help me make sonos better

An external dac is essential for getting high quality sound out of Sonos. But you should be aware that the digital output from Sonos is very high in jitter. Because of that, if you want to get the most from Sonos, you should either (1) select an external dac with very good jitter reduction, or (2) use a reclocker before the dac.

I chose (2). I use the Empirical Audio Pace Car 2 reclocker between my Sonos ZP and my dac. It isn't cheap (between $1250 and $2050, depending on the options), but it turns Sonos into a truly high end transport, and it widens your options for dac's.

I can report on 'plan 1.5' as Paul layed it out above.

I have a couple ZP90's in various systems in my home. One of them has been modified by Rick Cullen. The two DACs I have at my disposal are a Peachtree Decco and a Cambridge DacMagic. With good files and good cables, I've A/B'd every combination of these components. The Cullen-modded player through the DacMagic is by far the best-performing setup I can piece together right now. Wondering about adding a Monarchy DIP now...it's the only truly incremental ($-wise) improvement I can see out there.

So Larryski2 and Edgejazz are both running a standard unmodded Sonos through a modestly priced DAC and are getting results they are pleased with... and a better quality DAC gives better sound, as expected.

Bryoncunningham is enhancing the Sonos much as a modded Cullen Sonos would do with a reclocker. Could you comment on whether the addition of the Pace Car is a subtle or significant improvement in the sound quality. Also, will a better DAC also reduce jitter.

Soundgasm has both a standard and modded Sonos wih good cables and good DAC's. The mod to the ZP-90 is $550.00. From testing your combinations, do you feel the money should be spent on the mod, or would it be better spent on a better DAC... Moving up to a Benchmark or Bryston DAC?

Thanks to everyone for your comments, it really helps.

Paul

paul did a great summary of answers so far to my original question. hoping that by weeks end a clear path will be found via a few more responses. maybe then we should all get a little cash-o-la from sonos ala bill murray's to "the father" in caddyshack for "the effort"!

I should clarify that my DACs are very modest (as is the rest of my system), and that I have maybe a year's experience listening critically...that is to say, almost no experience at all in comparison with most who post here.

That said, it's my understanding that the benefits of the Cullen mod are only available at the digital outputs, so there's no way to really 'just' do the mod in lieu of adding a DAC. Gotta do both.

My thinking was that I'd like the source to be as good as it can be, and my first affordable experiment in that regard was with Cullen. I'd do it again for sure...although I'm thinking I should try the Empirical route next, if only so somebody could provide head-to-head comparison between the two. :-)

In the meanwhile, I'm free to take an incrementalist approach to swapping out other modest (~1k) DACs. But honestly, rIght now I'm trying to just chill out, listen to music, and grow into my ears. I know that my 'persistence of hearing' isn't yet accurate enough for me to discern extremely subtle differences when it takes 5 minutes to go from 'A' to 'B' while swapping out components in the chain.