Why doesn't the Sonos Connect support digital input so that you can use it to attach e.g. Play-3 speakers and the SUB to a TV? Every modern TV utilizes HDMI and Optical Output and you can find less and less dual RCA cable output. Yes, the Sonos Connect has a simple mini jack to dual RCA which I could use but I really don't want to try to watch movies that way. I am willing put put the money down for a good solution but it appears that there is none. I fear I have to take back the SUB and the connect. Do you know of any solution to this? Thanks!
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Actually, they expect you to buy the Sonos units designed for TV.
I would like this as well, my whole house is wired for optical connections to my TVs and home theater systems, we need a way to connect an optical input to Sonos. It appears this is all that is missing for me to go "all in" to Sonos.
I think you'll find they're professional devices, costing thousands of dollars.
Auch...
I guess my posts here might seem as if I'm a 'dreamer', but you see, I had some basic electronics school classes back on my youth, and was taught there that every single electronic device made by man has the most basic capabilities for one to (simply put) 'hack it'...
The question here is: Would one get a professional level result or an amateur result?
That would matter, of course, but as we all are Sonos loving users, I believe that every single one of us here would love to have the Connect units to be able to be used with living room TVs and/or LCD projectors... Yes I do!
(please, excuse my English, as I'm a foreign English speaker. 😉 )
I guess my posts here might seem as if I'm a 'dreamer', but you see, I had some basic electronics school classes back on my youth, and was taught there that every single electronic device made by man has the most basic capabilities for one to (simply put) 'hack it'...
The question here is: Would one get a professional level result or an amateur result?
That would matter, of course, but as we all are Sonos loving users, I believe that every single one of us here would love to have the Connect units to be able to be used with living room TVs and/or LCD projectors... Yes I do!
(please, excuse my English, as I'm a foreign English speaker. 😉 )
Amusingly, a 100% predictable answer.
I commend you on your unerring focus on history, endless justification for its deficiencies, and what could be seen to be continuous blindness to other people's use cases.
Streaming media players are an increasingly commonplace commodity. Multi-room audio products are not unique to Sonos. My fear is that Sonos could do a Nokia if it doesn't evolve the way that people want.
I think that Sonos is rather like Apple: it has polished, desirable, simple products - but irritatingly deficient.
Be under no illusion, Sonos made a TV product to make more money. AV equipment has digital outputs (for good reason), so they had to make digital inputs. Their hand was forced, pure and simple.
CD Players - your stated reason for the inclusion of the analogue input - have had digital outputs for as many years as they have existed (leastwise as far as I can recall). It was a very poor decision not to provide a premium commonplace input technology into what Sonos would want us to perceive to be a premium audio ecosystem.
Sonos - by not providing adequate connectivity - have not taken money from me for at least three more systems. It is a loss for them, and a loss for me ... as I do really like their products because they are easy to use, sound good and look good.
The solution to my needs - sigh again - is to go elsewhere. I'll get a nice dandy little USB-DAC + optical + analogue amp and then plug the digital-out from the Sonos Connect in the next room, into the digital-in on the little amp. Hopefully mentioning other companies' names is not forbidden, but have a look at the connectivity of the stylish Denon PMA-60 or the slightly natty-looking Cambridge Audio One ... both of which are in a comparable price bracket.
There is a world outside of Sonos - please stop forcing me to look elsewhere for what I, and clearly many others, would like.
Can anyone from Sonos stand up and stick their oar into this unholy mess of a debate?
P.S. I never described the lack of a digital input on the Sonos as 'bananas'. Going D to A, then A to D is 'bananas'.
I commend you on your unerring focus on history, endless justification for its deficiencies, and what could be seen to be continuous blindness to other people's use cases.
Streaming media players are an increasingly commonplace commodity. Multi-room audio products are not unique to Sonos. My fear is that Sonos could do a Nokia if it doesn't evolve the way that people want.
I think that Sonos is rather like Apple: it has polished, desirable, simple products - but irritatingly deficient.
Be under no illusion, Sonos made a TV product to make more money. AV equipment has digital outputs (for good reason), so they had to make digital inputs. Their hand was forced, pure and simple.
CD Players - your stated reason for the inclusion of the analogue input - have had digital outputs for as many years as they have existed (leastwise as far as I can recall). It was a very poor decision not to provide a premium commonplace input technology into what Sonos would want us to perceive to be a premium audio ecosystem.
Sonos - by not providing adequate connectivity - have not taken money from me for at least three more systems. It is a loss for them, and a loss for me ... as I do really like their products because they are easy to use, sound good and look good.
The solution to my needs - sigh again - is to go elsewhere. I'll get a nice dandy little USB-DAC + optical + analogue amp and then plug the digital-out from the Sonos Connect in the next room, into the digital-in on the little amp. Hopefully mentioning other companies' names is not forbidden, but have a look at the connectivity of the stylish Denon PMA-60 or the slightly natty-looking Cambridge Audio One ... both of which are in a comparable price bracket.
There is a world outside of Sonos - please stop forcing me to look elsewhere for what I, and clearly many others, would like.
Can anyone from Sonos stand up and stick their oar into this unholy mess of a debate?
P.S. I never described the lack of a digital input on the Sonos as 'bananas'. Going D to A, then A to D is 'bananas'.
Ha "wireless" - that's a joke in my case. I have to have them wired together to get stability.
10 foot of single-skin internal brick wall at an extremely acute angle, plus Wii controllers in the vicinity, break the wireless mesh. Been wired for years and utterly stable - and thus no need to change.
And another thing: Sonos has evolved - the Playbar is wired and stuck under your telly - and in this instance has nothing to do with "wireless" nor "streaming".
Probably because most people don't realise the limitations until they get home and either put up or sell it. Have a look on the web at the number being sold because the product (sadly) wasn't right for them. Why can I not (the last time I looked) "stream" any and all audio from a mobile phone to the Sonos? [That could have changed recently, I guess, but that's not how I use it.]
And you know this - how? Everyone has a limited view. If everyone comes here that has grievances THEN there are people who DO have issues with Sonos and are NOT happy with it - so guess what ... it doesn't suit their needs. And the people to fix it are Sonos.
Your choice, not mine. I thought that perhaps with a little clear explanation you might be able to appreciate other people's needs - but it turns out not. The Sonos ecosystem is damned good, but not perfect.
Oh, just noticed: 13469 views on this thread - a lot of people are interested in a topic named "Sonos Connect is missing digital audio input". I wonder - is that an important feature missing from Sonos, or are most of them simply misguided...
Thing is a connect2 could be in development with digital input and we won't know until the day they release it. I would suspect they would be close to getting a refresh.
Chris, you might be right - connect:amp is currently on back order. Wishful thinking 🙂
Yes, they don't seem to listen to customer suggestions on this forum. Such a pity, and a wasted resource. I really don't understand it.
+1. And IR remote learning functionality, basically a Sonos connect for TVs. Or a soundbar without the speaker for those of us who already have a set of good speakers near the TV.
Sonos' multi-year silence on this topic seems like a classic case of a company not listening to its customers. I hope I'm wrong!
A soundbar without speakers? NOBODY makes that. Why would Sonos want to take sales away from their own Playbar by introducing this?
I CAN see the use of a digital input for the Connect and Connect:Amp but not for surround purposes.
I dunno. I'm doing 2ch stereo audio (temporary solution while I'm in a transitional living space) using a TV optical,out, a Best Buy cheapie DAC, and a ZP80 connected to a pair of good computer speakers, plus a Play:3 grouped in to improve the bass. I don't get bothered by the delay. But since I have two play:3s in the group, I get an occasional dropout. Still a work in progress.
Call it what you want, but a connect with optical in, out and tv learning ir. Bluesound makes it, Node 2, but I prefer the Sonos ecosystem.
The Node 2 is not a surround processor, it's stereo only and I'm pretty sure it doesn't have learning IR.
So after considering the problem and reviewing the only current digital in solution, the playbar, I think I understand why Sonos hasn't gone down this road. Digital audio standards are complicated, ever changing and pretty hard to debug for end users. Sonos products are built to be future proof and last for an extended period of time. The hardware cost of a general purpose CPU that could allow for updates to how new digital formats are handled, combined with the development and support costs of such a solution seem pretty problematic. I also don't see an abundance of scenarios where digital in is used for non-video related audio streams. If you really want to take an audio stream from your cable box, blueray player, whatever, you are better off feeding it to a receiver, and then sending to a second zone and then sending it back to the connect that way.Now a days the receiver companies are being forced to support longer upgrade cycles that include firmware updates for digital standards. I spent all weekend doing choirs while listening to football in my entire house, all by feeding my sonos connect. from the second zone of my av receiver.
Anyhow, that's my two cents.
Anyhow, that's my two cents.
A simple stereo digital (coaxial) input would be very welcome and really precious on the Connect unit.
At least, the 70 milisecond latency delay would forever gone for good, and watching TV while listening the sound on a pair of play3 speakers would be the best experience possible.
At least, the 70 milisecond latency delay would forever gone for good, and watching TV while listening the sound on a pair of play3 speakers would be the best experience possible.
At least, the 70 milisecond latency delay would forever gone for good, and watching TV while listening the sound on a pair of play3 speakers would be the best experience possible.
The 70ms latency has nothing to do with AD (or DA) conversion. It's due to the provision of sufficient network buffering to enable synced play. Transit times across the local network vary. Without a buffer at the receiving device it would periodically starve of data and drop the audio.
Humm... So how does it works with the playbars?
No problems with latency there?
(Or is it that the soundbars do have the 70ms latency to?)
(I'm sorry, but I don't know much about the playbars that well...)
No problems with latency there?
(Or is it that the soundbars do have the 70ms latency to?)
(I'm sorry, but I don't know much about the playbars that well...)
The PLAYBAR has a 30ms latency for the optical input. Because it maintains point-to-point links with its surrounds/SUB -- via 5GHz wireless or Ethernet -- it can afford to reduce the amount of buffering.
When other players are grouped with a PLAYBAR they must use the standard 70ms buffer, which is why they don't play in sync for the TV source.
When other players are grouped with a PLAYBAR they must use the standard 70ms buffer, which is why they don't play in sync for the TV source.
Ok... I'm starting to get it.
That would be the main reason why Sonos would not want to introduce a digital input in it's Connect devices...
This might seem like a really bad news situation for myself, as I was supposing not to invest on the Playbar, at least, in the next 6 months...
This might seem to be very bad news for my pocket... 😕
That would be the main reason why Sonos would not want to introduce a digital input in it's Connect devices...
This might seem like a really bad news situation for myself, as I was supposing not to invest on the Playbar, at least, in the next 6 months...
This might seem to be very bad news for my pocket... 😕
I would like to connect my PC to the Sonos network via a device like the Connect. Only digital input is needed there.
Regarding the delay, please, let me ask you this: when you are watching a movie on TV and if there is, let's say, a blast, or some sudden situation that's quite instantaneous or really quick to happen, would'n that make you feel uncomfortable, if the sound comes a bit later than what you just saw in the movie?
( I put this question here as I've just ordered one more Play:3 speaker and a Connect for my living room and kept the thought that it would be enough to get a decent basic stereo setup to get the sound from the TV, but then I red about the delay... 😕 )
You should be able to adjust the audio delay in your TV settings. This may, or not, solve the problem.
That would just be great: To have a TV set where one could adjust the VIDEO delay, setting it to show picture with a 70ms delay...
Then, that would correct the delay that the Sonos system adds to the sound...
Would there be a device that could add a delay to the video sent by, let's say, a DVD player to a TV set? (that would solve the problem. 😉 )
Then, that would correct the delay that the Sonos system adds to the sound...
Would there be a device that could add a delay to the video sent by, let's say, a DVD player to a TV set? (that would solve the problem. 😉 )
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