Hi @boolie, you are indeed looking at the Sonos Port. It serves two functions:

1. As a line-in to connect a turntable, for example, to your Sonos system
2. As a line-out to connect your Sonos system to an amp

The Port has a coaxial (aka RCA) S/PDIF digital out; assuming your Denon is so equipped, you are good to go. I’ve used a Port in this manner and it works great.

Ah, thanks, that’s what I needed. Yes, co-ax digital is fine.

Pity that Port includes the amp and the ADC that I don’t need, making the box and price bigger, but I guess a purely digital off-load isn’t the most common use case for Sonos.

Getting tired of Chromecast-based devices being offline every time I try to start casting music to them. Sonos seems to be the only multi-room that’s not too manufacturer specific and works well.

Hi @boolie, I had the same feeling that the Port was overkill when using its digital out. FWIW, the Port is not an amp, it is solely line out.

Happily I’ve had good luck with Chromecast. Have you looked at the WiiM Pro? Far less spendy.

Those are new to me, very interesting!

 I have a WiiM Pro Plus and a WiiM Ultra.  The Ultra is connected to KEF LS50 Wireless II speakers via optical digital.  The Pro Plus is connected to a receiver via analog for ceiling speakers.  Also have a WiiM Mini connected to a BlueSound Pulse via optical digital.  Why so many WiiM devices… Whole house audio as WiiM devices can be part of an Amazon Echo group.  I have two stereo pairs of Echo Gen 4 speakers that are also part of that whole house group.

 Sonos works great here but they cannot become part of the Amazon Echo group.

Are you running both WiM and Sonos, or just using the WiM for multi-room play?

@boolie 

i have a WiiM mini connected to the line in on my Sonos 5 and use it as my main music source now

i use Sono+ widget for volume and grouping and rarely open the Sonos app even though I am on the old 16.1 version 

like @MoPac i can recommend the WiiM unit for music playback and their application is very good 

I recommend you check out some YouTube videos for the right unit for your needs

The only word of caution I would add when using a Port via an external DAC (as you would be using the Denon) is that you won't be able to achieve ‘sync’ between rooms on Sonos like this. If occasionally you want Party mode, you’ll need analogue RCA connections from the Port to the Denon and will also need to disable any extra digital processing. 

So, use the coax connection for ‘serious’ listening via the Denon, and analogue when you just want background music sync’d with other rooms. 

Of course, feel free to compare the analogue output of the Port to the digital processing of the Denon AVC, nothing to lose! 

I use a Port into a Naim streamer, which suffers similar sync issues over digital. 

 I have no issues with ‘sync’ when grouping my three Sonos rooms.  Port coax to KEF - Arc/300s/Sub - Move stereo pair.  Don’t use that group much as Echo + WiiM cover the house better.

Thanks, that's an interesting observation, definitely a consideration.