help

Frequently asked questions

The questions people ask before their first docker compose up — answered short. Everything here is covered in depth elsewhere in the documentation; the links point there.

Do I need Loxone?

No. Loxone is one integration among several — switched off on a fresh install. Everything else on this site — the library, streaming services, zones, grouping, receivers, the web player, the API — works without a Miniserver anywhere on the network. If you do run Loxone, sonn behaves as a complete Loxone Audio Server: zones, wall switches and the native Loxone app just work.

Does it replace Sonos?

It replaces the reason to buy into one: sonn provides the brains — grouped rooms, one app, music everywhere — while the speakers can be any mix of brands and protocols. If you already own Sonos speakers, sonn drives them as zones next to everything else, so an existing pair is a head start, not a conflict.

What hardware does it need?

Anything that runs Docker or Node.js 20+ — a NAS, a mini-PC, a single-board computer, the machine that already runs your other services. There is no cloud component and no account with us; see the install guide for the one command.

Which streaming services does it support?

Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, Deezer, YouTube Music, YouTube and SoundCloud — plus Music Assistant as a source, which brings its own providers along. Several accounts of one service can coexist, and every account is served on to every consumer: the web player, Loxone, DLNA devices and Subsonic apps alike. Details in Content.

Can my phone cast to it?

Yes — a zone can receive. Switch on its receivers and the zone shows up as an AirPlay, Spotify Connect or DLNA target on the network, whatever the speaker behind it actually is. A pair of Snapcast speakers on a Raspberry Pi becomes an AirPlay target with no support of its own. See receivers.

Is playback bit-perfect?

That is the goal on every output, and guaranteed on the one built for it. A Sendspin endpoint announces the formats it accepts, sonn follows the source, and the endpoint receives the file's own samples, unchanged — sonn's chain ends there; what the samples meet next, a USB DAC or an amplifier, is yours. On the other outputs sonn follows the source wherever the protocol can switch formats, and converts only where a fixed format is forced (AirPlay's 44.1 kHz, a speaker's 48 kHz ceiling) — once, well: SoX at 28-bit precision. The web player shows the true signal path of every zone, with the verdict and the reason, and the landing page has an interactive version of exactly that view.

Does my music leave my network?

sonn is self-hosted and has no cloud component: control, state and your library stay on your own machine, and the system keeps playing with the internet cable pulled. Streaming services are the exception by nature — those tracks come from the service's own servers, using the accounts you connected.

What does it cost?

Nothing. sonn is open source under Apache-2.0 — no license, no subscription, no tiers. Streaming service subscriptions are between you and the service.

How does Home Assistant fit in?

Today over MQTT and the HTTP API: every zone is published as retained topics that HA consumes without custom code, and control is publishing a value back. A native Home Assistant integration is on the roadmap to make it one-click.

How stable is it?

sonn core is at 4.0 beta: in active daily use and actively developed, with releases tagged from the beta branch. Breaking changes can still land between betas — read the release notes before updating.

Where do I get help?

Start with troubleshooting. For questions and ideas there is GitHub Discussions; for bugs, open an issue.