Sonos Replacement

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Discussion

Lewis's Friend

Original Poster:

1,026 posts

189 months

Friday 17th March 2023
quotequote all
Hi all - I thought I would start a thread to try and get some advice.

I currently have two early Sonos devices, a Connect1 and a Play1. I bought them years ago and they were brilliant for years. However, they have become less and less reliable over time until now I struggle to get them working at all.

I hope I can get them going again, but that's another story...

If I can't make them work semi reliably again, I'll be looking for replacements. I don't want Sonos again, and indeed I've now been somewhat put off smart speakers etc. Dumb stuff lasts longer!

My Play1 can be quite easily replaced by any number of wireless speakers, though any recommendations would be welcomed (budget no more than £300 I would think).

However, what can reasonably replace the Connect1? I use it mainly for Spotify, though also have a NAS with music on. For that usage, I guess really I just need another streamer, which puts me in danger of it not working again after x amount of time after support dries up.

Does anyone have any wise thoughts? I don't need anything too high performance as my stereo is hardly top end.

Cheers all

nyt

1,803 posts

149 months

Friday 17th March 2023
quotequote all

dickymint

24,097 posts

257 months

Friday 17th March 2023
quotequote all
My Samsung TV soundbar can play most things through it including anything from my phone. Could be a solution for you?

Lewis's Friend

Original Poster:

1,026 posts

189 months

Friday 17th March 2023
quotequote all
Thanks for the feedback so far all.

Currently, I use my Play1 in the kitchen, and this could easily be replaced/upgraded with a Bluetooth speaker or pair of speakers etc.

The Connect1 is currently in my living room and is hooked up to my existing stereo. Possibly as suggested a WiiM Pro could be used here; it could well suffer with support problems in the future too, but I guess there's not really any way around that with a smart device.

OutInTheShed

7,368 posts

25 months

Sunday 19th March 2023
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I've been reading around multi-room audio a little.

I'm getting the impression that Wifi audio is getting to be as generic and cheap as wifi generally.

There are apps which work on/with many brands of hardware.
There is cheap hardware which is being built into many brands.

https://play-fi.com/technology/

One thing that interests me there is having it on windoze as well, so anything your PC can play can go on the network.

You can buy and unboxed amp and wifi module from these guys
https://digifunk.co.uk/collections/frontpage/produ...
for £60.
If you look at their products and see who makes the wifi part, you find that Linkplay is common to many brands:
https://www.linkplay.com/products-powered-by-linkp...

Including WIim.


So now I'm waiting for some ebay tat to arrive.


What I'm not findings, and it may be a silly thing to want, is a box which takes the (digital) output of my old skool CD player and shares it to the network.
Maybe that's not do-able due to delays and stuff?


nyt

1,803 posts

149 months

Monday 20th March 2023
quotequote all
Nice googling - I'd never heard of Linkplay

troc

3,740 posts

174 months

Monday 20th March 2023
quotequote all
OutInTheShed said:
What I'm not findings, and it may be a silly thing to want, is a box which takes the (digital) output of my old skool CD player and shares it to the network.
Maybe that's not do-able due to delays and stuff?
It can be done, the box simply needs to add a delay to the signal before sending it through to the local amp and the remote wireless speakers.

They even exist…….








…….but are made by sonos smile

The sonos connect. I use one to play my vinyl all around the house.


Ewan S

1,295 posts

226 months

Monday 20th March 2023
quotequote all
As someone that uses a NAS as well, I would recommend Yamaha MusicCast devices. The only thing to check first is that you can run an app called Minimserver on your NAS. Yamaha straight out of the box struggles with NAS music directories and gives you artist and song title options, but not artist, album then track. Minimserver fixes this.

The musiccast speakers sound good, they can be linked together and we've got 4 "zones" in our house and it works well. The only issue is that Yamaha only allows 5 playlists per zone. And if you update the NAS with more music then sometimes the playlists break. Sonos had this sorted over 10 years ago which makes it really annoying that this is an issue. (I used to own a sonos connect and remote). I can't find any information on the internet about why this might be. This issue happened before I started using Minimserver and still happens now.

OutInTheShed

7,368 posts

25 months

Monday 20th March 2023
quotequote all
Ewan S said:
As someone that uses a NAS as well, I would recommend Yamaha MusicCast devices. The only thing to check first is that you can run an app called Minimserver on your NAS. Yamaha straight out of the box struggles with NAS music directories and gives you artist and song title options, but not artist, album then track. Minimserver fixes this.

The musiccast speakers sound good, they can be linked together and we've got 4 "zones" in our house and it works well. The only issue is that Yamaha only allows 5 playlists per zone. And if you update the NAS with more music then sometimes the playlists break. Sonos had this sorted over 10 years ago which makes it really annoying that this is an issue. (I used to own a sonos connect and remote). I can't find any information on the internet about why this might be. This issue happened before I started using Minimserver and still happens now.
So you pay pots of money for high-end kit, then you need to buy a license for an index system to make it work nicely?

Lewis's Friend

Original Poster:

1,026 posts

189 months

Monday 20th March 2023
quotequote all
I think to be honest I'll be trying to go as luddite as possible within reason if I can't get my Sonos system working again.

I find that over time a lot of these smart devices become problematic (which shouldn't be a surprise really I guess). My Sonos was rock solid for years, but has really deteriorated as an experience since the S2 kit came out. I get why - I must be extremely unprofitable for them. It does seem very wasteful though as the hardware is still in great condition; it just often doesn't work now.

I'm not keen to repeat the cycle with them or any other manufacturer of I can avoid it. Hence if required, my Play1 replacement will be as basic as possible in terms of functionality.

rewild

2,981 posts

138 months

Monday 20th March 2023
quotequote all
OutInTheShed said:
I've been reading around multi-room audio a little.

I'm getting the impression that Wifi audio is getting to be as generic and cheap as wifi generally.

There are apps which work on/with many brands of hardware.
There is cheap hardware which is being built into many brands.

https://play-fi.com/technology/

One thing that interests me there is having it on windoze as well, so anything your PC can play can go on the network.

You can buy and unboxed amp and wifi module from these guys
https://digifunk.co.uk/collections/frontpage/produ...
for £60.
If you look at their products and see who makes the wifi part, you find that Linkplay is common to many brands:
https://www.linkplay.com/products-powered-by-linkp...

Including WIim.


So now I'm waiting for some ebay tat to arrive.


What I'm not findings, and it may be a silly thing to want, is a box which takes the (digital) output of my old skool CD player and shares it to the network.
Maybe that's not do-able due to delays and stuff?
Great info! I've been looking for a cost-effective way to get spotify connect speakers into daughters' bedrooms, and that £60 board is the answer. We can make a project of it. 3D print a case, reuse some old speakers, and they can drive their music from their tablets. I'll order 2 I think. Cheers!

OutInTheShed

7,368 posts

25 months

Monday 20th March 2023
quotequote all
rewild said:
Great info! I've been looking for a cost-effective way to get spotify connect speakers into daughters' bedrooms, and that £60 board is the answer. We can make a project of it. 3D print a case, reuse some old speakers, and they can drive their music from their tablets. I'll order 2 I think. Cheers!
Just don't blame me if it turns into a nightmare! :-)

But please let us know how it goes.

paulrockliffe

15,639 posts

226 months

Monday 20th March 2023
quotequote all
Google solved this with the Chromecast Audio nearly a decade ago. Streaming from anything, digital audio, groups or not, pipe the music into any amp. At £20 they were miles better than Sonos when the Sonos stuff worked and was supported.

The only fly in the ointment is that Google did what Google eventually do with every good idea they have, they got bored and stopped making them. Second hand prices are still very very strong, which tells you how good they are. In fact I don't know why I'm telling you this and fuelling the market, I only have one spare one at the moment.

Ewan S

1,295 posts

226 months

Monday 20th March 2023
quotequote all
Just to add to the above poster that the yamaha music cast devices are about a 1/3rd of the price of the sonos equivalent. However they sound just as good.

Also minimserver is free. No license required.

AC43

11,435 posts

207 months

Monday 20th March 2023
quotequote all
paulrockliffe said:
Google solved this with the Chromecast Audio nearly a decade ago. Streaming from anything, digital audio, groups or not, pipe the music into any amp. At £20 they were miles better than Sonos when the Sonos stuff worked and was supported.

The only fly in the ointment is that Google did what Google eventually do with every good idea they have, they got bored and stopped making them. Second hand prices are still very very strong, which tells you how good they are. In fact I don't know why I'm telling you this and fuelling the market, I only have one spare one at the moment.
Every time I read one of these threads I try to remember to buy another new old stock one.

I've currently got two in use and two spare. Must get one more.....I'm planning to use them forever.

Brilliant little things which keep my existing separates bang up to date. Frick knows why they cancelled them in favour of those stupid voice controlled Dot things and dumped the optical out at the same time.

OutInTheShed

7,368 posts

25 months

Monday 20th March 2023
quotequote all
Ewan S said:
Just to add to the above poster that the yamaha music cast devices are about a 1/3rd of the price of the sonos equivalent. However they sound just as good.

Also minimserver is free. No license required.
Are you using the starter version of minimserver?
Do you find it does what's needed?
That would be good to know.

I was looking at some nice looking Yamaha kit, amps with built in cast.

I have got a cheap chinese wifi receiver going today.
But I seem to have killed a couple of R pi SD cards and the wifi adaptor in my laptop has gone into hiding.

Mondays.....

GravelBen

15,655 posts

229 months

Tuesday 21st March 2023
quotequote all
paulrockliffe said:
Google solved this with the Chromecast Audio nearly a decade ago. Streaming from anything, digital audio, groups or not, pipe the music into any amp. At £20 they were miles better than Sonos when the Sonos stuff worked and was supported.
IIRC I had trouble getting my CC Audio to stream from non-android devices, it took a lot of messing around to be able to play from a media player on a Windows PC straight to CC Audio (which I wanted to do at the time). I eventually got it to work with BubbleUPNP and Foobar, but it caused some headaches.

Easier to set up a media server on the PC as a NAS and then use an android phone to control the Chromecast.

GravelBen

15,655 posts

229 months

Tuesday 21st March 2023
quotequote all
I have some Yamaha MusicCast powered speakers (NX-N500 bookshelf pair) which sound fantastic, and the MusicCast system works well streaming from my PC media server.

They also have a bunch of other input options, including running direct from a PC as a USB DAC.

I don't know if they make them any more, but if you find a set I recommend them. Otherwise many of their stereo and AV receivers have MusicCast built in.

The hardest part with MusicCast was getting it to connect to my wifi the first time, which took a few attempts.

Edited by GravelBen on Tuesday 21st March 01:22

JD

2,769 posts

227 months

Thursday 23rd March 2023
quotequote all
Ewan S said:
Just to add to the above poster that the yamaha music cast devices are about a 1/3rd of the price of the sonos equivalent. However they sound just as good.

Also minimserver is free. No license required.
I can't find any Yamaha speakers under £200, where am I going wrong?

OutInTheShed

7,368 posts

25 months

Thursday 23rd March 2023
quotequote all
Just having a go with this:
https://moodeaudio.org/

There is a lot of capable stuff out there. the key is prioritising what you want.
Or what your Mrs wants.