Sonos replace / upgrade
Discussion
Currently we have Sonos in 3 zones in the house. It came already installed but is now ageing and with all the Sonos 'upgrade' issues I think it is time to replace.
What are people doing, sticking with Sonos or going with something else?
We've currently got :
Sonos Bridge
Sonos ZP100 (the big beasts) connected to speakers in the ceiling
Sonos ZP100 connected to free standing speaker and was taking input from a CD Player
Sonos Connect connected to Bose and then 5.1 speakers
(and a Controller, but that is no longer useable due to the upgrades)
Am looking for something which will replace the Sonos - Musiccast by Yamaha looks and sounds good, but am I just going to be signing up to another Sonos and binning it 'soon'? A WXA-50 and maybe 1 or 2 WXC-50s seem to be the best option here, but even that comes to around £1,000 if not more. Am I missing a cheaper alternative or do I just need to accept that 1k is what it will take? Or stick with Sonos, but that seems to be more like £2,500
I'm guessing that Musiccast doesn't require a bridge.
What are people doing, sticking with Sonos or going with something else?
We've currently got :
Sonos Bridge
Sonos ZP100 (the big beasts) connected to speakers in the ceiling
Sonos ZP100 connected to free standing speaker and was taking input from a CD Player
Sonos Connect connected to Bose and then 5.1 speakers
(and a Controller, but that is no longer useable due to the upgrades)
Am looking for something which will replace the Sonos - Musiccast by Yamaha looks and sounds good, but am I just going to be signing up to another Sonos and binning it 'soon'? A WXA-50 and maybe 1 or 2 WXC-50s seem to be the best option here, but even that comes to around £1,000 if not more. Am I missing a cheaper alternative or do I just need to accept that 1k is what it will take? Or stick with Sonos, but that seems to be more like £2,500
I'm guessing that Musiccast doesn't require a bridge.
What is your concern over the 'upgrade' issues exactly?
I've got a Bridge, a couple of ZP100's, 3 ZP80's and a few older Play 1's and a gen 1 Play 5 - all work very well.
Yes, the old style controllers got phased out, but i use a couple of old iphones (6 &7) with the Sonos 1 app on them as controllers and all seems fine.
I was worried initially over the original move to force everyone to upgrade or lose functionality, but to be honest i am not interested in all of the latest sonos gear announcements, and dont' use their in-house sonos radio (i use tune-in for radio).
So unless you are hankering after some of the current sonos gadgets or Sonos Radio, then you're existing set-up should still keep on going for a few years yet.
Sorry - i know this isn't the PH way, and perhaps i should have suggested you spent 2k on a new shiny
- if you are happy with the current sonos system you have then stay happy
I've got a Bridge, a couple of ZP100's, 3 ZP80's and a few older Play 1's and a gen 1 Play 5 - all work very well.
Yes, the old style controllers got phased out, but i use a couple of old iphones (6 &7) with the Sonos 1 app on them as controllers and all seems fine.
I was worried initially over the original move to force everyone to upgrade or lose functionality, but to be honest i am not interested in all of the latest sonos gear announcements, and dont' use their in-house sonos radio (i use tune-in for radio).
So unless you are hankering after some of the current sonos gadgets or Sonos Radio, then you're existing set-up should still keep on going for a few years yet.
Sorry - i know this isn't the PH way, and perhaps i should have suggested you spent 2k on a new shiny
- if you are happy with the current sonos system you have then stay happy Most common issues i am finding with legacy sonos gear is wifi.
They seem to have changed the way the system operates and it is causing issues with system that were set up differently originally.
If you do decide to move away, the sonos pricing is so close to the BlueSound range that it is a deffinate option. More open across several manufacturers. Its just getting the hardware thats a challenge at the moment.
They seem to have changed the way the system operates and it is causing issues with system that were set up differently originally.
If you do decide to move away, the sonos pricing is so close to the BlueSound range that it is a deffinate option. More open across several manufacturers. Its just getting the hardware thats a challenge at the moment.
I have a mix of old and new on S1. So far it is working fine and I have no need to upgrade to S2. I just don’t know how long they will support the app for.
My original install came with the house. That was 12 speakers all running off one Sonia amp. It was surprisingly successful for background music. I added an amp and speakers for the back yard which wasn’t powerful enough to drive the speakers so I went to a connect and a separate amp. I now use the spare amp for the basement which in truth isn’t powerful enough still as I upgrade the ceiling speakers in the basement to dustbin lids for the kids to go crazy. My next purchase will be another connect and separate amp to drive the basement. Once that happens I can divide the different floors.
What’s my point? Before buying a house with Sonos I was very against the brand because their standalone speakers are not great. But, buying amps and using my own speakers means I’m using their integration and app which was great. Then they did the BS of S1 and S2 apps. They have mostly backed off that s
t by allowing new stuff on S2, for now.
My original install came with the house. That was 12 speakers all running off one Sonia amp. It was surprisingly successful for background music. I added an amp and speakers for the back yard which wasn’t powerful enough to drive the speakers so I went to a connect and a separate amp. I now use the spare amp for the basement which in truth isn’t powerful enough still as I upgrade the ceiling speakers in the basement to dustbin lids for the kids to go crazy. My next purchase will be another connect and separate amp to drive the basement. Once that happens I can divide the different floors.
What’s my point? Before buying a house with Sonos I was very against the brand because their standalone speakers are not great. But, buying amps and using my own speakers means I’m using their integration and app which was great. Then they did the BS of S1 and S2 apps. They have mostly backed off that s
t by allowing new stuff on S2, for now. For reference, I'm running a MusicCast based setup and have been quite impressed - it's worked flawlessly for 2 years and does everything I need it to do. The app isn't incredible but works well once you get the hang of it.
I have limited experience with Sonos other than occasionally using it in holiday houses and seeing friends use it but it MusicCast definitely seems less glitchy,although I guess that's probably specific install dependant.
I have limited experience with Sonos other than occasionally using it in holiday houses and seeing friends use it but it MusicCast definitely seems less glitchy,although I guess that's probably specific install dependant.
snowandrocks said:
For reference, I'm running a MusicCast based setup and have been quite impressed - it's worked flawlessly for 2 years and does everything I need it to do. The app isn't incredible but works well once you get the hang of it.
I have limited experience with Sonos other than occasionally using it in holiday houses and seeing friends use it but it MusicCast definitely seems less glitchy,although I guess that's probably specific install dependant.
Good to hear - I'm still undecided!! What MusicCast devices have you got and speakers etc..?I have limited experience with Sonos other than occasionally using it in holiday houses and seeing friends use it but it MusicCast definitely seems less glitchy,although I guess that's probably specific install dependant.
eps said:
I'm not in a rush to change, but the constant update before you can play music is starting to grate. Especially as this is all S1 only and will never work with S2.
I posted pretty much exactly this gripe about 2 or 3 years ago and got absolutely flamed by the Sonos fanbois.It's a massive PITA and drove me away from Sonos completely - I gave all of my Sonos kit away.
I've replaced it with a Ruark R3 which hasn't needed a single software update in the 2+ years we've had it.
The most obvious direct replacement that has a full set of components including amps is the Yahama range. When Sonos first split S1 and S2 I asked Yamaha how long the guaranteed to support kit for the answer was so wishy washy it seemed it would be less time than Sonos and no guarantee they won’t do the same or worse (drop support entirely). So better the devil you know: I’m sticking with Sonos
I sold all my Sonos S1 stuff on ebay when we moved into our new house - got good prices for it too (one ZP90 connect and one cr200 remote). For the very pricey sum of £480 with richer sounds I bought 2 x yamaha music cast wx 010 speakers and 2 x yamaha music cast WXAD-10 wireless streaming adaptors (as I have 2 existing amps with speakers). Admittedly 1 of each were clearance items so I made a saving there of about £60-80 off list on the whole lot.
Now I love the sound - as good as any, and when we're entertaining we use the 2 wx010's as a stereo pair - the linking on the app works really well. I don't even miss the optical connection on the zp90 to my yamaha amp; I'm now using the red and white analogue leads from one of the wxad10s and I can't tell the difference.
I will confess that Sonos have the advantage with their app and playlists - they just work perfectly out of the box. Unfortunately because I'm old school and always like to own the CD (I have about 450) and I rip those in flac format to a QNAP NAS, there have been some issues with the yamaha app. The standard musiccast app interface offers you artist then goes straight to songs, not albums. Not great when you want to listen to a new album by someone you've already got other albums by.
I got round the problem by installing a free app on the QNAP called Minimserver. The music cast app can see this "server" and has put things in the correct order, artist, then album. However the next issue I have no idea how to work around. Once I add new music to the NAS and refresh the minimserver app, none of the playlists work - they display the right track but play something entirely different. Oh and you're only allowed 5 playlists per device.
If Yamaha could fix that then they will have a very impressive system. The speakers are easily as good as Sonos and they're a 1/3 of the price. It's just the app with music coming the server that let's it down.
Also visitors and relatives love coming over and using the internet radio - our internet radio history on the app covers stations from Europe, brazil, peru and india.
TL:DR - I highly recommend Yamaha Music Cast, it's good quality, sounds great and it's so much cheaper than sonos. Just expect some annoyances if you use music coming from your own personal server.
Now I love the sound - as good as any, and when we're entertaining we use the 2 wx010's as a stereo pair - the linking on the app works really well. I don't even miss the optical connection on the zp90 to my yamaha amp; I'm now using the red and white analogue leads from one of the wxad10s and I can't tell the difference.
I will confess that Sonos have the advantage with their app and playlists - they just work perfectly out of the box. Unfortunately because I'm old school and always like to own the CD (I have about 450) and I rip those in flac format to a QNAP NAS, there have been some issues with the yamaha app. The standard musiccast app interface offers you artist then goes straight to songs, not albums. Not great when you want to listen to a new album by someone you've already got other albums by.
I got round the problem by installing a free app on the QNAP called Minimserver. The music cast app can see this "server" and has put things in the correct order, artist, then album. However the next issue I have no idea how to work around. Once I add new music to the NAS and refresh the minimserver app, none of the playlists work - they display the right track but play something entirely different. Oh and you're only allowed 5 playlists per device.
If Yamaha could fix that then they will have a very impressive system. The speakers are easily as good as Sonos and they're a 1/3 of the price. It's just the app with music coming the server that let's it down.
Also visitors and relatives love coming over and using the internet radio - our internet radio history on the app covers stations from Europe, brazil, peru and india.
TL:DR - I highly recommend Yamaha Music Cast, it's good quality, sounds great and it's so much cheaper than sonos. Just expect some annoyances if you use music coming from your own personal server.
I like music cast but found the same type of glitches I get with my Sonos. Maybe it's a Spotify thing but music can be playing out the speakers and still carriers on when you change the song or pause it.
I might try a Harmon kardon citation as these get similar reviews to Sonos but are a lot cheaper. Also I think the market was flooded with these a while back as they were given away with mobile phones so are now on ebay for pennies.
I might try a Harmon kardon citation as these get similar reviews to Sonos but are a lot cheaper. Also I think the market was flooded with these a while back as they were given away with mobile phones so are now on ebay for pennies.
I ditched all my Sonos speakers after the upgrade debacle last year and bought a bunch of the original Apple HomePods as they were knocking them out cheap through John Lewis. They sound pretty good and generally work well if you're invested in Apple's ecosystem but of course no longer available new.
The problem with all this connected kit is not the upgrades themselves - it is how long they will be supplied for.
Yes, you can circumvent some of them by using an old phone, but there will come a point where the application (no longer supported…) cannot be run on a phone with > xxx.xxx version of the operating system on it, and then you are stuffed.
I’ve recently bought a Bluesound Nad M10V2, which is a lovely thing, but I’m under no illusion it will be as useful as a brick in 10 years, maybe 15.
Yes, you can circumvent some of them by using an old phone, but there will come a point where the application (no longer supported…) cannot be run on a phone with > xxx.xxx version of the operating system on it, and then you are stuffed.
I’ve recently bought a Bluesound Nad M10V2, which is a lovely thing, but I’m under no illusion it will be as useful as a brick in 10 years, maybe 15.
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