Cyrus or Sonos ?

[lbafsaj]

Hi, looking to buy a streamer and seriously thinking aboput the Cyrus X2 to match the rest of my system, but a grand for what I see as a transport is a bit much. Seen the sonos connect and might be an easy way into streaming, but is thetre such a difference in sound quality ????

 

[skippy]

Can't really comment on the comparison between the 2 units, but I have a Connect and it's the best piece of HiFi equipment I've bought.

It takes 10 minutes to set up from unboxing and I'm using it all around the house via android.

I'm using 2 of the 3 outputs at the moment to connect to amps around the house and I've just ordered a 50' optical cable to feed a system I'm gonna set up in the garage.

Very pleased with Sonos

 

[LeeBishop]

I'd have to agree with Skippy, I too think the sonos connect is the best bit of hifi i think i have ever bought, easy to set up and a piece of cake to use,

i have mine plugged into my 8xpdqx and like to think that the DAC in the amp is doing all the good stuff, would be interesting to hear if anyone has done a direct comparrison. I'd like to think there isnt much or any difference in the two.

try popping into a local hifi shop and doing a direct comparrison.

 

[The_Lhc]

The only criticism I've seen of the Sonos Connect's digital outputs is that they have relatively high jitter levels. The actual output has been proven to be bit-perfect, so if you have a DAC with good jitter rejection properties (and evidentally some DACs are much better than that than others. Whether you can hear the difference is another matter) it shouldn't sound any different to any other digital source. In other words it's your existing DAC that should be the important bit.

The only other consideration is that Sonos doesn't handle anything higher than 16bit/48kHz audio, so if you want to listen to 24-bit stuff you'd need to look elsewhere.

 

[ngibbs]

I've never rated Sonos at all, but I seem to be in a minority on this forum. I haven't done a comparison with an X2, but my system is Cyrus (see sig.) and I know that both my Synology Audiostation App and my Macbook Air (iTunes + BitPerfect) are streets ahead. Sonos has a brilliant user-interface, is easy-peasy to set up and is very reliable. It just doesn't sound that good, at least on my two systems - Cyrus Pre-XP + Metrum Acoustics DAC (Study) and Cyrus DAC XP (Living Room).

 

[John Duncan]

The only criticism I've seen of the Sonos Connect's digital outputs is that they have relatively high jitter levels. The actual output has been proven to be bit-perfect, so if you have a DAC with good jitter rejection properties (and evidentally some DACs are much better than that than others. Whether you can hear the difference is another matter) it shouldn't sound any different to any other digital source. In other words it's your existing DAC that should be the important bit.

The only other consideration is that Sonos doesn't handle anything higher than 16bit/48kHz audio, so if you want to listen to 24-bit stuff you'd need to look elsewhere.

Just out of interest, will it play eg 24/96 downsampled, or does it just not play it at all? I don't think I've tried it...

 

[The_Lhc]

The only other consideration is that Sonos doesn't handle anything higher than 16bit/48kHz audio, so if you want to listen to 24-bit stuff you'd need to look elsewhere.

Just out of interest, will it play eg 24/96 downsampled, or does it just not play it at all? I don't think I've tried it...

It just won't play 24-bit files at all.

 

[The_Lhc]

I've never rated Sonos at all, but I seem to be in a minority on this forum. I haven't done a comparison with an X2, but my system is Cyrus (see sig.) and I know that both my Synology Audiostation App and my Macbook Air (iTunes + BitPerfect) are streets ahead. Sonos has a brilliant user-interface, is easy-peasy to set up and is very reliable. It just doesn't sound that good, at least on my two systems - Cyrus Pre-XP + Metrum Acoustics DAC (Study) and Cyrus DAC XP (Living Room).

Is that using the digital outputs or the analogue? The analogue output level is a little low compared to many devices, which can lead some people to think it sounds worse. As for the digital, did you have the Connect/ZP90 set to fixed volume? In that state it's a bitperfect output as I mentioned before, so I don't really see how it's going to sound much different to any other bitperfect output.

 

[ngibbs]

I've never rated Sonos at all, but I seem to be in a minority on this forum. I haven't done a comparison with an X2, but my system is Cyrus (see sig.) and I know that both my Synology Audiostation App and my Macbook Air (iTunes + BitPerfect) are streets ahead. Sonos has a brilliant user-interface, is easy-peasy to set up and is very reliable. It just doesn't sound that good, at least on my two systems - Cyrus Pre-XP + Metrum Acoustics DAC (Study) and Cyrus DAC XP (Living Room).

Is that using the digital outputs or the analogue? The analogue output level is a little low compared to many devices, which can lead some people to think it sounds worse. As for the digital, did you have the Connect/ZP90 set to fixed volume? In that state it's a bitperfect output as I mentioned before, so I don't really see how it's going to sound much different to any other bitperfect output.

I use the digital outputs to a DAC: the Metrum Acoustics Octave in one system, and previously the DAC XP in my other system. Both didn't sound much cop (as I've mentioned). I didn't know that the volume output could be variable or fixed (never rummaged around that far). It was on variable, I've discovered, but is now set to fixed. I'll try it again and report back. I'd be delighted if it improves the sound.

 

[The_Lhc]

I didn't know that the volume output could be variable or fixed (never rummaged around that far). It was on variable, I've discovered, but is now set to fixed. I'll try it again and report back. I'd be delighted if it improves the sound.

It'll certainly be louder (it sets it to full volume, which is bit-perfect, although it remains bit-perfect until quite a low volume level).

 

[ngibbs]

I didn't know that the volume output could be variable or fixed (never rummaged around that far). It was on variable, I've discovered, but is now set to fixed. I'll try it again and report back. I'd be delighted if it improves the sound.

It'll certainly be louder (it sets it to full volume, which is bit-perfect, although it remains bit-perfect until quite a low volume level).

Hmmmm.....it does seem to sound better (I'll have to live with it for a while and listen properly to be sure). Thank you for pointing that out - I never knew about the volume output settings. Just a shame it won't play 24 bit files......

 

[toyota man]

Hi, looking to buy a streamer and seriously thinking aboput the Cyrus X2 to match the rest of my system, but a grand for what I see as a transport is a bit much. Seen the sonos connect and might be an easy way into streaming, but is thetre such a difference in sound quality ????

The only problem I had with it was with the artwork only about 5% transferred from iTunes I tried to sort this but I gave up the connect now live with my Son I may go for a mission next time I try streaming

 

[The_Lhc]

Hi, looking to buy a streamer and seriously thinking aboput the Cyrus X2 to match the rest of my system, but a grand for what I see as a transport is a bit much. Seen the sonos connect and might be an easy way into streaming, but is thetre such a difference in sound quality ????

The only problem I had with it was with the artwork only about 5% transferred from iTunes I tried to sort this but I gave up the connect now live with my Son I may go for a mission next time I try streaming

That's iTunes' fault, it doesn't store the metadata according to the standards, so it's not readable by other systems. I believe there is some software you can get that will sort it all out but I've forgotten what it's called.

 

[moosey]

LHC is right, it's an iTunes issue if you rip using iTunes, but can be resolved in a number of ways. I think the sonos forums have a couple of detailed threads on it.

You can get around it using iTunes itself, and it will add about 20seconds to each ripping time. It's not difficult in practice and sounds more complex than it actually is. Alteratively, you can use different ripping software.

I'm interested in upgrading soon and was looking at a cyrus8dacqz, so am interested to hear the views on it,s combination.

Thanks

Mike