Review and Measurements of SONOS Amp

[Willem]

The Sonos Amp is a wonderfully minimalist amplifier, and even to the extent that you can locate it out of sight. However, connectivity is pretty basic. With digital sources you can stream music, and you can watch TV via the hdmi connection. If you want to play CD/DVD/BD the best way to do this is to connect the disc player to the TV. However, this requires the TV to be on - not a problem for watching video, but a bit much for playing CDs. For that, you can use the analogue input, but it measures less than perfectly. In short, I think it is not a convenenient amplifier if playing CDs is important to you. However, if you have largely moved to the modern world I think it is great.

 

[hat28]

Can you somehow feed a digital input instead? That’s where this unit shines.

If you have a digital output from your device (spdif), Sonos sell a spdif to hdmi adapter. I feed the Sonos amp from a Wiim pro plus, utlilising its dsp, optical out to hdmi in. It works perfectly.

 

[kakaze74]

If you have a digital output from your device (spdif), Sonos sell a spdif to hdmi adapter. I feed the Sonos amp from a Wiim pro plus, utlilising its dsp, optical out to hdmi in. It works perfectly

This is very interesting, since it means finally there is a way to have room correction/dsp with sonos amp when using non Sonos speaker. So you are using Wiim as streamer, and not using Sonos app ?, how’s that work ?, and is it possible to use 3rd party active subwoofer ?

 

[hat28]

This is very interesting, since it means finally there is a way to have room correction/dsp with sonos amp when using non Sonos speaker. So you are using Wiim as streamer, and not using Sonos app ?, how’s that work ?, and is it possible to use 3rd party active subwoofer ?

Yes, I use Wiim as the streamer and now rarely have the need to open the Sonos app. As it happens, I mostly stream from the Spotify app on my phone to the Wiim streamer. As far as I'm aware, I don't think you can use a subwoofer directly from the Wiim Pro Plus, but I don't see any reason why you can't dsp the bass in the Wiim, feed that into the Sonos amp, and use the subwoofer out on the Sonos amp. I don't have a subwoofer to try this with, but it ought to work.

Elsewhere on these forums people talk about the great advantage of having two subwoofers rather than one as you can place them optimally to even out room modes (along with some nifty dsp). What has prevented me from going down this route is that the Sonos amp filters out the bass from the main speakers (I have towers), if you connect a subwoofer. I don't want this since I would want the bass from the towers and from the subwoofer together (both dsp-ed to even out room modes).

 

[John76]

Here’s some comments I’ve made on other forums regarding my usage of two Sonos Amps since 2019 along with a couple of photos of my main setup.

I’m using a couple Sonos Amps, one in my living room and the other in a three season porch. They are both connected to my main system in the basement via the tape output on the preamp for playing vinyl. I also run a Sonos 3 speaker in my kitchen where my wife and I sit most of the time when we’re listening to music. We have a three season porch where we also listen to music and watch tv. Sonos allows you to group systems together with separate volume controls provided for each along with a master.

When we listen from the kitchen I pair with the living room which has a pair of Tannoy DMT-15 loudspeakers, the Sonos 3 speaker in the kitchen fills in the missing details and would be sorely missed if it wasn’t being paired with the LR speakers. The setup in the porch is connected to a 32 inch tv as well as a pair of ATC SCM-7’s.

As far as easy goes, control of the amp is via mostly from my iPad or iPhone using the Spotify or Sonos app. When using the amp for tv it is controlled from the remote that came with the tv. When I turn on the tv the amp recognizes it and just direct sound to the speakers. That is also what happens when a record is cued up and I select the tape output for the given amp. Music begins at a default volume or whatever it’s set at during the listening session.

Most of my vinyl listening is just me plopped in front of the big Tannoy’s in the LR. I also like to spin vinyl in the basement when friends are over shooting pool or on my own so as to not disturb others upstairs working.

My Sonos Amp has a Source Level adjustment that allows you to better match the volume between a source like a turntable to the volume of the streamer.

It also has an Autoplay setting which detects the input from the source and plays the amp at a user adjustable volume level.

No drop in sound quality to what preceded them and a whole lot more functionality and ease of use I wouldn’t want to give up.

Once you have that ability, it’s hard to imagine not having it. I very rarely touch my Sonos Amps or Play3 speakers. I have the amp setup to play at a preset volume as soon as it detects a signal from the turntable which will override what’s being streamed. The auto sensing function also works for the HDMI input for tv viewing.

The Sonos has Airplay2 which comes in handy for listening to YouTube videos through the large speakers in the living room.

I’m perfectly satisfied running two Sonos Amps with Tannoy’s and ATC’s. The thought of spending more on a “top end Wi-Fi amp” has never crossed my mind. The Sonos Amp works so well with my main turntable system and configuration of my home that I see no alternatives that appeals to me.

The analog to digital conversion that occurs in my Sonos Amps is seamless and I feel there is no loss of information compared with my analog rig.

I haven’t had any issues with multi-room functionality in the several years with two Sonos Amps and Sonos Play3 speaker. I had all three systems playing together since the upgrade and everything is hunky dory. The nice thing about Sonos is that it has the capability of running on its own private mesh network. I have a Sonos Boost which plugs into a Ethernet port on my Gateway which facilitates Sonosnet to all your other devices. It allows me to stream CD quality to multiple devices without any interruptions or dropouts all on it’s own private mesh network.

https://flic.kr/p/2q7VeXE

https://flic.kr/p/2q5uYZb

 

[ti33er]

I dumbed down to one of these Sonos AMP about a year ago; mainly for family convenience …I had the opportunity to compare it directly with my ex CAMBRIDGE AUDIO EDGE A which was ten times the price (!) before making peace with my decision.

Paired with Monitor Audio Gold 200 G5 it is absolutely fine for AV…however for music, compared to the EDGE-A, it lacks a bit of dimension and midrange engagement; clarity and power seems to still be there, I don’t notice any ‘distortion’, it’s just a bit boring…

 

[SiegfriedHorn]

This is very interesting, since it means finally there is a way to have room correction/dsp with sonos amp when using non Sonos speaker. So you are using Wiim as streamer, and not using Sonos app ?, how’s that work ?, and is it possible to use 3rd party active subwoofer

Yes, I use Wiim as the streamer and now rarely have the need to open the Sonos app. As it happens, I mostly stream from the Spotify app on my phone to the Wiim streamer. As far as I'm aware, I don't think you can use a subwoofer directly from the Wiim Pro Plus, but I don't see any reason why you can't dsp the bass in the Wiim, feed that into the Sonos amp, and use the subwoofer out on the Sonos amp. I don't have a subwoofer to try this with, but it ought to work.

Elsewhere on these forums people talk about the great advantage of having two subwoofers rather than one as you can place them optimally to even out room modes (along with some nifty dsp). What has prevented me from going down this route is that the Sonos amp filters out the bass from the main speakers (I have towers), if you connect a subwoofer. I don't want this since I would want the bass from the towers and from the subwoofer together (both dsp-ed to even out room modes).

Hi, I have the Sonos amp + Elac UBR-62 bookshelves and a Sonos Sub wirelessly connected. The amp filters out the bass from the Elacs and send the bass to the sub. I am quite happy with the sound, what I absolutely miss is room correction…that’s why I ordered the WiiM Ultra to add this functionality. I’ll use the Ultra as a preamp and connect per Toslink to the Sonos amp using the hdmi adapter. All the streaming duties from the Ultra. Do you think I could run the room correction with the sub still connected wiressly to the Sonos amp and achieve some good results? I know the Sonos sub is not The best but being wireless is quite convenient. Thanks in advance for any ideas/tips!

 

[hat28]

Missing room correction? It's so amazing, a few years ago I never knew it existed - but take it away now and it's like a system is missing a key component. I don't know if you'll get good results because I haven't tried to integrate a sub but if I had one I'd certainly give it a good go. I played with the WiiM's room correction when it first came out and thought it sounded off, most likely because it was correcting full range. I don't know if the room correction has improved since its launch though. Many on this forum will say to correct only to the Schroeder frequency and I have found that to be sage advice (I go up to 250Hz). It was hard advice to follow at first: why would I want to correct around only 1.5% of my audible frequency range (at my age I don't go past 16Khz), when I can do all of it? But the proof is in the pudding and the idea that a measurement microphone is not the same as two ears and a brain has been borne out by experience. Whenever I have gone for full range correction for a few hours and then reverted back, the uncorrected settings were (sadly), better.

I have found the iOS app Housecurve to be very simple to use, and have used that for room correction with excellent results - I think it was free or was very inexpensive - certainly great value.

Do let us know how you get on integrating the sub. Despite many posts casually stating something along the lines of "and then to improve the bass just add a sub", Amir has said how integrating a sub convincingly is not an easy task (I see this is your first post - Amir is the creator of asr). But don't be put off by that - given you have the sub it's certainly worth the while. If the room modes are problematic then you could also look to place a second Sonos sub, although I know they are not cheap. I wouldn't worry about the Sonos sub not being the best either - Floyd Toole has spoken positively on asr about the good results from using two Sonos subs in a room, and that's good enough for me (as you're looking for advice, again check out Floyd's posts here).

You could also see if the Sonos' True Play functionality works to even out the bass. From what I've read I think it might but as I don't have a Sonos speaker, I've not tried that either.

I agree too that having the sub wirelessly is an absolutely massive boon.