Will Sonos work with Airplay and Bluetooth?

Sonos uses it's own Sonos Controller app to send your music from your phone, tablet, or computer to your connected speakers. But what if you don't want to use Sonosnet's Wi-Fi network to stream with? What if you want to use Apple's AirPlay or good old Bluetooth?

Sonos and Airplay

The answer to, "does Sonos support Airplay," isn't really a yes or a no. It's a kind of... You can stream audio from iOS or OS X to Sonos, but you need very specific hardware to do it.

• An Apple TV connected to a Sonos Playbar or Sonos Play:5 via optical audio. AirPlay to the Apple TV and it will come out of Sonos.
• An AirPort Express connected to a Play:5 or Connect:Amp with an audio cable. AirPlay to the AirPort Express and it comes out of the Sonos system.

If you have a Play:1 or Play:3, you're out of luck.

Sonos and Bluetooth

Sonos does not support Bluetooth. Since it runs off of your home Wi-Fi network, there isn't really a need for Bluetooth, especially since you may want to have a Sonos speaker in every room.

Bluetooth is all about proximity, so the quality of your wireless signal is based on where your smartphone, tablet, or computer is in relation to your Sonos speaker. This isn't really conducive to having a speaker in every room. You'd hear music fading and skipping out of one speaker as you move onto the next.

Bummer.