I’m excited to announce that Cast to Sonos has upgraded its hosting infrastructure to Hetzner Cloud, bringing big improvements to your streaming experience while also making an important step toward environmental sustainability.
Faster Streaming with Dedicated Regional Servers
I have deployed dedicated servers in both Europe and the United States to ensure that no matter where you’re located, your streaming experience is as fast and responsive as possible. This strategic server placement means:
- Reduced Latency: Your audio streams now travel shorter distances, resulting in quicker response times when you cast to your Sonos speakers.
- Faster Connection Times: Experience near-instant connections when you click the “Cast to Sonos” button in your browser.
- More Reliable Streaming: Regional servers mean fewer network hops and more stable connections, reducing the chance of interruptions during your listening sessions.
Every new paid subscription is enough to add an additional streaming server. With plans to add a new server pool in the Singapore region for more stable and faster streaming for users in Asia.
Whether you’re streaming your favorite podcast, playing YouTube videos, or enjoying music from your browser, our new infrastructure ensures the audio reaches your Sonos speakers with minimal delay.
Unfortunately there is still a big misunderstanding with the playback. The delay with playback is due to your device buffering the audio stream and has nothing to do with our extension. The extension was never made to synchronies audio with video outputs and focusses only on audio playback. This is also clearly stated on the chrome extension page and on the casttosonos.com website.
Environmentally Responsible Hosting
In addition to performance improvements, I’m to share that our new hosting provider, Hetzner, is committed to carbon neutrality. By choosing Hetzner, we’re supporting:
- 100% Renewable Energy: Hetzner data centers are powered by renewable energy sources, minimizing the carbon footprint of your streaming activities.
- Energy-Efficient Infrastructure: Their modern, energy-efficient data centers use advanced cooling systems and optimized hardware to reduce power consumption.
- Sustainable Business Practices: Hetzner’s commitment to sustainability extends beyond energy to include responsible water usage and waste management.
This move aligns with our commitment to providing not just the best service for our users, but also making responsible choices for our planet.
What This Means for You
As a Cast to Sonos user, you’ll benefit from these improvements automatically—no updates or changes needed on your end. You should notice:
- Faster response times when casting audio
- More stable connections during extended listening sessions
- No more connection resets
- The satisfaction of knowing your streaming has a lower environmental impact
You will still need a solid connection though, if you are streaming though a choppy connection and are noticing random connection drops or static noise, it is most likely an issue with your connection. Its often not the connection to your sonos that is the problem but often the internet connection of the laptop/macbook/pc your streaming from. If you are having connection issues, I suggest using a cabled internet connection.
Looking Forward
I’m continuously working to fix and improve the application so any feedback is welcome!
Stay tuned for more updates and enhancements coming soon to the Cast to Sonos extension!
Haven’t tried Cast to Sonos yet? Get started by downloading our extension from the Chrome Web Store and start enjoying browser audio on your Sonos speakers today.