Sonos Connect box

[Martyn Miles]

I am considering 'dipping my toe' in the streaming world.
A friend uses Sonos Connect boxes ( he has 3 ! ) and a router to which is also used for holding CD files.
He brought the Connect box over to be, downloaded Sonos to my iPad and the Connect box to an Aux.
input on my amplifier.

Listening to lossless music from Linn, I was very impressed.
He uses a separate DAC on one of his systems, but said the inbuilt Sonos DAC is very good.
Have others tried this system?

I like the idea of just a small Connect box on my system and using the iPad to access music.
Others' experiences would be useful.

[mikeyb]

Plenty reviews say otherwise about the built in DAC, I think most people who use it seriously use it with a dedicated DAC eventually.

[Manicatel]

The Sonos stuff does what it sets out to do very well indeed.
Sound quality is very good, stability of system & useability are excellent.
The Connect is a great piece & can open up a whole new world of music for the user, which is surely the whole point.
No hi-res, no Bluetooth connectivity & the DAC is good at the price-point but not a revelation.
Bluesound or the Arcam rPlay could be alternatives to consider.
For anyone who wants to start out with streaming without spending loads of money, Sonos ticks a lot of boxes.

[WAD62]

I am considering 'dipping my toe' in the streaming world.
A friend uses Sonos Connect boxes ( he has 3 ! ) and a router to which is also used for holding CD files.
He brought the Connect box over to be, downloaded Sonos to my iPad and the Connect box to an Aux.
input on my amplifier.

Listening to lossless music from Linn, I was very impressed.
He uses a separate DAC on one of his systems, but said the inbuilt Sonos DAC is very good.
Have others tried this system?

I like the idea of just a small Connect box on my system and using the iPad to access music.
Others' experiences would be useful.

Hi Martyn, I suppose the 'best' solution for multi-room streaming all depends on how comfortable you are with computers and networks etc...

If you are, then the whole open world world of raspberry pi's, and second hand squeezeboxes is a very flexible, cheap, and future proof route for multi room streaming...

However if not, then something like the Sonos connect is a good option, particularly into a DAC, however on the down side you'll be restricted to Sonos hardware for the rest of your 'players'...

[Dynamics]

I've owned a connect but I must admit I never used the dacs in it. But as a digital transport it's decent. It has been criticised for having lots of jitter but when I went up from the £300 connect to my £1k cyrus stream x2 (which I then converted to a stream x signature) I wouldn't say the cyrus was 3 times as good , maybe not even twice, such is law of diminishing returns. I'm mentioning the prices of my stuff to illustrate how decent the sonos is.

But having said that if you want a more flexible option with hi res support, probably better in built dacs I'd look at the bluesound node 2 as has already been mentioned to you. I suspect the dacs are better in it than the sonos, and with the price rises of sonos lately it's getting closer to bluesound prices. If you want a cheaper alternate to the sonos I'd look at something like the denon heos box.