Hello, I received a notification that my older SONOS stuff, all working, including first gen Connects, a first gen 5 and 3, and a One, will be abandoned (except the One that is new enough) in terms of support and updates. A friend who has Roon suggested I could get it, and use my older SONOS units as end points. As SONOS will be ceasing software and hardware updates for those older units, will Roon still be able to use these units as end points moving forward? I have a mac mini as a media server with a lot of files, and stream both Tidal and Spotify.
James, thanks for the reply. This is part of the email SONOS sent me:
Continue using legacy products
You can continue using legacy products after May, but your system will no longer receive software updates and new features. Over time this is likely to disrupt access to services and overall functionality.
This seems to indicate that things will not work over time. I am presuming with their legacy app that will not be updated, but I donāt know. That is what I meant by abandoned.
I read the e-mail an hour ago. Around 60% of my system are old units. If I understand the e-mail correctly, the whole system wonāt get new updates as long as the old units are in place. If thatās it, Iām fine with it.
Would be good to get some official response to this as I got the email today too.
Imagine the thousands of users in this boat - not necessarily Roon users.
If Roon will always talk to the SONOS units then that at least gives me some comfort and I donāt have a bunch of unsalable paper weights.
Yeah, I get that. The whole thing sucks. For me to upgrade, I would need to hand them (SONOS) over nearly $1900 to replace the units I have. After applying their discount. Which, if they were moving to support high resolution, I might do. As it stands, they are not. So, I will be moving in a different direction.
I found a thread here that discusses inexpensive end points and has a bunch of options. So I can learn and replace as I go.
The Verge have a good article here on how they see the Sonos situation playing out. Of particular interest is their expectation that people will need to split their Sonos system into two, one with the newer devices and one with the legacy ones. IMHO that kinda defeats the whole point of Sonos.
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I am speaking with absolutely no knowledge on the Roon or Sonos side, but I would guess that as long as Sonos doesnāt somehow kill the old Sonos units they will still work with Roon, even if they no longer work in the Sonos ecosystem. It is actually a pretty cool situation for those of us who use old Sonos hardware with Roon. We can (hopefully) completely ignore whatever Sonos might do in the future and continue to enjoy the old hardware with Roon. A lot of assumptions I realize. I am surely not throwing a bunch more money a Sonos after what has already been spent. This āoldā gear was expensive!
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Yes, this seems possible, and it looks like another option moving forward is some sort of mod of the Connects that can be done. Though having it done looks more expensive than just getting a Raspberry Pi with a Hat or an Allo or something.
This is how we feel about the subject as well. The one obvious thing (to us) that they may break is interoperability between old and new devices in regards to syncing audio. On Sonos devices, we use their zone grouping mechanism, so you may be limited in what you can group Sonos if they were to change things in an incompatible manner with old devices.
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Well, my 14 day trial is up tomorrow, so I cancelled today so as not to get charged yet. Very interested, but want some more time to figure out what end points I am using and what subscription will be the best for me
Iām in the same boat.
Iāve been using the trial of Roon since last Friday. Itās just not enough time to know.
Roon interface is fine, but queue view is a little ānot to my tasteā - I prefer Sonos. Also, creating playlists is a bit more steps - it seems. Other than that is seems similar.
Iām moving forward with Roon, a bit reluctantly, simply because of the outlay in cash. I have a NUC arriving for the Core. I have an Allo DigiOne Sig for my first non-Sonos endpoint arriving soon, as well. It will be used with a Benchmark DAC3 / Woo Audio W-2 tube amp and Sennheiser HD800S. Thatās where I can dissect music the best. Then, Iāll add a server to my main rigā¦
It gets more difficult when you have to replace a Sonos Ampā¦ Maybe the ānew and improvedā Sonos amp will play nicer than my original old ones going forwardā¦ But for now, they work fine (I donāt group areas much, when listening).
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Except if I am intending to use bluesound endpoints because that works best for my family, and I need to get a bluesound unit in the house and see how it works with Roon given some of the threads here regarding some problems, AND to see if I want to pay for an additional program on top of what is already provided with bluesound. It is still a financial decision, and $119 is a bit of a steep investment when I am not certain which way Iām going to go.
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Just a brief reply to say that I am now set up with a mix of new, used and refurbished Bluesound devices (Node 2, Node 2i, Pulse P300, Pulse Flex) and things seem to be working well with Roon, and otherwise (Spotify Connect) for me. At least as well, if not a bit better in terms of stability and connection, as with my old SONOS stuff. The SONOS stuff is headed out for sale and I have migrated. Will be starting my subscription to Roon at the end of this trial period @kevin and @noris have allowed. I am satisfied this will work well, and be worth the upgrade from Sonos for me. @kevin @noris Thank you.
Now I am searching elsewhere to find a guide on setting up devices using the DSP features, etc. to get best benefit out of Roon and my gear. Will be a fun exploration. Let me know if anyone knows of a thread or resource for understanding those more advanced features and settings. Thanks!
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Glad to hear of the progress! You can find a wealth of information on our Knowledge Base or on this community forum.
We also have a DSP Knowledge Base Article which provides some great information regarding the available settings.
Any other questions on āhow is this supposed to work?ā, feel free to ask in Roon Software Discussion (Roon Software Section of this forum). Thanks!
Thank you. I will look at that material and learn and ask from there. Cheers!
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