SONOS to no longer provide updates to legacy products
 

Received a notice that SONOS will no longer provide software updates to what they are calling "legacy" products as of May 2020. This means three of my four SONOS connects will no longer receive updates. After May they will still work up to the time that the music services will not operate due to hardware requirements. For me this means my Wyred4Sound modified SONOS connect in my main living room system that I bought from Ivan a few years ago will no longer receive updates. I really do not use it that much anyway now that I have the Aurender. I appreciate Ivan selling me the unit a few years ago as it was my streaming go to until the Aurender. It is still nice to have in the system to play the same music room to room when I have guests over. I can buy what SONOS is calling "modern" products at 30% off as an upgrade. I currently have "legacy" with the main system, the office vintage, and the family room home theater. The fourth one I gave to my son-in-law. Thoughts on this anyone? Thanks, Jim

It stinks Jim. No way am I buying any new Sonos products. I plan to ride out their functionality to stream from my NAS for as long as possible. If they keep playing Qobuz as long, great. If not, so be it.

My thoughts exactly!

The end of an era...

Who does Sonos think they are, Microsoft?

Their ‘upgrade’ program was the first salvo.

This announcement is the next salvo.

Then comes no hardware support at all. This has already happened to the earliest Sonos hardware. And my iPad.

The good news is that all the Sonos devices are DLNA renderers so they can and do operate as such independent of any dodgy Sonos software updates.

Which means they work with programs like JRiver. I do this now and it works fine. I think they even work as Roon endpoints but I need someone to verify this as I have not yet switched to Roon.

I have really tired of the constant software updates that don’t provide any useful new features. We’re not voice assistant users. The last useful update for me was Room Tune.

No more Sonos for me. Too bad as I have a bridge, two connects (one w4s modded), a connect amp, a Playbar, and a Play 3.

No... Apple.

Some of these products were released many years ago. Some are over 10 year old. My first iPad was made obsolete long ago. Apple no longer supports it. What's the difference? It isn't like like these older products will stop working. They just can't work with the newer technologies. Heck, I got a A/V preamp that cannot do Atmos and the newer codecs. It can't be upgraded to the newer standards but it will still do what it was designed to do just fine.

Correct - the Sonos products will keep working as they do today.

Life with digital. Even the 60 year old NTSC television standard has been replaced. Changing out a Sonos will be 100x easier than changing out my Olive system (tough lesson learned).

I say this with all sincerity and not to start a digital v analog war, but one of the things I like best about my turntable is the lack of software updates (of course, it has its own requirements to fiddle).

SONOS to no longer provide updates to legacy products
 

Are you sure about that? I’m not.

It actually does make sense, 10 years in the digital world is a long time. Since then I am sure they have made improvements. I did the 30 percent trade up deal with one of my connect amps to the new version which definitely sounds better ie more relaxed sounding. New amp. is double the power. I have it running a pair of Sonos Faber Guarneri Mementos along with a Sonos sub. which is providing the front channel for a tv . I gave away my zone units to family members a few years ago. I still have one more connect amp. I use to power outdoor speakers so I'll probably end up buying the new one of those as well. I have a few Sonos sound bars on other TV sets which I have been happy with.

Well - Sonos got the message and has clarified the way forward!!

SONOS to no longer provide updates to legacy products
 

In an email from Sonos...

All Sonos products will continue to work past May


We heard you. We did not get this right from the start. My apologies for that and I wanted to personally assure you of the path forward:

First, rest assured that come May, when we end new software updates for our legacy products, they will continue to work just as they do today. We are not bricking them, we are not forcing them into obsolescence, and we are not taking anything away. Many of you have invested heavily in your Sonos systems, and we intend to honor that investment for as long as possible. While legacy Sonos products won’t get new software features, we pledge to keep them updated with bug fixes and security patches for as long as possible. If we run into something core to the experience that can’t be addressed, we’ll work to offer an alternative solution and let you know about any changes you’ll see in your experience.

Secondly, we heard you on the issue of legacy products and modern products not being able to coexist in your home. We are working on a way to split your system so that modern products work together and get the latest features, while legacy products work together and remain in their current state. We’re finalizing details on this plan and will share more in the coming weeks.

While we have a lot of great products and features in the pipeline, we want our customers to upgrade to our latest and greatest products when they’re excited by what the new products offer, not because they feel forced to do so. That’s the intent of the trade up program we launched for our loyal customers.

Thank you for being a Sonos customer. Thank you for taking the time to give us your feedback. I hope that you’ll forgive our misstep, and let us earn back your trust. Without you, Sonos wouldn't exist and we’ll work harder than ever to earn your loyalty every single day.

If you have any further questions please don’t hesitate to contact us.
Sincerely,
Patrick

Patrick Spence
CEO, Sonos

As usual the internet panics for no reason.

I called SONOS and spoke with a tech support person. He said that you will still be able to play the same music throughout your legacy and modern systems at the same time. This will be at least until the legacy units are no longer capable of playing the music from services that SONOS links to that goes beyond the capability of the legacy SONOS unit. This sounds reasonable. The CEO could have worded it better regarding "split systems". Seems the split is only regarding the updates and not playing music, at least for the near term. I then asked for information regarding the DAC chip in the SONOS Port. The tech said he will email me information. Hopefully he does and the chip is capable of much higher resolution, even better than the modified SONOS connect.

Sonos has steadfastly focused on 16/44.1 - their system is built around it. It will be interesting to see if and when they move away from that position.

None of their current hardware will accept signals greater than 16/44.1. I have tried. ;)

I have 4 legacy units and they come in handy when you aren’t doing critical listening like in the garage or shed.

is there a reasonable alternative to Sonos, other than a listening device (otherwise known as a smart speaker) from AMZ, Google, etc.?

Thanks.

Bluesound

Just in case someone is going through this recently. My Play5 is no longer supported, my ZP90 expired yesterday. Confirmation from Sonos yesterday that I am eligible for the upgrades.

I agree Bluesound is a nice inexpensive alternate, I picked up a Node2i yesterday upon hearing my options. Throwing out my 6 year old Sonos collection doesn't thrill me.

Again? They are doing this again! They announced they were doing this a few years ago and then relented and agreed to keep Sonos and Sonos 2 apps. There was an uproar the first time. Imagine there will be another. I WILL NOT BUY more Sonos just to be compatible.

https://www.globmac.com/wp-content/u...s-For-Sale.jpg

:D

[emoji57]

SONOS to no longer provide updates to legacy products
 

My alternative is RaspberryPi endpoints running very stable software into various DAC’s. Sounds better than my W4S modified Connect, is bit perfect, and works with Roon or any other DLNA source and costs less that $100.

BTW, all my old Sonos stuff shows up in Roon and as long as it does I’ll keep it. The Sonos UI, once sleek and nice, is now a cluttered junkyard.

BTW so far all my Sonos stuff works fine on the S1 app and I haven’t bothered to upgrade anything, or split the system up, and I probably won’t. Even without software updates going forward everything works just fine as-is.

I set up my remote speakers the old fashion way-- wired---:yes:NO MORE SONOS

Disappointing. Switching to Bluesound.

I love my Bluesound for whole house listening. There was an update on the 6th. Two nice features added. The free version of Spotify and Radio Paradise now has MQA stations. Evan if I don't take advantage (Tidal subscriber) of them they continue to update with improvements.

Yeah, was going to go with the SONOS Ecosystem- but after reading about its strength & weaknesses decided not to go down that path. This thread just confirms my decision was correct.

My 3 Sonos connect all work fine. I'll stick with Sonos because of all the variety they offer. No one comes close. Sonos stock closed today at 42.24. I bought a thousand shares last April back when it was trading at 8.50

I just added a Sonos ARC and Gen3 sub to my TV. My real first foray into a home theater setup. Will also be used for background music via AirPlay or other streaming services. Checks the box for those purposes. So far I am pleased.

I sold off all my SonoS gear many moons ago. A couple of years ago I picked up a openbox SonoS Connect just to use as a Roon endpoint to feed my whole house set-up.

No support required for that.

Same experience. An alternative to the Raspberry Pi (a bit more $, but no set-up required) is the SotM Neo. I use it as an endpoint for both Roon and JRiver, feeding into a Chord DAC. Zero issues, a true 'appliance'.

But all our Sonos components (legacy and new) show up (and work) for Roon and JRiver, so no problems there either.

*SOtM uses the RAAT protocol for Roon and DLNA for JRiver; does the Raspberry Pi do the same?

SONOS to no longer provide updates to legacy products
 

Yes. I use the ROPieee SW and it provides RAAT connectivity for Roon and DLNA and Airplay[emoji768] connectivity for JRiver et all. Other SW options may offer other protocols. RoPieee has been very stable.