Airplay From Macbook To Sonos

Sonos is a brand like no other. Its quality speakers and the flexibility of installing in any room makes it the preferred choice for many audio lovers. For those who’re on their computers most of the time, but want to use Sonos, it could be a problem because Sonos doesn’t offer computer-specific speakers — at least not at the time of writing this article. Moreover, from 2019 onwards, it has discontinued the feature of setting up the speakers from your PC as the company prioritizes mobile.

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But does that mean it’s the end of the road for PC? Not really. You can still play music on the Sonos speaker installed in your room from the computer. In this article, we’ll explain to you how you can still set up the speakers.

If you're an Apple user, the speaker supports AirPlay 2. The Sonos One will also work as a Google Cast-compatible speaker if Google Assistant is enabled. Sonos's new Alexa support doesn't offer full control for Apple Music, but next year's AirPlay 2 integration might just provide Apple Music subscribers full voice-control of their Sonos sytems. AirPlay cuts out on pause I just got a Sonos One (Gen 2) after reading that Airplay was finally working well with it. I was hoping to use it as my speaker when streaming video from my MacBook Pro, but have been hounded by audio issues–even with it connected via Ethernet to my Airport. The audio cuts out if paused for more th. You can add Apple Podcasts to your Sonos speaker from your iPhone using AirPlay.; All you need to do is start playing a podcast from your iPhone, tap the AirPlay icon at the bottom of the screen. AirPlay 2 - Apple's proprietary streaming protocol - finally brought multi-room capability to its products in the summer of 2018. A multi-room system built out of the Apple HomePod smart speaker is the obvious Sonos alternative here: it's easily the best-sounding speaker at its price (surpassing the Sonos One in audio performance) and Siri.

See More:How To Connect Sonos To WiFi

Playing Audio on Sonos Speakers from Computer

Before you start playing audio on Sonos from your computer, you need to understand that Sonos is a closed system. This means that only Sonos controllers and apps can access and control the speakers.

It has exclusive partnerships with services like AirPlay, Spotify, and IKEA, among others, which allows these services to connect to Sonos via the S1 or S2 app. But that’s not the case with PCs and laptops.

Sonos no longer allows setting up the SonosNet system from Windows, or MacBook for that matter. This is now a mobile app-only feature. While the Sonos Controller App is still available and you can download it, you’d only be able to play music and not set up the system from scratch. So if you have already set up your system on your mobile, you can connect to it from the desktop app. Visit the Sonos Controller App download page and get the Sonos S2 or S1 app for Windows or macOS version.

If you’re setting up the SonosNet system, there’s no way but to set up the system from the app only.

However, if you want to connect directly to the Sonos speakers from your computer for the purpose of playing audio, you’d need third-party software. There are many software packages that enable this capability. But two of the main ones are SonoAir and SWYH or Stream What You Hear. SonoAir is for MacBooks while SWYH is for Windows. Here we’ll guide you through the process.

Can You Airplay From Mac To Sonos

SonoAir

If you’re on MacBook and want to connect to Sonos, then you should be using the SonoAir project. It is an open-source project (technically speaking, a node.js module) that lets you stream audio from your MacBook over AirPlay. SonoAir also extends the AirConnect project, whose main goal is to play audio to Sonos, Chromecast, and other wireless devices directly from AirPlay.

AirConnect can connect to any device that has access to your local network. It will detect the Sonos speakers and act as a bridge.

Here are the steps involved:

To start using SonoAir, download the software package on to your MacBook. Since this is not an official Apple app, you need to download it from its official website, which can be found here.
Install the package and give it permission to whatever the requests are.
Go to the menu and look for the AirPlay option. It should show you the Sonos speakers available in the network.
Now get Sonos Connect and wire your PC to the line-in on the Connect. This will link the Sonos app to the computer’s audio output.
In the AutoPlay menu, you must set the Sonos speakers as your default speakers.

The current version of SonoAir also works fine with High Sierra after it switched from AirSonos to AirConnect.

Since Sonos Speakers are designed to stream music, there might be a slight mismatch between the audio and video output. You can solve this from the Sonos Controller app using the Audio Delay feature. Check out this guide.

SonoAir is a community-based project and is supported by donations. This means, you’re supposed to do everything from end-to-end, and there might not be any support from the team.

The best alternative to SonoAir is AudioBridge. It offers a much simpler process, and there’s a paid version too that you can use.

SWYH

If you’re running Windows on your PC, then your best option is Stream What You Hear. This is an open-source project and developed in .NET framework.

To get started with SWYH, here are the steps involved:

Download the SWYH package on to your Windows PC.
Install the package and launch the app.
From the app’s icon menu, right-click on the system tray.
Then navigate to Tools>HTTP Live Streaming.
Here you’ll find a URL that you need to copy. Copy the URL to paste somewhere.
Open the Sonos app and navigate into Manage>Add Radio Station
Paste the above URL in here and save it.

Now you can use this “radio station” to play audio from your PC on your Sonos speakers. Just make sure that you have audio running on your PC. Otherwise, this feature may fail to detect it.

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Please note that SWYH is an open-source project, and you might not get any assistance when you encounter an error. Therefore, it’s better to go with a paid application instead.