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KM4ME
Avid Contributor I
April 3, 2020
Answered

sonos port digital output

  • April 3, 2020
  • 8 replies
  • 4305 views

Two questions

 

  1. Does using the coax output on the port bypass the inbuilt DAC?
  2. Does the coax output resample everything to 24bit? If I’m streaming Apple Music will it be bit perfect?
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      Best answer by jgatie
      1. Well, since a DAC stands for Digital to Analog Converter, and the coax outputs digital, by definition it bypasses the DAC.  
      2. At fixed output, it will be bit perfect.  At variable output, it will not be bit perfect due to volume and/or tone control changes. Neither mode involves resampling. 

      8 replies

      jgatie
      jgatieAnswer
      April 3, 2020
      1. Well, since a DAC stands for Digital to Analog Converter, and the coax outputs digital, by definition it bypasses the DAC.  
      2. At fixed output, it will be bit perfect.  At variable output, it will not be bit perfect due to volume and/or tone control changes. Neither mode involves resampling. 
        KM4MEAuthor
        Avid Contributor I
        April 3, 2020

        Thanks for the reply. 
         

        regarding point 2, I’m coming from streaming Apple Music from the Apple TV. The Apple TV resamples everything to 48kHz. This is not good for music as that’s 44.1kHz. 
         

        does the port do that on digital out or just leave it alone?

        jgatie
        jgatie
        April 4, 2020

        Thanks for the reply. 
         

        regarding point 2, I’m coming from streaming Apple Music from the Apple TV. The Apple TV resamples everything to 48kHz. This is not good for music as that’s 44.1kHz. 
         

        does the port do that on digital out or just leave it alone?

         

        It streams whatever the source is.  You could capture the output and write it to a file, and the output file would match the input file exactly.  

        Chris
        Chris
        Lead Maestro
        April 4, 2020

        So your saying we are not in store for a 20 page rant of “Sonos Port not bit perfect” in our future?

        Respect the Queue (2)Move (3)Beam (1) Era100 (2)ARC (1)SonosOne (1)Playbar (4)Play5 (4)Play1 (3)Play3 (1)Port (2)Connect (1) Roam (2) Ace (1)Connect:Amp (4)Sonos Amp (1)Sub + (9) Echo + Smartthings; (2)Play)
        jgatie
        jgatie
        April 4, 2020

        So your saying we are not in store for a 20 page rant of “Sonos Port not bit perfect” in our future?

         

        No, and apparently the problem with the Connect was fixed a few years back.  Of course, nobody noticed the fix.  

        Chris
        Chris
        Lead Maestro
        April 4, 2020

        Of course not

        Respect the Queue (2)Move (3)Beam (1) Era100 (2)ARC (1)SonosOne (1)Playbar (4)Play5 (4)Play1 (3)Play3 (1)Port (2)Connect (1) Roam (2) Ace (1)Connect:Amp (4)Sonos Amp (1)Sub + (9) Echo + Smartthings; (2)Play)
        Chris
        Chris
        Lead Maestro
        April 4, 2020

        You mean people didn’t come on and thank Sonos?  Really?

        Respect the Queue (2)Move (3)Beam (1) Era100 (2)ARC (1)SonosOne (1)Playbar (4)Play5 (4)Play1 (3)Play3 (1)Port (2)Connect (1) Roam (2) Ace (1)Connect:Amp (4)Sonos Amp (1)Sub + (9) Echo + Smartthings; (2)Play)
        fico99
        fico99
        Contributor I
        November 29, 2020

        I have just read this review of the Sonos Port and they say that if you set the digital coaxial output to variable, the sound is worse than when you set it to fixed or even worse that the digital output of a Connect which is also set to variable. Is this by design or something that can be fixed with a firmware upgrade?
        https://www.techhive.com/article/3546333/sonos-port-review.html

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