sonos - old dog new tricks

[olderhifiuser]

Current system - AR EB101 turntable, Arcam 8 amp & power amp, Pioneer CD recorder pressed into service as CD player when Arcam CD died, Castle Avon speakers (just bought second hand)

Plus Qnap 109 server + Squeezebox

Was going to buy a new Arcam CD player, but it seems they have withdrawn from the market, so rethinking everything. It seems like I stream music mostly and don't get the physical CDs out as much as I used to

How good is Sonos Connect as potential replacement to squeezebox - would I notice the difference?

How good are the Sonos players - could they eventually replace my entire hi fi?

I know I need to replace my Qnap before it finally dies (music is backed up elsewhere of course) - another Qnap? ReadyNas? or others

Mostly my music is stored in .flac format, and some mp3s

Keep the turntable obviously, but replace everything else?

 

[olderhifiuser]

By the way I don't have, and will never have an Iphone, so the whole Airplay thing is irrelevant to me

 

[The_Lhc]

You will need some kind of smart device for control, Sonos don't make a controller anymore, unless you're prepared to use a PC as a controller but it's somewhat overkill.

I've heard people say that the analogue output on the Squeezebox is better than that of the Connect but I've never heard it so I couldn't comment, if you're using a DAC there's unlikely to be any real difference.

As for the speakers I'd have to say they're unlikely to be as good as a decent amp and speaker setup but I'm not familiar with your gear. You can of course create stereo pairs of the Sonos speakers which is supposed to be quite impressive, moreso when you add the Sub to the mix but it really depends on how much you want to spend.

 

[olderhifiuser]

I do have several old android phones I could use as controllers. and my wife's android tablet

I am at that stage where suddenly I am rethinking spending £600 on a new CD player, and spending it instead on getting more up to date I guess.