Advice Sonos vs hifi

[doifeellucky]

Ah yes I forgot about that.

I think your experience with the Grado and Zen just goes to show that audiophile upgrades aren’t necessarily good for everyone.

Due to working at home again I was considering moving my main speakers up into my office and spending up to £1000 on a new set in my main system. I demoed the LS50 Meta, Sonus Faber Lumina II and new Dynaudio Emit, and for whatever reason they didn’t provide a sound that really wowed me. Again, as with the Grado 325x, I was expecting something special that just wasn’t there. In fact I found them all quite lacking from a bass perspective, but that’s probably a combination of demo room size and placement (mine are currently 30cm from the wall, and in the demo they were about 1.5m) and what my ears have adjusted to, especially as we also use my main system for films and TV.

Over Christmas my Dad offered me an old pair of cheap monitors and inexpensive sub that were just gathering dust and back in my office I couldn’t be happier. This combination works better than my other speakers in a near field setup, and my other speakers are back downstairs. I now have two setups I’m more than happy with and saved £1000, which would be better invested in a replacement for my 10 year old Plasma.

Sometimes what you already have is good enough.

 

[Edbostan]

I've got Monitor Audio speakers (silver series) and have extensively auditioned several speaker brands. You just need to audition a pair of Sonos Ones in stereo mode and also Play Fives. For the money, they're very good. Besides, Sonos does multiroom better than most in the market.

It depends on what your source is. Traditional Hi-Fi has a different audience who wants different things from their system compared to Sonos that caters to streaming and multiroom.

I play music from my NAS or Amazon Music via my Sonos Connect plugged into my hi-fi amp. I cannot tell the difference between streamed or CD source. The Sonos One and Play One I also listen to are limited in speaker size so soundstage is limited.

 

[Natan90NL]

I’ve changed my Sonos setup, using the ones and sub as 2.1 in my room and the arc solo. For music it’s actually nicer, for movies ofcours less so, but I can switch if needed.

(I can’t add a jpeg photo from my iPhone 😓)

 

[manicm]

I’ve changed my Sonos setup, using the ones and sub as 2.1 in my room and the arc solo. For music it’s actually nicer, for movies ofcours less so, but I can switch if needed.

(I can’t add a jpeg photo from my iPhone 😓)

Are you aware you can use all components for movies? Are you saying you're not impressed when used this way?

 

[robdmarsh]

Ah yes I forgot about that.

I think your experience with the Grado and Zen just goes to show that audiophile upgrades aren’t necessarily good for everyone.

Due to working at home again I was considering moving my main speakers up into my office and spending up to £1000 on a new set in my main system. I demoed the LS50 Meta, Sonus Faber Lumina II and new Dynaudio Emit, and for whatever reason they didn’t provide a sound that really wowed me. Again, as with the Grado 325x, I was expecting something special that just wasn’t there. In fact I found them all quite lacking from a bass perspective, but that’s probably a combination of demo room size and placement (mine are currently 30cm from the wall, and in the demo they were about 1.5m) and what my ears have adjusted to, especially as we also use my main system for films and TV.

Over Christmas my Dad offered me an old pair of cheap monitors and inexpensive sub that were just gathering dust and back in my office I couldn’t be happier. This combination works better than my other speakers in a near field setup, and my other speakers are back downstairs. I now have two setups I’m more than happy with and saved £1000, which would be better invested in a replacement for my 10 year old Plasma.

Sometimes what you already have is good enough.

Wow, you didn't like the Sonus Faber Lumina ii or the Dynaudio Emit (I assume 20)! These have been both recently very well-reviewed. For the Lumina ii reviewers said bass doesn't go so low but is very tight and punchy. But maybe they would satisfy me as I have no interest in deep bass and subsonic effects when watching movies.

 

[doifeellucky]

Wow, you didn't like the Sonus Faber Lumina ii or the Dynaudio Emit (I assume 20)! These have been both recently very well-reviewed. For the Lumina ii reviewers said bass doesn't go so low but is very tight and punchy. But maybe they would satisfy me as I have no interest in deep bass and subsonic effects when watching movies.

In the demo they were way out into the room and I was probably sat twice as far away as I would be at home. Might try a home demo but not convinced I’ll hear that much of a difference with my amp. Should probably save up and upgrade both at the same time.

 

[Natan90NL]

Are you aware you can use all components for movies? Are you saying you're not impressed when used this way?

What do you mean ?

 

[Natan90NL]

So after using the Sonos 2.1 setup for a while I switched back to 5.1 because of the movie sub switching hassle.

But I’m still curious how much better a hifi system would sound compared to:

2.1 or 5.1 with the sub (.1)
Loudness off
True play tuning for the room on
Eq neutral
Qobuz lossless audio 24bit 48khz

Because this sounds really impressive I can’t imagine a 2.0 hifi system no room corrected sounds better then this. Despite using a dedicated amp and better speakers.

So if anyone owns this gear and compared it this way I’m eager to hear 😁

 

[manicm]

What do you mean ?

’I’ve changed my Sonos setup, using the ones and sub as 2.1 in my room and the arc solo’.

If you connect/sync all these together you have a complete home cinema system. So why don’t you use them together if you’re not, as you say, impressed watching movies with just some connected?

That’s what confused the hell out of me. Unless you meant you’re using the Arc in a separate room?

 

[Natan90NL]

’I’ve changed my Sonos setup, using the ones and sub as 2.1 in my room and the arc solo’.

If you connect/sync all these together you have a complete home cinema system. So why don’t you use them together if you’re not, as you say, impressed watching movies with just some connected?

That’s what confused the hell out of me. Unless you meant you’re using the Arc in a separate room?

Ah I explain this in one of my posts here. For the room shape it’s better to use the ones “in the length” of the room (dunno if that’s English) instead of opposite of the tv. Also I don’t like the arcs music sound quality compared to the ones and they simply cross fire in the 5.1 setup. Also I don’t really like the 5.1 because of the ones firing music from behind instead of in front.

But.. I’ve switched back to 5.1 now because of the sub switching hassle. So it’s a compromise on ease of use rather then best music sound quality.

 

[Natan90NL]

So after using the Sonos 2.1 setup for a while I switched back to 5.1 because of the movie sub switching hassle.

But I’m still curious how much better a hifi system would sound compared to:

2.1 or 5.1 with the sub (.1)
Loudness off
True play tuning for the room on
Eq neutral
Qobuz lossless audio 24bit 48khz

Because this sounds really impressive I can’t imagine a 2.0 hifi system no room corrected sounds better then this. Despite using a dedicated amp and better speakers.

So if anyone owns this gear and compared it this way I’m eager to hear 😁

Anyone ? 😌

 

[Tinman1952]

Anyone ? 😌

Unfortunately nobody can answer that question for you. If they HAD done that comparison it would be THEIR subjective view and not yours....

 

[Natan90NL]

Unfortunately nobody can answer that question for you. If they HAD done that comparison it would be THEIR subjective view and not yours....

That’s what I’m asking for, other people views. If that wouldn’t be useful u wouldn’t have to read reviews either.

 

[Tinman1952]

That’s what I’m asking for, other people views. If that wouldn’t be useful u wouldn’t have to read reviews either.

Reviews are useful to discover product details but 'sound' judgements are those of the reviewer and as such are not 'gospel'...it's subjective!
You are asking something quite different......comparing a Sonos 2.1 and 5.1 system to a '2.0 channel HiFi system'. I suggest not many would have done a valid comparison like that....plus what HiFi system do you refer to? The possibilities are endless..... 🙄
You need to try for yourself.

 

[Natan90NL]

Reviews are useful to discover product details but 'sound' judgements are those of the reviewer and as such are not 'gospel'...it's subjective!
You are asking something quite different......comparing a Sonos 2.1 and 5.1 system to a '2.0 channel HiFi system'. I suggest not many would have done a valid comparison like that....plus what HiFi system do you refer to? The possibilities are endless..... 🙄
You need to try for yourself.

I know sound is objective, but there is some factual part of quality right ? And maybe some agree on my Sonos theory so that’s also interesting to hear. I mean comparing €2,5k Sonos vs €2,5k on amp with speakers. Maybe 2.0 or 2.1.

i have no experience on “tuning” a system myself, like the subwoofer Crossover points etc. Seems like the Sonos software does actually sound good.

But I agree on the trying part il probably go listen to a sound demo in stores.