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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

Showing 2 responses by kbarkamian

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.
kbarkamian
647 posts
 
"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."

This is the noise floor of the preamp. Every product has a noise floor; some are just louder than others.

Out of curiousity, did you hear this hiss/hum with no music playing at a volume position that you normal listen at? If it's not audible at the level you normally hear at and a bit higher, it's kind of nitpicking, isn't it? If it doesn't occur at any level you'd listen at, what's the difference?

Please don't take my post as derogatory. Not the intent whatsoever.
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