The problem
When playing music through Music Assistant to a Sonos player, playback works correctly and Music Assistant displays the currently playing track. However, the Music Assistant media_player entity exposed to Home Assistant remains in the idle state instead of changing to playing.
As a result, Home Assistant displays a Play button instead of Pause, even while the player is actively playing music.
This is reproducible directly in Home Assistant and is not limited to a custom dashboard card.
Environment
Player provider: SONOS (native)
Sonos generation: S2
Tested player: Sonos Beam ("Game Room")
Music Assistant player is configured with:
Preferred Output Protocol: SONOS (native) [default]
Queue Flow Mode: disabled
Player exposed to Home Assistant: enabled
Music Assistant is connected to Home Assistant using the official Music Assistant integration.
Versions:
Music Assistant Server: 2.9.13
Installation method: Home Assistant OS
Core: 2026.8.2
Steps to reproduce
Select the Sonos "Game Room" player in Music Assistant.
Start a track through Music Assistant.
Confirm that audio begins playing on the Sonos speaker.
Confirm that Music Assistant shows the track as currently playing.
Open the Music Assistant Game Room device/entity in Home Assistant.
Observe the state/control presented by Home Assistant.
Expected behavior
The Music Assistant entity exposed to Home Assistant should transition to:
'playing'
Home Assistant should consequently display a Pause control while playback is active.
Actual behavior
Music plays normally and current track information/artwork updates, but the MA entity remains:
'idle'
Home Assistant therefore continues to display a Play button.
Pressing Play while the song is already playing causes playback to start again rather than presenting the expected Pause behavior.
The Home Assistant activity history for the Music Assistant Game Room entity also shows it becoming/staying Idle while audio is actively playing.
Additional testing
I have both the native Home Assistant Sonos integration and the Music Assistant integration available for comparison.
During active Music Assistant playback:
Music Assistant itself knows which track is playing.
Track information/artwork is populated in the Home Assistant MA device.
The MA media-player entity nevertheless reports idle.
Calling Media player: Pause from Home Assistant Developer Tools against the Music Assistant player/device successfully pauses playback.
Therefore the MA player accepts control commands even while its reported HA state is incorrect.
The issue is also visible using Home Assistant's standard Music Assistant device page: the current track is shown in the Controls card, but the transport control remains Play rather than Pause.
Third-party card observation
I originally noticed this while using Custom Sonos Card with:
type: custom:sonos-card
entityPlatform: music_assistant
showNonSonosPlayers: false
sections:
- player
- media browser
- groups
- grouping
- volumes
- queue
- search
startSection: player
player:
artworkAsBackground: false
controlsLargeIcons: true
artworkAsBackgroundBlur: 77
artworkBorderRadius: 4
groups:
compact: false
hideCurrentTrack: false
search:
hideActivePlayerName: false
defaultViewMode: grid
The card continues to show Play while the MA player is playing. However, the same incorrect idle state and Play control are visible directly in Home Assistant's native device/entity UI, so the behavior does not appear to be specific to the custom card.
Screenshots
Shows the MA/HA showing the Play button as though the music has not began. On the right is the Native Sonos Player (Not HA) showing the track playing from MA.
What version of Home Assistant Core has the issue?
2026.8.2
What was the last working version of Home Assistant Core?
No response
What type of installation are you running?
Home Assistant OS
Integration causing the issue
Music Assistant
Link to integration documentation on our website
https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/music_assistant/
Diagnostics information
music-assistant.log
Example YAML snippet
Not applicable. The issue is reproducible using the standard Home Assistant Music Assistant media_player entity/device controls; no YAML automation or custom card is required.
Anything in the logs that might be useful for us?
No relevant errors or stack traces observed. Playback succeeds normally; the issue appears to be an incorrect/stale media_player state rather than a playback failure.
Additional information
No response
The problem
When playing music through Music Assistant to a Sonos player, playback works correctly and Music Assistant displays the currently playing track. However, the Music Assistant media_player entity exposed to Home Assistant remains in the idle state instead of changing to playing.
As a result, Home Assistant displays a Play button instead of Pause, even while the player is actively playing music.
This is reproducible directly in Home Assistant and is not limited to a custom dashboard card.
Environment
Player provider: SONOS (native)
Sonos generation: S2
Tested player: Sonos Beam ("Game Room")
Music Assistant player is configured with:
Preferred Output Protocol: SONOS (native) [default]
Queue Flow Mode: disabled
Player exposed to Home Assistant: enabled
Music Assistant is connected to Home Assistant using the official Music Assistant integration.
Versions:
Music Assistant Server: 2.9.13
Installation method: Home Assistant OS
Core: 2026.8.2
Steps to reproduce
Select the Sonos "Game Room" player in Music Assistant.
Start a track through Music Assistant.
Confirm that audio begins playing on the Sonos speaker.
Confirm that Music Assistant shows the track as currently playing.
Open the Music Assistant Game Room device/entity in Home Assistant.
Observe the state/control presented by Home Assistant.
Expected behavior
The Music Assistant entity exposed to Home Assistant should transition to:
'playing'
Home Assistant should consequently display a Pause control while playback is active.
Actual behavior
Music plays normally and current track information/artwork updates, but the MA entity remains:
'idle'
Home Assistant therefore continues to display a Play button.
Pressing Play while the song is already playing causes playback to start again rather than presenting the expected Pause behavior.
The Home Assistant activity history for the Music Assistant Game Room entity also shows it becoming/staying Idle while audio is actively playing.
Additional testing
I have both the native Home Assistant Sonos integration and the Music Assistant integration available for comparison.
During active Music Assistant playback:
Music Assistant itself knows which track is playing.
Track information/artwork is populated in the Home Assistant MA device.
The MA media-player entity nevertheless reports idle.
Calling Media player: Pause from Home Assistant Developer Tools against the Music Assistant player/device successfully pauses playback.
Therefore the MA player accepts control commands even while its reported HA state is incorrect.
The issue is also visible using Home Assistant's standard Music Assistant device page: the current track is shown in the Controls card, but the transport control remains Play rather than Pause.
Third-party card observation
I originally noticed this while using Custom Sonos Card with:
type: custom:sonos-card
entityPlatform: music_assistant
showNonSonosPlayers: false
sections:
startSection: player
player:
artworkAsBackground: false
controlsLargeIcons: true
artworkAsBackgroundBlur: 77
artworkBorderRadius: 4
groups:
compact: false
hideCurrentTrack: false
search:
hideActivePlayerName: false
defaultViewMode: grid
The card continues to show Play while the MA player is playing. However, the same incorrect idle state and Play control are visible directly in Home Assistant's native device/entity UI, so the behavior does not appear to be specific to the custom card.
Screenshots
Shows the MA/HA showing the Play button as though the music has not began. On the right is the Native Sonos Player (Not HA) showing the track playing from MA.
What version of Home Assistant Core has the issue?
2026.8.2
What was the last working version of Home Assistant Core?
No response
What type of installation are you running?
Home Assistant OS
Integration causing the issue
Music Assistant
Link to integration documentation on our website
https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/music_assistant/
Diagnostics information
music-assistant.log
Example YAML snippet
Not applicable. The issue is reproducible using the standard Home Assistant Music Assistant media_player entity/device controls; no YAML automation or custom card is required.Anything in the logs that might be useful for us?
Additional information
No response