Sonos

[Thorton]

I've converted all my CD's to FLAC and picked up a Sonos Connect (+ free bridge) to stream to my AVR. I chose the Sonos based on the feedback on the forum and also the lack of competition providing all the features I wanted. What is my overall opinion of the Sonos = WOW! I have read on some reviews (not on this forum) that people have thought the unit was a little pricey. I thought it may have been a little high before I purchased it. But this product so far is awesome. Set-up was incredibly easy, I can control everything from my android phone and kindle fire, the interface to manage and play tracks is simple, the SQ is great and so far no hiccups. For a product to have this ease of a set-up, fantastic user friendliness for controlling and so far flawless operation; I consider it to be priced right. This little unit made me think "why in the hell didn't I purchase this 5 years ago". I don't say that too often. Anyways, I'm very happy with the purchase and highly recommend it. I retired my 300 disc Sony CD changer. I'm kind of sad to see it shelved but I guess technology moves on.

[pearsall001]

Awesome unit the Sonos!!!! It really doesn't have any competition. Just a bunch of Sonos wannabe's. And as far as some thinking it's a tad pricey, I have to chuckle...these are probably the same guys that dropped 5x the Sonos cost on a pair of speaker cables & thought what a great deal they got. Too funny. Glad you're enjoying it, it only keeps getting better & better. I love mine for sure. Say good night CD/SACD players.

[tonyb]

Congrats man, actually, the poster above me Phil, talked me into it a few years ago and I still owe the man a beer or 10 for steering me in that direction. The wife likes it better than me now. Subscribe to a music service for 10 bucks a month like Rhapsody or Mog and your world will open up greatly. You'll never buy a cd again, seriously. There are some tricks to using the software, so if you need tips, just ask.

As far as competition goes, none in their price class. The SB was the only other one but Sonos software had the edge on them. I looked at q-sonic, Soolos units, Olive, and they where all in the thousands of dollars. The sonos with a good dac will make you happy for along time. Congrats again, and ask if you need anything.

[AsSiMiLaTeD]

Never buy a CD again, seriously? Do those services you mentioned stream lossless audio? Last I checked they did not, but things may have changed. Those services are actually a great companion to a good CD collection, but they can never replace it for me. It's worth mentioning that I haven't listened to an actual CD in years, but I buy CDs all the time and rip them down to my media library. I'm not discounting services like Mog or Spotify, but there are two inherent problems:

1 - As far as I know there's no lossless capability, so while they can work for background music, I don't see how they're viable options for real listening
2 - You're paying for a subscription, kinda like Netflix, where they can add and remove content as they see fit. Now they're very cheap and a great value, but just like Netflix streaming will never replace my DVD and BD collection a streaming service like those would never replace my existing library

I'm not putting words in your mouth Tony, just relaying my general thoughts about the streaming services

[tonyb]

No, I get ya dude and you make valid points. No, music services do not stream high rez, but most don't always listen to that format anyway. You can get close to cd quality sound and thats pretty much what we all were accustomed to for many years. I don't know about you, but for me I have never found a cd with more than 2 or 3 songs I wanted to own. Why pay for the rest of them when you can download individual songs, or play them on a music service, store them in a playlist ?

My modded Sonos does good on high rez but that was expensive to mod it. Now given, I have compared the modded unit to a non modded unit. One playing high rez files and the other just lossless files in Itunes and the differences while there, were slight. Sure, I prefered the modded unit playing higher rez files but only because my speakers are pretty revealing and those slight differences more noticeable. On a pair of Tad bookies, or out on the deck you'd hear zero difference.

I still have my own music library downloaded in lossless into the Sonos, and cd's stored away. Haven't bought a cd since I got the Sonos and Rhapsody. Not too much new music is of any quality to warrant doing anything more, to me anyway. I dig 24/96, but bad recordings exist in that format as well as 16/44, and some I find almost no difference. A crap shoot if you will. Some well recorded 16/44 is just as good and sometimes better than some 24/96. Mapleshade recordings come to mind. Regardless, it's a matter of taste is all and what fits into your listening habits and lifestyle. For me anyway, I don't want to spend alot of time chasing down quality recordings, I just want to enjoy the music.

[Drenis]

I'm contemplating a move to Sonos from SQB only because I have 1 app of which I can control my system and its from my tablet. However, apps xist for both phone and tablet (Blackberry) to control Sonos all day long... It's so frustrating. No one wants to support SQB or LMS it seems now...

[pearsall001]

Congrats man, actually, the poster above me Phil, talked me into it a few years ago and I still owe the man a beer or 10 for steering me in that direction. The wife likes it better than me now. Subscribe to a music service for 10 bucks a month like Rhapsody or Mog and your world will open up greatly. You'll never buy a cd again, seriously. There are some tricks to using the software, so if you need tips, just ask.

As far as competition goes, none in their price class. The SB was the only other one but Sonos software had the edge on them. I looked at q-sonic, Soolos units, Olive, and they where all in the thousands of dollars. The sonos with a good dac will make you happy for along time. Congrats again, and ask if you need anything.

Tony, Those 10 beers will be a great start!!! If I'm even in Chicago land you can bet I'll be in touch. Same thing here Tony, I haven't bought a new CD in I can't remember how long. My collection is pretty extensive & ripped to FLAC on a NOS drive, then being sent thru the Sonos then on to the CAL Alpha DAC is pure musical sweetness. Don't for a second think that services like Rhapsody (I subscribe) can't put a smile on your face. Again I'm running everything thru the Alpha DAC & those Amperex tubes add a nice finishing touch on my musical enjoyment. I just don't get too hung up on the whole 16/44, 24/96 bit scenerio. There's pros & cons to both...bottom line is what sounds good to you. I'm more than happy where I'm at now. But you never know what the future has in store. My CD player will never see the light od day again.

[Thorton]

Tony if you or Phil are ever in the metro Detroit area or I attend the next Polk Fest, I'll buy both of you a couple of beers. This unit is fantastic. I trialed MOG and really liked it. A little limited on selection but I did like it. I just had to draw the line on $10 for this a month, $10 for that a month....it never stops. So far I haven't had one question on the Sonos I couldn't easily figure out. I have been researching the DAC threads and a DAC purchase will be in my future. Thanks for the input.

[tophatjohnny]

Cool. Not for me, but still cool!

[JoshuaGessner]

i love sonos