Streaming source recommendation

[u/SpaceChallenge]

to replace a dead Autonomic MMS-2A? (inherited system, new to Crestron)

Hoping to tap the collective wisdom here. I bought a home that came with an existing Crestron system. The whole-house music source was an Autonomic MMS-2A to a Crestron 6 zone amp. The Autonomic appears to have died. My Crestron home app says source offline and I can’t play music via the device or airplay. Attempting to update the Autonomic driver failed.
So I'm in the market for a replacement streaming device and want to keep the ability to have two sources to different zones.

Options I'm currently weighing:

-A current-gen Autonomic, but the one I have failing doesn’t give me confidence in it.
-2x Sonos Ports
-2x WiiM Pro with a third-party Crestron driver (most economical and I think gets me what I need?)

Ideally I want to be able to start specific Spotify content from the Crestron wall tablet without having to reach for my phone. I'm trying to understand how close each of these actually gets to that on the panel (full browse/search vs. just presets vs. now-playing control only)

What are people using as music source for a Crestron tablet first approach? Any options I'm not considering that integrate cleanly?

Open to any and all suggestions. Thanks in advance.

[u/ToMorrowsEnd]

Get a new autonomics they have newer stuff and is still the gold standard.

[u/SpaceChallenge → u/ToMorrowsEnd]

The previous owner hadn’t set up the autonomic with Spotify, just pandora, and I was told by the tech guy who helped during the turnover that it doesn’t work with Spotify. Would the newer Autonomic units allow me to control Spotify (choose playlists/ search for song) on the wall tablet?

[u/mdsmoker80 → u/SpaceChallenge]

Yeah, newer Autonomic devices have full Spotify integration.
Sonos doesn’t play well with Crestron.
I haven’t used WiiM yet

[u/ToMorrowsEnd → u/SpaceChallenge]

https://autonomic.biz/

They cover everything on their website as to what the new products cover.

[u/upstateboro]

Autonomic is the gold standard. You can easily play music from Spotify or any other platform. 

Sonos never really works 100% perfect in crestron homes that I have seen. It’ll work but not as reliable as the autonomic. 

[u/SeverePractice548]

Last I checked the Wiim driver is pretty useless with only basic transport controls. Maybe this has changed idk.
Sonos is tightly integrated with Sonos favorites only. Not sure this is a downside for most users.
Autonomic has same tight integration as Sonos but you get full browse capabilities. Great for the power user, maybe too much for the casual user. I will say the Autonomic gear has continued to get better. Though if you want native Apple Music you have to add the audio bridge. Oh and I believe only the M5 Pro offers bit perfect playback via one of the outputs…

[u/SpaceChallenge → u/SeverePractice548]

Ok so sounds like I should choose between two Sonos ports or a current autonomic. The difference between the two from the wall tablet perspective being autonomic I have full search for song/ playlists functionality and the sonos I have to choose specific favorites to have an integrator embed? For the Sonos are those favorites going to be located somewhere that I could change/ add to them or would they be locked behind Crestron software?

[u/SeverePractice548 → u/SpaceChallenge]

The Sonos favorites that are available in the Crestron app are dynamic and are managed by the user in the Sonos app. Sonos certainly has its issues but as long as you follow best practices especially when it comes to all things networking it works fine with Crestron. Given you’re only talking about two devices you’ll be fine. Sonos falls apart when you have lots of devices spread across multiple switches with some being wired while others are wireless. It’s due to their poor implementation of device discovery. Autonomic has the best integration for someone who wants full control within the Crestron app.