I got a sonos in October and it has had a bigger impact on my system than any single upgrade I've ever done. And I didn't even get the remote! (I live in a NYC loft so didn't need it.)
I just wanted a way to listen to music the way I do on my ipod but in full home stereo quality sound. I already had a home network so all I "had" to buy was the ZP80 and an NAS drive. (A Maxtor shared 320g storage drive was enough for now. A second USB drive can be plugged in to back it up.) I chose to attach the ZP80 to the router via ethernet to keep 100% of the streaming hardwired. I then control playlists wirelessly from my laptop. No stress on the computer. No worrying about ram, fan noise, buffering, sound cards, network interference- none of that.
Re-ripped the whole collection to itunes apple lossless and was on the way. Of course, that opened up the upgrade can of worms. Out of the box, the sonos rca's were fine, but not quite up to the same standard as my Cal Icon cd player.
So, a good dac and ic's are a must if you want to get the best out of the system. A Bel Canto Dac 1 was the right price for me. Once that was in the system, neither I nor anyone else who listened could hear the difference between the cdp and the sonos.
Since then the amp and preamp have been replaced too. Not because there was anything wrong, but because I was now listening so much it became a disease. What started as a $350 idea to make my itunes wireless on the cheap is now $2,500+ and counting. I'll also probably be on line for that power supply...
Oh- to answer your other questions. I would go Apple Lossless format. I almost got a Buffalo NAS but got scared off when I read somewhere that they are painfully slow. Sonos recommends Maxtor (among others) so I went with that...
I just wanted a way to listen to music the way I do on my ipod but in full home stereo quality sound. I already had a home network so all I "had" to buy was the ZP80 and an NAS drive. (A Maxtor shared 320g storage drive was enough for now. A second USB drive can be plugged in to back it up.) I chose to attach the ZP80 to the router via ethernet to keep 100% of the streaming hardwired. I then control playlists wirelessly from my laptop. No stress on the computer. No worrying about ram, fan noise, buffering, sound cards, network interference- none of that.
Re-ripped the whole collection to itunes apple lossless and was on the way. Of course, that opened up the upgrade can of worms. Out of the box, the sonos rca's were fine, but not quite up to the same standard as my Cal Icon cd player.
So, a good dac and ic's are a must if you want to get the best out of the system. A Bel Canto Dac 1 was the right price for me. Once that was in the system, neither I nor anyone else who listened could hear the difference between the cdp and the sonos.
Since then the amp and preamp have been replaced too. Not because there was anything wrong, but because I was now listening so much it became a disease. What started as a $350 idea to make my itunes wireless on the cheap is now $2,500+ and counting. I'll also probably be on line for that power supply...
Oh- to answer your other questions. I would go Apple Lossless format. I almost got a Buffalo NAS but got scared off when I read somewhere that they are painfully slow. Sonos recommends Maxtor (among others) so I went with that...