Sonos Port as Digital streamer?

[martinhdk]

I've tried my best to like Bluesound's products, which are marketed as the "audiophile version of Sonos".
However, after one issue too many, I've decided to replace the Bluesound streamer in my primary system with a Sonos Port.
(For the sake of convenience, Sonos products are used for casual background listening throughout the rest of our house.)

The Port will be connected to the built-in DAC of my trusty old Gato DIA-400s amplifier.
(It uses a rather old Burr Brown PCM1794a chip, which should have some level of jitter-tolerance, despite its age).
Hi-Res is currently off the table, as all music is streamed via a regular Tidal HiFi subscription.

1. I assume that the Port would be OK to use for for 16 bit / 44.1 kHz digital transport in terms of "bit-perfectness" and jitter? (Output set to "fixed")
   I haven't been able to find any measurements of the Sonos Port, but previous tests of the Sonos Connect suggest that 16/44.1 transport should be within its capabilities.
   
   
2. If I understand correctly, the Sonos Port will internally process 24/48 but externally output 24/44.1?
   So, I'm guessing that if I were to take the jump to Hi-Res, any 24/48, 24/96, or 24/192 material would be severely compromised by the Sonos Port?

Best regards
Martin

 

[Vincent Kars]

Looks like 24/48 is indeed the max. Hires will be down-sampled to 16/44.1 (yes it is 2023). https://en.community.sonos.com/cont...khz-24-48-16-44-1-s2-what-s-the-point-6862835

Have a look at the WiiM mini or Pro. A quarter of the price of the Port and sporting 24/192 over UPnP.

 

[staticV3]

If I understand correctly, the Sonos Port will internally process 24/48 but externally output 24/44.1?
So, I'm guessing that if I were to take the jump to Hi-Res, any 24/48, 24/96, or 24/192 material would be severely compromised by the Sonos Port?

44.1 is not a compromise to sound quality at all.

Higher sample rates only enable higher frequency content to be stored and reproduced. 96kHz sample rate for example can encode frequencies up to 48kHz.

Since human hearing barely extends past 20kHz at the best of times (and dropping quickly with age), 44.1kHz sample rate is enough to reproduce the entirety of the audible range. 48kHz perhaps for some headroom.

Anything higher than that is completely useless for audio consumption and mostly used to bait uneducated audiophiles.

 

[martinhdk]

Thank you both!

I aggree that cheaper, better performing, alternatives exist.
But I also agree that 16/44.1 is likely to be more than fine for my old ears.

So if the Port can transport this "faithfully", I am okay with laying down the extra money for the convenience of "the Sonos Ecosystem".

Best regards
Martin

 

[DonH56]

I have a Port, which replaced an older Connect, and it works OK for me. As others have said, it does resample down to 16/44.1 but since all my source is ripped CDs or lower-quality MP3s that is not an issue. Like you I have a SONOS infrastructure in the house (about 7-8 speakers/connections) so wanted to stick with my current investment. For hi-res, I can use my Oppo or implement another solution for the media room where the "high-end" system resides, but so far I have not felt the need. I had planned to piddle with a RaspberryPi server but they became unobtanium and I have not looked again. My small collection of SACDs and music videos play on my Oppo through the HDMI connection.

FYI, I don't know about the Port, but the Connect rolled off the bass from the analog outputs, so I use the optical or coax (digital) connection to my system rather than the RCA output.

 

[martinhdk]

OK...

So, I went down the rabbit hole and read up on the WiiM Pro and Pro+ here on ASR.
Since I could get a well-reviewed Hi-Res capable streamer for about a third of the price, I simply couldn't convince myself to purchase the Sonos Port.
I bought the WiiM Pro, heavily discounted, here in Denmark - and have been impressed ever since!

From the nice packaging to the easy setup and polished interface, it made a great first impression on me.

Exploring the array of services (even SqueezeBox!), the parametric EQ, and a multitude of customization options, left me even more impressed.
I had planned for Room Correction as an add-on. But with the upcoming enhancements to parametric EQ, I believe I will be able to perform decent sub-500Hz Room Correction on the WiiM.

I am very optimistic for now and appreciate the advice @Vincent Kars

Best regards
Martin