Sonos Has New Devices, a New OS, and Yes, a New App (wired.com) 57
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Wired: Sonos has a new app. Stop me if you've heard this one before. The smart speaker company, long a darling of the audio industry, undid much of the goodwill it earned with its multiroom speakers through a bevy of software updates that broke its app in 2024. Almost all app users hated it, citing the loss of features like volume control and accessibility tools meant to help blind people use the wireless speaker system. Sonos eventually owned up to the mistake, considered bringing back the old app again, then booted its CEO and marched its new leaders out to apologize profusely to win back the company's furious customers.
Now, Sonos says it has a brand-new app update, infused with lots of generative AI features. The company also announced a new soundbar and its second pair of over-the-ear headphones. Sonos representatives say it doesn't want to be seen as a speaker company anymore, but as something bigger and more holistic. "For years people have been seeing us as a speaker company," says Brandon Holley, the interim hardware lead at Sonos. "What we actually are is an audio operating system." The company is calling that operating system Sonos 27, and it manifests in a few ways.
[...] This is a lot of change for Sonos, something the company hasn't always handled gracefully. Sonos' home systems already aren't the easiest to set up, sometimes requiring separate apps for older products. The company may be rejiggering itself as an "audio operating system," but its software has long been the source of its troubles with getting its products to work right. Will AI smarts fix that? Maybe for its newer devices. But anyone with an existing system may still struggle. The AI features on products and in the Sonos 27 app will be opt-in, meaning you can avoid them entirely. "That really is our new approach to our app release," Patel says. "We're going to bring our customers along. We're going to listen more." That would be a good plan. Sounds like Sonos' speakers will be listening more, too. Sonos is emphasizing a more "customer-centric feedback listening approach" after the backlash to its previous redesign. Improvements include easier tab navigation, better room sorting, revamped volume controls, and new system-health tools for diagnosing connection problems.
The centerpiece is Sonos 27voice, a generative AI voice assistant that can handle conversational music requests, connect with services like ChatGPT through Model Context Protocol, and power customizable "Sonos Custom Agents" for tasks such as automatically activating certain speakers. "Obviously AI is something that's very hot these days," Sonos software VP Sid Patel said. "So we have integrated various pieces of AI into our system." However, the features will only work with the newer S2 app, and Sonos cautions that "not every product will support every new feature," with detailed compatibility information coming later.
Sonos is also branding its multiroom networking technology Sonos Fabric, which what Patel calls "the magic that has existed for what Sonos was built on." New Fabric features include portable surround, which lets users temporarily move speakers between rooms and have them automatically configure themselves for surround sound, and Headphone Linking, which lets users seamlessly switch audio between Sonos speakers and headphones.
Now, Sonos says it has a brand-new app update, infused with lots of generative AI features. The company also announced a new soundbar and its second pair of over-the-ear headphones. Sonos representatives say it doesn't want to be seen as a speaker company anymore, but as something bigger and more holistic. "For years people have been seeing us as a speaker company," says Brandon Holley, the interim hardware lead at Sonos. "What we actually are is an audio operating system." The company is calling that operating system Sonos 27, and it manifests in a few ways.
[...] This is a lot of change for Sonos, something the company hasn't always handled gracefully. Sonos' home systems already aren't the easiest to set up, sometimes requiring separate apps for older products. The company may be rejiggering itself as an "audio operating system," but its software has long been the source of its troubles with getting its products to work right. Will AI smarts fix that? Maybe for its newer devices. But anyone with an existing system may still struggle. The AI features on products and in the Sonos 27 app will be opt-in, meaning you can avoid them entirely. "That really is our new approach to our app release," Patel says. "We're going to bring our customers along. We're going to listen more." That would be a good plan. Sounds like Sonos' speakers will be listening more, too. Sonos is emphasizing a more "customer-centric feedback listening approach" after the backlash to its previous redesign. Improvements include easier tab navigation, better room sorting, revamped volume controls, and new system-health tools for diagnosing connection problems.
The centerpiece is Sonos 27voice, a generative AI voice assistant that can handle conversational music requests, connect with services like ChatGPT through Model Context Protocol, and power customizable "Sonos Custom Agents" for tasks such as automatically activating certain speakers. "Obviously AI is something that's very hot these days," Sonos software VP Sid Patel said. "So we have integrated various pieces of AI into our system." However, the features will only work with the newer S2 app, and Sonos cautions that "not every product will support every new feature," with detailed compatibility information coming later.
Sonos is also branding its multiroom networking technology Sonos Fabric, which what Patel calls "the magic that has existed for what Sonos was built on." New Fabric features include portable surround, which lets users temporarily move speakers between rooms and have them automatically configure themselves for surround sound, and Headphone Linking, which lets users seamlessly switch audio between Sonos speakers and headphones.
New and improved VENDOR LOCK IN!!!!! (Score:2)
Re:New and improved VENDOR LOCK IN!!!!! (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
AI in the shitty app to control my audio equipment? Sign me the fuck up!
Yeah no (Score:5, Insightful)
Yeah no. Watched my friend get bitten by this company. Never again. You dont return to abusive relationships. Everything has changed baby they sayâ¦. Yeah then you get smacked again and others will mock you for going back because there was prior evidence of the abuse.
Re: (Score:3)
I had a few friends get completely hosed by the infamous app update.
I was always suspicious of the platform. Since it just didn't bother with any sort of interop.
When they sorta bricked all installs in one move I did laugh. That was the ultimate in bad releases. Clearly no one bothered to even review the Test Plan let alone the results.
I will never sign up to anything that smells of vendor lock in. Oracle, Salesforce, Microsoft, Are the kings of this.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
same
Re: (Score:2)
Re: Yeah no (Score:2)
So you used a version that didn't suffer from the issues while a substantial amount of their user base were affected and therefor all is right in the world?
Useless. You. And Sonos.
Re: (Score:2)
fool me once, shame on you
fool me twice, shame on ME
Great! (Score:2)
I'm sure that hopping on the AI bandwagon will fix everything.
Re: (Score:2)
You think they had great quality control of their software before, just wait!
But if "everything" is defined by Sonos's corporate perspective, it may well be right. The beauty of AI is that AI will ultimately decide how things should be. If you don't like it, you're the problem. And you might not like the solution even though billionaires will.
Re: (Score:1)
Sonos is mid-fi gear that is multi-room. That is literally what it is, your comments aren't a criticism but merely an observation of who they are. Interestingly, before the app catastrophe, the popular opinion of Sonos on /. was that they were a premium hifi vendor and I was a heretic for calling them mid-fi. Now I'm considered a Sonos fanboy yet my positions have never changed. They have an interesting product with little competition, and as a company they suck.
You may not think Sonos sounds good to yo
Re: (Score:2)
[Sadly] I bought two more Sonos speakers yesterday. We have an obscene number of them because we love the "music everywhere". Our house is actually wired for speakers, but that ends up costing significantly more than Sonos just for the speakers and amps. The Play5 speakers were very good quality (and bricked with teh App 2.0 update). I'm not a big fan of them... but they fill the need for whole home audio significantly better than anything else on the market.
(And they were an IT nightmare, especially wi
Unbroken Android playback yet? (Score:2)
No? DIAF, Sonos.
Brand new speakers worked great for a couple months before they defeatured what I was mainly using.
Doubling down (Score:5, Interesting)
So, instead of bringing back the things that customers wanted, they doubled down on shoving what nobody asked for. LOL. LMAO, even.
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
C'mon now. 5 years ago you couldn't launch something without blockchain.
Now you can't launch something without "AI".
It doesn't matter what people actually want or how useful (or not) AI will be in any specific application. I just want music to play and my movies to have surround sound. It's at the point where running wires back to an old-school amp is easier.
Heck, I still have my old MP3 collection that would easily fit on a few-years-old phone/tablet I could use to play them...with the benefit of no sub
A load of bullshit (Score:5, Interesting)
Having a Sonos system at home with 20 speakers, I'm sticking with the old S1 app and not adding any new speakers that require another app. All the issues that have been reported with the new app is a top of the iceberg of issues that they've created for us customers. Ultimately they want to drive more Sonos speaker sales by only having the newer speakers run with the latest app version.
The Ai fluff in this new app will hardly add the functionality that is truly needed. The most important part is sound quality and app reliability. You don't want a spinning app when wanting to turn down the volume or searching for a song. The new functionality with Ai functions added will not fix the fundamentals, but require the latest speakers that are only compatible with the newer S2 app. This is another marketing gimmick to drive more speaker sales.
Re: (Score:2)
Same here - S1 is all I'm having. When ebay runs out of replacements, then we'll buy something else, but it won't be Sonos.
I also note there are a few open source products that do a nice job of controlling Sonos now (and can blend S1 and S2 together), so we might not even need the S1 app much longer. We might need a hub, but actually that's an advantage because at least it won't forget about speakers or be so slow to start up like the Sonos app.
Side note: Our new car has Sonos branded speakers in it - and t
Re: (Score:2)
I bet you could grab packet captures of the app in action and have Claude slop code something to replace it. Not even joking.
Ha! (Score:2)
My sound system uses vacuum tubes and is immune from apps and shitty AI.
Re: (Score:2)
Just curious - push-pull or single-ended? Are the outputs triode, triode-wired pentode, pentode, ultralinear, or OTL? Tube or solid-state rectifiers? Stereo or dual-mono?
Not being nosy - just have an interest in the subject, as you can probably tell. If you're interested in the circuit topology angle as well as enjoying the sound of tube amps, you may find this site worthwhile: http://nutshellhifi.com/ [nutshellhifi.com] My personal favourites are "The Hidden Harmonics behind THD" and "Evolution of THD".
Re: (Score:2)
I've built a few over the years. First was a large single ended triode running conservatively with only 750 volts on the plate. That used two chassis with one being for power. The power supply is hybrid with the lower voltage driver stages using a 5AR4 rectifier and the high voltage section uses a silicon bridge. All CLC filtered except for the filaments which use AC.
Currently I have a much smaller setup with some small pentodes in push pull. The power transformer is from an old console hifi and I had to dr
Re: (Score:2)
Cool! I have some questions - no expectation of answers of course, 'cause we all have things to do beyond posting on Slashdot.
What output tube did you use in the SET amp? Did you use ultrafast diodes in the HV bridge? In your current amp, are the output tubes EL84?
Regarding triode-wiring, I've read good things about connecting the screen grid to the plate using a Zener and cap instead of just a resistor.
Love the toroidal output transformer idea, but I imagine it's a bit expen$ive...
Re: (Score:2)
The SET amp used 845s and the diodes were regular 1N4007s. Ultrafast diodes don't really have much advantage at 60hz. The biggest difference is made by adding snubbers to tame diode switching spikes. See https://www.diyaudio.com/commu... [diyaudio.com] for a good explanation.
Toroidal transformers from Toroidy in Poland used to be cheap (including shipping) if you ordered them from TME electronics. But a certain orange individual ruined that with tariffs and international shipping.
Re: (Score:2)
Thanks. I seem to recall some spectrum analyzer plots that suggested that ultrafast and Schottky diodes made it easier to suppress the RF created when the diode switches. It always seemed counterintuitive to me.
Now I understand why you called a B+ of 750V "conservative". 845 is a brute of a tube, and I'd love to hear an amp using one.
Old man thinking (Score:2)
The older I get the more I think we've forgotten how to make products that do their jobs well.
I fired my smart bulbs for being too clever at stupid tricks and bad at being lightbulbs.
For my birthday his year my mother bought me hands free soap dispensers that charge with USB and do the "will it or won't it" hand dance, and now I have to bring them out and hide my trusty unpowered pumps when she comes over. I could be mean, but she's coming up on 80. I'll play the game to make her happy.
My washer, dryer, and
Re: (Score:2)
Those battery powered hands free soap dispensers work best with sufficient ambient light, not in the dark. I hate them too, just a little less now that I know the trick.
Re: (Score:2)
There was a youtube video about when seemingly *all* products across multiple companies switched to non-repairable designs for things like washing machines and dryers that used to be super serviceable. He goes into detail showing an older model where the thing that holds the belts is just bolted on, then the *new* ones from multiple brands all the same year moved to a casted plastic thing that cannot be opened to replace a belt without breaking it then it cant reseal. All intentional and it would ruin any s
Re: Old man thinking (Score:2)
Funny, my comparatively new LG all-in-one wash/dry machine is very repairable. Haven't had to do much (drain pump, clean out), but it's all accessible, no special tools I've needed.
But Sonos? Yeah. Fuck them. Up the ass. With Scotchbrite.
Customer centric? (Score:1)
Customer centric? What's more customer centric than disabling speakers people bought in the past?
Never Sonos.
I could not care less (Score:3)
After the crap they pulled, they are on my permanent blacklist. Nothing they do will change that. And I did not even get hit personally.
Guerrila Hi-Fi Streaming (Score:2)
I'm a practitioner of "guerilla hi-fi" - you buy used, or build it yourself out of old schematics, rescue gear off the curb, etc.
o Speakers: 39 year old horns from Klipsch
o Receiver: 21 year old digital from panasonic
o Turntable : 49 years old Thorens
o Tape deck: 10 year old PC
o CD Player: Old beater Sony DVD
o Streaming: 20 year old Airport Express, hooked up with toslink, paired to my phone. AirPlay whatever I want from whatever "app" I want. Or from my own internal MP3 collection.
Not being beholden to a
Re: (Score:2)
I'm right there with ya:
- Speakers: 40 year old Magneplanars that a friend gave me (I had to re-glue some of the "coil" wiring)
- Receiver: 40 year old Carver C1
- Turntable: 40-50 year old Thorens
- Power Amp: new-ish Crown XLS 1502 (from Craigslist)
- Tape Deck: 40 year old Nakamichi from Goodwill (had to replace the belts)
- CD Player: none (all ripped for streaming)
- Streaming: 20 year old Squeezebox 3
Out of touch much? (Score:5, Insightful)
"For years people have been seeing us as a speaker company,"
Yes Brandon, this is the thing that people generally like. When the speakers work, they sound very good.
"What we actually are is an audio operating system." ...And this is the part that has been somewhere between tolerable and the biggest liability. Yes, when it works, it's great, but it's been so focused on being "automagic" that when there's a problem, it's like a Bugatti hitting a speed bump.
If Sonos wanted to claw back some good will, all they had to do was to implement a "generic Bluetooth mode" and an aux jack. This way, it ensures people can still use the speaker (the most liked and most reliable part) irrespective of whether the software is good or bad. ...But, since they'd rather cram AI into it, they'll likely continue to bleed users and installers, who will implement Bluesound or WiiM instead and become the Oracle of multi-room audio - obscenely priced, running on an increasingly niche user base, and circling the drain for a while longer than most, but ultimately fail as more and more people consider the Sonos "operating system" radioactive.
Re: Out of touch much? (Score:2)
Nonsense anyway, what they are is a company that sells speakers which are hobbled by their garbage software. If they were first an operating system company then you would pay for it and it would support other companies' devices. He's just a typical fraud.
Is it an open protocol yet? (Score:2)
If it's still not an open protocol, then it's really hard to be at all interested in either the client or the server. Can this new app talk to non-Sonos speakers? Can I use Sonos speakers with my own app? It's ok if either side (or even both!) is currently unimplemented, as long as there are no trade secrets or DMCA shit deliberately preventing legal implementations.
If it can't interoperate on purpose, then it makes Sonos look like just another proprietary lock-in scam, and I don't fall for that trick anymo
Re: Is it an open protocol yet? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
It's a pity they don't move to open protocols like IPMX.
This is like (Score:2)
too bad (Score:2)
I think the speakers themselves sound decent for their size. Sonos has been done interesting things with wireless mesh and time synchronization.
The walled garden and crap user software really ruin the good hardware underneath. If only someone could come in with a different software system on this hardware...
Plenty of alternatives (Score:2)
There are plenty of alternatives these days. From the completely DIY with ESP32, RPI, etc to build your own speaker to commercial streaming boxes that are not locked in to any one service. If you are so inclined there are the somewhere in-between options to tie into locally running services like Squeezebox, Home Assistant w/ Music Assistant, etc.
Sonos is for Muggles.
Why do sound systems need AI features? (Score:2)
There's nothing about what SONOS offers that could benefit from AI features. Maybe, *MAYBE*, the initial setup / learning routine where the speakers use an auto-ping to set up surround sound for a given room, but even that is probably easier done by traditional sound measurement and volume/EQ leveling. I just can not wrap my head around shoving AI into places where there is zero god damned benefit to the end user, and the only visible benefit to anyone is some always on microphone sucking down the data-stre
Lyrion Music Server (Score:2)
Say No To Sonos (Score:2)
The mentioned troubles with the old app. Abandoning older models, essentially bricking working products.
That's twice that they bit me. I do like the sound of their speakers and I did like the functionality before they restricted it. But twice bitten and I'll never buy their shit again.
Speaker company (Score:1)
Sonos may finally be correct here? (Score:1)
Like many other people, I dumped the Sonos ecosystem when they started killing support for their hardware I owned and still actively used. Even with their "trade in offers" to upgrade? It made no sense, when the new speaker or interface wasn't going to sound any better than the one I already owned.
I felt like the brand was nearly irrelevant in today's world where practically every audio device supports Bluetooth connections and everything has mobile apps.
But Sonos is right about this idea/realization: They'
Another company on my permanent shit list (Score:2)
I'm sorry, the app-bricking episode was enough for me, it would take an awful l
Irrelevant (Score:2)
Nobody will use their new app, because the old one sucks and we all use Spotify.
Spotify works so why change.
Want to do something innovative add Bluetooth.
great speakers (Score:1)
They're still around? (Score:2)
I'm surprised. ... Who on earth gives a flying f*ck about a new line of obsolete-on-arrival IoT audio trash by Sonos? Any fans here that care to enlighten me?