SONOS Drops Support for Older Devices

[GGroch]

Does SONOS really have a unique place in today's market?........So what is the basis of the devotion to SONOS?

A big part of the Sonos brand story (up until last week) was longevity. Sonos dealers emphasized that sure, Sonos products are more expensive, but part of the reason is that they continually automatically update themselves...so that (until last week) the very first Sonos product sold still worked perfectly with new products you add.

So a lot of the outrage was not just because of technological obsolescence, but because it breaks a promise inherent in their brand story.

I see Sonos today mostly in upscale homes, a good percentage of which was installed by integrators. Its not just the cost of replacing equipment....but add to that the cost and hassles of a truck roll That plus the integrators having to explain to their client why the promise of longevity was not what it seemed.

I fault Sonos mostly for not really understanding how their client base would react and the impact on the differentiated benefits of the brand.

 

[pjug]

A big part of the Sonos brand story (up until last week) was longevity. Sonos dealers emphasized that sure, Sonos products are more expensive, but part of the reason is that they continually automatically update themselves...so that (until last week) the very first Sonos product sold still worked perfectly with new products you add.

So a lot of the outrage was not just because of technological obsolescence, but because it breaks a promise inherent in their brand story.

I see Sonos today mostly in upscale homes, a good percentage of which was installed by integrators. Its not just the cost of replacing equipment....but add to that the cost and hassles of a truck roll That plus the integrators having to explain to their client why the promise of longevity was not what it seemed.

I fault Sonos mostly for not really understanding how their client base would react and the impact on the differentiated benefits of the brand.

I think you nailed it. The other thing is that Sonos software is really good. But who cares about that if it stops working? I have a Connect and an Amp (neither sent to the legacy heap yet) and I don't really use multiroom features much. Now I would hesitate to buy more Sonos stuff, unless they go low end with some kind of $100 equivalent of the Connect.

 

[somebodyelse]

A big part of the Sonos brand story (up until last week) was longevity. Sonos dealers emphasized that sure, Sonos products are more expensive, but part of the reason is that they continually automatically update themselves...so that (until last week) the very first Sonos product sold still worked perfectly with new products you add.

So a lot of the outrage was not just because of technological obsolescence, but because it breaks a promise inherent in their brand story.

I see Sonos today mostly in upscale homes, a good percentage of which was installed by integrators. Its not just the cost of replacing equipment....but add to that the cost and hassles of a truck roll That plus the integrators having to explain to their client why the promise of longevity was not what it seemed.

I fault Sonos mostly for not really understanding how their client base would react and the impact on the differentiated benefits of the brand.

I guess it depends which market you think they're in as the definition of 'longevity' varies significantly. For anything 'smart' getting updates from the manufacturer for 5 years after they stopped selling it is an eternity - I don't think even Apple match that, and they're pitched at a similar audience. Consumer electronics typically last much longer, but they typically don't require constant work by the manufacturer to keep them that way. The trouble comes when the 'smart' bit gets built into the expensive things that we're used to seeing as consumer electronics - people generally won't pay enough extra for eternal support, or a subscription. I've yet to see anything with the 'smart' part in a module that you could replace, possibly because that costs more than people would be willing to pay too.

Personally I'll keep the 'smart' bits separate from the longer lasting bits, and aim to buy things that are sufficiently open to have community support when (not if) the manufacturer stops supporting them. I wonder how long it'll be before someone works out how to flash custom firmware to old Sonos hardware.

 

[HammerSandwich]

The other thing is that Sonos software is really good.

Ignore the UI for a moment. I'll argue that the software's basic architecture was poorly designed, as evidenced by the fact that Sonos must redesign to support different features across the network.

 

[captain paranoia]

I've yet to see anything with the 'smart' part in a module that you could replace, possibly because that costs more than people would be willing to pay too

I didn't buy a smart TV because the 'smart' bit is often proprietary, supported by only a limited app set, for which upgrades stop as soon as a new model is released (6-12 months later). I keep my smarts external, using cheap android media boxes that can be replaced, and have access to all the apps in the play store.

Given the tiny price differential for 'smart' TV functions these days, and the difficulty of buying one without them, I guess now, I'd buy one, and either add my own smarts immediately, or as soon as the internals become obsolete.

 

[pjug]

There has been more news on all this. Sonos will have S1 and S2 OS versions so that the older devices can keep working. Also now it makes sense that they would not be able to support S2 in older devices, since Sonos will finally push past the 16/48 limit with Hires audio and Dolby Atmos.
https://www.avforums.com/news/sonos-to-add-hi-res-audio-support-in-new-os.17372
https://www.theverge.com/2020/5/6/2...-atmos-soundbar-announced-features-price-date

 

[SimpleTheater]

There has been more news on all this. Sonos will have S1 and S2 OS versions so that the older devices can keep working. Also now it makes sense that they would not be able to support S2 in older devices, since Sonos will finally push past the 16/48 limit with Hires audio and Dolby Atmos.
https://www.avforums.com/news/sonos-to-add-hi-res-audio-support-in-new-os.17372
https://www.theverge.com/2020/5/6/2...-atmos-soundbar-announced-features-price-date

The issue was never that older devices should somehow support the latest hi-res audio, but rather they should simply continue to work “as is” with the newer devices. While Yamaha’s MusicCast isn’t as robust as SONOS, that is exactly how they work. Newer equipment that can play Amazon Hi-Res files stay on the same network. If you link a newer device to an older one, the sound files are down-rez’d to the older unit, keeping your whole house music system intact.

When I left Sonos behind about 4 years ago it was because they were overcharging for their amps, but watching as Sonos screwed their entire original fan base makes me a very lucky man because I sold all of my equipment for close to cost. Just go to eBay and the shear amount of Sonos equipment being sold is ludicrous.

 

[pjug]

The issue was never that older devices should somehow support the latest hi-res audio, but rather they should simply continue to work “as is” with the newer devices. ludicrous.

Yes that is what had so many people upset. But now they have a more reasonable solution where the old devices can still be used. Also, I read that Sonos relented and does not require bricking old devices to get the 30% upgrade offer.

 

[DonH56]

Glad they finally figured something out, though months late. I am still annoyed; I had pulled my old Bridge for a Port, and gave the Bridge to my son to use, but of course SONOS bricked the thing. I had missed they were doing that the first time around. Then when I went to upgrade one of my Connects to use the 30% trade-in discount, I discovered the price had risen the week before by roughly the same amount, right in the middle of this whole fiasco. I have not been back to the SONOS site since. I still use mine but probably will not be adding more.

 

[SimpleTheater]

Yes that is what had so many people upset. But now they have a more reasonable solution where the old devices can still be used. Also, I read that Sonos relented and does not require bricking old devices to get the 30% upgrade offer.

As a programmer I find the solution unreasonable, making you stay on a software version that can’t support what the newer products are capable of doing. It’s not too difficult to know what is on the same network and when you recognize a codec a particular product can’t support to simply notify the user. This whole situation reeks of their recent IPO. Sadly they could have made everyone happy if they released some type of new master controller product that could control legacy components along with the newer ones. Charge $500 for it and sell a ton to your existing user base. Five years from now you can brick it but have a new improved master controller. You could keep this racket going for a couple decades at least.

 

[pjug]

Something strange with this business... I checked a while ago and my Sonos system report was showing my Sonos Connect (purchased in 2016) is Gen2. Now I just checked again and it says Gen1! which would mean end of support, and no S2 OS. I am quite certain it was saying Gen2 when I checked a couple months ago, because I remember feeling bad about people losing support on Gen1 devices.

I sent an email about it to [email protected] and that email address is no good now. The web invites sending email to the CEO email address so I resent to [email protected]. WTF is going on Sonos?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Update: I was able to get through to Sonos support. They checked the SN and my Connect was indeed Gen2. Still showing as Gen1 on the system report though. I was unable to update the Connect to S2 using the MacOS controller. However, the Android controller allowed me to update the Connect, and now the MacOS S2 controller works as well.

So some hiccups with this, but in may case all my stuff will be able to stay up to date for a while longer.