Sonos Delays Launch of Arc Soundbar Successor to Focus on Fixing App

[brilliantthings]

I'm still struggling with this daily.

Yeah, I'm done. Try Pocket Casts.

 

[duncansby]

• Pages after the incredible Pages '09 (though now, it has finally evolved most of the '09 features back in)?
• FCPX right after FCP (though now, it has finally evolved most of the FCP features back in)?
• iMovie 08 after the incredible iMovie '06 (though now, iMovie has some of the good features of '06 back in)?
• Shall I go on?

I'm BOTH a long-term Apple guy and someone who owns Sonos speakers. Like the above, the new app is basically a wholesale change from the old app. Since it's not branded Apple, fans can't be as forgiving/apologetic and/or defending of it. However, I find it just fine after I've adjusted to the changes.

The prior app required many clicks to do common things. The new app brings the most common use stuff- play audio on speakers- to the top and lets users customize that "top" to their own tastes. EVERYTHING I want my Sonos speakers to do takes ONE CLICK now instead of multiple clicks.

Yes, some less used functionality didn't make it (just like it very commonly does not with Apple app overhauls) and other less used functionality is not in the same places as it was before (as is always the case in wholesale overhauls). But I've easily adjusted for my purposes and like the new app better. Friends with Sonos have also had no problems adjusting either. I actually thought I- being the tech support friend- would have to help a few adapt... but they easily did so on their own.

Could they have QC'd this launch better? YES... and so could Apple in the MANY times Apple wholesale changes things and just drops features & functionality and/or spins bugs with "only a small number of users are affected."

They are working on making the app better. I bet it won't take YEARS as it did for some of the bulleted apps I shared above to get new versions back to on or near par with older versions. I'll give them at least the same tolerance I'll give Apple when they do this kind of thing.

And while I know many people with Sonos speakers, I know no one who has gone "months" without being able to use their speakers. I can't even find anyone having any of the extremes (problems) being posted as if they are universal issues about this. In fact, just 2 weekends ago, I helped someone add a wide variety of Sonos speakers to their Arc-only household using the new app and it all went fine without a single issue. They've been gushing about how great it all sounds ever since.

Apple people who actually own Sonos speakers really struggling with the new iDevice app for whatever reason: fire up the Mac Sonos app. It's the same as it's always been and works just fine. Or don't use the Sonos app at all and just airplay from Mac or iDevice to Sonos... or even command Siri to play your audio on Sonos speakers. Sonos seems extraordinarily ON getting the new app up to snuff ASAP. I'm confident it won't be years as it has been with some Apple apps. The Mac app works just fine and is exactly as it has been for years. Use it until the mobile app gets perfected if you are not doing as well with the mobile version as many friends & I are doing with it.

Now on with the "not Apple" brand thread bash-a-rama...

Whilst you can very easily airplay from Apple Music to your Sonos speakers you cannot get the benefit of Dolby atmos. I recently updated my Sonos beam and it was torture trying to authorise Apple Music, and finding the beam through the app was a nightmare (and finding the already existing surround speakers took factory resets). So I would surmise that the app is awful, and playing via airplay there is a noteable drop in sound quality for music mastered in Dolby atmos.

My experience won’t be the same for everyone but as a long time Sonos user I was very disappointed. However once up and running the Dolby atmos sound is lovely

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Again, not offering permanent bandaids here… just ways for people to keep using/enjoying their speakers without even needing the new app installed. This thread is full of drama posts claiming that since this one app has some bugs, whole systems are impossible to use, whole systems are now useless junk, etc. And yet, by applying some simple “think different,” almost all such drama claims can be addressed by options that do not need the Sonos app to be used at all... or even installed on iDevices. I’ve already offered many such options that work perfectly fine in my Apple + Sonos household.

If we want to nitpick some features, yes, we can identify some things that absolutely DO need a Sonos app and we can then blow those typically niche uses out of proportion to try to maintain the bash-a-rama… OR… we can still get MOST of our wants/needs met with alt work arounds until Sonos finishes debugging the new app, so we can resume doing whatever we want to do using their app.

As to this Atmos music issue, perhaps that is impossible without the app? I don’t know. The first thing I would try if that was urgently important to me would be using the MAC Sonos app to deliver Atmos music to my setup. That app remains as it was and thus should do what we want to do during this workaround period.

The next thing I would try is playing my Atmos music via AppleTV music app. It’s direct connection to a soundbar via Arc should have the technical capability to get it there if Apple supports that themselves... which, per that Apple website link... very much implies that they do.

If I have no AppleTV, I resurrect a retired iDevice, use dongle to give it an HDMI jack, link it to my Sonos soundbar via Arc and see if I can enjoy Atmos music that way.

And if nothing else works, I still enjoy music as almost all of it was intended when it was recorded by the original artists- in stereo (or mono in some cases)- for what should be a brief amount of time (weeks? A month or two?) until Sonos debugs the new app.

Yes, it would be great if anything wholesale overhauled worked perfectly right out of the gate. But we’re Apple people, quite accustomed to Apple making wholesale changes frequently… and then not fixing some bugs for upwards of years. What’s that common-place “rule” about new OS generations? Wait for .3 or .4 before upgrading… and then hope most of it “just works.” Lately for me, that’s become .5 or .6 because .3 and .4 seem to still suffer with many issues. Is our Apple tech "completely unusable" and "useless junk" until we get to .3, .4, .5 or .6? No??? What do you mean try this workaround for that problem, affecting "only a small number of users"? The OS's are not just a niche app- they are THE foundational "app" that every single Apple person has no choice but to use every time we use an Apple device.

I’m 100% confident Sonos will soon have a debugged app doing towards everything the old app could do as well as the old app. Why? Because 100% of their business is speakers and speakers only. They entirely depend on it. Between now and then, we Apple people can either gripe & moan and high drama the situation... OR do what we so readily do with countless Apple wholesale changes and embrace workarounds until Apple gets around to fixing problems. There are alt ways to temporarily resolve most issues until the new app is fully debugged. ”Think different.”

 

[SBlue1]

When Apple releases new emojis people complain that they should release better hardware, and others say the software designers don’t do the hardware design so it doesn’t matter.

At Sonos the hardware designers are moved to the software team to help get the app fixed. Lol!

 

[walterwhite1]

So update from me. Yesterday I rolled back my play 1s to the s1 app/speaker firmware. Immediately I noticed a huge change in responsiveness. Changing tracks was almost instant and the volume control via the app more stable and definitely a lot faster. Also on the s1 app the hardware volume keys work again for changing the music which is much more convenient on the iPhone. Also changing the volume on the speakers themselves is instant again rather than the 5/10 second delay under s2. Ok so the s1 app itself looks dates but everything else is there and the speakers are massively improved. What an earth did Sonos do to mess the s2 app so badly? It’s a huge worry when a switch back to the old fixes everything. The s2 app was perfectly fine on the play 1s until recent updates but I think I’ll just stick to this one to ensure they work properly! You can’t rely on Sonos to fix anything …….

Just another thought at least old Sonos customers have an advantage over the ones with new hardware. At least we can “”downgrade ”” from the madness!!!!