I have just been given a sonos amp and have been trying to run it with Roon. When I have the Sonus Amp connected directly to my router with an eithenet cable, it works fine with Roon. But when I connect the Sonos Amp to my home network wirelessly (even if the Sonos amp is right next to the router) or through an ethernet cabe using a power line device to run internet through my home’s electrical wire, the Sonos amp will not play. It shows up as being enabled in Roon and the three little bars move as if music is being played, but nothing happens, and the status bar showing the progress in playing a track does not move. After a few seconds, I get a notice saying that Roon has lost control of the device. Any ideas on what the issue is and how to fix it?
I learned a long time ago that Sonos doesn’t work well with powerline Ethernet. I used to do this with my Sonos Connect and always ran into problems, and subsequently learned (I can’t remember the technical reasons why) that Sonos does not play well with it. So I stick to wi-fi with my Connect (I can’t get Ethernet to that location).
I’ll let others chime in on your other questions, but I have the same issue with my Sonos gear with ‘Roon has lost control of the device’ errors. I don’t think you can reliably avoid it from happening (there are other threads about this issue). For me I have better luck using Sonosnet via Roon (instead of Airplay). For others, AirPlay works better for them than Sonosnet. Test both out and choose the one that gives you the best experience when wanting to use your Sonos gear.
The best experience is to actually get ‘Roon Ready’ endpoints (I have two so far and they work extremely well over using Sonos). Something to consider long-term (I’m ever-so-slowly converting).
Hi Jack if you are going to go Sonos wireless then I can recommended a Sonos Boost plugged in near your router and only having that as the only plugged in Sonos device (should be pretty cheap on eBay)
Has worked for me and a number of others in making things more reliable. You can always run a decent length ethernet cable to it if you need to move it elsewhere
+1 on the above to get the Boost. When I worked with Sonos support a few years ago about this problem (spent a good few hours on the phone with them which was impressive that they even offered that kind of support), the end result that worked best was to plug in my Boost via Ethernet to router/switch (and I plugged one of my Sonos speakers directly into the Boost which was near it - that turned out to be better in my particular situation and equipment). Everyone’s network, equipment and layout is different, so it takes some time to figure out the best placement and configuration. Highly encourage working with Sonos support if you get the time (and a good idea to get rid of the powerline Ethernet connected to the Amp and go wi-fi).