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Sonos Questions

I've been using a Roku Soundbridge for several years but have never been able to get it to successfully play lossless files without constantly rebuffering.I have spent endless hours on the Roku forum site and unsucessfully confering with their alleged support staff and have finally had enough.

The Sonos looks like a good alternative, but I have a few concerns. Other related threads indicate some sonic issues due to jitter problems. I currently use a Proceed DAC with an optical connection to the Soundbridge, and that change from the stock Soundbridge was a big improvement. The Sqeezebox looks like an alternative, but the Sonos interface seems much better (ie something the rest of the family might actually use).

So what's the consensus on sound, assuming that a decent DAC is used?

Second, I have about 2000 CD's so I want to have a commecial ripping service store them for me. Since my computer system is Apple based, I thought ALAC is the way to go. I've also seen threads here that the Buffalo NAS devices can be problematic for Apple users. I need to choose an appropriate NAS device to get this project up and running.

Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks and Happy New Year!
bbopman

Showing 5 responses by audioengr

audioengr
3,282 posts
 
It's silly to try to improve the Sonos without addressing the real deficiency, and that is the jitter. Either upgrade the internal clock and S/PDIF output circuit or put it through a reclocker.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio
audioengr
3,282 posts
 
What I'm saying is that its silly to spend a lot of money upgrading the power supply or cabling on a Sonos. First attack the big improvement, and that is jitter due to output circuits and clock.

Of course you should use an outboard DAC.

Steve N.
audioengr
3,282 posts
 
Frederick21 - all manufacturers will claim this. If you compare a stock Squeezebox to a stock Sonos for instance, you will be shocked at the difference in jitter. The SB is much lower, and it still has audible jitter. The Sonos has the worst jitter of any of the computer servers on the market that I have measured. I believe it's primarily because they went overboard in adding filtering to insure that they would pass FCC spurious emissions testing.

As for jitter reduction in DAC's: They all reduce it to some extent, but never to inaudible levels, even ASRC (async sample-rate converters). Even the jitter in a CDP is quite high due to the lousy clocks that they use.

Face-it, the only way that you will ever get rid of it is to use an expensive reclocker or a DAC with a really good internal clock, like maybe a Spoiler, Zanden or Esoteric. DIP is not even remotely close, but it upsamples. It does reduce jitter though.

Steve N.
audioengr
3,282 posts
 
Frederick21 - I agree. Even Squeezebox just launched their new Duet and it does not support 24/96.
audioengr
3,282 posts
 
Rdb001 - the Sonos is capable of even better sound than the TP with a reclocker and a good DAC. In stock form, it cannot compete though. I dont feel that the D/A chip in the TP is very musical. There are much better outboard DAC's than this, although more expensive. The TP is a good value for the money.
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