help me make sonos better

I've had a chance to listen to many music selections over the past 3 weeks and I have to tell you that the Sonos ZP-90 with the Benchmark Dac1 USB is a very good combination. The jitter reduction in the benchmark really works and I'm very pleased with the sound. Good soundstage with very nice depth. Open and airy highs with good solid bass. I can listen for hours at a time with no fatigue. I just don't see a reason to purchase any additional mods for the ZP-90, the Benchmark cleans it up just like a reclocker mod. If anyone has further info, please let us know.

A side item on the Sonos ZP-90. Out of the box, it is setup in the software with the volume control active. This is OK if you are driving some powered speakers. However, not good at all in driving a DAC. Go into the computer software and select the ZonePlayer Settings. Select the ZP-90 and in its Settings, select the Line-Out tab. Set the Line Out to "Fixed". It's important to eliminate their volume control as it introduces distortion to the sound. Actually above about 75% volume, it over drives the DAC and the sound is miserable. In the "Fixed" position, the Sonos passes through the Digital Stream with no processing, giving the best possible results.

Now if we could get Sonos to upgrade their products to do 24 bit/96kHz Music files!

Paul

Paul - Glad to hear you are happy with the Benchmark. Your experience with the Sonos volume control is interesting. I use the volume control on my Sonos, and I haven't noticed any problems with it. I wonder what accounts for the difference.

Bryon... I used it initially as well and thought that at 100% it would have a gain of 1 and all is fine. However, above 75% I could hear distortion. It was overdriving the DAC. Also when set to Fixed the volume is at 60% - 70% of the variable mode. I called Sonos a few minutes ago and they also recommend the Fixed mode when going into a DAC.

I also have two of the Sonos S5 powered speakers and they are just fine with the volume control. Bought them for my wife. ;)

Paul

Hur. My understanding is that part of what the Monarchy DIP does is to boost the outgoing signal from ~0.5V to ~5.0V, giving any downstream DAC a better/stronger signal to work with.

Is that completely unrelated to the pros/cons of using the variable volume output of the Sonos?

Like Bryon, I'm using the variable output with success, although I can't say I run it over 70-75% (as indicated on the visual display). Maybe I'm just in the safe zone.

Folks, what is the strategy when using a zp100? I don't believe these have any digital outs- would a dac go into the analog outputs, and if so, how would it sound?

I have a tube integrated Jolida and want to make my Sonos source sound at least as good as the cdp.