Sonos is dead. You can get a better sounding and cheaper multi-room setup with WiiM devices.
I've got a Denon amp which has Heos, had random Alexa/Google Home devices previously, random amps with just Bluetooth or line in whatever. Thought there must be a way to sync these things, think previously there was the Google Chrome audio?
The WiiM devices seem nice but is that the price of entry to sync various unrelated audio ecosystems then?
Edit: had only seen the price of the highest end ultra device, this is actually very reasonable..
The other option for multi-room sync is AirPlay, on any device where that is possible (including wiim), so it’s pretty easy to solve multi-room audio these days.
Chromecast Audio lost the ability to do multi-room sync in a patent dispute with sonos
i'm not sure what device you're looking at, but i've got a wiim pro plus and it definitely supports airplay - i was just using it yesterday.
It seems like the newest and most expensive devices (WiiM Amp Pro & WiiM Ultra) do not support Airplay.
i had been considering an ultra to replace my tv soundbar, but no airplay is probably a dealbreaker for me.
It somehow just works? Unreal. updates are bugfixes and new features… Most unreal thing. Their phone app didnt require me to create account? When was last time i saw that?! It just found speakers, setup network and Bye, enjoy.
Raspberry Pi + Snapcast + Any speaker with an AUX input
I've got a few Pi's hooked up around the house now to extra speakers, home stereo, and even a .NET snapcast client running on my desktop PC.
That setup plus Music Assistant has been awesome so far. No proprietary hardware or closed source software :)