How to get the best out of my sonos connect

[admin_exported]

Hi

I have recently bought a sonos connect for my system and want to know how to make it sound better? My system consists of: marantz amp pm 6004, Dali sensor 1 speakers, good quality QED speaker cable and QED phono leads a sonos connect and apple iPad and spotify is where I get my music from. I have the basic Ethernet cable. I also pay for spotify premium.

My idea is to add a Arcam rlink dac! As this seems to be reasonably priced. I feel as I've spent a lot now. is this going to make a difference and is here any other way of making my system sound better? Will this dac maake a difference? I also hear a slight fuzz/hiss when i listen to spotify through my connect but when I plug in through headphone port through spotify no hiss/fuzz?

All help and advice will be much appreciated.

Cheers

mike

 

[kungula]

I had the Arcam rDac and it did not work properly with USB. I also made bad experience with the Arcam solo. I think it is better to pay a bit more and to buy something more reliable.

I am very happy with my Nuforce Dac in combination with Sonos and Dynaudio active speakers.

 

[Anonymous]

Ok cool, but a dac will make a big difference then? Just may have to spend a little more. I will be linking the sonos connect to the dac via a coax cable. Will a dac get rid of the hiss from spotify?

Any one used the arcam rlink before?

 

[brandmartyr]

Hi,

I currently use an Arcam rLink as the link between my airport express and Naim amp. At the time I bought it, I auditioned it against the more expensive rDac as well as the even more expensive Rega Dac.

I think the rLink is a fantastic bit of kit for the money. Whilst it has limited connectivity compared to the rDac, performance wise it is not a black and white case. I remember at the time, we were all a little open-mouthed at how good it was compared to its older sibling. Engineering wise, I've never had any problem with Arcam products and have always considered them to be very well built and reliable.

I have no experience of the Sonos so can't comment on whether the rLink would provide demonstrable improvements for you. That said, the hissing doesn't sound right. I've never experience any hissing or the like when streaming via Spotify.

M

 

[Anonymous]

DUPLICATE - UNPUBLISHED BY MODS

That's promising,ill get down my local audio shop and try a rlink out. But good to hear its a winner especially for the price.

Cheers

 

[Anonymous]

DUPLICATE - UNPUBLISHED BY MODS

That's promising,ill get down my local audio shop and try a rlink out. But good to hear its a winner especially for the price.

Cheers

 

[Anonymous]

DUPLICATE - UNPUBLISHED BY MODS

That's promising,ill get down my local audio shop and try a rlink out. But good to hear its a winner especially for the price.

Cheers

 

[Anonymous]

DUPLICATE - UNPUBLISHED BY MODS

That's promising,ill get down my local audio shop and try a rlink out. But good to hear its a winner especially for the price.

Cheers

 

[Anonymous]

That's promising,ill get down my local audio shop and try a rlink out. But good to hear its a winner especially for the price.

Cheers

 

[eggontoast]

I would be very surprised if it made any appreciable improvement over the Sonos onboard DAC, its not that bad by any means. I know that the rdac I had didnt make much, if any difference, hence i sold it. I currently have an mdac connected and still wouldn't swear I would pass a blind listening test. With regards to the noises you are hearing, don't think it's the Sonos though, I've never heard any on my one.

 

[bradbort]

I have a Sonos connect that I usw tihe a Rogue Sphinx integrated. I've tried it with the sonlink dac, as well as running it through the higher end Sabre Dacs on an oppo 105 I use as a source. I listened for differences both through my PSB t-2 speakers,a s well as through HiFiman he400 headphones. I mostly use the sonos to listen to internet radio or my itunes libary. No lossless, so the files may not show off the dac's differences that well, but its the way I use it, so that is the way I tested.

All of the differences are pretty subtle. With the Sonlink, which is really a disguised rlink dac in a case, I could not swear there were any differences at all. With the Oppo 105, I did hear some marginal improvements in depth, and high end. . I noted, however, that the interconnects on the oppo 105 are a cut above the interconnects for the Sonos. In a week or so I'll check if the difference I'm hearing is due to that, or the different DAC's.

So, my bottom line is the Arcam sonlink (rlink) is not enough of an upgrade to make it worthwhile. Even running it through a better DAC only seemed to make a marginal difference. In comparison, I've heard much much bigger differences from upgrading interconnects, changing integrated amps, upgrading turntables, moving speakers around, that type of thing.

Of course, none of that is with high res files. For music I really care about, I tend to use the oppo 105 disk player...but I have to say, that even in compariing internet streamed music, resolution does not seem to be the key driver of sound quality for me. I can listen to stations that range from std up to 340k. The 340k are not always better in qualilty than 128k streams. It seems to come down more to how well the song itself is mastered or some other variable that I don't know about. All I can say is that some, but not all, music I stream over the Internet sounds suprisingly good, and some of it sounds flat and compressed.

Brad

Brad

 

[The_Lhc]

You've got the Connect set to Fixed output of course?

 

[Philim]

The sonos dac is good enough for what it is. Putting an expensive dac on it is a complete waste of cash. Been there and am much poorer for it.

 

[sweety7272]

+ 1 for the "do nothing to the DAC" option!

I have tried the same - and couldn't hear any difference between the Connnect DAC and an external one. Your ears may be better than mine....but I would say it is far from a necessary addition to your set up.

Might be worth sorting the basics out first too - your hissing sound doesn't sound right at all - have you tried checking

- all interconnects/cables in tightly

- sonos connect output set to "fixed volume" so that you just use your amp's volume control not the sonos one.

- spotify set to the highest playback quality (do this in spotify app not in sonos)

I think the sound quality of the Connect is pretty good - into a Cyrus / ATC system at the moment, so good that I never use my CD player any more in fact!