2. digital
  3. 158918-115924

What does Sonos Connect 'do' to a recording?

I have Sonos speakers around the house outside of my listening room where my primary system is. My wife really enjoys it and for casual listening I'm happy with it too. I stream via Amazon Music, normal resolution.

I stream Amazon Music into my main system through an older Apple TV module which I understands is not an optimal way in regard to sound quality. It also cuts out for half a second from time to time with some regularity. Sonos never cuts out.


I have a Sonos Connect that I could run into the pre-amp of my main system, possibly with Amazon's hi-res option.


The question is, does the Sonos Connect 'do' anything to the files transmitted through it to the pre-amp? (As you can tell I have very poor understanding of the various components of steaming.) In other words, would it be more or less desirable than the Apple TV as a streaming device? Is there anything about Sonos Connect that would make paying extra for Amazon's hi-res option not worthwhile? It is my understanding that the new Sonos app, S2, will handle hi-res files now and that the Connect is compatible with S2.

Any insight into this would be much appreciated.

George
n80

Showing 5 responses by n80

n80 OP
2,133 posts
 
@jjss49 Thanks for the info. It is helpful. However, I have found that for my ears 44.1khz is probably enough and jitter is just something I've never been able to detect or at least separate from other elements that might degrade SQ.

Possibly A/B testing in my system or listening to someone else's would reveal some of these things to me but I'm not sure of the benefit of pursuing that.

I will say that Sonos+Amazon HD played through the Oppo DAC sounds almost identical to a CD played through the same Oppo. Maybe some subtle differences but I'd be hard pressed to say which was better.

All of which is to say that I'm happy with this configuration other than finding the S2 app quite a bit more buggy than S1 ever was.
n80 OP
2,133 posts
 
Thanks guys. Good info. I will watch the videos about streaming.

I have an ’external’ DAC in the form of an Oppo blu-ray player that I use as a CD player. It has optical-in that plays directly through its DAC as if it were a stand-alone DAC.

So if I run optical-out from the Connect into the Oppo’s optical-in it will use the Oppo’s DAC and not the Connect’s?

As far as support for the Connect this is a Gen2 and it is functioning fine with the new Sonos S2 app. I know that the Gen1 is not supported and will not function with S2. S2 is supposed to support hi-res files but I’m not sure how high that means. Regardless, I’m perfectly happy with CD level res.
n80 OP
2,133 posts
 
Thanks, that helps. So I'm going to give this a try at some point. Bound to be better than 1st gen Apple TV!
n80 OP
2,133 posts
 
It is my understanding that the Connect came out in two generations and the only way to tell was by serial number or the mute button.

Sonos lists the Connect Gen1 as not compatible with S2 and the Connect Gen2 as compatible.

The one I have is definitely a Connect (a white box, not black) and it definitely works with S2 and according to the S2 app it has the latest firmware on it now.
n80 OP
2,133 posts
 
Update: I've got the old Sonos Connect tied into my primary system. It runs into the Oppo via Coax. AppleTV runs into the Oppo via optical.

I don't hear a huge difference between the AppleTV and Sonos streaming Amazon HD but would give the nod to the Sonos. AppleTV cuts out from time to time. Sonos almost never does.

The reason I kept the AppleTV component is that when I'm searching for music and recommendations the Amazon HD interface is better than the Sonos interface.
More to discover