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Is Sonos Port as bad as the reviews say?


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Hey,

 

My current streaming platform of choice is Apple Music, which is great for office and walking around, but find it hard to use with my Hifi setup. Currently using an Apple TV via HDMI into my AVR, but find controlling it via Music app fiddly and unreliable. I don't really like using Airplay as it means that all my phone can do while playing music and runs the battery down.

 

I have been looking around for non Apple Music devices, which is only really Sonos? I see Amazon Echo Link, but that looks to be unavailable any more. I could go iPad via a usb into the AVR which has the added advantage of going higher than CD quality, but can't control remotely. So it's back to Sonos Port or if I am lucky a second hand Connect Gen 2, but they disappear fast online. I do that 2 other zones with Sonos running and my Wife loves that and can use it easily.

 

This review really makes me think $600 it isn't worth it, so I wanted see if any owners on here have found these issues in their systems. Or even other suggestions for Apple Music as a source, but one that doesn't require the TV to be on and can be controlled remotely.

 

Thanks for any help!

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24 minutes ago, PauliD said:

Is Sonos Port as bad as the reviews say?

 

No its not.

However, it can be bettered (as can any product).

 

Sonos is one of the few products that has deep integration with Apple Music. Even "if" the Sonos Port wasnt as good as some of its peers, usability has to come into the decision making process.

 

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For context, I considered the Port for the very same reasons but upon research was disappointed to learn that not only is it limited to 16 bits, it employs embedded DSP which cannot be disabled, so completely forget about bit-perfect lossless playback.  If this is not important to you, for functionality alone it is probably worth the money.

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Thanks @Lil Caesar having only CD quality sound perfectly fine for this application (I have a man-cave/office setup just for me) but I find DSP that can not be disabled scary, is this for their 'trueplay' tunning? Adding not bit-perfect I guess is a deal breaker, cause that will annoy me, even if I don't hear it, knowing it's a thing I will be listening for it all the time.

 

Does this mean the older Connect Gen 2 is the superior device?

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It's not trueplay but part of how they control volume / bass / treble and the "loudness" EQ function in the digital domain - it cannot be disabled, even for the SPDIF output.  Someone on Reddit took a read of the digital output and confirmed it's been modified - with only 15 significant bits being transmitted.  

Edited by Lil Caesar
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On 24/03/2023 at 11:53 AM, Lil Caesar said:

For context, I considered the Port for the very same reasons but upon research was disappointed to learn that not only is it limited to 16 bits, it employs embedded DSP which cannot be disabled, so completely forget about bit-perfect lossless playback.  If this is not important to you, for functionality alone it is probably worth the money.

 

If you considered the Port for the very same reasons as the OP, what did you decide on to work around the limitations of Sonos? I'm sure it would be extremely helpful for the OP to know what you settled on.

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I opted for the bluesound node.  NAD now have a headless option in the form of the CS1 and interestingly it and the node are almost physically identical in terms of cpu chip and dac but the critical difference being the node has the app and ability to update firmware which I feel is critical given how fast the streaming space is moving.

Edited by Lil Caesar
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1 hour ago, Lil Caesar said:

I opted for the bluesound node.  NAD now have a headless option in the form of the CS1 and interestingly it and the node are almost physically identical in terms of cpu chip and dad but the critical difference being the node has the app and ability to update firmware which I feel is critical given how fast the streaming space is moving.

And as was the requirement for the original OP, this has native support for Apple Music?

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No mate, as you well know the node does not have embedded Apple Music support only the 16 bit over wifi cd quality that apple offers third party products.  It’s still better than the attenuated signal that Sonus offer on their products.

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2 hours ago, Lil Caesar said:

No mate, as you well know.

 

No mate, I don't well know. I haven't had any in-depth, hands-on experience with Bluesound since the first generation products in 2015 left a bad taste in my mouth.

 

On 24/03/2023 at 11:53 AM, Lil Caesar said:

For context, I considered the Port for the very same reasons.

 

So, you desired a product that had native Apple Music support, just like the OP, but bought a product that doesn't?

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The node offers hi res support, bit perfect playback and has an app that supports both playback and firmware updating.  The Sonus port is not bit perfect and cost 2/3rds of the node.  The increase in price was well worth the fallback to using airplay over integration in my opinion.

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Thanks for the info guys. @Hydrology I pretty much knew 3rd part Apple Music support is tricky one from Audio only point of view. It’s on lots of TVs and game consoles. Thus my interest in the port. So appreciate keeping on topic. 
@Lil Caesar thanks for posting how it all went down for you. I may have to rethink my music provider or deal with the quirks I have at the moment till some thing better comes along. 

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1 hour ago, Lil Caesar said:

The node offers hi res support, bit perfect playback.

Thanks for confirming that your reasons were actually NOT the same as the OP, and therefore NOT in context.

@PauliD good luck with the search. Bit perfect or not, the Sonos product is great. I've heard it in many systems of all price ranges. There are plenty of non bit-perfect DACs/streamers that would outperform both the Sonos and the Bluesound, hence why I don't feel this should be the reason to ignore. However, if you move on from Apple Music, there are a whole host of great options from many brands out there. One of the more popular streamer/DACs is the Cambridge CXN - these come up for sale in the Classifieds often and I believe had a significant price drop recently.

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