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Sonos Play:5 high-res support?

  • 22 December 2016
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I know that all Sonos products don't have this feature in their streaming capability but I thought that maybe because the Play:5 has a headphone Jack that it doesn't need to do all the high-res digital to analog conversion as that's all done by the source already...

Would someone be able to confirm this? Because if so - I may go get a Play:5. 😛
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Best answer by John B 22 December 2016, 03:13

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8 replies

No Sonos devices will play any hires content. Also, the current generation of Play:5 does not have a headphone jack. That was the first generation. Might you be thinking of the Line-in?
Hi. Your question seems to jumble quite a few things together, if you will forgive my saying so. All I can do is set out a few facts.
1. The Sonos system does not support hi res audio, i.e. 24/96 files. This is not a player specific issue.
2. The gen 2 P:5 doesn't have a headphone socket. The gen 1 did.
3. Both generations have an analogue line-in. But if you are delivering analogue it is completely irrelevant what it started out as. What the line-in supports is analogue
4. The P:5 has a DAC that converts supported digital sources into the analogue music that you hear.

I hope that helps.
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Hi. Your question seems to jumble quite a few things together, if you will forgive my saying so. All I can do is set out a few facts.
1. The Sonos system does not support hi res audio, i.e. 24/96 files. This is not a player specific issue.
2. The gen 2 P:5 doesn't have a headphone socket. The gen 1 did.
3. Both generations have an analogue line-in. But if you are delivering analogue it is completely irrelevant what it started out as. What the line-in supports is analogue
4. The P:5 has a DAC that converts supported digital sources into the analogue music that you hear.

I hope that helps.


Thanks for the reply!

So, if the analog content from my device (which was decoded from a high resolution format into analog) is sent to a Sonos play:5, will it play what is meant to be high-res audio? As the original file was high-res, all the Play:5 has to do is play the "high-res" analog audio. :)

I will not be using wireless functionality. There will be no decoding as I am using an analog input. This already eliminates the need to have the right hardware to decode the high-res audio! The Play:5 does no decoding. All it's doing is receiving analog audio which was already decoded from a high res file from my PC.

Thanks!
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No Sonos devices will play any hires content. Also, the current generation of Play:5 does not have a headphone jack. That was the first generation. Might you be thinking of the Line-in?

Yeah, the 3.5mm line in - sorry. xD
Sonos will play it. For all sorts of reasons I don't think it will sound any different from if you started from 16-bit lossless. I assume, by the way that you do mean "better than CD" when you say hires? Some people use the term to mean lossless, although that's not correct.
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Sonos will play it. For all sorts of reasons I don't think it will sound any different from if you started from 16-bit lossless. I assume, by the way that you do mean "better than CD" when you say hires? Some people use the term to mean lossless, although that's not correct.

High-res being 24-bit 96Khz+ if the device (i.e my PC) has done all the decoding, sent it out to the Sonos using line-in, will the Sonos play it like a high-res player should, and sound a little better to true CD, and Spotify 320Kbps?

It's just I am the sort of guy that wants the best, even if I don't need it. Sonos just plays things so well, I just would like to see if I can pull off true high-res using the line-in. 😛
Sonos won't I believe, produce anything better than CD quality. There are many who believe that the claimed advantages of hires are bunk even on a £10,000 system. You are worrying about something you cannot possibly hear a difference in. Forget the line in. Downsample hires files to 16-bit FLAC and stream them to the P:5 wirelessly.
Badge +1
Sonos won't I believe, produce anything better than CD quality. There are many who believe that the claimed advantages of hires are bunk even on a £10,000 system. You are worrying about something you cannot possibly hear a difference in. Forget the line in. Downsample hires files to 16-bit FLAC and stream them to the P:5 wirelessly.

Thank you so much for the help! I've all the info I need. 🙂