Sonos

[AllenB]

... But I'd look at Sonos as a way to unify access to all the music you listen to, whether Internet radio, other streaming services or locally-stored.  Their list of integrations with streaming services is pretty extensive and I think it could take a long time before the audiophile alternatives catch up (if they even try).  Possibly irrelevant if Qobuz is all you need, of course.

From a usability point of view Sonos is very appealing but I wouldn't be keen to use one as my main hub if the sound is not as good as AIR. I also want to be able to stream 24 bit downloads which the Sonos can't handle anyway.  I read somewhere that Sonos have some sort of tie-up with Deezer - maybe they will enhance their products to support 24-bit in the future?

The only 'audiophile' solutions that have good integration with Qobuz seem to be the Aries and the NAD M50. I only know one person who has the NAD and he's exceptionally keen on it. I'm not so keen as it has an integrated optical drive for ripping - which is almost bound to break ...  Also my local NAD dealer doesn't stock M50s and isn't keen to get one for me to try.

I contacted Deezer regarding 'connected devices' and why Sonos does not show up in their settings. All leading to how and when 'Deezer Elite' becomes available. In brief, the answer was that to get Deezer Elite you will need to play through Sonos, and this will generally happen on 19th March. On all other devices, e.g. phones, tablets, it drops down to Deezer Premium+ by default. In other words, the Deezer Elite in Sonos becomes active via the service that is set up via your Sonos system. That is the tie up between those companies.