Sonos transitioning to a brand new working system ought to come as no shock. The first Sonos merchandise got here to market greater than 15 years in the past, and till now, virtually each element has remained interoperable. That couldn’t final endlessly. What is stunning for an organization that has operated with precision and self-discipline its whole existence is how poorly it has communicated to its buyer base when, why, and the way this transition will happen. Today, we lastly get no less than some clarification on that entrance.
A brand new Sonos working system—Sonos S2—will roll out a while in June, and a brand new controller app will include it. The firm is providing solely hints as to the enhancements the brand new OS will allow, however in a briefing final week, Sonos spokesperson Jenisse Curry mentioned it would “support higher-resolution audio and higher bandwidth connectivity.” Presumably, this implies new {hardware} will transfer past the 16-bit/48kHz audio that Sonos has for years insisted is “good enough.” It may additionally imply that the corporate is trying to help object-based codecs corresponding to Dolby Atmos and/or DTS:X.
All newer Sonos {hardware}, such because the Move—the corporate’s first battery-powered moveable speaker—might be upgradeable to the brand new working system.
Curry additionally mentioned the brand new OS and app may have a brand new function known as “room groups,” which allow you to outline a room containing a number of Sonos audio system and management all of them on the similar time. This may very well be very helpful for a house theater that has a soundbar, subwoofer, and satellite tv for pc audio system. Instead of grouping these audio system individually, you’d bundle them collectively and name the group “Home Theater.” She mentioned the brand new OS can even “remember frequently grouped speakers, such as ‘Upstairs,’ ‘Downstairs,’ ‘Front of House,’ and ‘Back of House,’” so that you don’t must repeatedly create these situations.
Every new Sonos product shipped after May will run Sonos S2 completely, and newer Sonos {hardware} will robotically be up to date to the brand new OS after it launches in June. You’ll be capable to management most Sonos {hardware} with the S2 app, which might be recognized merely because the Sonos app. (The present Sonos app might be renamed Sonos S1.) As Sonos beforehand introduced, the older {hardware} listed beneath will not be appropriate with the Sonos S2 working system, and also you received’t be capable to management them with the S2 app:
- Sonos Bridge
- Sonos Connect and Sonos Connect:Amp
- Sonos CR200 distant management (the even older CR100 distant was obsoleted a while in the past)
- Sonos Play:5 (first technology)
- Sonos Zone Player ZP80, ZP90, ZP100, and ZP120
Sonos says its older {hardware} (now recognized as S1 merchandise) doesn’t have the processor energy or reminiscence required to run the brand new working system. If you’ve got solely S1 elements, you needn’t do something. But Curry mentioned “we do recognize that some customers will have a mix of product, so they will have four options:”
Option 1: Remove S1 merchandise out of your system and look ahead to the brand new OS to be robotically put in in June.
Option 2: Trade-up your S1 merchandise for S2-compatible equivalents. More on this in a bit.
Option 3: Run your current system utilizing the S1 app. You’ll nonetheless get bug fixes and safety patches, however even appropriate elements received’t be up to date to the S2 OS. This choice received’t be obtainable endlessly, however Sonos says it would help it “for as long as we can,” so clients can hold their “music and voice services working.”
Option 4: Segment your system in two. You received’t be capable to group S1 elements with S2 elements, and also you’ll want to make use of the S1 app to manage S1 elements and the brand new Sonos app to manage S2 elements, however this can be a higher various than having your S1 elements turn into out of date. Sonos says it would present detailed how-to directions for this selection nearer to the brand new OS launch.
The new Sonos app coming in June will ship a significantly better technique of grouping Sonos elements.
Sonos announced a trade-up program in October 2019 that entitled house owners of its older {hardware} (gadgets now dubbed Sonos S1) to a 30-percent low cost on newer {hardware}. Once you signed up for that deal, your outdated {hardware} can be bricked after 21 days.
As an proprietor of a number of Sonos S1 elements, I didn’t have an issue with that; however neither did I really feel the necessity to commerce up. Lots of individuals thought in any other case—they felt they need to be allowed to make use of the outdated gear in one other room, present it to another person, promote it, or donate it.
But then on January 21, 2020, Sonos announced that these older components would not receive firmware updates after May 2020. What’s worse, in case you continued to function these elements in live performance with newer Sonos gadgets, that in any other case completely good newish {hardware} wouldn’t get firmware updates both. It took lower than two days for the corporate to appreciate its misstep, and Sonos CEO Patrick Spence issued a formal apology, assuring house owners of older Sonos product that older merchandise would proceed to get firmware updates.
The Sonos Playbase, launched in April 2017, will be able to working the brand new Sonos OS.
Earlier this month, Sonos backtracked additional and introduced the top of its coverage of bricking {hardware} used to attain trade-up reductions. So, in case you’ve been craving a Sonos improve, this can be a nice time to do it. As for patrons who’ve already bricked their S1 elements, that motion can’t be reversed (even in case you’re throughout the 21-day countdown), however Sonos’ Jenisse Curry hinted that Sonos will search to make amends with clients who did it, saying that they “should contact our customer service department.”
Hindsight in 20/20, in fact, however Sonos may have saved itself quite a lot of grief by laying out these plans intimately method again in October, with the announcement of its trade-up program. But the underside line is that Sonos clients and anybody contemplating changing into one now have a significantly better concept of what the long run holds and the way they is perhaps impacted.
I, for one, can’t wait to seek out out what the brand new OS will make attainable.