High resolution files working on Sonos
I checked and I checked and I checked again and it's definitely working...not sure if I missed a big announcement, but the high res FLAC files in my music folder are showing up in my music library in the Sonos controller and I can play them back. I have no idea whether the Connect is actually playing back the file in its high res form or some kind of downsamping/transcoding is taking place, but the files definitely play!
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I'll bet they're 24-bit, but at a standard 44kHz or 48kHz sampling rate. Sonos won't support 88kHz and above.
It's been determined that, owing to some internal changes, a side-effect is that Sonos will actually play 24-bit files. However the 24-bit data is simply truncated internally at 16-bits. This is in fact slightly worse than if the music had been mastered in 16-bit format at the outset, due to the absence of dithering on the lowest bit of the 16-bit sample.
It's been determined that, owing to some internal changes, a side-effect is that Sonos will actually play 24-bit files. However the 24-bit data is simply truncated internally at 16-bits. This is in fact slightly worse than if the music had been mastered in 16-bit format at the outset, due to the absence of dithering on the lowest bit of the 16-bit sample.
Interesting. I'll test out the sample rate theory. Thanks! Haven't taken the time to make any judgements about quality, except that it certainly doesn't sound like there's anything wrong with it.
With the modern mastering approach to popular music, which tends to be aimed at maximising loudness, you'd be hard pressed to notice anything going on in the lowest bits at all, let alone dither on the LSB of a 16-bit word. My point was that, although Sonos may interpret the file, it's not actually rendering it as 'hires' in any shape or form.
Yes I suspected that was probably the case, but I'm pleased nevertheless from a convenience perspective.
So-called 'HiRes' content is often more carefully (re-)mastered -- which essentially accounts for the proclamations of "night and day" differences from the faithful. You would at least benefit from that.
Ratty, you're right, I just tried to play a 96khz track and it gave me an error saying the sample rate isn't supported. Hey ho, I guess we've made progress 😃
If being able to listen to 24 bit files under theoretically less than optimal conditions than if one just simply downsampled them in the first place is "progress", then I guess so.
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