Sonos

[PhilP]

Ian, Karel,

Thanks for your detailed replies re. Qobuz. It's interesting that you both think it sounds a little better via AIR than via the modified Sonos Connect. I actually prefer my CD rips to streaming from Qobuz. I don't know why this should be - maybe issues with additional processes generating 'noise' during playback?

I'm getting fed up with having to walk across the room to change albums etc whilst using Qobuz desktop and the convenience of the Sonos would be much appreciated. The Wyred4sound Connect costs over £700 in the UK which seems a lot to pay just to listen to Qobuz (nearly 3 years subscription!).

Another option I'm considering is a Macbook Pro with enough SSD memory to store most of my ripped/downloaded music collection and to run Qobuz both streaming via AIR. £1400 and I won't have to move out of my chair at all .

IMO the jury is still out as far as streamers are concerned:
- The Aurender looks over-priced and provides no integration with Qobuz ... Yet.
- The Aries seems to be not quite good enough from a SQ perspective though according to Kunter you can pay a lot extra to make it sound good
- My Naim NDX doesn't really sound any better than iTunes/AIR and currently offers no Qobuz integration
- The Totaldac D1 Server is reportedly the best sounding solution but is expensive and it's not clear to me whether/how Qobuz integration works
- The Cubox project is intriguing but a bit fiddly and what will happen with future s/w updates. I have no idea whether it can be made to stream Qobuz.

Anyway, I like Qobuz and hope that they will survive their current financial issues. The planned launch of TIDAL (WiMP) in the UK this month won't help.

Thanks again, Philip