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Sonos surprise

Hey guys. I just wanted to share an experience that I had, which really surprised me. On a whim, I picked up a Sonos Connect (ZP90). I wanted to try something easier. I quickly got tired of dealing with a dedicated music server and the Apple TV and everything associated with it.

Anyway, I got the Sonos unit home, connected it to my NAD T163 Pre/Pro via glass optical and did some A/B comparisons with the Apple TV rig and they sound EXACTLY the same. At this point it was a toss up as to whether I was going to keep the Sonos or return it. I played around with it last night and most of today, all the while assuming that the DAC in the NAD would be superior to that of the DAC built into the Sonos.

Well, being bored, I decided to try out the internal DAC in the Sonos, so I grabbed an IC and went to work. What do you know? It sounded a bit better. My little 685s that I have sitting in shelves actually sounded more full.

So...I got to wondering what would happen if I just pulled the NAD all together and connected the Sonos directly to the amp (HK PA5800) and switched the output to variable so that I could use the Sonos to control the volume.

What a surprise I got. The sound stage got BIG and WIDE. I was listening to the rig for a good half an hour before I realized that my sub wasn't even working.

In any case, I just wanted to share the experience. For me, it turns out that less is more. The NAD was definitely doing a job on the signal going through it.

I've found the Sonos to be a very nice compromise. To say that it is easy to use would be an understatement. I have it reading my music off of a USB drive that I have connected to my NetGear router. I just plugged the Sonus into the router and it read everything the way it should have. When I want to add music to my library, I just use a laptop with iTunes and I have my USB drive set as my iTunes directory. I rip a CD and it goes straight to the USB drive. The Sonos re-indexes the music once a day, so I don't even have to worry about it.

I also have to say that the Sonos is a very well thought out product, especially the software. Now, listening to music is as simple as pulling out my iPhone, iPod or iPad and hitting play.

The one big drawback to the Sonos is that it is only capable of playing 16 bit 48khz files, tops. Anything more and it just won't play it at all. For me, this is fine, since I get most of my music from ripping CDs and very little of what I like is available via HD downloads, most of it being standard 16/44.

Now I'm wondering if going with an out board DAC and getting my Sonos modded might be worthwhile. I'm really liking the idea of having nothing to deal with to listen to some good sounding music. Right now, my system consists of the Sonos, an amp and a pair of speakers.
tonyangel
theo's avatar
theo
2,694 posts
 
I have the Sonos on my list of things to buy when the money shows up. I have listened to the Sonas at my dealers many times and am very impressed with everything this little unit can do. I will suggest from that experience a good DAC is a worthwhile investment. Listeong at the dealers he has used the ARcam, Rega, Bryston and now the Audio Research DACs and each one has increased the sound quality. And that winds us up back at my starting point as to why I haven't invested yet. Because I want not only the Sonos in a couple of areas but also a good DAC for my main system.
Thanks for sharing your experience with the Sonos as that adds to my confirmation of desire.
tonyangel OP
309 posts
 
Yeah, as I said, I've completely yanked the NAD Pre/Pro as a component from my system. Right now, I'm just using the Sonos as a Pre and it's doing OK.

I should have noted previously that all I'm really after right now is a good mid-fi system. Like you, I also have a list of things that I want to get and am just waiting for the money to show up. Still, I also felt that a decent DAC would help out further, so I took the economy route. I ordered an Emotiva XDA-1 last night and it will be here Monday. Since I'm running all digital, the Emotiva will do duty as a switcher as well, although I'm not wild about the thought of using it as a Pre, so I have my eye on an Axiom passive Pre. Its having only one input will do me just nicely with my setup and it's CHEAP. I'm just gonna wait until the XDA-1 gets here and check it out as a Pre and see what happens.

The DAC should be a good match for my amp, since it's rated at a nominal 1V output on the unbalanced outs and my amp is rated as delivering full power with 1V in. I am hoping that the Emotiva will work out as a Pre. If it does, then all I'll really NEED to do is grab myself a better than run of the mill CD player for serious listening (or what I call serious listening).

I think I'm going to abandon the idea of having a digital setup for hi-res. There just isn't enough of it out there to make it worthwhile. Not right now, anyway.
jamesw20
270 posts
 
Sonos is really all they say it is. One of the few products that delivers as promised. I was an early adopter in 2005. Has gotten better and better. Not really hi fidelity for serious listening but for a whole house audio or just fun it cant be beat.
kbarkamian
647 posts
 
I like the Sonos stuff. It's a lot better than a lot of people here think it is.

I bought the Apple TV 1 for a few 2 reasons: I can synch my music to its hard drive, eliminating the need for my computer to be running; and cost. Sonos didn't have an iPhone remote app at the time. Once I have a home where I can have a few zones, I'll go with a Sonos.

One Sonos product that gets no respect is the amplified streamer. It can't compete with $10k amps, but that doesn't make it junk. I've heard it set up with some good speakers that are relatively easy to drive, and I've always been impressed. They shouldn't be able to do Vienna bookshelves justice, yet they sounded far better than I expected. Anything more than what they did is a waste of money in a bedroom, office, dining room, etc system IMO. I'd never replace my Bryston B60 with one, but it'll easily make a secondary system sound great. I'd love to hear it with some Focal Chorus 705Vs.

As a curiosity question or two...
Did you have the ATV 1 or 2? Did you try it's analog outs like you're doing on the Sonos? My ATV1's analog outs are sufficient for background listening, but my Rega DAC wipes the floor with it, as it should considering the price.
tonyangel OP
309 posts
 
I have the ATV 2 and it has no analog outs. Strictly either HDMI or Toslink. I'm actually finding the Sonos to be more convenient than the ATV for adding music in my setup. With the NAS (sort of) setup, I just rip from a laptop that has the NAS as a target and it goes straight there. I have the Sonos reindex and that's it.

I gotta admit that the Sonos is turning out to be a lot of fun. Just today, I had a bunch to do around the house. I just set it to shuffle all of the songs in my library and let it go. It was really handy being able to skip songs and adjust the volume from my iPod without having to worry about line of sight or a commplicated rf setup.

I am, however, starting to notice some negatives though. When I turn it up, I am noticing an edge on the top end. I'm really hoping that the new DAC will take care of that.

On another note, I started thinking. How on earth can I use the Sonos as a Pre when my DAC gets here. I mean, how can you attenuate a digital signal without affecting the quality of the signal? I'm almost starting to think that I might have opened a can of worms with this Sonos rig. I really want to be able to continue to control the volume with the Sonos, but would also really like to retain sound quality. Oh well, I'll have to put some more thought into it. I'm still seriously considering going with a passive Pre, like the Axiom.

The reason is that one thing I noticed when I was running the NAD as a Pre, using the digital out on the Sonus, was that if I had nothing playing but turned the volume on the NAD all the way up, I got noise. Like a hiss/hum. I don't get this when I'm running the Sonus directly into the amp. All I get is dead silence.

Like I said, more thought. What I'm mostly worried about is that I read something about the method of attenuating the digital signal and over driving the DAC with too much signal and then getting signal degradation when you turn it down too far.

I really need to find a new interest/hobby. My head is starting to hurt.
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