Sonos announces plans to make its products more efficient and repairable
theverge.com
theverge.com
2019: Growth problems. Sonos states 92% of their sold products are still in active use. Creates “Recycle Mode” which bricks the device if you upgrade through them, and asks you recycle your now useless speaker. If you don’t upgrade, they discontinue software support anyway.
2020: Backlash problems. Sonos discontinues Recycle Mode device bricking, CEO apologizes.
2021: Global supply problems. Sonos sees canceled orders due to stock shortages, announces they will make future Sonos devices more repairable.
I’ve purchased (and sold off in 2020) a half dozen Sonoses (Soni?) but can’t get another as they’ve proven to be so user-hostile by policy and the poorly designed, buggy apps. Good sound, though.
- Denon HEOS https://www.denon.com/en-us/category/heos
- Russound https://www.russound.com
When I moved, I used the home sale as an excuse to leave Sonos behind due to their drive to increase revenue at the expense of their current customer base. I purchased a couple of Denon receivers, use them for both AV and whole-home audio use, and have never-once regretted conveying my somewhat-sizable Sonos system along with the home sale.
Russound has a more traditional whole-home audio product line (with some--but not all--of their products only available for purchase/install via certified installers), but I have them on my radar if I look to expand my home audio system in the future.