I ordered a play 5 and two play 1s in the U.K. immediately after the brexit vote as the pound tanked. Compared to pricing in The Netherlands I received a free play 1 that way.
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Sonos Speakers Coming to Apple Online Store Today, Retail Stores on October 5
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I ordered a play 5 and two play 1s in the U.K. immediately after the brexit vote as the pound tanked. Compared to pricing in The Netherlands I received a free play 1 that way.
I used to have a multi-room AirPlay setup and experienced many dropouts, speakers would vanish etc.. it just wasn't robust. Moved to Sonos and never looked back although I still use AE units for WiFi coverage around the house.
One advantage at the time was touted to be that Sonos creates it's own MESH network (aka Sonosnet) which helps to improve stability, I think you can do WiFi only now too though and no longer need the Sonos bridge. Personally I've still got my bridge for my setup (7 zones, mostly Play 1s)
AP is great for casual streaming of media, but for a dedicated sound solution Sonos is the way forward IMO.
One advantage at the time was touted to be that Sonos creates it's own MESH network (aka Sonosnet) which helps to improve stability, I think you can do WiFi only now too though and no longer need the Sonos bridge. Personally I've still got my bridge for my setup (7 zones, mostly Play 1s)
AP is great for casual streaming of media, but for a dedicated sound solution Sonos is the way forward IMO.
Almost exactly the same setup here except I don't have a bridge (and I have a second connect in the office).
I spent years trying to integrate everything so my music would all play everywhere without duplication of effort whilst also trying to avoid Sonos as I though it was expensive (and I had a high-end Denon AV amp already with wifi, Airplay, Spotify etc) but in the end I relented and have never looked back.
The lack of native Airplay is irritating but not insurmountable. I have an airport express (Apple TV would also work) plugged into the line in of my connect. Just airplay to the airport express and voila, Airplay everywhere
I care. I have iTunes on my Mac and Music app on my iPhone, why would i want another app for something i can already do and with much greater flexibility.
This isn't something special, is it? I mean, you can buy SONOS anywhere and the service/features/compatibility doesn't change a thing?
How is using iTunes on your Mac and Music app on your iPhone offering you "much greater flexibility" than the Sonos app that:
1) Integrates your entire system in a single app that allows for simple remote control of every zone, including:
-playing the same or different audio in each zone
-independently or combined control of volume of each zone
-grouping or ungrouping of zones
-joining or separating speakers into pairs or stand-alone output
2) Doing the above from any device on your network (i.e. - I can start something from my Mac throughout the house, and my wife can ungroup her office and play something different from her iPhone without my intervention - something that happened literally during the time I was typing this response)
3) Integrates your entire collection, plus streaming services beyond just Apple Music, into the app such that you can do #1 and #2 above from any device.
4) Allows you to pack up and leave the house, with the originating device, while still keeping the audio playing since the app is merely a remote control and the speakers are not reliant on them to continue to work. While this might sound minor if you live alone, in a household with several people it is an amazingly important benefit.
I know iTunes and the Music App can do some of the above. And, I totally get it if you are happy with AirPlay, iTunes, and the Apple Music app. Keep with them. However, stating that they offer much greater flexibility is just off-base and may confuse people that don't understand Sonos' features and benefits (and there is a lot of misinformation and misunderstanding out there, just read this thread and you'll see that).
That is just because you are using 2.4Ghz wifi (which is the same frequency the Microwave works at), if you use 5Ghz wifi, you don't get that problem.
I have had to support both systems for a living and both will drop out if not setup properly and aren't on a stable network. I personally prefer Airplay (been using it since 2004) because it is more versatile (you can stream audio from any device connected to the network). But I can see the why people prefer the integrated solution sonos gives you.
iTunes doesn't work with any streaming service, other than Apple. Sonos works with pretty much every streaming service.
I wasn't questioning whether you personally needed/wanted multiple apps. I was refuting your assertion that iTunes/Music apps offer much greater flexibility.
Airplay will work with any of them. Most content is the same on all services, so not many will have many services in use, but by all means you use what you think is best for you and i'm not arguing about it from a general point of view, but rather from a personal one.
Sonos also lets you integrate 3rd party speakers into your Sonos network. It is a fantastic system, I just point it at my music library, and connected streaming services. Also you can pipe in your Television audio through out the house too which has been used for Sports.
Finally Sonos is is Dracula Spe... I mean Sonos spelled backwards.
Finally Sonos is is Dracula Spe... I mean Sonos spelled backwards.
Well for one i can add and remove speakers at home as i please and i don't have to run that setup again and again like i have to with sonos. I can take my Apple gear to a friends house and play music with no setup required. Airplay speakers broadcast their presence on a network automatically.
The other benefits I get with Sonos is it's part of my home automation. When I get home I have music automatically playing through the house. I can tell my Echo to play a playlist, etc.
This is completely off-track of what you initially stated and what I was responding to. Your initial statement was "I care. I have iTunes on my Mac and Music app on my iPhone, why would i want another app for something i can already do and with much greater flexibility."
Now you are moving from app use and audio enjoyment to setup/configuration. Sonos is a "whole home audio system". It is not and has never been marketed as a portable system. So if your use requires portability, then absolutely AirPlay speakers and Bluetooth speakers would be better options.
That being said, I ran setup 1-1/2 years ago when I bought my Sonos system. Not since.
Bought my first Sonos speaker last month (just a Play:1) and yeah - awesome piece of kit. It's really blown me away for many reasons... ease of use, functionality (I've got Spotify, digital radio channels, Amazon Music and my local NAS based MP3 collection all available) and sound quality. It's a complete, really slick package.
The Sonos App is very decent too so no complaints there. More than happy to have it all self contained in that application IMHO.
Might have to get another speaker bought soon to pair with the first one
The Sonos App is very decent too so no complaints there. More than happy to have it all self contained in that application IMHO.
Might have to get another speaker bought soon to pair with the first one
Might have to get another speaker bought soon to pair with the first one
That is how it starts, now I have 6 speakers 2 sound bars and a bass.
Yes I know. My problem is the one spot in my home my two access points don't reach on 5 GHz is my kitchen. So when I'm in my kitchen I drop down to 2.4Ghz channels bacause they have better range. Then the microwave kills that when on. So yes I could solve the problem by adding a third access point.
Tracks that are recorded/ripped at a higher bit rate that your normal tracks from say iTunes or the such.
http://www.hdtracks.com/
https://www.discogs.com/label/34886-DTS-Entertainment
When people rip them, they are usually pretty high on the bit rate meter. Some rip from a highrez disk or an vinyl record.
AirPlay is very well relevant if you already have AirPlay speakers and want to stream to more than one room!
I have always felt that Sonos is very limited in what it offers. The fact that you need to relay on the Sonos-app and that whatever you want to playback needs to support Sonos is very limiting.
Yeah I know that most popular music services supports Sonos, but what if you want to playback a podcast? The Apple Podcast.app, Pocket Casts, Overcast, Downcast etc.. None of the supports Sonos as far as I know. I use my bedroom speaker for Podcast listening every day.
Not having any kind of feature that ensures you can playback whatever is playing on your phone, tablet or notebook like you have with AirPlay feels really lacklustre if you ask me.
And all this is before we start to tackle the other issues which are the limited range of hardware supporting Sonos. Most mid and high-end home stereos, av-receivers and amplifiers feature built-in support for AirPlay. Many mid-range and high-end "all-in-one" speakers support AirPlay. None supports Sonos other than the very few models Sonos sells themselves and even though some of the doesn't sound all too bad they cost quite a lot for what you get.
Sonos do sell a "wireless bridge" you can connect using analogue or digital to existing speakers and audio systems, as well as a dac/amplifier you can use to connect to passive speakers but the prices of those are rather ridiculous for the price. It's much cheaper to simply grab a Apple AirPort Express or even a Apple TV.
The one thing you don't get with AirPlay though is native cross-platform support. On Android and Windows you need to rely on the use of third-party solutions. But they mostly work just fine.
But there is one thing that is really nagging me about AirPlay. First of you have the fact that you have no logical of streaming to multiple speakers in iOS. On the Mac you have various solutions, you have native support for it within iTunes and various third-party software also gives you the capability of streaming to multiple speakers. On iOS? Not so much. I can't for the life of me understand why Apple have not added support for this.
Secondly, every time I stream to multiple speakers in my home my living room with a RX-V3900 Yamaha Receiver is always slightly out of sync with the other speakers which is really irritating. I have yet to figure a way to adjust this. the receiver itself has no native support for AirPlay so it's done through a Apple TV (Gen4) so I suspect it has something to do with added delay when going through the Apple TV and the AV-receiver but even when I run "Pure Direct" on the receiver, disabling all processing done by the receiver the delay is still there. There is no option for adjusting delay on the Apple TV itself so I'm pretty much stuck with my living room being just so slightly out of sync with the speaker on the kitchen, bedroom and bathroom.....
Yeah I know that most popular music services supports Sonos, but what if you want to playback a podcast? The Apple Podcast.app, Pocket Casts, Overcast, Downcast etc.. None of the supports Sonos as far as I know. I use my bedroom speaker for Podcast listening every day.
Not having any kind of feature that ensures you can playback whatever is playing on your phone, tablet or notebook like you have with AirPlay feels really lacklustre if you ask me.
And all this is before we start to tackle the other issues which are the limited range of hardware supporting Sonos. Most mid and high-end home stereos, av-receivers and amplifiers feature built-in support for AirPlay. Many mid-range and high-end "all-in-one" speakers support AirPlay. None supports Sonos other than the very few models Sonos sells themselves and even though some of the doesn't sound all too bad they cost quite a lot for what you get.
Sonos do sell a "wireless bridge" you can connect using analogue or digital to existing speakers and audio systems, as well as a dac/amplifier you can use to connect to passive speakers but the prices of those are rather ridiculous for the price. It's much cheaper to simply grab a Apple AirPort Express or even a Apple TV.
The one thing you don't get with AirPlay though is native cross-platform support. On Android and Windows you need to rely on the use of third-party solutions. But they mostly work just fine.
But there is one thing that is really nagging me about AirPlay. First of you have the fact that you have no logical of streaming to multiple speakers in iOS. On the Mac you have various solutions, you have native support for it within iTunes and various third-party software also gives you the capability of streaming to multiple speakers. On iOS? Not so much. I can't for the life of me understand why Apple have not added support for this.
Secondly, every time I stream to multiple speakers in my home my living room with a RX-V3900 Yamaha Receiver is always slightly out of sync with the other speakers which is really irritating. I have yet to figure a way to adjust this. the receiver itself has no native support for AirPlay so it's done through a Apple TV (Gen4) so I suspect it has something to do with added delay when going through the Apple TV and the AV-receiver but even when I run "Pure Direct" on the receiver, disabling all processing done by the receiver the delay is still there. There is no option for adjusting delay on the Apple TV itself so I'm pretty much stuck with my living room being just so slightly out of sync with the speaker on the kitchen, bedroom and bathroom.....
Would be great with AirPlay though ... sitting on my Mac and viewing youtube and other things - would be nice to forward the sound to my Sonos speakers.
Not everything comes from my libraries
I really hope that this little collaboration between Apple and Sonos will encourage them to create HomeKit suppport. Absolutely love the new home app which I have all my lights added to and adding Sonos would be the cherry on top.