To stream any audio from your Mac to your Sonos speakers we will use SonoAir. As you probably know, the Sonos application only allows you to stream music from certain music services like Apple Music, Spotify, Pandora etc… If you are playing something on YouTube for example or watching a movie, there is no way to stream the sound through your Sonos speakers. For example for Spotify you need a paid subscription to be able to stream music to your Sonos speakers. And with a free Spotify account you cannot do this. So here is one way to still be able to play free music and other audio on your Sonos speakers. To do this, you need to download an application called SonoAir.
UPDATE: with the latest version of Sonos speakers (Sonos One, Play 5 2nd generation, Playbase and Beam) you can use AirPlay 2 on your iPhone, iPad or Mac to play sound (YouTube, Netflix, Apple Music, Spotify etc) directly to your Sonos speakers. Also it might be the right moment to invest in a new Sonos speaker since once grouping a new & old Sonos speakers together, your old Sonos speaker becomes AirPlay 2 compatible. Here is a post about this topic.
Download SonoAir
Updated link to download SonoAir (also works with macOS High Sierra): http://bit.ly/2G2El7A
Since it is not an app from the Apple Store, you actually need to change some settings on your computer: go to System Preferences -> Security & Privacy. Click the lock at the bottom. Enter your username and password of your Mac and click “Unlock”. From the section “Allow apps downloaded from” select “Anywhere”. Click on “”Allow From Anywhere”.
Install SonoAir
Once the app is downloaded (Zip file), double click on it. It will extract the SonoAir app on your desktop. Drag the app (SonoAir.app) into your Applications folder. Click on SonoAir.app from your Applications folder. It will launch the SonoAir application. From the popup window click “Open”. It will mention it is an “Experimental version” because it is the latest version from the developer (click “Ok”). This version works on macOS High Sierra, Sierra, El Capitan, Yosemite and previous versions as well.
Stream with SonoAir
1) From now, the app will open and will scan the Sonos speakers on your network. Make sure that your Mac and your Sonos speakers are connected to the same network / wifi. It will display your Sonos speakers on the application.
2) Now you need to tell your Mac that you will play the music to your Sonos speakers. To do this, go back to System Preferences -> Sound and select your Sonos speaker. It will be indicated SonoAir in brackets next to your Sonos speaker.
3) So from now on, all the audio played on your Mac will be played on your Sonos speakers: YouTube, Spotify… audio will be played on your Sonos speakers.
4) The only drawback is that there is a 4 seconds delay between you pressing the play button and the sound starting to play on your Sonos speakers. So this is not really made to watch movies since the sound will not be in sync with your screen but it works great to listen to Music!
Link to the SonoAir developer website: http://sonoair.mihosoft.eu
If you have any questions about how to stream audio from Mac to Sonos speakers using SonoAir or anything else, you can contact me here.
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