Help with NAS and Sonos on a Mac

Anyone have any success running a NAS for a music library on Sonos? I’ve never set up a NAS and I have searched and read up on the subject and it appears that results are mixed. Several years ago, I invested into Sonos only to watch helplessly as the company systematically disables one feature after another. I’ll never buy another Sonos product and it’s only a matter of time before mine is a collection of expensive bricks, but I would like to utilize them fully until that time.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks, Jeff

I am not able to assist with using Sonos & a NAS but I had the same experience with the Sonos system. I bought a few speakers and enjoyed the system for a few years but they were designated obsolete with no more support. I moved on and decided not to purchase any more products. However, I have an associate who bought their sound bar and really likes. Hope you can get assistance connecting to a NAS.

This may be a good question for @Leo because he has all the parts: the Sonos, the NAS and the Mac(s).

One way is to use Plex, which will run on a NAS.

You don’t even need a NAS, I just use it on a mounted drive on my PC with Plex server running.

From the Sonos app, you add Plex as a music service, put your username/password in, and all your music is there. Reliable IME.

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Thanks for the feedback everyone. My needs here are relatively simple (I think) but I can’t seem to get a solid answer. Maybe @Leo will chime in.

Jamze, Is there a fee for the Plex service? I’m trying to avoid yet another monthly subscription. Two reasons I think I might want a NAS:

  1. If the computer goes to sleep, the Sonos stops communicating. (I know I can set sleep mode to “never”)
  2. An external drive on a computer does not allow me to access Sonos from iPhone. One of the few good things about Sonos is the convenience of controlling by phone or IOS device. From what I understand, a NAS solves this issue.

Thanks, Jeff

I am a lifetime member, I haven’t checked recently if they still offer it, but when I got it, it was like $150. They have a free tier, so you can certainly try that. I think the biggest thing you get by paying is access to their meta data service, which may not be relevant to you if you intend to use it only for music. (It was first offered for movies, music and other media came later. If you go that route, you’ll probably like it, and you may find the movie aspects compelling as well.) Jeff Geerling did a video on a Plex competitor, JellyFin, so maybe check that out too. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VkY1vTpCJY

I use the free tier, and it does everything I need. I host my movies and music on a drive, and stream in the house to TVs, phones and Sonos.

Not sure if the NAS Plex server is in the free tier though, as I’ve never used that.