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DO I SELL OR DO I KEEP

WHEN I MOVED ABOUT A YEAR AGO, I WAS TOLD MY STEREO EQUIPMENT WAS OBSOLETE AND THAT I SHOULD PURCHASE A SONOS SYSTEM.  I DID AND WHEN IT WORKS, ITS WONDERFUL; WHEN IT DOESN'T, ITS AWFUL AND THIS HAPPENS WITH SOME FREQUENCY.

I OWN THE FOLLOWING EQUIPMENT AND WOULD LIKE TO KNOW IF IT IS GOOD EQUIPMENT AND WHAT ITS WORTH IF I WERE TO SELL IT:

1.  SONY 5 DISC AUTO DISC LOADING SYSTEM

2.  NAD/RDS STEREO TUNER C 420

3.  NAD STEREO INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER C 370

4.  MARANTZ AV SURROUND RECEIVER SR5300

I'M OBVIOUSLY NOT AN AUDIOPHILE AND APPRECIATE WHATEVER OPINIONS I CAN REVIEW.

THANK YOU.

KENNETH
damocles
lalitk's avatar
lalitk
5,640 posts
 
Kenneth, in regards to issues with Sonos, how are you listening to Sonos?

I have Sonos throughout my home and never experienced any dropouts in last 5 plus years.  The Sonos bridge is connected to my AT&T router/modem providing seemless connectivity. 

I used to own Sonos connect box in my dedicated home theater until I upgraded to a Aurender server / DAC setup.  

My current setup includes Sonos speakers in following areas in a three story home.  

Sonos playbar with a sub in living room
Sonus play 1, a pair in the kitchen
Sonos play 3 in the bedroom
Sonos playbar with a sub in lounge
Sonos play 3, a pair with a sub in the study


auxinput
2,920 posts
 

Keep the NAD C370! It is an excellently built piece of audio gear. They actually don’t make a lot of mid-level stuff like this anymore.

http://cd8ba0b44a15c10065fd-24461f391e20b7336331d5789078af53.r23.cf1.rackcdn.com/polkaudio.vanillafo...

If you have concerns about the age of the NAD C370, I would maybe ask a DIY friend or an electronic repair shop to replace some of the electrolytic caps inside. At this point, the caps are probably pretty aged out. Replace them with something good like Elna Cerafines, or even Nichicon. It will turn the NAD into something excellent (though I’m sure it’s great as it is).

I used a Krell HTS 7.1 processor for 13 years and, even though it’s considered "obsolete", it still beat the crap out of a lot of stuff I have reviewed. The "audio" portions of this type of equipment generally cannot get better. It’s the "digital" or "feature" stuff (hdmi, blu-ray, etc.) that tend to be looked at as "outdated".

The NAD tuner you can keep as a good item if you continue to listen to AM/FM.

The Marantz AVR is definitely outdated (as far as features, digital/hdmi support, bluray, etc.) but can still be used. The older Marantz stuff did have good sound, but it had a warm/slow signature that could be taken as "boring". The new generation Marantz equipment is definitely improved with differently designed circuits.

I don’t know a lot of details about Sonos, but after briefly looking at the technology, I think your NAD integrated is still going to produce a much better sound quality than anything Sonos. I think a product like Sonos is going to cater more to the "iPhone generation" and not necessarily to any type of audiophile.

I would keep the NAD stuff and maybe look into something like a Marantz network audio player (NA6005 or NA8005). They can stream from Spotify, internet radio, Apple Airplay as well as from any DLNA source. You can setup Jriver on your computer to use as a music source. It will play a multitude of different file types and the Marantz has excellent audio quality (fully discrete audio stages, etc). I think this will pretty much blow the Sonos stuff out of the water with regards to sound quality.

Alternatively, you can look at the Marantz bluray players. They will support DLNA/JRiver servers and also will play CD/SACD or bluray audio. But it doesn’t look like they support the internet audio/radio stuff.

wspohn's avatar
wspohn
612 posts
 
I use a Sonos for casual listening, with music ripped to flac and stored on a server drive, but I feed it in digital form into a DAC for use in my main system.  The on board DA conversion in the Sonos is nowhere near as good as a stand alone DAC.
lalitk's avatar
lalitk
5,640 posts
 
I agree with wspohn. Due to the mediocre CODAC and the associated high jitter clocks within Sonos Connect, it falls short on most audiophiles expectations. You must use an outboard DAC or get an upgrade by Wyrd 4 Sound. 

https://www.wyred4sound.com/products/upgrades-and-mods/sonos-connect-modified

However I must say, there is no other streaming system I have heard sounds as amazing as Sonos if you are using their own proprietary smart speaker system.  


mesch
3,529 posts
 
I am with those who recommend keeping the NAD gear and finding a set of speakers that mate well with the integrated. Replace the CDP with a single disk one. The budget Marantz ones are very good for the $$.  
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