We need Audiophile Edition version of Port

USB transmits whatever it’s been handed by the phone/app. Whether you like it or not this will have been processed, possibly through sample rate conversion and EQ. It’s okay to like what your phone is doing.

I can adjust my phone to sound pleasant over Bluetooth (aptX or LDAC). I also tweak the EQ on the Port that feeds my head amp.

For many years as an ‘audiophile’ I wrestled with component/cable matching between ‘HiFi’ devices that lacked EQ/tone controls, in order to try and get an acceptable sound. Life’s too short.

Sure my DAC is taking whatever the digital signal is from the source just as my DAC is taking whatever digital signal is coming from Sonos. Whatever it is doing the cheaper USB cable option sounds way better and is no longer painful to listen to on my headphones compared to previously using Sonos as a source. I never touch EQ on a hifi as I don’t like a processed sound which is why the Sonos sound isn’t my personal preference for focused listening. 

You appear to be in denial that your USB option could already be processed, on the source device. It’s just that you seem to prefer that form of processing, which is okay.

Could well be. Not saying it isn’t. I’m only saying that it is a digital signal from the source to the DAC just as Sonos passes a digital signal from the source to the DAC.  Every digital music source is ultimately processed at some point starting with the orginal recording. What I am saying is whatever it is doing it sounds way better than Sonos and is no longer painful to listen to. 

Given the state of the world your repeated use of the work “painful” in connection with a mere audio product is verging on trollishness. 

I’m not trilling at all. I’m am merely pointing out that listening to Sonos on my headphones was hurting my ears so I could not listen for very long as someone else also suggested was a problem with Sonos sound to illustrate that Sonos just might not be the best option for everyone in every situation. 
 

what is trolling is the constant denial and repetitive attacks from a few individuals on anyone who might suggest that other options just might have a better sound quality for some people is some some circumstances and god forbid if they mention the word audiophile. 
 

i like Sonos. The convenience is excellent just not the sound quality for me.  I have eight units.The only one I don’t use regularly anymore and would replace is the hifi component.  Sonos and streaming got me back into music.  I just don’t think it is the be all and end all and just because I find it painful to listen on my headphones is just that. 

I fundamentally agree with Sonos own view of its sound quality so that is hardly trolling. It anyone is trolling it is those repeatedly disagreeing with Sonos. 

Given the gross results you are reporting with PORT, it is likely that there is a level or impedance mismatch on the analog side or a codec issue while processing PORT’s digital output. It is also possible that there is a different codec path for your USB output.

While there can be subtle differences between the sonics of high quality kit, we are not debating about rebranded vinegar trying to pass as wine.

It is ok as a digital source for my ok hifi speakers so not an issue. For whatever reason it really doesn’t work with my headphones. Using a USB cable sounds good so problem solved with limited additional expense as far as I’m concerned.
 

It does mean I’m tethered and reliant on source battery so I will buy another hifi. streamer transport at some point. Ideally that would be Sonos if they produced a product as the OP suggested otherwise I will just buy something else. Not an issue now that I have finally solved the problem. But the suggestions on here that there couldn’t ever possibly be anything better than Sonos didn’t help me solve the problem which is why I want to highlight that Sonos might not be the best option for everyone in every situation. That is all. 

There was never a suggestion that Sonos was the be-all and end-all, but the notion that it could be “painful” was repetitive and tiresome hyperbole unless, as buzz suggests, there was some kind of gross fault or mismatch in the signal path.

Oh come on. There is regular negative attacks on hifi and the word audiophile tends to induce frothing at the mouth from some!

I don’t know why. I would put the headphones on and it would sound ok but i was disappointed if i was honest and then after a couple of songs I would have to take the headphones off because my ears hurt. It does sound like the “jitter” issue that someone mentioned above where it does sound ok but you can’t listen for long. Maybe it is to do with the coax versus USB path. Whatever the components did not work together.

My hifi DAC also didn’t work as it simply wasn’t powerful enough to match the impedance requirements of the headphones so getting an appropriate matching headphone DAC/Amp solved that problem and then the USB cable completed the picture. I didn’t pay enough attention to the needs a good source and amp in the reviews. But now with a good recording and the chain sorted it has that wow factor which I was hoping for and didn’t have before. Now I am regularly enjoying long listening sessions which I wasn’t doing with Sonos as the source. Typically when I’m thinking a recording sounds really good it is 24 bit but that could just be a better original recording. My take away is that the components need to be “matching” and for some systems Sonos may well be fine for but for others not so I would agree with the OP in my experience. .