SONOS Quality problems

[admin_exported]

Does anyone have any thoughts on alternatives to Sonos? I am giving up after 18 months of issues, 3 failed controllers, 1 failed ZP120 and ongoing connectivity problems and intermittent radio reception, I've asked Sonos for my money back though more in hope than expectation.

I love the idea if what the Sonos does, but it just doesn't work, so I'm really looking for something with the same functionality, Has anyone tried the Marantz NA7004?

I'm sorry if this sounds like a whinge, that's not my intention, but I'm looking for some alternatives and havent found too much that fits the bill.

 

[The_Lhc]

I love the idea if what the Sonos does, but it just doesn't work,

It does for the vast majority of users. Have you engaged Sonos support regarding the connectivity issues, they are the best in the world and usually issues like this are either down to wireless interference (particularly the "radio reception" you mention, I'm assuming you don't mean internet radio there) or duplicate IP addresses on your home network, which shouldn't be too difficult to fix? The Sonos forums are very good as well.

I have heard of screen issues with the CR200 controller and it's the one device I probably wouldn't bother with, particularly if you've got any kind of modern smartphone or Apple iDevice as they can all run the controller software. I'm also aware of hardware issues with the S5/Play:5 losing bass and a recent firmware update caused audio problems, but that was swiftly updated to remove the problem. I'm not aware of any inherent issues with the ZP120 though, so I suggest you've just been unlucky there (it does happen).

 

[Anonymous]

Done all that, spent so much time on the phone to Sonos support over the past year! and yes the attitude of their staff is great and they've tried pretty much every combination of reset, turning on and off again and running endless diagnostics but to no avail.

Yes I do mean internet radio, have now gone back to streaming via ipod/phone and have no issues over the normal home network so it's not the internet connection and I give all of my key devices reserved IP addresses on the network so it's not a network confilct.

As I say, I love the idea, but have not had success with it, we're moving house next month and I am going to do something different so I'm looking for alternatives.

 

[The_Lhc]

Well I can't explain the internet radio issue, all I can say is that we use it on our Sonos every weekend without issue, so it DOES work, which points to some other problem in your house or location (I can only imagine that perhaps it's the router itself blocking the Sonos devices, it's not a BT Homehub is it?). Given that you're moving anyway, wouldn't it be worth hanging onto the Sonos stuff to see if it improves in the new house (assuming you aren't taking the router with you)?

Either way, to have the sort of problems you've been having and for Sonos not to be able to fix it puts you in a vanishingly small minority of users, I'd put it at less than 0.0001% (which is a random number I plucked out of thin air but you get the point). I've never seen support not get to the bottom of an issue.

Have you tried the forum, if you explain everything on there you may well get one of the senior support people (probably Clay) look into the issues, if they can't fix it I'd be utterly astonished?

 

[professorhat]

Just to add, we also stream internet radio via the Sonos and it works just fine (not saying anything other than to add it should work okay!).

Would agree that it makes sense to hold on to the system and trying it out at the new place before replacing it, just to see if it's some localised issue at your current place.

 

[Lee H]

Is your ISP shaping your traffic in anyway? Some have very low bandwiths assigned to streaming as it's considered non-essential.

 

[amcluesent]

>I'm looking for some alternatives and havent found too much that fits the bill.<

Squeezebox kit is the usual alternative to Sonos in the mid-range, then it would Linn or Naim streamers going up or Apple going down into the bargain bucket.

Pretty much everything else has either a tiny user base or is awaiting firmware updates for key features (or both!)

 

[mykspence]

Please let me know if you want to sell the Sonos kit, I'll happily take some of it off your hands.

 

[The_Lhc]

Please let me know if you want to sell the Sonos kit, I'll happily take some of it off your hands.

Trading is in breach of the House Rules.

 

[mykspence]

Please let me know if you want to sell the Sonos kit, I'll happily take some of it off your hands.

Trading is in breach of the House Rules.

Sorry, I wasn't sad enough to read the rules. Perhaps someone could delete the terribly naughty post for me.

 

[mykspence]

.

 

[professorhat]

Sorry, I wasn't sad enough to read the rules.

You rebel, you.

 

[The_Lhc]

Please let me know if you want to sell the Sonos kit, I'll happily take some of it off your hands.

Trading is in breach of the House Rules.

Sorry, I wasn't sad enough to read the rules.

Which in itself is a breach of the House Rules. They're here btw.

 

[Lee H]

Sorry, I wasn't sad enough to read the rules.

Presumably suggesting that all those that have are, as you put it, sad?

 

[The_Lhc]

Sorry, I wasn't sad enough to read the rules.

Presumably suggesting that all those that have are, as you put it, sad?

I don't think there's any presumption about it...

 

[mykspence]

we're moving house next month and I am going to do something different so I'm looking for alternatives.

Anyway back on topic.

I seriously suggest that you try the Sonos out in the new house before you spend more money. Your problems could well have been caused by some sort of electrical interference. Something as good as the Sonos system is well worth giving a second chance IMO.

 

[C.MacT.]

That threads a year old now, so I guess the guy has moved on. I'm in the same bracket. Sonos just fails, too often. I've spoken to the friendly guys on phone, they do the same tweaking, shifting channels, but the problem remains. My ISP has checked out their side and everything is ok on the router.

Sonos just don't work.

If you submit a diagnositcs through their help menu you get a number like 3360501. If you submit another 3mins later you'll get 3360517. that tells me there are 16 diagnostic requirements in that time. 5 a minute say. 300/hr. So over 3million diagnostic requests so far, and rising, and that's only from Sonos users who go that far and use the phone help line! What percentage is that of the people having endless dropout.

Sonos just don't do what it says on the tin.

If I switch to a speaker, using apple airport, there is no dropout. there is nothing wrong with my ISP or router. Sonos have intervened endlessly to no avail. I deduce they are nice guys but they can't fix an insufficient buffering system. They never admit this. they say they support lossless file, yet those are almost always the ones that drop.

you either go on your own experience or you drink the kool-aid.

Sorry. Sonos talks the talk only. Zero walking.

 

[professorhat]

As has been pointed out previously by others here, Sonos does work, just not for you. That may not be much in the way of compensation, but for the vast majority of people who use it, it works fine. If it didn't, this forum would be full of people complaining about it instead of just two, rather than a bandwagon of people singing its praises (look at any thread about streaming and see how many people recommend it to see this).

(BTW - I stream lossless files all the time - my entire library is lossless)

On the other hand, I did used to get a number of dropouts with Apple's Airport Express - not too bad considering its price, but way more than I ever have had with Sonos.

 

[The_Lhc]

If you submit a diagnositcs through their help menu you get a number like 3360501. If you submit another 3mins later you'll get 3360517. that tells me there are 16 diagnostic requirements in that time. 5 a minute say. 300/hr. So over 3million diagnostic requests so far, and rising, and that's only from Sonos users who go that far and use the phone help line! What percentage is that of the people having endless dropout.

Pretty sure you can't draw that conclusion just from diagnostic numbers. For one thing Sonos have barely sold 3 million units (if that in fact), so that would suggest everyone that's bought it has submitted at least one diagnostic, which is frankly not likely.

Sonos just don't do what it says on the tin.

It does.

If I switch to a speaker, using apple airport, there is no dropout. there is nothing wrong with my ISP or router. Sonos have intervened endlessly to no avail. I deduce they are nice guys but they can't fix an insufficient buffering system. They never admit this. they say they support lossless file, yet those are almost always the ones that drop.

I use nothing but lossless files on my Sonos system, I've NEVER had a dropout. Sounds very much like wireless interference to me.

you either go on your own experience or you drink the kool-aid.

Errr, ok.

Sorry. Sonos talks the talk only. Zero walking.

Not in my experience.

 

[Joe Cox]

Weird. We tend to get nothing but endless positive feedback about Sonos and we have a few users in the office, myself included, who rarely have any issue.

Part of the appeal, and their success, is that there aren't many genuine alternatives that offer the same streaming services plus the integration with a NAS and different options in terms of products (speakers and connect etc.)

 

[John Duncan]

they say they support lossless file, yet those are almost always the ones that drop

They support them if the source PC/NAS is wired, not if it's wireless. In fact they don't support a wireless music store at all. My music storage is wireless, so I use only lossy AAC (max 320k), which works fine - if I play a lossless file then I do indeed get dropouts.

 

[richardw42]

I don't recognise any of the problems flagged up.

I have 2 x CONNECT AND 2 x Play 3, also. Previously had a Play 5 no probs. the occasional Spotify issue I put down to intermittent internet, but that's very occasional

 

[Andy Clough]

Nor me. In fact, I gave up on AirPlay because it suffered from dropout all the time, but Sonos works a treat and is far more robust in my experience.

 

[farawaydave]

I used to have sonos problems,drop outs etc.I found the problem was internal cableing my router was on an extension from the main phone in line.When i pluged my router in an the main source hey presto no problems not one drop out in 4 months.(2 play 5s ,2 play 3s ,1 play 1 ,sonos sub)

 

[davedotco]

As a point of general 'best practice' I prefer a wired system for moving music data, with the 'Sonos Network' second choice and conventional wi-fi a long way third. My ideal would be a fully wired Sonos main system with short networking cables and the iPad as remote control only though I would be happy to use the Sonos wireless for secondary systems.

That said, I currently use an AEX, streaming Spotify from either a Macbook or an iPad, mostly the former. It took i bit of thought as to the best way to implement the setup but once done it is, virtually faultless.