stereo speaker, it’s technology is really amazing and I am sure Apple can make it even better with the software

Your Homepods block the corners of your TV.

The biggest fault of HomePod is no user profiles, HomeKit & Siri. Until Apple fixes all the issues with those 3 items HomePod is DOA. iOS 12 is a start in the right direction for Siri. But the other issues still remain one being a security flaw and the other being utter trash.

 

[Kbceric]

No you can not pair Sonos One with the Play 1’s for stereo sound.
[doublepost=1528344244][/doublepost]
Your Homepods block the corners of your TV.

The biggest fault of HomePod is no user profiles, HomeKit & Siri. Until Apple fixes all the issues with those 3 items HomePod is DOA. iOS 12 is a start in the right direction for Siri. But the other issues still remain one being a security flaw and the other being utter trash.

[doublepost=1528356081][/doublepost]I only test the sound for playing music that’s why i didn’t care about the tv, I also put the HomePods on the speaker stands and a feet away from the tv, the sound is even better. The sound is really amazing from such a small speaker. Should try it first and if not happy just return it to Apple because only testing it in your own environment will know whether it is good for you or not.

 

[and 1989 others]

Finally I shall be able to use the Sonos speakers which sit either side of he Apple TV with the Apple TV.

 

[ValO]

Finally I shall be able to use the Sonos speakers which sit either side of he Apple TV with the Apple TV.

Can you?

I think , because of airplay 2, the speakers can be powered by an apple tv, but how? Outputting the same sound on each speaker, instead of stereo? I don’ t know if you would be able to stereopair 2 sonos speakers by using airplay 2.
I think stereopairing by airplay 2 is only available for the homepod.

 

[recoil80]

I wonder if Siri will be able to play, at least in some ways, third party music providers like Spotify.
With Shortcuts I should be able to register a phrase to play a particular playlist on Spotify, or play what is next in the podcast queue in a third party app. I haven't yet watched the WWDC sessions about Siri, so I don't know how much you can customise the experience, but at least playing a playlist or a particular radio should be possible as long as the app implements Siri interaction. I think it won't be possible to search for a particular song/artist the same way you do with AM, but it will be better than nothing

 

[n-evo]

Do I understand correctly I can use Apple's iTunes (macOS) and Music app (iOS) to stream music to an AirPlay 2.0 enabled Sonos One instead of using Sonos' app? That would be a godsend.

 

[FilipeTeixeira]

What's still a mystery for me is if these speakers will ever work with airplay 1. Meaning that I assume that as they will support airplay 2, there will be some sort of compatibility which will allow older devices to communicate with them without having to use the awful Sonos app.
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Do I understand correctly I can use Apple's iTunes (macOS) and Music app (iOS) to stream music to an AirPlay 2.0 enabled Sonos One instead of using Sonos' app? That would be a godsend.

Exactly. However what I'm not sure is if the same will happen for older airplay 1 only devices (for the sending part, not for the receiving).

 

[DeepIn2U]

Bose? (crickets)

Bose made Heir announcement last week, supporting just about ALL their wifi speakers line not just 3 units and yet another “vague” promise: future products.

Crickets is Bose you say, I say mould be your sleeping on last we is news j/k

 

[legacyb4]

If they can connect a current model with the old to allow airplay2 , why not provide a bridge replacement to allow old speakers to work?

"Planned obsolescence" is my guess; I really need to get my sh#$ together and just dump my Sonos 1 onto CL...

 

[boshii]

"Planned obsolescence" is my guess; I really need to get my sh#$ together and just dump my Sonos 1 onto CL...

Sonos is the last company that should be associated with “planned obsolescence”. Go look at their website. They’re still selling speakers from 2013 and they get updates just as much as their newer speakers do.

Also Sonos One supports Airplay 2, unless you mean Play:1. And if you mean Play:1, it’s not obsolete just because it doesn’t support Airplay 2. It will still work the same way it has since you bought it.

 

[rbf1138]

Can you?

I think , because of airplay 2, the speakers can be powered by an apple tv, but how? Outputting the same sound on each speaker, instead of stereo? I don’ t know if you would be able to stereopair 2 sonos speakers by using airplay 2.
I think stereopairing by airplay 2 is only available for the homepod.

So you're implying that if I, for instance, start playing a song on my iPhone, then Airplay 2 it to my Apple TV and my Sonos stereo pair, it wont actually play in stereo on the Sonos pair, but just play it in both individual speaker in the Sonos stereo-paired group? I can't imagine that's the case, as they should show up in the control center as "Bedroom" for instance, which is a stereo-pair of Sonos Ones, for example.

 

[and 1989 others]

Can you?

I think , because of airplay 2, the speakers can be powered by an apple tv, but how? Outputting the same sound on each speaker, instead of stereo? I don’ t know if you would be able to stereopair 2 sonos speakers by using airplay 2.
I think stereopairing by airplay 2 is only available for the homepod.

The stereo pairing happens in app. If the airplay two is linked via a native Sonos app in the Apple TV it should work with stereo just fine.

We'll have to wait and see

 

[legacyb4]

Sonos is the last company that should be associated with “planned obsolescence”. Go look at their website. They’re still selling speakers from 2013 and they get updates just as much as their newer speakers do.

Also Sonos One supports Airplay 2, unless you mean Play:1. And if you mean Play:1, it’s not obsolete just because it doesn’t support Airplay 2. It will still work the same way it has since you bought it.

#PlannedObsolescence is a dig at those complaining about Apple products

Yes, it's a Play:1, my bad in typing too quickly; however, it is obsolete in the sense that it won't support AP2 unless you have another AP2-capable Sonos speaker. I had hoped to be able to use it as an extra speaker with the Homepod but alas, that wasn't meant to be. I just wish Sonos had made that clear from the start on what hardware would be directly/indirectly supported so that I could have dumped it for a better price...

 

[louiek]

Do I understand correctly I can use Apple's iTunes (macOS) and Music app (iOS) to stream music to an AirPlay 2.0 enabled Sonos One instead of using Sonos' app? That would be a godsend.

Finally we'll be able to 'like' songs on Apple Music we play through Sonos. Don't know if it's Apple or Sonos stalling on this functionality but it's incredibly frustrating.

 

[Vjosullivan]

I'm just waiting for the complaints.

Why?

 

[ValO]

So you're implying that if I, for instance, start playing a song on my iPhone, then Airplay 2 it to my Apple TV and my Sonos stereo pair, it wont actually play in stereo on the Sonos pair, but just play it in both individual speaker in the Sonos stereo-paired group? I can't imagine that's the case, as they should show up in the control center as "Bedroom" for instance, which is a stereo-pair of Sonos Ones, for example.

No, i meant that I don’t think there is an option to stream/airplay directly from the Apple TV to 2 Sonos speakers as a stereo pair.
Perhaps If there would be a Sonos app for the Apple TV you could(is there?).
But in that case you would only be able to play music through the Apple TV Sonos app, and when watching a movie through another app, like Netflix, you could select both speakers as an output, but it won’ t be in stereo.

That is my theory, at least.
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The stereo pairing happens in app. If the airplay two is linked via a native Sonos app in the Apple TV it should work with stereo just fine.

We'll have to wait and see

Yeah, in a Sonos app, it would be no problem. But can you watch a movie in the Sonos app on Netflix or iTunes?

If you can pair 2 Sonos speakers as a stereo pair in the home app, only then , without a Sonos app, tv os would recognize a stereo pair of Sonos , and use it natively on tv os, without a special app.
Otherwise tvOS will only recognize it as 2 separate speakers, on which you can stream simultaneously, but with the same sound to each speaker(not stereo).

Don’ t get me wrong, I would love this to work, two Sonos Play 5’ s in stereo as my output for my Apple TV would be great. But unfortunately it is typically Apple to have these kind of issues with third party hardware manufacturers.

So for streaming by airplay 2 without the special Sonos app, just iOS /tvOS , sonos is is great for multi room audio, outputting the same sound to each sonos speaker individually, but they won’t be stereo paired by iOS /tv os natively, you’ll have to use a special sonos app for that.

 

[ecr80]

will probably be able to have a sonos one upstairs and the homepod downstairs with Airplay 2 on both so i can listen to the same tunes.

 

[houseofmud]

So I admit I'm a being a bit slow here, but what will AirPlay2 support allow me to do with my Sonos that I can't do with the Sonos App?

Play a podcast that can't be found through one of Sonos' streaming services?

 

[Mabus51]

[doublepost=1528356081][/doublepost]I only test the sound for playing music that’s why i didn’t care about the tv, I also put the HomePods on the speaker stands and a feet away from the tv, the sound is even better. The sound is really amazing from such a small speaker. Should try it first and if not happy just return it to Apple because only testing it in your own environment will know whether it is good for you or not.

I wasn’t knocking the HomePod’s sound reproduction. They sound good especially at their price point. However the security issues with Siri and only allowing a single user profile is a problem when you live with multiple people. HomeKit is just trash compared to Alexa or even Google Home. They really need to rework HomeKit from the ground up.

 

[rdehaven]

One example is you could play the sound of the video you're watching on your phone through the speakers.

Access to Apple Music is probably the biggest win.

 

[Tapiture]

Sonos is a great company - I know an engineer who works there and he says he loves it and they all really take pride in their work. Also, I love their products.