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Jumped from Squeezebox to Sonos

I wouldn't want to be locked into a streaming service. If it goes under, you're stuffed. Same with the Apple iTunes environment. I want the file under my control. I've been using the SB, since the first version came out, some problems with initially, but were soon ironed out with updates. I store my music in flac format. I do use Linn radio still. I've used Spotify and last.fm in the past for background music, they're sound too compressed for anything else. Listening to Spotify or last.fm on headphones is excruciatingly poor.
 
Spotify is serviceable but for streaming you need to listen to Qobuz or perhaps Tidal.it is more expensive but Worth it for the quality.
 
Compared to Squeezebox ecosystem Sonos is underdevelopped&handicapped.

I didn't have any dropouts with SBT playing 24/192 waves tgrough coax spdif when using EDO Triode app.
Now i am using few squeeze devices - Classic 3 in kitchen, SBT in sleeping room, Wandboard at work and in my main system Raspberry PI with SOA. It works like a charm.
For Spotify i am using Triode app.
 
I set my mum up with a Denon Heos amp (well, she paid for it) together with Dali Mentor Minuet speakers. Setup was as easy as can be - just connected the iPhone to the Heos and the network was detected. The GUI (on phone or pad) is very simple and easy to use. When using Spotify you get to use the Spotify app instead of a skin on top of it. There's no dedicated network like Sonos has but the connection through wi-fi seems to work well (supports both 2.4 & 5 GHz). There's no Wimp/Tidal (yet?) though and no 24-bit support. These things don't matter for my mum though - 320kbps MP3 & FLAC (or alternatively WAV) is more than adequate. The USB on the back (for a stick with music on) is a nice plus too.
 
droodzilla said:
And I didn;t want to set up a separate server just for streaming web-based music services or be committed to always having my laptop running when I was listening to music.
Click to expand...

Fair enough - with the extremely low-power, fanless small ARM-based computer boxes and NASes, some of us don't mind having something running 24/7, stashed away somewhere, but I can see that others don't want the potential hassle of that.
 
At 5Vdc & 320mA tops I have no problem having a little Pi chattering to the Internet doing... Stuff... I looked for ages for a Pi case that didn't look like shit and gave up. I just bought a double wall box which has my Pi hidden. It also has a security camera too and manages torrents, offsite backups and general doodadery... Not everyone's cuppa I grant.

Tidal's lack of gapless is pissing me off. I shall stick with qobuz.
 
Sonos always seems to get positive feedback, but I have had constant problems with it.

The support people are responsive, but are quick to blame my network, my neighbours networks and a host of other things, even though I have already ruled those out.

I actually blame Sonos for making my vinyl habit stronger than it was before this new tech came about!
 
Is anyone using a Sonos with a Young Dac?

I'm currently using my Mac Mini to stream Tidal and iTunes with Amarra & SQ but get annoyed when I have to constantly adjust the settings in Audio Midi each time I turn on the Dac.

I'd like the convenience of the Sonos App too as I need to screen share from a laptop to control tidal currently

Sorry to hijack
 
I've never had a problem with dropouts on either the SB3 or Touch I own. I did have problems with PiCorePlayer until I swapped the £3 WiFi adaptor for a £7 one with an aerial. All is well, now.

Since I'm also lucky enough to have one of the new quad core Pi 2 boards I have now set up the LMS server on it to stream from the NAS rather than the NAS running LMS (this has always been a problem and just used for night time listening when the main PC is down). The main LMS server on my PC is no longer needed. This is using the £3 WiFi adaptor but is riught next to the router.

All networking is wireless and all works perfectly. The SBT goes into an MDAC and the PiCorePlayer into the B&W MM1 via USB. The Triode Spotify App is now successfully streaming to all 3 players. Previously I could only get the SBT to work with Spotify. Most listening has been to CDs ripped to flac so the Spotify problem has never been of particular concern to me.

So. for me, these give me all the streaming I need without issue so no need to jump to any other solution.
 
firestorm said:
Listening to Spotify or last.fm on headphones is excruciatingly poor.
Click to expand...

Are you being serious? I'm listening to Google Play Music and have used Spotify in the past and both services are excellent through headphones!
Presuming you are using the £9.99 services, what are you playing it through?
 
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