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Trending Lyricist I
Mar 4, 2019 4:56 PM UTC

Mediocre measurements for new Sonos Amp

As a long time Sonos user am quite disappointed.

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/review-and-measurements-of-sonos-amp.6957/
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    46 replies

    chicks
    Mar 6, 2019 12:48 AM UTC
    So, reading through the review a bit more carefully this time. He does measure a digital input, "streaming from Android", and gets excellent THD+N of 0.002% @5W, 1kHz, which is within the spec for the Qualcomm chipset.

    I apologize for not reading more carefully the first time through. The question still remains, why is the analog input adding so much noise?

    How many customers will actually be using the analog input in 2019? Very few, I'm guessing. I do, as I still love to spin LPs, but I'm probably the exception (I own the Connect:Amp, not the Amp). The measured analog performance probably won't much matter for LP playback, but for CD's it might, though hopefully most folks have ripped their CDs to a NAS long ago, and won't much care about the analog input...
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    Trending Lyricist II
    Mar 6, 2019 1:58 AM UTC
    He does measure a digital input, "streaming from Android", and gets excellent THD+N of 0.002% @5W, 1kHz, which is within the spec for the Qualcomm chipset.
    i think that's the bottom line. It's a great amp for streaming (and I assume for optical/hdmi input as well) but the analog input is flawed. I wonder if there is any chance that it was a bad unit. Maybe someone from Sonos will say something?
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    pwt
    Virtuoso
    Mar 6, 2019 9:31 AM UTC
    i think that's the bottom line. It's a great amp for streaming (and I assume for optical/hdmi input as well) but the analog input is flawed.
    I remain a little skeptical of this, because the test methodology does not specify what Line-In gain was used, and I see no reason why the Amp's ADC should introduce below-par noise performance. I'll feed mine with a good analog signal at the weekend and see if I can detect any differences between that and the same content in FLAC pulled from NAS.
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    4 x P:5 | Sub | 4 x P:1 | 3 x Connect | 2 x Boost | Connect:Amp | 2 x One | Amp | Move | Port | Era 300
    Prominent Collaborator I
    Mar 6, 2019 11:31 AM UTC
    I listen primarily from the line in and it sounds great to me but what do I know. :8
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    Trending Lyricist II
    Mar 6, 2019 12:38 PM UTC
    I'll feed mine with a good analog signal at the weekend and see if I can detect any differences between that and the same content in FLAC pulled from NAS.

    The analog input SNR measurement after he changed the software setting was 87 dB at 5W. So probably you will not hear the noise.
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    pwt
    Virtuoso
    Mar 6, 2019 1:15 PM UTC
    The analog input SNR measurement after he changed the software setting was 87 dB at 5W.
    I found nothing in the review that indicated he'd adjusted the Line-In gain in the Sonos app. What I did observe was a general lack of knowledge of how to use Sonos.

    So probably you will not hear the noise.

    I'm sure that's true 🙂
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    4 x P:5 | Sub | 4 x P:1 | 3 x Connect | 2 x Boost | Connect:Amp | 2 x One | Amp | Move | Port | Era 300
    Trending Lyricist II
    Mar 6, 2019 2:14 PM UTC

    I found nothing in the review that indicated he'd adjusted the Line-In gain in the Sonos app. What I did observe was a general lack of knowledge of how to use Sonos.

    He said he bumped the setting up from 2 to 3 (maybe he clarified this in the comments that folloed the review). He said that anything higher than 3 resulted in clipping when he used his test signal.
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    pwt
    Virtuoso
    Mar 6, 2019 2:31 PM UTC
    He said he bumped the setting up from 2 to 3 (maybe he clarified this in the comments that followed the review). He said that anything higher than 3 resulted in clipping when he used his test signal.
    Ah, it's there now, on page 3 of the comments. Thanks. That makes sense: with a 2V signal, that would be at the top end of normal for the Line-Out of an audio separate like a CD player. In fact, I wonder whether he should have left it at '2', and not '3'.
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    4 x P:5 | Sub | 4 x P:1 | 3 x Connect | 2 x Boost | Connect:Amp | 2 x One | Amp | Move | Port | Era 300
    Prominent Collaborator I
    Mar 6, 2019 2:39 PM UTC
    Or maybe set it to 1.
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    Trending Lyricist II
    Mar 7, 2019 11:07 AM UTC
    The analog input SNR measurement after he changed the software setting was 87 dB at 5W. So probably you will not hear the noise.

    Sorry, I am wrong on this. The 87 dB is SNR at full power, not @5W, after changing the software setting. I thought he was saying that the software setting made a big difference in noise, but in fact he was saying it didn't matter much. The fact remains that this is a great amp for streaming, but the analog input is a little noisy.
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