Sony gets behind high-resolution audio...

[Um]

Along with Blu-ray audio, I think this is simply another marketing tactic to get the 'audio enthusiast' to buy, yet again, the music he already owns in another format. An attempt to claw back some of the money being lost through the fall in CD sales.

This in itself does not bother me, but since we know that the improvement in quality available simply by going from CD to higher resolution formats is, at best, tiny, any worthwhile improvement in SQ that is actually delivered by the 'better' formats will come from better mastering and generally better production values.

Something that, if applied to CD releases, would result in CDs that are ever bit (sic) as good as the blu-ray, SACD or whatever discs.

Of course this wouldn't sell many hi-rez audio components would it?

Personally, I'm happy with CD quality. For some people though Dave it's all about that last one percent of improvement.

 

[John Duncan]

They are quite pretty though...

Not as pretty as the old ES range in black with wooden ends. (And loads of lights 'n buttons 'n displays 'n stuff.)

Each to their own. I find those a bit eighties (though in the eighties I'd have agreed with you, when the new Sony things would have looked a bit seventies ).

 

[chebby]

They are quite pretty though...

Not as pretty as the old ES range in black with wooden ends. (And loads of lights 'n buttons 'n displays 'n stuff.)

Each to their own. I find those a bit eighties (though in the eighties I'd have agreed with you, when the new Sony things would have looked a bit seventies ).

Absolutely. My choice of hi-fi aesthetic nowadays is (ideally) invisible.

 

[John Duncan]

You should get a Sonos under the stairs, hooked up to in-wall Genelec actives.

 

[Um]

You should get a Sonos under the stairs, hooked up to in-wall Genelec actives.

nice

:clap:

 

[chebby]

You should get a Sonos under the stairs, hooked up to in-wall Genelec actives.

That means builders, cable channelling, plasterer, electrician, redecorating (at least one wall) and loadsa money.

Thinking B&W A7 (again) lately.

Not invisible, but gives me back at least 2 square metres of living room (unusable space occupied around and behind speakers).

 

[davedotco]

Along with Blu-ray audio, I think this is simply another marketing tactic to get the 'audio enthusiast' to buy, yet again, the music he already owns in another format. An attempt to claw back some of the money being lost through the fall in CD sales.

This in itself does not bother me, but since we know that the improvement in quality available simply by going from CD to higher resolution formats is, at best, tiny, any worthwhile improvement in SQ that is actually delivered by the 'better' formats will come from better mastering and generally better production values.

Something that, if applied to CD releases, would result in CDs that are ever bit (sic) as good as the blu-ray, SACD or whatever discs.

Of course this wouldn't sell many hi-rez audio components would it?

Personally, I'm happy with CD quality. For some people though Dave it's all about that last one percent of improvement.

But there is no 'one percent improvement' when CD is done right, though I do accept that the in reality some hi-res releases are better than the CD because of the higher production values that are sometimes involved with a premium product.

This is a marketing excersise by Sony to give you the quality of reproduction that you want, for a premium price naturally, that, if they had been bothered, they could have given you on CD, at regular price, in the first place.

Bastids.

 

[John Duncan]

You should get a Sonos under the stairs, hooked up to in-wall Genelec actives.

That means builders, cable channelling, plasterer, electrician, redecorating (at least one wall) and loadsa money.

Thinking B&W A7 (again) lately.

Not invisible, but gives me back at least 2 square metres of living room (unusable space occupied around and behind speakers).

Two Sonos Play:5s paired in stereo. One each side of the fireplace, and move them to different rooms if you have a party and need multi-room.

 

[the record spot]

Two Sonos Play:5s paired in stereo. One each side of the fireplace, and move them to different rooms if you have a party and need multi-room.

You want mobile? For Chebby? Here ya go.....

Eh? 'Course he'll like it!! :rockout: :twisted:

 

[chebby]

Two Sonos Play:5s paired in stereo. One each side of the fireplace, and move them to different rooms if you have a party and need multi-room.

Nice try. Looks good.

But, no optical (for connection to TV/BDP/PVR), no AirPlay either.

Three times as many mains connections (for two Play 5s + some Sonos bridge or controller or whatever you need for them to 'talk' to).

B&W A7 just pips it for me.

 

[Leeps]

Back to the original point...

I think Sony's step here is interesting, but I'm certainly not about to buy loads of new kit on the strength of this. To date, it's only the likes of Linn, Naim & Meridian that have invested in hi-res hardware and sofware with their own music labels.

This sounds fine, albeit a tiny fraction of availabe music out there, but what concerned me most about this was that the big players like Apple and Sony could have hamstrung things by entering with hi-res formats incompatible with the smaller UK manufacturers' existing product lines.

So their announcement, along with the other announcements from LG could at least indicate that at long last (how many years after Bluray??), the big players in the marketplace are finally getting interested in hi-res music, with sufficient numbers of signed artists involved to go beyond the current diet of jazz & classical from Naim et al. (I love both of these genres but appreciate they're not to everyone's taste.)

So I'm encouraged by the strategic shift as much as the shiny boxes themselves. They seem to have pitched it wrong anyway. They could have done with something somewhere in between the two price points.

Having said all of the above, I share the other contributors' reservations about so-called hi-res stuff being re-hashed versions of their existing back catalogue rather than genuine HD. Remember how CD's used to differentiate this with the DDD or ADD labels? What happened to those?

 

[John Duncan]

Nice try. Looks good.

But, no optical (for connection to TV/BDP/PVR), no AirPlay either.

Three times as many mains connections (for two Play 5s + some Sonos bridge or controller or whatever you need for them to 'talk' to).

B&W A7 just pips it for me.

They do do Airplay now, I'm told (though I've never bothered to find out how*). For inputs you need a Connect or a PlayBar OTTOMH. Actually, a PlayBar might cover all your bases, and sounds pretty good.

*EDIT - http://www.theverge.com/2012/12/5/3730358/sonos-enables-airplay-like-streaming-with-latest-update (though I don't see it, it needs iOS 6)

 

[davedotco]

I think I would rather fancy something like this for home use......

 

[spiny norman]

I think I would rather fancy something like this for home use......

"Also retro – well, at least in spirit – was the 'wall of sound' rig set up by new McIntosh owner Fine Sounds in tribute to the famous Grateful Dead rig of legend, which also used McIntosh amplifiers. OK, so it wasn't quite on the same scale as the original, but if it was designed to draw a crowd, it was certainly doing the job. Playing Santana as I arrived, playing AC/DC when I left."

From this page

 

[davedotco]

I think I would rather fancy something like this for home use......

"Also retro – well, at least in spirit – was the 'wall of sound' rig set up by new McIntosh owner Fine Sounds in tribute to the famous Grateful Dead rig of legend, which also used McIntosh amplifiers. OK, so it wasn't quite on the same scale as the original, but if it was designed to draw a crowd, it was certainly doing the job. Playing Santana as I arrived, playing AC/DC when I left."

From this page

The Gratefull Dead rig popped into my mind due to a post in another thread about Geoge Peckham, (Porkie's Prime Cuts), one of the americans that I took on that tour of Abbey Road was John Curl, the prime 'technical' designer who assisted 'Owsley' Stanley build the 'Wall of Sound".

 

[bigboss]

Two Sonos Play:5s paired in stereo. One each side of the fireplace, and move them to different rooms if you have a party and need multi-room.

Nice try. Looks good.

But, no optical (for connection to TV/BDP/PVR), no AirPlay either.

Three times as many mains connections (for two Play 5s + some Sonos bridge or controller or whatever you need for them to 'talk' to).

B&W A7 just pips it for me.

Sonos does AirPlay. You can directly play music off your iPhone / iPad on Sonos. You don't need any controller other than your iPhone / iPad. If you can connect one of the Play:5s via Ethernet to your router, the Bridge won't be needed either. Bear in mind that B&W A7 does AirPlay only, so will become obsolete if you move to Android etc. or Apple "upgrades" AirPlay.

 

[chebby]

Sonos does AirPlay.

Play 5 only 'does' AirPlay if an AirPort Express is connected with the minijack line in...

http://www.sonos.com/airplay/

So again, more cables, another mains connection, another £80 and connected via a minijack cable (therefore using the rather poor DAC in the AEX rather than the internal DAC in the Sonos device).

Bit of a faff.

And still no optical for the TV / BDP / PVR.

The B&W A7's integral AirPlay solution is more elegant and it has optical digital connectivity.

 

[chebby]

Bear in mind that B&W A7 does AirPlay only, so will become obsolete if you move to Android etc.

I'm not going to move to Android.

 

[John Duncan]

Sonos does AirPlay.

Play 5 only 'does' AirPlay if an AirPort Express is connected with the minijack line in...

http://www.sonos.com/airplay/

So again, more cables, another mains connection, another £80 and connected via a minijack cable (therefore using the rather poor DAC in the AEX rather than the internal DAC in the Sonos device).

Bit of a faff.

And still no optical for the TV / BDP / PVR.

The B&W A7's integral AirPlay solution is more elegant and it has optical digital connectivity.

I think that's wrong, but am going to have to grab Jane's iOS6 phone to try it. See above re optical in on a PlayBar

 

[chebby]

I think that's wrong, but am going to have to grab Jane's iOS6 phone to try it. See above re optical in on a PlayBar

Just going by what Sonos say on their own AirPlay page.

Tell me if you also find that all-important optical digital connection

(Having looked at the Playbar you suggested, I really don't want one! It's wider than any telly we'll ever own.)

 

[bigboss]

Sonos does AirPlay.

Play 5 only 'does' AirPlay if an AirPort Express is connected with the minijack line in...

http://www.sonos.com/airplay/

So again, more cables, another mains connection, another £80 and connected via a minijack cable (therefore using the rather poor DAC in the AEX rather than the internal DAC in the Sonos device).

No, that's wrong. I regularly play songs from my iPad on my Sonos. I used to have AirPort Express, but after an update, the AirPort Express is in my drawer!

 

[bigboss]

Check this:

http://www.theverge.com/2012/12/5/3730358/sonos-enables-airplay-like-streaming-with-latest-update

 

[bigboss]

I even started a thread on it:

http://www.whathifi.com/forum/network-players/sonos-the-biggest-competitor-to-airplay-devices

 

[bigboss]

Bear in mind that B&W A7 does AirPlay only, so will become obsolete if you move to Android etc.

I'm not going to move to Android.

Never say never!

 

[chebby]

Sonos does AirPlay.

Play 5 only 'does' AirPlay if an AirPort Express is connected with the minijack line in...

http://www.sonos.com/airplay/

So again, more cables, another mains connection, another £80 and connected via a minijack cable (therefore using the rather poor DAC in the AEX rather than the internal DAC in the Sonos device).

No, that's wrong. I regularly play songs from my iPad on my Sonos. I used to have AirPort Express, but after an update, the AirPort Express is in my drawer!

Does the AirPlay (on your Sonos) also work when you bring up BBC iPlayer (Radio or TV) on your phone / tablet and does TuneIn Radio Pro work via AirPlay on these devices?

Or does it only work with iTunes?