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Hello,



I just bought a Sonos Connect (July 14, 2019) to connect to my Marantz SR6011 Receiver. It works fine from a functional perspective. However, the sound quality is not very good. It lacks the richness and quality that I would expect. I'm using high quality and expensive Bowers and Wilkens speakers so it has nothing to do with my system. I used optical output from the Sonos Connect and attached it to the TV/Audio optical input of the receiver. There's a CD optical input on the receiver as well, but I would imagine there's no difference in quality. I updated the SW on the Sonos.



Please provide any advice or is this the best that Sonos could do?



Thank you in advance for any guidance or words of wisdom.


Please provide any advice or is this the best that Sonos could do?



In fact, it's the best your amplifier (including its internal DAC) and speakers can do with the source material you're playing via Sonos. When using its optical output, the Connect is basically just supplying the raw bits from whatever source you've asked it to play. What source(s) are you using?



(There is periodic discussion on this forum that the Connect is 'no longer bit perfect'. It can be safely ignored by sane people, because it has no bearing on anything you'll be able to hear.)
(There is periodic discussion on this forum that the Connect is 'no longer bit perfect'. It can be safely ignored by sane people, because it has no bearing on anything you'll be able to hear.)

It depends. There were reports that a soft-knee limiter was still operational on later model Connects, even in Fixed Volume mode when it shouldn't have been. If so this could 'soft clip' samples within a few dB of Full Scale, and hence introduce slight distortion.



I would try setting the Connect in Variable Volume, with a volume level of 80% and flat EQ. This should be clear of any limiter effects. Notwithstanding any such considerations, it's faintly possible that Fixed Volume could be giving rise to inter-sample peaks above Full Scale in the Marantz DAC.
It depends. There were reports that a soft-knee limiter was still operational on later model Connects, even in Fixed Volume mode when it shouldn't have been. If so this could 'soft clip' samples within a few dB of Full Scale, and hence introduce slight distortion.

Thanks. That's the first description of the phenomenon that has made sense to me. I'm still sceptical of audibly perceptible effects, however.


It depends. There were reports that a soft-knee limiter was still operational on later model Connects, even in Fixed Volume mode when it shouldn't have been. If so this could 'soft clip' samples within a few dB of Full Scale, and hence introduce slight distortion.Thanks. That's the first description of the phenomenon that has made sense to me. I'm still sceptical of audibly perceptible effects, however.

In my experience such limiters can be audible, at least with single-frequency test signals, due to the introduction of odd harmonics. Clearly whether or not a listener would notice this in real use depends on music level, content, quality of downstream equipment, room acoustics, and so forth.




It depends. There were reports that a soft-knee limiter was still operational on later model Connects, even in Fixed Volume mode when it shouldn't have been. If so this could 'soft clip' samples within a few dB of Full Scale, and hence introduce slight distortion.Thanks. That's the first description of the phenomenon that has made sense to me. I'm still sceptical of audibly perceptible effects, however.In my experience such limiters can be audible, at least with single-frequency test signals, due to the introduction of odd harmonics. Clearly whether or not a listener would notice this in real use depends on music level, content, quality of downstream equipment, room acoustics, and so forth.



"Single-frequency test signals". Fair enough 🙂






It depends. There were reports that a soft-knee limiter was still operational on later model Connects, even in Fixed Volume mode when it shouldn't have been. If so this could 'soft clip' samples within a few dB of Full Scale, and hence introduce slight distortion.Thanks. That's the first description of the phenomenon that has made sense to me. I'm still sceptical of audibly perceptible effects, however.In my experience such limiters can be audible, at least with single-frequency test signals, due to the introduction of odd harmonics. Clearly whether or not a listener would notice this in real use depends on music level, content, quality of downstream equipment, room acoustics, and so forth."Single-frequency test signals". Fair enough :)

Controlled conditions, instead of trying to listen through Disaster Area at full volume.
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