Can I output to Sonos devices?

Support
1

Am I able to set up and output to a Sonos device? How do I set it up?

Thanks

2

Hi Michael,

Both Roon and Sonos support AirPlay, but it is very unlikely that Roon will support SonosNet or Sonos will support RAAT.

So, depending on the device, the answer may be yes, but only by AirPlay as a Roon Network zone or by an SPDIF or USB digital in where the Sonos device is treated as a Roon endpoint.

3

Sonos doesn’t have suport for airplay. They have suport for DLNA but I dont think Roon have suport for it.

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4

Ah, I saw AirPlay in the specs here under Music but now see that it’s limited to a “line in” connection from an AirPlay Express etc. Bit misleading that. Roon could connect to such Express or other AirPlay hub.

Yes, Roon doesn’t support DLNA.

So I think the end result is that Sonos devices won’t connect as network zones, but may connect as endpoints to a Core or Remote if they have a digital in.

5

It is possible if you connect an Airport Express to the line input on a Play:5 (both versions) or Connect. This input will be available to all Sonos devices as a music source.

Roon Remote controls the music and streams to Airport, Sonos-app controls which Sonos speakers and volume.

6

As I understand it the “line in” is an analog audio connection ?

So am I right in thinking the audio stream would be:

  • streamed from the Core to the AirPlay Express (AirPlay Network Zone)
  • converted to analog audio by a DAC in the Express
  • transmitted by analog interconnect to a Sonos Connect
  • converted to digital by an ADC in the Connect
  • streamed by SonosNet to an end Sonos device
  • converted to analog audio by a DAC in the end Sonos device
  • played on the end Sonos device

I’m afraid I’m going to have to report this to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to the Signal.

2 Likes
7

Well… Yes… But it is possible :smile:

8

Or airport digital spdif into the playbar :wink:

Sorry for the double post, I was in whatsapp mode.

9

You can directly steam to Sonos using AirSonos.

And here’s a little bit of a more readable article.

I got it working quite easily on my Mac after which you can add the devices to Roon. Even the grouping I made in Sonos is taken into account and I can group them even further from within Roon. Nice!

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10

@Maarten_Boerma works like a charm! However, I did have to do some trickery in order to get it to work correctly. For those of you (if any) that are trying this and AirSonos hangs just saying “Searching for sonos devices” you might have to change your broadcast address in the sonos.js file inside of the node.js section of AirSonos. My router is a 192.168.1.1 so the broadcast address is 192.168.1.255. (I also had to ‘$: sudo nano’ via terminal into the file as it is a locked file).

https://github.com/bencevans/node-sonos/issues/73
Midway down, you will find the answer by “hypascend” from June 2, 2015

1 Like
11

I was easily able to setup the airsonos on windows. I can see devices but when I play to them all I get is loud static. Any ideas?

12

I think people just need a diagram.

13

@Darron_Stepanich Not really sure what would cause loud static but many many people have reported problems when using the bridge. If you have a bridge, try removing it and see what happens?

14

@Darron_Stepanich Did you find a solution please ? I have the same problem (PC + W10), I don’t use a bridge and only get loud static in the Sonos Play 5.

Let me add that, in Roon / Settings / Audio, I see my 7 Sonos devices, but they all have the same IP address, when airsonos properly see 7 different IP addresses (in the cmd Window)

15

I haven’t had any luck resolving this but to be honest haven’t spent anytime trying. Not even sure where to start. Anyone else have any luck resolving?

16

Hello Roon team, Any idea ? Or feedback please ?

17

I’ll drop a flag for @brian and @mike to see if they can say anything useful, but issues arising from using AirSonos to enable AirPlay with Sonos hardware is a fair way off the Roon reservation.

Others appear to have it working and they, or any forum associated with AirSonos, may be a better source of information.

18

We have not been able to reproduce this in-house, but we think we understand the problem. There is something in the next build that we hope will fix this.

1 Like
19

Wow…thanks for looking at this. I know this is a third party solution but awesome to see you guys helping. Love roon and this helps me leverage my existing investments.

Will try again when I’m back in town. If you know what build this makes it in please report back so I can try and repro again.

Thx.

20

@brian Many thanks, good news. Let’s try this improvement as soon as it’s available.