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Michel_3
Contributor I
August 13, 2013

Hi-resolution support required (eg: AIFF 96kHz/24bit)

PLEASE add hi-resolution file support (eg. AIFF 96kHz/24bits) In a world where CDs are becoming obsolete, I believe a good share of Sonos customers are still looking for hi-fi quality, not only the mediocre (format) quality provided by most digital music services/stores. It is rather purpose less to invest in the acquisition and maintenance of such a high quality product as a Sonos system and, not being able to play the best sound quality available with it! Thanks for kindly prioritizing such improvement :o)
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    jgatie
    jgatie
    April 23, 2017
    Triple sigh. Same prediction of hires taking over the world I first read back in 1999 when SACD was supposed to set the audio world on fire, and failed miserably. Still waiting.
    ratty
    ratty
    April 23, 2017
    MQA have evidently resorted to offering the 'improved mastering / proprietary codec' formula on a Red Book CD carrier. A last gasp perhaps?
    JRistine
    November 7, 2017
    +1 for FLAC Support - if my BMW can play it, I don’t see why Sonos has an issue... Disappointing to get an error message saying unsupported for half my library. Definitely holding off on purchasing additional speakers until this is added. Might even consider returning the two I just bought. Alexa on Sonos One is not very stable btw, and half the Alex features are ‘unavailable’. not sure why, is there some special hardware the echo dot has that Sonos can’t put in a $200 speaker?.........
    pwt
    pwt
    Virtuoso
    November 7, 2017
    +1 for FLAC Support - if my BMW can play it, I don’t see why Sonos has an issue... Disappointing to get an error message saying unsupported for half my library. Definitely holding off on purchasing additional speakers until this is added. Might even consider returning the two I just bought. Alexa on Sonos One is not very stable btw, and half the Alex features are ‘unavailable’. not sure why, is there some special hardware the echo dot has that Sonos can’t put in a $200 speaker?.........

    Sonos does play FLAC files:
    https://sonos.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/80/~/supported-audio-formats

    Sonos restrictions apply to the sampling rate and bit-depth. It supports CD quality, because higher resolution than this provides precisely zero additional audio quality (for humans, anyway).
    4 x P:5 | Sub | 4 x P:1 | 3 x Connect | 2 x Boost | Connect:Amp | 2 x One | Amp | Move | Port | Era 300
    JRistine
    November 7, 2017
    +1 for FLAC Support - if my BMW can play it, I don’t see why Sonos has an issue... Disappointing to get an error message saying unsupported for half my library. Definitely holding off on purchasing additional speakers until this is added. Might even consider returning the two I just bought. Alexa on Sonos One is not very stable btw, and half the Alex features are ‘unavailable’. not sure why, is there some special hardware the echo dot has that Sonos can’t put in a $200 speaker?.........

    Sonos does play FLAC files:
    https://sonos.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/80/~/supported-audio-formats

    Sonos restrictions apply to the sampling rate and bit-depth. It supports CD quality, because higher resolution than this provides precisely zero additional audio quality (for humans, anyway).

    Sorry, I meant 96k... Sonos is the only device I can’t play this on...

      pwt
      pwt
      Virtuoso
      November 7, 2017
      Ok. I do understand your frustration.

      You could create downsampled copies of your hi-res files at CD quality (they will sound 100% the same as the hi-res versions), or you could look at running something like mp3fs in front of your FLAC files. Again, they will sound 100% the same at higher MP3 bit-rates.

      mp3fs: https://khenriks.github.io/mp3fs/ (haven't tried it, but looks like it would work well).
      4 x P:5 | Sub | 4 x P:1 | 3 x Connect | 2 x Boost | Connect:Amp | 2 x One | Amp | Move | Port | Era 300
      dlintheuk
      Lyricist I
      February 17, 2018
      My Sonos quite happily plays 24Bit 44.1 Flac if that's any help to anyone
      ratty
      ratty
      February 17, 2018
      My Sonos quite happily plays 24Bit 44.1 Flac if that's any help to anyone
      Yes, but only in 16-bit evidently. See here.
      dcarnevale
      Contributor I
      November 5, 2018
      A "simple" first step would be for SONOS to ignore a higher res file and move on to the next song in a playlist/artist/category, etc. That way you do not have to keep separate libraries (as I do now) for casual listening and "serious" listening in iTunes or any other playback system. One library is more user-friendly.

      The logical thing to do would be to forget the High-Res files and delete them. As has been previously repeated, almost ad nauseam, there is NO peer reviewed scientific evidence that the human ear can differentiate between the 16/44.1 and 24/192. You are fooling yourself if you think you can and what's worse you may be paying for some supposed "extra" quality that simply isn't there - you're also having to pay for more storage AND, what's worse, your Sonos experience is significantly affected in a negative manner.

      The people trying to sell you this have an agenda to make money, pure and simple. They want you to buy your whole music collection again at "Super Dooper Hi-Res Gold standard" - No matter they have zero evidence of any quantifiable benefit to the consumer. They make me mad.
      dcarnevale
      Contributor I
      November 5, 2018
      It's been 2 years and still no software update that simply ignores/skips files that are above 44.1 kHz. Stuart ... it's not important that you or I believe/know that a person cannot tell the difference above a certain sampling frequency or bit-rate. There are people who do believe and I have some "higher-def" music that does sound better to me when I compare it to the same music that I have down-sampled. This simple suggested software fix avoids a real problem for those of us who have a mix of 16-bit/44.1 kHz and higher files ... Right now, I have to maintain two separate libraries of music (one for SONOS and the second for a combination of my hi-res and SONOS-compatible music) and I have lots of it. This wastes time and storage.
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