Connect vs Port vs Bluesound sound quality?

What sonos gives you is multiroom, if you dont need that then any streamer will be better and cheaper, a raspberry pi will have better signal output from its dac-HAT component for example.
I have my connect coax out going to a decent DAC that is also a preamp, and I think the sound is really nice.
I have also a not so expensive Class AB amp that sounds great, but if I put a CD I think the sound is slightly better but nobody else will notice that anyway at home.

The speakers that you place in diff rooms are not HiFi and I use them as background music son there is not need to spend a hell lot of money there, I rather to have my main system sounding good to me.

If I would switch to another multiroom system I would look at yamaha multicast.  But Ilike simplicity I dont need alexa and those extra things, I just want to listen to music.
 

I agree for the most part. I own a Port for about 2 months. I also own a Pi with Hifiberry Hat. I can't say if one sounds better than the other but can say the Port cost ~$400 more. 

I don't think there is anyone defending the ridiculously high price of a Port, by claiming that it does more on the sound quality front than a USD 25 Chromecast Audio puck as just one example. Or, as another, my raspberry PI wirelessly streams ripped CDs from a USB stick inserted into it to a Echo Dot, that is wire connected to the jacks of a Connect Amp. Even something like this also sounds just as good as my Connect.

On the other hand there is Bluesound that is even more expensive as are other streamers that are multiple times more expensive than the Port that also don't do more than all of the aforesaid on the sound quality front. But the higher price deludes people into thinking they sound better.

The problem is that clever marketing has brainwashed people into thinking: Expensive = High End = HiFi. Which is the most commonly understood definition of the word “HiFi”. And of course, there is no engineering definition of that word, so it is a carte blanche for snake oil peddlers in the HiFi industry.

Pointing out the cost of the Port wasn't the point, this is Sonos community, we've all accepted the price point to play. The point was that the pi is so cheap in comparison.