I have a lot of Sonos products that I have acquired over the years before getting my main system. I was wondering if there’s an easy way to integrate into my main system. Sonos port doesn’t get good reviews online but what if I used it as a streaming transport only using digital out into my NDX2? Any other ideas? I don’t really like AirPlay, it’s clunky and not very stable or reliable.
Most of the criticism of the Port is directed at it’s poor value proposition and it’s built in dac. If you use an external dac and have other Sonos equipment then there is nothing that will do a better job. I’ve had my Port for years and it works well.
Streaming through port into my ndx and my main system can I expect the quality to be very similar to just streaming through ndx?
We have a few Sonos speakers in the house and used to have a Connect (the previous generation Port) in the lounge connected to an NDX2.
Streaming directly via the NDX2 provided the best SQ, but for having the whole system playing the same tunes (lounge plus other rooms) when we had friends over, it was ideal.
I believe that the NDX2 can decode audio formats up to 32 bits/384 kHz. Sonos only supports CD quality (16bit/44.1kHz). For critical listening your NDX2 should be much better but Sonos reckons that the difference is audibly imperceptible. My Sonos Port sounds more than good enough when I’m playing multiroom.
Where people have compared music from a hi res master with CD quality downsampled from that same master (i.e. the same mastering), the consensus of opinion seems to be that any benefit of the hi res is subtle, along the lines of “more air around the recording”, or a better ambience. Otherwise differences are very likely to do with different mastering - with the hi res not always sounding better. Hi res is a nice to have icing on the cake, but by no means a major contribution to sound quality except where better masterings have been released as hi res. That is not to say NDX2 doing it all isn’t or is likely to sound better than Sonos used as a transport into NDX2’s DAC, where popular opinion is that NDX2 excels as a transport. (Some people using NDX2 just as a transport, into a different DAC.)
Roon
Let a Roon server ‘see’ each Sonos device as an endpoint and create zones with them. You can then group the zones & devices so they all sync up for a complete multiroom experience.
possibly get a second hand sonos connect - very cheap on ebay for the S 1 versions?
Use Logitech Media Server (free). See below where a Sonos Frame and a Sonos Beam are alongside a Muso gb2
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