Connect:AMP digital input

The Connect inputs were made for legacy analog equipment; radios before all stations were online, turntables, etc. I imagine the thought was if it's digital, why in Hell would one not rip it to a file and have it at your fingertips. Why would one want to play CDs the old fashioned way once they can play it on Sonos? And your TV? Sonos makes a unit for your tv. You complain about no DTS and in the same breath you wonder why you can't have a digital connection from your tv to a two channel amp that won't do DD? That makes no sense. Sonos stated years ago that the analog line-in was the least used source on their system. It's a niche item. How much more niche would a digital in be? Well, I suspect this question is best answered by looking at this two year old thread which hasn't gone beyond two pages of posts, at least half of which were an off topic discussion.

@jgatie, I hope the Connect is just for analog, because if its not, they really missed the mark (i.e. its pretty obvious looking at the back that it only connects to analog inputs).

Another way to look at it, is that back in the analog days, when you infer the Connect was conceived, the Connect was a way to expand the systems I/O capabilities the things around it. Now, things are shifting to a little more digital era, and the back panel of the Connect should reflect that.

And since you brought it up, yes I agree, there should be more than two channels on the back of the connect 🙂

But, for me, two channels would be fine for now. I just hate it when I have to stop and go get a converter, when the Connect should do that for me. It should, how does that go? Just work.

And, BTW, it was not me that said "And aside from DTS on the Playbar, it just works." I did not complain about it... I simply used it in an example of the things Sonos refuses to redress.

And, I came across this 2 year old post doing a simple google search on "sonos connect optical input". There are oodles of other threads on the same topic.

My point is still the same. Sonos does not seem to care about keeping up with much more than software. On the other hand, that software rocks. It makes their OK hardware really attractive.

I never inferred the Connect was conceived way back in the analog era; it a freaking digital streamer, I'd have to be stupid to infer that. What I said is the analog line-in was a nod to legacy formats that are not easily converted to digital. Whereas a digital input in an already digital streamer which is able to access ripped CDs in an instant is quite redundant. Who needs to get up and change a CD when you can have instant access to your entire library (or millions of tracks online) in your pocket. That's silly.

As to your evaluation of Sonos' strengths and weaknesses: It's funny. I can find you "oodles" of threads specifically complaining about Sonos software, especially when compared to native apps, which go on to praise the hardware as being the best there is. It's all subjective, and the wants and needs of the few do not override the wants and needs of the many in a capitalistic company. I'm sure Sonos has 1000 times the true marketing data than you or I, and no matter how many emotionally subjective threads you or I post here, nothing trumps those numbers. And the numbers are pretty good for Sonos against some pretty huge companies with almost unlimited budgets.

If you are waiting for hardware, interface, speaker quality, or just about any other tangible improvement, you are going to be really disappointed.
Hmm. So PLAY:5 Gen2 and Trueplay must have been just a dream then.

All Sonos needs to do is make an in/out optical interface
such that ican use it for sound from my Sony flat panel,
as i have 2 Play3 units each side of my Sony TV.
I know this would take focus from Sonos Playbar
but i would never buy one,dont like playbars.
So Sonos please make an digital in/out interface to
your sound system, that would make your Sonos
system much more flexible, and would a great
sales argument.

A digital Line-In would suffer the same network latency as an analog Line-In. It's there to provide sufficient buffering to maintain the stability of the network stream. Many could find that the 70ms delay is too much for TV lip-sync.

Where did you get the 70ms from?
most well designed networks have
a lot less.
I worked with Axia IP audio systems
for radio studio's where microphone
to headphone delay was 5ms.
Normaly a delay of 20ms or under
is not a problem, also there is a delay
of about 5ms per meter from the
loadspeaker to listner.

Where did you get the 70ms from?
https://sonos.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1966/~/grouping,-pairing,-and-bonding-players

If you are waiting for hardware, interface, speaker quality, or just about any other tangible improvement, you are going to be really disappointed.
Hmm. So PLAY:5 Gen2 and Trueplay must have been just a dream then.

Its just that they come sooooo sloooowly... I have a Denon 3808 that I bought almost 10 years ago. It had microphone for audio setup. Did they really need 10 years? And yes, the play:5s sound great. They are the first great sounding speaker that I have from Sonos. I would like to see more. But, it just takes sooooo long for them to step up.

. Sonos does not seem to care about keeping up with much more than software. On the other hand, that software rocks. It makes their OK hardware really attractive.
For a completely different opinion - that hardware rocks and software sucks, see this!:
https://en.community.sonos.com/wireless-speakers-228992/5-star-play1-review-stunning-photos-6734713/index1.html#post15992359