I avoided being an early adopter for fear that the upgrade would interfere with zone grouping of Sonos products. My Sonos products are all S2 compatible— Sonos Ones, 1 PORT & 1 BRIDGE.
What has your experience been? Any upper limit to # of zones playing same source?
I have a Sonos Boost connected first in line to my router with 3 Sonos Connects streaming over wi-fi into hi-fi separates, using the digital outputs. In order to try the S2 experience I traded up one of my Connects for a discount voucher towards the purchase of an S2 Sonos Port. After a months trial I was not convinced that the Port offered any improvement in sound quality over the Connect so I have returned it. Interestingly, I checked with Sonos, prior to returning my Connect that this could be restored. So the message is, don’t bin your old Sonos products in a hurry. Sonos also informed me that their earlier “bricking” policy had now ceased (following user outcry).
Any differences that I have noticed between S1 and S2 are made in the context of playing my music library (of ripped CD’s) from my NAS. I do not subscribe to any music services, so my points are or limited scope.
I found the changing background colours when playing albums from my music library annoying in S2, presumably this is to contrast with the album cover artwork. Unfortunately the background colour often reverts to a dirty shade of brown, no doubt compatible with my choice of music. I much prefer the clear dark static background displayed on S1. One positive that I particularly noticed with S2 are the more advanced volume control functions which can now control the digital output, if required, unlike S1. Therefore the final verdict is largely dependant on the users requirements of use, the borders these are, the more S2 appears worthwhile. S2 has many extra functions that not all users will benefit from at present. However S2 is in it’s infancy so expect plenty of future upgrades/products for obtaining. I keep thinking that one day my Sonos has to be replaced for something significantly better. However, the App being so good keeps you hanging in there.
Applogies for my bad spelling!
Thanks David –
I have Roon for playback both on the main rig but also for playback in Sonos zones, either individually or grouped. It’s nice to have the volume control on my iPhone to control playback volume without opening the Roon app – perhaps someday Roon will support that nice feature.
I’m particularly interested in whether you saw any troubles playing to Sonos Zones after you upgraded from S1 to S2. I still use the Sonos app as a fallback system, particularly for parties where I use legacy Sonos playlists. Most of my current listening is via Roon either to stereo directly or to Sonos zones in the house.
Sadly, I bricked my Connect early on for a 30% PORT discount. Sonos insists it can’t be unbricked.
Harold
Hi Harold,
I did encounter some difficulty running S1 and S2 products under separate control Apps. I had to involve Sonos technical support to help resolve this. My Sonos Boost did not like it and disconnected itself from WiFi. Now it’s back on and working OK. A further point I did not previously mention is that I would be facing the cost of 3 Ports to upgrade to S2.
Several weeks ago I underwent a trial of Roon, installing the root on my Mac Mini and using a Connect as an end point. This seemed awkward and slow to navigate compared to the native Sonos App. The upside was that I was able to play Roon on my desktop computer system where the root is installed, something you can’t do with the Sonos desktop controller.
I have a decent stereo set-up in a music room, I would like to get something significantly better than my Sonos for that room, however, I am not optimistic that all manufacturers will survive the present climate and am holding back for now.
Just a further thought concerning your old Connect, have you binned it yet? Could be worth a further try to get it restored or seek financial compensation in lieu of same, especially as the Sonos policy has changed. They cannot be seen to be discriminating between users.
Are y’all seeing track names in the Sonos app? Mine are garbled.
(I posted a new thread on the topic too)
Agree it’s nice to control volume in the phone app without extra clicks.
@Jeffrey_Gray yes any song being played from Roon to Sonos has a special naming where the track is all messed up. But thankfully it does not affect playback or scrobbling etc
I have learnt to ignore it
Other than that, I have been a happy S2 customer since the beta
Regards
Mike
I set up a ROCK and moved my core there, and now the Sonos decodes the track names! This is quite nice.
Jeffery since when? I have always had a Rock based system and all I get is garbled song names.
I rarely use the Sonos app so it’s not a problem, but it would still be nice
Mike
I think you must have activated the Sonos zones via Airplay (as opposed to Sonos streaming). That would explain what you see.
Yes I just went into check and mine has not changed and the song titles are still all garbled (I have Airplay disabled)
Mike
My track names are garbled again, artist names are missing, and no cover art.
Shouldn’t this be a solveable problem that Sonos or Roon could work out? maybe together?
Jeff