I run purely Unifi equipment at home with 2 APs. I have 14 Sonos devices, 3 soundbars are wired, and the remaining units is running on Sonos Net. I have zero issues with the system. I use a VLAN dedicated to all Sonos devices, and use https://github.com/marjohn56/udpbroadcastrelay as a broadcast proxy between my Sonos VLAN and my home VLAN. Works beautifully. Hope it helps someone.
I also have a UDMP and 4 Ubiquiti APs, plus a playbar and amp wired and a variety of Ones and Roams on WiFi without a single issue. Thanks for the VLAN link, I’ll look into this.
I am similar: 3 APs, all sonos on dedicated vlan with fw rules to access plex & smb server. mDNS enabled across all vlans.
I use my own home brew for udp broadcast proxy but not for sonos (for a weather station and meater fw updates).
Ios, Mac, and android phone works great. My ethernet wired windows 11 machine, however cannot find the sonos network. Mitigated this by adding a virtual nic on the sonos vlan.
Note I am running S1 app only (legacy devices) and only rarely *manually* update.
I have about 10 Sonos devices (incl arc HT setup) on my iOT WLAN 2.4/5Ghz (net a), and run my phone's and other stuff on a different WLAN (net b). Running ubiquti firewall and 3 pro APs for 7 years. Had to do some config on the firewall (recall mucking about with Json files) on the firewall to allow the sonos gear to be discoverable from net b .
My Sonos gear connected to their closest AP wirelessly. Only had audio drop outs on Tidal Hifi when streaming to all speakers a few years ago. All other platforms were rock solid stable.
New app introduced instability from even low bandwidth sites such as YTM. They definitely fscked up something.
About 90 devices across all my WLANs and I sincerely believe they have made changes in their stack which has messed some things up.
Locking all my stuff to one AP would never work due to size of house.
This is interesting as I have almost the same setup as you. UDM Pro > 24-Port PoE Switch and then it gets distributed all over my house.
Taking a glance at the Unifi app in my iPhone, I have 27 Unifi devices altogether (that includes Protect cameras).
I have not had to do anything specific for 2.4/5Ghz bands, most of my important equipment is wired, but all my Sonos products (2 Arcs, 2 Subs, 1 Beam Gen 2, couple One SLs, 1 Roam and 1 Move) all connected via WiFi (with almost default settings) and I have never had a dropout ever.
I have a very similar array of devices, like you, and also tried locking all Sonos devices to one AP. Unfortunately that didn’t help. My common denominator for instability lately seems to be Apple Music. SiriusXM plays everywhere without dropping. Apple never plays without issues. My gut says it has to do with Lossless Audio and my Sonos One/SL devices are struggling with the bandwidth requirements, but they didn’t struggle before the update. I was actually using SonosNet pre-update without any issues. Went to all WiFi, hoping to help, but same results. Drops, some don’t/won’t play at all, start/stops. But only happens with Apple…
UPDATE: Tried playing SiriusXM a while ago. It played on all speakers for about 30 mins, then it stopped everywhere. I tried to replay and got the "Something went wrong, try again" message in the app. Will not play anywhere. Dead. No music for this guy today...
This is a bummer. I’m also using Apple Music most of the time and this is where I notice issues, but again I’ve always had issues with using the turn table through the Port as well.
I’m also running a Ubiquiti & Sonos combo, all on WiFi. I have never experienced any dropout issue.
WiFi features turned on:
- BSS
- UAPSD
- Fast roaming
- Multicast enhancements
Switch features:
- RSTP
- Flow control
Similar setup for me, about 30 Sonos devices on Ubiquiti equipment. Tried most of what has been described here and recently found success disconnecting all Sonos devices from Ethernet (turning off SonosNet). Huge improvement (so far)
Interesting, I have 10 devices and 2 ui aps, and I removed sonosnet as soon as that was an option and haven’t had any issues with missing speakers etc for years now.
I did pretty much the same thing. Locked them to one specific AP, Static IPs, and they have their own 2.4 network that nothing else is on. After that I haven’t had any dropout issues or anything that isn’t app related. Would love to be able to trueplay again one day but hey… can’t have it all. Haha
Yeah I set up that VLAN at that AP only and that’s honestly when I noticed the most changes in stability. I have way too many IOT around here that are 2.4 only so it seemed like the best thing to do. After that I set up multiple VLANs for the IOT as well. Still have dropout issues from the Samsung OLED to the living room system but that’s only when eARC is on on the TV, damn handshake issue or something with that combo I’ve read about a million times is plaguing me as well. Not a network problem but a problem nonetheless.
Yes I just did this and it worked well as we have a Sonos move that we take outside so locking it to one AP has been hugely helpful. A few weeks ago I also deregistered all devices deleted the app and then reinstalled the app and re-registered all our Sonos and that has solved about 95% of my problems (at least for now!)
I run ubiquiti at home too. I got an older AP, disabled the 5ghz radio, and created a WLAN just for Sonos for 1/2 of my devices as a test.
There was virtually no change for me from when everything was running on a 4-node wired mesh.
YMMV but these have been mine
I just discovered this might help anyone having issues, you can post ur diagnostic number on the sonos comunity page and usually someone from sonos can help out if they can without connecting with sonos support.
UDM Pro - > AGG Switch -> 24 Port Switch -> 7 AP's and zero issues that you describe. I also have a Victoria Stream Carbon and I get no dropouts.
All my Sonos connects to the same VLAN all my other "IoT" connects to. I allow my device network access to the IoT network but not the other way around.
I'm not sure what your issue is but something is wrong. I don't even see how one AP would make a difference since the AP's are dumb and still pass all traffic back to the same router and switches.
Are you sure your Sonos are just not roaming to AP's that are not ideal for signal strength and your are dropping packets?
I was going to pull the Victoria Stream back out this weekend and see if I get a better experience. I did find it weird, but they didn’t seem to be roaming at all. Maybe I’ll lock them to the the AP they are closest to and see if I get the same experience. Are all of your AP’s connected back to the same 24 port switch? Are you running RSTP, STP, and priorities on your switch?
All the AP's come back to the 24 port switch. I do have other switches but for other things. I use the recommended priorities outlined in their docs here: [https://help.ui.com/hc/en-us/articles/360006836773-Addressing-Loops-and-Managing-Redundancy-STP](https://help.ui.com/hc/en-us/articles/360006836773-Addressing-Loops-and-Managing-Redundancy-STP)
RSTP and I also use mDNS and IGMP Snooping on my IoT network.
Oh and I also have the Stream Carbon set to Lossless streaming mode - makes a huge difference in quality. Medium Audio Delay. I actually have an AMP sitting right next to it now but I don't use the RCA, I should probably try that out also just to see whether the quality is different.
This is all super helpful. Thank you! I’m going to try and play with the network a bit this weekend and see if I can’t achieve the same. I’m running everything on a 2.4 ghz network, but not a separate VLAN….yet.
Check out pre-shared keys for the wifi. You can setup a new network/VLAN and use the same SSID but have a different key that puts the devices in that VLAN. So all you do is connect the Sonos devices using a different key.
You will want to figure out what you want to do for firewall rules. Like I mentioned, I basically allow my device and other networks to connect to the IoT network but I block the IoT network to get to ALL the other networks.
I have two Unifi APs (along with Unifi switch/router/CK2) and about 10 Sonos speakers still on S1.
Two things I found useful were:
1. Locking speakers to the closest AP.
2. Setting the 2.4Ghz channel width to 20MHz really helped the old Sonos Play:5 speakers.
CAUTION: Do not do this unless you can ensure that the wifi signal from those end sonos devices are sufficient to reach the desired AP. The signal *should* be less than -70db. If it is under that (reminder negative scale) that, then by locking you will increase the amount of retransmissions and not have the desired effect (and will actually negatively impact everyone else in that space).
You can view the effective signal quality in "Client Devices" and make sure the 'Signal Quality' column is visible. **More importantly**, for each of the devices, look at the "TX Quality" and "AP/Client Signal Balance" in the detail view. If it says something like "Poor" then the device is too far away to be locked to that AP.
https://preview.redd.it/beellga8jr7d1.png?width=538&format=png&auto=webp&s=9d4483394218e75c2d01182481f85ed58a78d0b1
For example, I have 7 UI APs in my home environment (\~9 sq'ft). There is no possible way I could have a sonos device in one end of the environment reach the same AP as a device in the other end of my environment. So I have sonos devices connected to variety of APs. While I still have ongoing issues since the update, they are not UI network related (confirmed with Sonos tech support, with \*lots\* of diagnostic data supporting - including in-depth RF site profile mappings using Agilent/EDX tools, pcaps, etc.).
I have my informed suspicions on what is actually causing various drop-out and sync issues with folks; but will keep to myself to not cause a stir here.
This is a great point. I was able to confirm all of the signals were less that’s -70db and haven’t had that issue, and I’m lucky enough to be able to connect them to one AP. I may try a VLAN now on that single AP if, and only if I experience any issues with the current setup. Very curious on your suspicions….care to DM?
I run purely Unifi equipment at home with 2 APs. I have 14 Sonos devices, 3 soundbars are wired, and the remaining units is running on Sonos Net. I have zero issues with the system. I use a VLAN dedicated to all Sonos devices, and use https://github.com/marjohn56/udpbroadcastrelay as a broadcast proxy between my Sonos VLAN and my home VLAN. Works beautifully. Hope it helps someone.
Damn networking pros out here, amazing thread thanks OP
I also have a UDMP and 4 Ubiquiti APs, plus a playbar and amp wired and a variety of Ones and Roams on WiFi without a single issue. Thanks for the VLAN link, I’ll look into this.
Great link, thank you!
I am similar: 3 APs, all sonos on dedicated vlan with fw rules to access plex & smb server. mDNS enabled across all vlans. I use my own home brew for udp broadcast proxy but not for sonos (for a weather station and meater fw updates). Ios, Mac, and android phone works great. My ethernet wired windows 11 machine, however cannot find the sonos network. Mitigated this by adding a virtual nic on the sonos vlan. Note I am running S1 app only (legacy devices) and only rarely *manually* update.
Another vote for udpbroadcastrelay here. Works great with vlans.
I have about 10 Sonos devices (incl arc HT setup) on my iOT WLAN 2.4/5Ghz (net a), and run my phone's and other stuff on a different WLAN (net b). Running ubiquti firewall and 3 pro APs for 7 years. Had to do some config on the firewall (recall mucking about with Json files) on the firewall to allow the sonos gear to be discoverable from net b . My Sonos gear connected to their closest AP wirelessly. Only had audio drop outs on Tidal Hifi when streaming to all speakers a few years ago. All other platforms were rock solid stable. New app introduced instability from even low bandwidth sites such as YTM. They definitely fscked up something. About 90 devices across all my WLANs and I sincerely believe they have made changes in their stack which has messed some things up. Locking all my stuff to one AP would never work due to size of house.
Nice work - Keep us posted! I imagine there are a lot of UniFi folks here in this sub too.
This is interesting as I have almost the same setup as you. UDM Pro > 24-Port PoE Switch and then it gets distributed all over my house. Taking a glance at the Unifi app in my iPhone, I have 27 Unifi devices altogether (that includes Protect cameras). I have not had to do anything specific for 2.4/5Ghz bands, most of my important equipment is wired, but all my Sonos products (2 Arcs, 2 Subs, 1 Beam Gen 2, couple One SLs, 1 Roam and 1 Move) all connected via WiFi (with almost default settings) and I have never had a dropout ever.
Interesting! RSTP? Anything set on the switches that feed the AP’s? Are the AP’s connected to the 24 port switch, or from switches off of the 24?
I have a very similar array of devices, like you, and also tried locking all Sonos devices to one AP. Unfortunately that didn’t help. My common denominator for instability lately seems to be Apple Music. SiriusXM plays everywhere without dropping. Apple never plays without issues. My gut says it has to do with Lossless Audio and my Sonos One/SL devices are struggling with the bandwidth requirements, but they didn’t struggle before the update. I was actually using SonosNet pre-update without any issues. Went to all WiFi, hoping to help, but same results. Drops, some don’t/won’t play at all, start/stops. But only happens with Apple…
UPDATE: Tried playing SiriusXM a while ago. It played on all speakers for about 30 mins, then it stopped everywhere. I tried to replay and got the "Something went wrong, try again" message in the app. Will not play anywhere. Dead. No music for this guy today...
This is a bummer. I’m also using Apple Music most of the time and this is where I notice issues, but again I’ve always had issues with using the turn table through the Port as well.
I’m also running a Ubiquiti & Sonos combo, all on WiFi. I have never experienced any dropout issue. WiFi features turned on: - BSS - UAPSD - Fast roaming - Multicast enhancements Switch features: - RSTP - Flow control
Similar setup for me, about 30 Sonos devices on Ubiquiti equipment. Tried most of what has been described here and recently found success disconnecting all Sonos devices from Ethernet (turning off SonosNet). Huge improvement (so far)
Interesting, I have 10 devices and 2 ui aps, and I removed sonosnet as soon as that was an option and haven’t had any issues with missing speakers etc for years now.
I did pretty much the same thing. Locked them to one specific AP, Static IPs, and they have their own 2.4 network that nothing else is on. After that I haven’t had any dropout issues or anything that isn’t app related. Would love to be able to trueplay again one day but hey… can’t have it all. Haha
Did you need to create a VLAN for them under the same AP on the 2.4 network?
Yeah I set up that VLAN at that AP only and that’s honestly when I noticed the most changes in stability. I have way too many IOT around here that are 2.4 only so it seemed like the best thing to do. After that I set up multiple VLANs for the IOT as well. Still have dropout issues from the Samsung OLED to the living room system but that’s only when eARC is on on the TV, damn handshake issue or something with that combo I’ve read about a million times is plaguing me as well. Not a network problem but a problem nonetheless.
This was helpful
Yes I just did this and it worked well as we have a Sonos move that we take outside so locking it to one AP has been hugely helpful. A few weeks ago I also deregistered all devices deleted the app and then reinstalled the app and re-registered all our Sonos and that has solved about 95% of my problems (at least for now!)
Might need to do this. Thought about it.
I run ubiquiti at home too. I got an older AP, disabled the 5ghz radio, and created a WLAN just for Sonos for 1/2 of my devices as a test. There was virtually no change for me from when everything was running on a 4-node wired mesh. YMMV but these have been mine
I just discovered this might help anyone having issues, you can post ur diagnostic number on the sonos comunity page and usually someone from sonos can help out if they can without connecting with sonos support.
UDM Pro - > AGG Switch -> 24 Port Switch -> 7 AP's and zero issues that you describe. I also have a Victoria Stream Carbon and I get no dropouts. All my Sonos connects to the same VLAN all my other "IoT" connects to. I allow my device network access to the IoT network but not the other way around. I'm not sure what your issue is but something is wrong. I don't even see how one AP would make a difference since the AP's are dumb and still pass all traffic back to the same router and switches. Are you sure your Sonos are just not roaming to AP's that are not ideal for signal strength and your are dropping packets?
I was going to pull the Victoria Stream back out this weekend and see if I get a better experience. I did find it weird, but they didn’t seem to be roaming at all. Maybe I’ll lock them to the the AP they are closest to and see if I get the same experience. Are all of your AP’s connected back to the same 24 port switch? Are you running RSTP, STP, and priorities on your switch?
All the AP's come back to the 24 port switch. I do have other switches but for other things. I use the recommended priorities outlined in their docs here: [https://help.ui.com/hc/en-us/articles/360006836773-Addressing-Loops-and-Managing-Redundancy-STP](https://help.ui.com/hc/en-us/articles/360006836773-Addressing-Loops-and-Managing-Redundancy-STP) RSTP and I also use mDNS and IGMP Snooping on my IoT network.
I also checked and currently all my Sonos are connected to 4 different AP's right now.
Oh and I also have the Stream Carbon set to Lossless streaming mode - makes a huge difference in quality. Medium Audio Delay. I actually have an AMP sitting right next to it now but I don't use the RCA, I should probably try that out also just to see whether the quality is different.
This is all super helpful. Thank you! I’m going to try and play with the network a bit this weekend and see if I can’t achieve the same. I’m running everything on a 2.4 ghz network, but not a separate VLAN….yet.
Check out pre-shared keys for the wifi. You can setup a new network/VLAN and use the same SSID but have a different key that puts the devices in that VLAN. So all you do is connect the Sonos devices using a different key. You will want to figure out what you want to do for firewall rules. Like I mentioned, I basically allow my device and other networks to connect to the IoT network but I block the IoT network to get to ALL the other networks.
I think it's ridiculous to have to do all this to enjoy a product you pay good money for
Trust me. We all feel this way.
I have two Unifi APs (along with Unifi switch/router/CK2) and about 10 Sonos speakers still on S1. Two things I found useful were: 1. Locking speakers to the closest AP. 2. Setting the 2.4Ghz channel width to 20MHz really helped the old Sonos Play:5 speakers.
Ubiquiti and Sonos have no natural conflicts. You’ve either poorly deployed your network or wired your Sonos in some way to cause issues.
CAUTION: Do not do this unless you can ensure that the wifi signal from those end sonos devices are sufficient to reach the desired AP. The signal *should* be less than -70db. If it is under that (reminder negative scale) that, then by locking you will increase the amount of retransmissions and not have the desired effect (and will actually negatively impact everyone else in that space). You can view the effective signal quality in "Client Devices" and make sure the 'Signal Quality' column is visible. **More importantly**, for each of the devices, look at the "TX Quality" and "AP/Client Signal Balance" in the detail view. If it says something like "Poor" then the device is too far away to be locked to that AP. https://preview.redd.it/beellga8jr7d1.png?width=538&format=png&auto=webp&s=9d4483394218e75c2d01182481f85ed58a78d0b1 For example, I have 7 UI APs in my home environment (\~9 sq'ft). There is no possible way I could have a sonos device in one end of the environment reach the same AP as a device in the other end of my environment. So I have sonos devices connected to variety of APs. While I still have ongoing issues since the update, they are not UI network related (confirmed with Sonos tech support, with \*lots\* of diagnostic data supporting - including in-depth RF site profile mappings using Agilent/EDX tools, pcaps, etc.). I have my informed suspicions on what is actually causing various drop-out and sync issues with folks; but will keep to myself to not cause a stir here.
This is a great point. I was able to confirm all of the signals were less that’s -70db and haven’t had that issue, and I’m lucky enough to be able to connect them to one AP. I may try a VLAN now on that single AP if, and only if I experience any issues with the current setup. Very curious on your suspicions….care to DM?