[BobC]

I see lots and lots of info on this forum about SB and TP, but not a lot about the Sonos system.  Any reason for this?  Any link you can point me to (already did some searching) that compares Sonos to SB.

Here's what I'm thinking through.

Budget $2000 or less.  (gonna take a lot of negotiating with my wife to swing a purchase like this!)
Need "audiophile" quality sound (Odyssey Candela > Mono Extreme SE > Martin Loan Ascent i's)
Want multi room control.
Needs to be really easy to operate so the rest of my family can use it.
Needs to be technically simple, i.e. not too techy....plug-n-play if possible.  We seem to have bad luck with our computers 
Good customer support.
Don't know how I feel about modifying new equipment.  Seems like a lot on money to spend tweeking a relatively cheap (sorry no offense to anyone, just giving my reservations) and some would say disposible component.  Would rather spend that money on better equipment in the first place.

So here are the options I'm thinking of....
1. TP in primary system + additional SB3's in 2 other rooms = ~$2300 I believe.
2. SB3 + $1000 DAC (Benchmark? PS Audio?) in primary system + add'l 2 SB3's = ~$1900
3. Sonos + $1000 DAC in primary system + 2 add'l Sonos units = ~$1900.

I hear the Sonos is idiot proof (which I need  ) and really easy to use with a cool interface.  But not covered here very much.    

Any thoughts?

Thanks!     

[Mightyburner]

BobC,
I just got in and my wife wants to look at American Idol so I'll keep this brief. I got the Sonos Z80 bundle about 2 weeks ago.  I'm so far from being computer savvy it's sad so I'm happy to say that the Tech support has been very good. As you read below that's a good thing because I've had major problems getting the Sonos to work properly. I suggest you purchase directly from Sonos because it seems like they are very responsive when you select that option. 

I have the wireless unit connected to my Cayin tube amp via the analog inputs.  It sounds OK to me but it's my understanding that the digital connection is much better.  I too was considering a DAC down the road.  The songs I ripped from CD's sound very good for casual listening and I love the Rhapsody trial that comes with the Sonos.  There are numerous genres to chose from and even sub-genres. 

The great thing about the Sonos is the remote.  It simple to use and very easy to set up playlists.  Put it this way, my wife who hates anything technical figured it out in about 15 minutes.

THE PROBLEM -  Although Tech support was able to figure out my router issues remotely, I have about $1,000 worth of songs purchased from Napster that won't play!  I keep getting an error message that the license for the DRM selection is not valid.  That's not the case because the same song(s) plays on my computer.  They had to refer the problem to Engineering.

There are other options out there but none with a remote that's this easy to use.  I don't think the SB even plays DRM protected songs (WMAs or iTunes) but I could be wrong. I really want to keep the Sonos and add a DAC but if a solution is not found for why my WMA-DRM songs won't play, I'll have to send it back.  One last thing lossless WMA songs won't play either.  You need to re-rip them in a different format.

Good luck.

[BobC]

Thanks MMMiles.  Did you ever get your software to play?  Aside from that issue, the set-up and ease-of-use were good?  I'd need this to be simple, simple, simple....and reliable too!

FWIW, I don't have any downloaded music files.  All of mine are ripped from my personal CD collection, so I don't think I would experience this issue.

So all of you SB3 and TP fans....did you consider or compare against the Sonos?  Can anyone educate me as to why the SB3 and TP seem to have such a large following around here?  I believe the slimdevices programming is open architecture...which I think means that the bugs are easily fixed, etc.  Could this be the reason? 

Perhaps cost?  I think I made a math error in the OP.  Sonos ZP80 unit $350 + Controller $400 + DAC ~$1000 + 2 additional Sonos ZP80 units $700 = around $2450.


Thanks!

[Mightyburner]

BobC,
The set-up is fairly straight forward and Customer Service can do it for you remotely.  Since your ripping your own CD's, you won't encounter the problem I've been having.  I purchased the Z80 bundle and remote cradle for $1049.  The Z-80 bundle consists of 2 Z80 units and 1 Controller.

MMMiles

[Robert57]

I've not used the Sonos units personally, but Wayne at Bolder Cable has openned them up and reported here on AC a few months ago that they appear to be very problematic to mod, at least to the level of a SB2 or SB3--power supplies not easily isolated, I recall. This, along with the lack of an open architecture for the streaming software, took Sonos out of the running for me. I would love to see a sexier remote for the SB,  along the lines of the Sonos, but the Sonos remote , I believe, does not have user-replaceable batteries. I'm hoping that Apple will come out with a cheaper Wi-Fi only version of the new iPhone which might be a great HT and SB remote for playlists and browsing in Slimserver.

[Brad]

You might look at the Nokia N800 for controlling Slimserver

I agree - the Sones remote is pretty slick.  Great UI.

[Papajin]

Just a heads up, but they just retired the bundle with the 2 Z80 units in it.  You can only get a bundle with a Z80 and Z100, or the bundle with the 2 Z100's (though it looks like they're retiring that soon too).  Never figured out why they didn't offer a bundle with a cradle either, as I would think most people would prefer a cradle charger for the remote.  They also won't build you a custom bundle at discounted rates.  You either get the bundles they offer, or you basically pay the listed price for buying individual pieces, which seemed kinda odd to me (I asked for quotes awhile back).  At the time they wanted me to pay more for a ZP80/ZP100 set than they were charging for 2 ZP100's that were part of an offered bundle.  While the addition of a new bundle that contains both an 80 and 100 is a good thing, I personally feel they should have kept the original bundles to go along with it and thus offered a flexible selection for just about anyone's needs.  Or even better, just do away with the strict bundling and offer custom quotes with small discounts based on purchase quantity.