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

  • 13 August 2013
  • 80 replies
  • 18007 views

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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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80 replies

Yes, they most certainly should. One might want to brush off some math skills and investigate two guys named Nyquist and Shannon.

Also, if one feels that hi-res audio is anything above a niche of a niche market, never mind anything which is driving people towards competitors, one should polish up on the marketing skills as well.
It seems we are stuck in an unproductive "do loop" ... Yes, 44.1 kHz is a little over twice the auditory limitation of 22 kHz for the average young human, but that is not the point I am trying to make. Also, the market for audiophile equipment might be small, but those folks do influence others making audio purchases and to the average consumer "more is better".

More bits and a higher sampling rate are part of the belief that "more is better". As a separate note, that "dead" analog technology called vinyl record sales (new only) has gone beyond 10 million units in annual sales and appears closer to 20 million. Why would any "smart" consumer want that?

Back to my suggestion, I am only recommending a simple software "feature" that would skip over requested files higher than 16-bits sampled at 44.1/48 kHz. Seems like a trivial exercise to a "dumb" marketing person.
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Audiophiles will use something like Roon to manage their music, and these music management tools also do automatic sample/bitrate conversion on the fly when playing to Sonos speakers. These tools also get around the 64k track limitation that Sonos' native playback system has. And the UI (at least in the case of Roon) blows the doors off on Sonos' UI.