I'm listening to a Stock Sonos right now, but I use a reclocker between the Sonos and the outboard DAC. This is what is needed with Sonos. The imaging is balled up in the center and the bass is lackluster until you reclock the digital stream and reduce the jitter.
I actually use this is one of my references, although it is not my best. Since there is no core audio stack involved with Sonos like with Firewire or USB, you get a clean stream without jumping through any hoops. No need for Kernel Streaming, ASIO, WASAPI, Pure Music, Jplay or Amarra.
The point is: if you are going to use an external DAC (recommended) with the Sonos, you can rest assured that the digital stream is accurate, it just suffers from jitter.
Steve N.
Empirical Audio
I actually use this is one of my references, although it is not my best. Since there is no core audio stack involved with Sonos like with Firewire or USB, you get a clean stream without jumping through any hoops. No need for Kernel Streaming, ASIO, WASAPI, Pure Music, Jplay or Amarra.
The point is: if you are going to use an external DAC (recommended) with the Sonos, you can rest assured that the digital stream is accurate, it just suffers from jitter.
Steve N.
Empirical Audio