Anybody been doing a lot of Musiccast, particularly with a mix of wired/wireless Musiccast devices? What are your thoughts vs. Sonos? I couldn't find a "Musiccast" thread under 2 years old and I was curious how well the wireless side of Musiccast has been working for guys that have embraced the line.

We've been selling Sonos but we also sell Yamaha. I know our track record with Sonos (it just works) and I was wondering if Yamaha is there yet?

Thanks in advance!

Have done a couple of small systems with Yamaha MusicCast.
Just the WXA 50's so far.
Pretty easy to set up through the app.
GUI is different and some clients may prefer it to Sonos.
Once it is up and running, much like Sonos, I do not hear any complaints from the clients. It seems to just work.
Couple of advantages over Sonos that I can see.
Yamaha makes a number of things that have MusicCast built in, from speakers, amps, receivers to speaker bars. So I would think it should be easier to put together a house wide system that can integrate TV audio, surround sound and music together.
I also believe a few of the integration companies like RTI, Control 4 etc have drivers built to allow for control of MusicCast devices (have not tried them yet, so no comment on how well they work compared to drivers for Sonos)

Does MusicCast poach your customers? Do they send them coupons to use that you have to eat? Do control system companies have drivers to integrate it, rather than orphaning it like Sonos?

Not sure about the first two questions, but I know they have drivers for Control 4 and RTI.

If you are used to Sonos you’ll realize MusicCast shortcomings pretty quickly. Biggest thing is no in App control of Spotify or Apple Music. Only Spotify Connect and Airplay for those which means customer has to go back and forth between Music Cast app and Apple Music/Spotify app. It was a bit embarrassing when I showed the customer how to do it. Made that mistake once and never again. I just spec A Sonos Connect in media rooms then I have the problem with receiver audio being out of sync with Sonos. Just can’t win

Word is Sonos will lose Spotify control soon and also be subject to using the Spotify Connect feature.

I have a MusicCast and I like it a lot. I'm actually using it as my preamp, with the output from an integrated amp used for its phono section, the rest is coming from the optical out of the TV. I use Pandora, but since only Sonos has had the Spotify function and I still think Sonos is lacking in the extra input/output area, I went with this. I used two of them in a house where the original quote came from a dealer that wanted to use all Sonos, even though the customer already had a Yamaha AVR and they spec'd another one. They have had no problems using MusicCast and it plays throughout the house (now that I got the network set up correctly).

Stability / performance is more than fine.
Sonos is for some customers, MusicCast is for others.
Sonos has all the streaming services in the world, network shares / searching is great.
The downside...
No HDMI switching / high-res / DTS / real theatre offerings.

Yamaha's downsides...
Playlists are tiny / searching network sources = nope / missing Apple Music etc.

But the HDMI switching and streaming + codec support is brilliant.
Looking to see what the new wireless rears and sub work like with the new soundbar and latest gen AVR's. A move to 5.8Ghz WiFi is also a benefit in my books...

Would love to know where this rumour started.

It's probably originating from the same places that keep saying all other platforms will be getting direct Spotify integration...

I have seen new pieces of hardware that Spotify have given full access to their integrated API.

I asked them how did they get access when I keep hearing about everyone being pushed to Spotify connect, he said we called Spotify and asked for their API and they gave us access, no qualms or issues.

I really feel like the capability gap between Sonos and others is widening, especially with the Sonos Beam coming out and Alexa. Siri and Voice control is coming and so is Airplay 2

To be fair, the Beam only has Alexa thus far...
They are saying it will get Airplay 2, they are saying it will get Amazon integration and they are saying it will get Siri.

I believe everyone will get Amazon soon, there's no hardware involved, it's software only (like Alexa).
Siri integration requires a chipset, so that will be limited to the likes of Sonos or those who are willing to work with Apple.
Airplay 2, I believe many, many companies will be getting this at some point in 2018, again it's hardware dependent but many companies will have planned for it and will be integrating it. However, considering the delay in Apple launching Airplay 2 within their own range I'm not holding my breath.

Getting Airplay 2 to work successfully shouldn't be tricky, but designing a great Alexa or Amazon skill is another thing. Normally Sonos gets 4.5/5 star reviews, but like a lot of other 3rd parties, their Alexa integration get 2 star averages on the Alexa site. It WILL improve with time... but I feel as if consumers become the beta testers with this sort of tech. I'd be waiting a few more years before deploying it, even as a 3rd tier control method.