[Wayne1]

Where are you going Wayne? 

Initally, I will be doing some brewery consultation in South Dakota. I just signed up a new client in Wyoming.

Here is the thread where I go into a bit more detail. Sorry for the threadjack.

[Bob in St. Louis]

Good deal Wayne, congratulations on that! 

Bob - also sorry about the threadjack

[Nick B]

I am getting closer to a decision. I was able to speak with support at Sonos and also with Steve at Empirical. Both were very helpful. I was not able to connect with Audio Engine. I am leaning toward getting a Sonos Connect ($349) and Bridge ($49), the Empirical Audio SynchroMesh ($599)and either an iDac($999)  or a Metrum Octave ($995). That gives me a connection I can trust and great sound. It was Steve who suggested both the iDac and Metrum Octave and I've read very good things about both. Going with the Sonos is cheaper than the Audio Engine and I am not too keen on connections on the front panels on the AE. BTW, the help at Sonos was great...very nice and knowledgeable. Of course, this puts me over budget and my wife went off a bit with my mention of upgrading. I'll have to buy the components over time and may need to look at less expensive dacs as well. Thanks for all the comments

[Bob in St. Louis]

Good deal Nick. Thanks for the update, I'll be watching with interest. Best of luck.

[JEaton]

I am getting closer to a decision. I was able to speak with support at Sonos and also with Steve at Empirical. Both were very helpful. I was not able to connect with Audio Engine. I am leaning toward getting a Sonos Connect ($349) and Bridge ($49), the Empirical Audio SynchroMesh ($599)and either an iDac($999)  or a Metrum Octave ($995). That gives me a connection I can trust and great sound. It was Steve who suggested both the iDac and Metrum Octave and I've read very good things about both. Going with the Sonos is cheaper than the Audio Engine and I am not too keen on connections on the front panels on the AE. BTW, the help at Sonos was great...very nice and knowledgeable. Of course, this puts me over budget and my wife went off a bit with my mention of upgrading. I'll have to buy the components over time and may need to look at less expensive dacs as well. Thanks for all the comments

Start with just the Connect and Bridge. If you're not satisfied with the sound, add a DAC. There are a lot of well regarded, much less expensive DACs on the market these days. The Schiit Bifrost for $350 has been getting a lot great reviews. Add the reclocker last, and only if you really think it will add something.

It's a shame the Sonos system doesn't offer USB digital out or hi resolution audio playback, but the system does seem well designed for easy setup.

[Boybees]

Is there a way to connect a USB HDD (with about 300 GB of .flac files) directly to the Sonos, and play the files without the need for a separate computer or NAS?

[JLM]

Underwood wally offers Sonus mods that will reach 192, but it'll shoot your budget.   

[Nick B]

Start with just the Connect and Bridge. If you're not satisfied with the sound, add a DAC. There are a lot of well regarded, much less expensive DACs on the market these days. The Schiit Bifrost for $350 has been getting a lot great reviews. Add the reclocker last, and only if you really think it will add something.

It's a shame the Sonos system doesn't offer USB digital out or hi resolution audio playback, but the system does seem well designed for easy setup.

I agree with you on this so I have decided to first go with the Sonos Connect and Bridge.....I just want to be able to play music again. Down the road, I will get a dac and also consider the SynchroMesh from Empirical or the Sonos mod from Wyred4Sound. These mods appear to be quite similar.

[Nick B]

Underwood wally offers Sonus mods that will reach 192, but it'll shoot your budget.   

I checked out Wally's site and that mod seems similar to the Wyred4Sound mod. As to shooting my budget, I'm OK with that. I'll just start putting money away to get this done. I'm so glad I won't be using the Squeezebox anymore   

[jarcher]

I agree with you on this so I have decided to first go with the Sonos Connect and Bridge.....I just want to be able to play music again. Down the road, I will get a dac and also consider the SynchroMesh from Empirical or the Sonos mod from Wyred4Sound. These mods appear to be quite similar.

Hey Nick - perhaps this is coming too late, but seems to me that Olive offers products that not only look good on paper, but also look physically good, and spec wise as well, at reasonable prices - i.e. retail $600 for a player, and $1000 for a server.  Check it out at http://www.olive.us.  All the units seem to be able to do wifi & have ipad / phone / pod apps. 

If anyone has personal experience w/ one of these, would be interesting to hear it.

If I weren't so cheap I'd get one myself.  But actually am happy for the moment w/ a Duet I picked up lately.  BUT I run it straight w/ ethernet, no wifi.  Big improvement vs the airport express which kept dropping out all the time.

Eventually looking at doing a modded mac mini, but that's another story.

[jarcher]

Hey nick, perhaps this is coming too late, but you may want to take a look at Olive products.  www.olive.us.  They have a wifi player at retail $600 and server at $999.  All w/ wifi & ipad / phone / touch apps. 

Have not actually used one myself, but they do look sweet and have mostly the right specs for a somewhat reasonable price. 

I got a duet recently & haven't experienced that many issues - but perhaps cause I'm running it w/ ethernet & not wifi.  I'm not getting the drop out as I did with the airport express, and I like the controller (which can be a streamer on it's on). 

Eventually looking to probably do a modded mac min w/ iphone remote software, but that's another story. 

[richidoo]

Is there a way to connect a USB HDD (with about 300 GB of .flac files) directly to the Sonos, and play the files without the need for a separate computer or NAS?

Nope. But you could put the HDD into a NAS case pretty inexpensively (<$100,) then plug it into the ethernet port of the Sonos.

[golfugh]

The Sonus mod from Underwood is the same as from Wyred, Wally gets it from them.  It is a clock change (24/96 or 24/192), it DOES NOT allow any hi rez content to be played.  The Sonus is still a straight RB streamer (16/44.1).

JFYI
Mark

[Nick B]

Hey nick, perhaps this is coming too late, but you may want to take a look at Olive products.  www.olive.us.  They have a wifi player at retail $600 and server at $999.  All w/ wifi & ipad / phone / touch apps. 

Have not actually used one myself, but they do look sweet and have mostly the right specs for a somewhat reasonable price. 

I got a duet recently & haven't experienced that many issues - but perhaps cause I'm running it w/ ethernet & not wifi.  I'm not getting the drop out as I did with the airport express, and I like the controller (which can be a streamer on it's on). 

Eventually looking to probably do a modded mac min w/ iphone remote software, but that's another story.

Nope, not too late at all as I need to sell my SB2 and Maui mods power supply to get some cash. I looked at the Olive 3HD a while ago. It is wired only and I need wireless. Also, it has no digital outs. If I save up some $$, an iDAC or Metrum Octave should provide excellent sound. I don't have any high res music....all I play is 16/44 so the Sonos should be fine for me

[JLM]

Olive is on the right track, but files are saved iwith proprietary earmarking.  There's whisperings around suggesting that they may give that up.

Here's a product that looks very good, just not available yet in the U.S. (projected for summer/fall of 2013).  They even offer a model with built in 50 wpc amps:

simpleaudio.co.uk/

[jarcher]

You are correct Nick - Olive 3HD is ethernet only....was aware that it didn't have digital out, but not about the non-wifi. 

But if you're gonna store your files elsewhere, the streamer only O2M does do wifi & costs $600. Still more than the Sonos Connect / Bridge combo at $400 retail though.  So I think you're conclusion probably makes the most sense (unless maybe you can find the Olive stuff used at a steep discount).

Seems to me that the price gap between )3HD & the more desirable 4HD is way too wide to justify : i.e. $1K vs $2.5K : between the wifi, bigger hard drive, digital outs, and better internal dac chip for the 4HD does not equate to $1.5K difference - more than double!  Pricing seems more reflected towards a marketing & revenue objective than actual costs.  And as these are more likely geared towards an audiophile market, the "entry level" one seems almost purposefully de-contented towards that objective. Welcome again to "high end" audio........

[Nick B]

Olive is on the right track, but files are saved iwith proprietary earmarking.  There's whisperings around suggesting that they may give that up.

Here's a product that looks very good, just not available yet in the U.S. (projected for summer/fall of 2013).  They even offer a model with built in 50 wpc amps:

simpleaudio.co.uk/

Besides the price of the wireless Olive, I didn't like the idea of the proprietary earmarkinjg as well. Re the link,
I sent an email re the Roomplayer 2 asking for pricing etc. Nice product, but I still like the Sonos, especially for the money. If I buy from Sonos, they will provide the Bridge for free. 

[Nick B]

You are correct Nick - Olive 3HD is ethernet only....was aware that it didn't have digital out, but not about the non-wifi. 

But if you're gonna store your files elsewhere, the streamer only O2M does do wifi & costs $600. Still more than the Sonos Connect / Bridge combo at $400 retail though.  So I think you're conclusion probably makes the most sense (unless maybe you can find the Olive stuff used at a steep discount).

Seems to me that the price gap between )3HD & the more desirable 4HD is way too wide to justify : i.e. $1K vs $2.5K : between the wifi, bigger hard drive, digital outs, and better internal dac chip for the 4HD does not equate to $1.5K difference - more than double!  Pricing seems more reflected towards a marketing & revenue objective than actual costs.  And as these are more likely geared towards an audiophile market, the "entry level" one seems almost purposefully de-contented towards that objective. Welcome again to "high end" audio........

Jarcher, I agree re the price gaps in the Olive products...just too expensive for me. I  do like the idea of the CD drive and it automatically getting tags and album art. I hated doing that so much that I had a guy named Tim do all that stuff for me about 4 yrs ago. The next thing to try and figure out would be difference between the Empirical SynchrMesh stand alone device vs the Wyred4Sound onboard mod.

[jarcher]

Olive is on the right track, but files are saved iwith proprietary earmarking.  There's whisperings around suggesting that they may give that up.

Here's a product that looks very good, just not available yet in the U.S. (projected for summer/fall of 2013).  They even offer a model with built in 50 wpc amps:

simpleaudio.co.uk/

Could you elaborate please on what you mean by "proprietary earmarking" & why that's a bad thing?

Checked out the simpleaudio website, and good to see another competitor in this field - particularly one offering an alternative w/ their powerline networking.  BUT - at $800 - $1000 (in UK) for their products w/ no internal storage, seems a bit pricey vs Squeezebox & Sonos ? Yes, the $1000 one has a mini class d amp in it.

What Hi Fi review was not to glowing...........

[richidoo]

I owned the W4S modded Sonos and I cannot recommend it. The sound quality was worse than stock, imo, including the digital output.  Oversampling or something noticeably dulls the sound.  But the stock Sonos needs a good jitter rejecting DAC or a jitter scrubber on the digital output.