Sonos Connect - Return on experience

[mak972]

Hi,

I want to replace Spark, I want to use to Phantoms as dumb speakers.

Can someone give me an in depth return on experience with Sonos Connect ? Will you recommend it ?

Thanks,

[Damon]

Hi Mak,

I have a Sonos Connect and Amp. My opinion in brief:

It works very well within its limits. Those limits are CD quality streaming, rather than higher resolution streaming. This does not matter to me, although i understand that other streamers, such as an Aurender, will give a better-sounding CD quality stream. That is what I have been told, though I have no direct experience of a comparison.

The great advantage to a Sonos is that it allows you to access a wide range of streaming services. Many are limited to Tidal, and a few others also have Spotify. With the Sonos, you can get Deezer and Deezer Elite (which we use for about 90% of our listening - FLAC / lossless quality) as well as Tidal, Spotify and many other services. Another source we use a great deal is TuneIn Radio; that is a great service.

The serious drawback to Sonus, in my opinion, is that the interface is not as good as it should be. Within the Sonos app itself, there are some frustrating navigation limits. For example, there is often no way to 'go back' to your current listening 'location'. By this, I mean that if you are listening to a selection, and then search for something else, there is no going back to your current selection and keeping the full hierarchical path. Hard to explain, but it is frustrating.

When using a service like Deezer or Spotify or Tidal, the interface options and functionality are limited; you do not get the full functionality that you would have if you used the actual Deezer or Tidal app to control things. This limit can affect your ability to save or delete songs or albums from a 'your music' category, or a set of favourites. Sometimes I have to go to the computer, go to the Deezer app and from there edit albums I've saved. Very annoying.

More and more I am annoyed by the limited metadata available with Sonos. Not critical all the time, but it does get tiresome.

I've had some connection issues, but they are not frequent.

So, it is a system that gives you great access to streaming services as well as music stored on your computer. It is limited to CD quality, and the user interface options are not a complete as it should be.

I would certainly like to find an alternative, but I'm not going to give up access to a wide range of streaming options.

The Bluesound Node may be worth considering; it is more money but may be a better product. Others will chime in here, I'm sure.

So, I give the Sonos 6 out of 10. 7 out of 10 if I were pushed to be generous.

[mak972]

Thanks Damon for your response.

Have you tried Sonos Upgrade ? like this one https://wyred4sound.com/products/upgrade...t-modified ? Do you think it worth it ?

[thumb5]

I think Damon may be being a bit hard on Sonos; my experience has been generally more positive and I'd say 8/10 without much hesitation.  Maybe it depends on how you're using it - I see Damon's main sources are on-line streaming services whereas I tend to use it much more frequently to play my own music library and to listen to Internet radio (normally via TuneIn), both of which it does well.

I also use the dedicated Sonos controller (CR100) which is an aged piece of kit - evident in the UI - but has a certain retro charm and is easier to use (IMO) than the software controllers for MacOS or phones/tablets.  Interestingly the CR100 does a pretty good job of "remembering" your navigation steps in an intuitive way; in that respect it is definitely better than the software controllers.  But that might be academic unless you can get hold of one.

As to the Connect itself, there's not much to say.  It does what it's supposed to, and the mesh radio network is solid (at least in my case, but everybody's network is different).  It conveniently has analog line inputs, which I find quite useful as the input can then be shared across the Sonos network.  That may or may not be relevant to you, I suppose.  You could argue that it's quite expensive for what it does, and I wouldn't argue much with that.  But there is a strong second-hand market (at least in the UK) so even if you try one as an experiment it shouldn't be expensive if you don't get along with it.  Actually I think Sonos offer a 45-day money-back-if-not-happy service if you buy directly from them so there is little risk in trying one.

PS: just saw your second post in this thread. I have one Connect with the W4S modification and yes, I think it is worth it.

[Charlemagne]

I've got a Magna Hifi Ultimo mod on the Sonos Connect. It's worth every penny. I have held a shootout against the standard Connect with my Expert 250 at home, a couple of years ago. The Magna Hifi Ultimo mod was by far the very convincing winner.

http://www.magnahifi.com/index.php/websh...os-connect

[Damon]

Ah, Mr Thumb,

You are likely correct; I am being hard on the Sonos, and likely grumpier than may be warranted. Perhaps a '6' is very 'old man' of me. It really does do a good job of things generally and I absolutely do appreciate that. But... all that stuff I said before. Also, it doesn't seem to get artwork from iTunes very consistently. But you are correct that we stream from Deezer Elite mostly and the interface is better when navigating the iTunes library.

I will also say that it is remarkably easy to add an additional Sonos component to an existing set up. It could be as simple as three taps on a phone. Even my mother could likely do it. As I have said before, I use the Connect and an amp; that duplicates some of the functions as both units could function individually, but I do run another pair of speakers off the Amp. And that the Sonos does very well. I bought mine from a bricks 'n mortar store, and didn't feel I had the latitude to return it. And I fully admit it solved the second set of speakers problem.

Ok Ok, I'll go to a '7' and if bribed, to an '8'.

I might even consider the W4S upgrade as I recall several other posts here of members who feel that upgrade, among others and the Re-clocker, are worthwhile upgrades.

[Will]

Hi,

I want to replace Spark, I want to use to Phantoms as dump speakers.

Can someone give me an in depth return on experience with Sonos Connect ? Will you recommend it ?

Thanks,

I have a Devialet 120 and used AIR for streaming.  The sound quality was fabulous and I was of the opinion that it could not be improved on.  However, occasional white noise and drop outs lead me to look at other solutions - solutions for which I would have to compromise on sound quality.  I ended up getting a Bluesound node.  This allowed me to integrate all my music sources - NAS, streamed content (Qobuz) and Tunein radio.  The app is excellent and I no longer need to have a laptop running.   

But was most surprising is that I could not detect a difference in sound quality - undertaking numerous tests switching between AIR and Bluesound.  This was totally against my expectations.  Bluesound can handle all types of files and above CD quality.

[andrew_brown]

I have been using Sonos Connects (ZP90s) (unmodified ones!) for more than 7 years to stream and move music around my house. I have found the control app extremely easy to use: it does all I want it to, except deal with beyond CD quality music. My Phantoms are, in effect, a high quality output for my Sonos system, which can also play natively Qobuz and some internet radio stations directly (but not BBC Radio 3 HD - I need to use the Sonos input for that).

Note that I connect the Sonos Connect by TosLink to a Phantom and not the Dialog. If I connect via the Dialog I frequently get some interference when I am listening to BBC Radio 3 HD. I have not found any other way to eliminate this interference. I have tried interconnecting the Phantoms and Dialog via ethernet, but it gave me no advantage over PLC.

Another advantage of using a Sonos Connect is that I connect my Dialog to the internet via one of the ethernet sockets on the Sonos Connect, making use of the Sonos Mesh.

[Olivier4444]

I was about to go Sonos until a friend who has been using Sonos for years told me that since he bought the Phantoms he liked Spark better... Crazy right ? He said Sonos was less responsive when selecting songs and was surprised how fast he could switch from one song to another in comparison to Sonos. Do you confirm ? Now I'm a bit confused whether i should stick with Spark (which by the way should see new improvements with upcoming firmwares) or if i should go Sonos.

[Johnnydev]

I was about to go Sonos until a friend who has been using Sonos for years told me that since he bought the Phantoms he liked Spark better... Crazy right ? He said Sonos was less responsive when selecting songs and was surprised how fast he could switch from one song to another in comparison to Sonos. Do you confirm ? Now I'm a bit confused whether i should stick with Spark (which by the way should see new improvements with upcoming firmwares) or if i should go Sonos.

Go for spark