Contributor I

Why is Connect more expensive than Play?

Forum|Forum|14 years ago
April 28, 2012
179 replies
75917 views

I just got my first pair of Sonos units - two Play:3's for the kitchen and bedroom and I absolutely love them. I'm not a huge audiophile, but the convenience and total plug 'n play nature of Sonos is what attracted me to it.

Of course the next thing that occured to me was how to get this connected up to my stereo.

What I don't understand is why the basic Connect is $349 while the Play:3 units are $299 each. I mean if anything it seems like a Connect is just a Play:3 without the speakers and amp? Why does it cost so much more for fewer features? Seems like the guts of the connect should be a $99 unit - I meant he appleTV is $99, and it does way more (At least in terms of technological capability - video/etc) than the connect.

To be honest I've been drooling over Sonos for years - and I know the quality is very high, but the expense of the units has always put me off. It wasn't until the Play:3 that I felt like there was enough bang-for-the-buck to justify diving in... I'm probably going to get at least 2 or 3 more Play:3's for elsewhere in the house, but it's going to be hard to justify the Connect until the price comes down further. It's still cheaper to just put a Play:3 in the same room as my stereo - it's small and powerful enough to just sit near my existing speakers.

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ratty

The request thread for a delay feature has been in existence for 7.5 years. If Sonos saw this issue as a "huge flaw" they would have done something about it long ago.

As it happens the ask.sonos thread shows it as "under consideration", i.e. on their to-do list with uncertain timeframe.

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the_lhc

Avid Contributor I

2- Being unable to listen to your A/V speaker setup AND to a Sonos Play at the same time is a huge flaw, and a very big loss for Sonos when comparing to other multi-ambient solutions, which as in the airplay case are totally free!

You keep saying this, Airplay won't give you multi-room sync AT ALL, so it's no damn use to you for that purpose!

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the_lhc

Avid Contributor I

My reasoning is pretty straightforward.

Yes i want the syncing, and this is why i paid a whole loads of money into a Sonos system, because accordingly to Sonos its system is able to play in perfect sync.

Answer the question, are all your Zoneplayers in the same room? Because if they aren't you're probably not even going to hear the delay introduced by the AV receiver.

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the_lhc

Avid Contributor I

As modern receivers are airplay enabled and there are plenty of speakers which are airplay enabled as well, you do the math

Can you send a single Airplay stream to multiple sources at the same time? Genuine question, I've no idea.

jgatie

No, 90% of 2012/2013 receivers, including ALL most popular (Yamaha, Onkyo, etc.) and high-end receivers, have a delay which is simply driven by the processing happening inside the receiver. And this will be more and more true as time goes by.
Secondly, the "direct" mode simply reduces the delay, while having the "little" drawback that you seem to forget that if you have, say a 5.1 or 7.1 system connected to your A/V receiver with the direct mode on you are left with a pure 2.0 speaker set. Wow, what a party.

Simple truth is that at the moment the Sonos system is not usable if you are planning to listen to music from both your expensive latest gen A/V via Sonos connect AND a Play speaker at the same time.
If Sonos is able to introduce a programmable delay to be placed before the Plays start playing it will still be an expensive but worthwile system, if not it will have forever lost one of the very single point of differences vs. the infinitely cheaper airplay solution (that is, perfect sync).

Ohhhh, so the fact that "90%" of the latest model year of receivers does this (an observation which more than likely was plucked out of thin air) justifies your statement and rebuts mine how?

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vannibombonato

Avid Contributor I

Answer the question, are all your Zoneplayers in the same room? Because if they aren't you're probably not even going to hear the delay introduced by the AV receiver.

One of them yes, the other one in the next one. And i have to choose between having those two playing and the A/V and its 5.1 system. The delay creates an echo which you can hear super clearly in any type of music, let alone the type of beat oriented music that you want to have in your typical "party-mode" setup.

Obviously that's not the point 'cause i think i'm allowed to have a big living room with a surround setup and a couple of other speakers...

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vannibombonato

Avid Contributor I

Ohhhh, so the fact that "90%" of the latest model year of receivers does this (an observation which more than likely was plucked out of thin air) justifies your statement and rebuts mine how?

Genuinely, do you have some problem?

I understand you have no issue with your Sonos setup and i'm happy for you, but can't you really see the issue for other users?
Is it so hard to imagine a big room where there it sits one of those immensely popular A/V receivers connected with Sonos to a big 5.1 or 7.1 system, and in the same ambient a couple of play speakers, and you can't use both?
Or, is it so hard to imagine a veranda with an A/V system in it, and a garden outside with some Play speakers?

How does the fact that you don't have a problem disable your mental capability to see the problem for other users?

It's like i'm saying "this car starts cracking when i pass 100mph, there's a problem", and you answer "idiot there's no problem, i travel at 90mph perfectly fine what are you complaining about".

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vannibombonato

Avid Contributor I

Can you send a single Airplay stream to multiple sources at the same time? Genuine question, I've no idea.

No offense, but i had the sensation that you had no idea what you were talking about.

Yes, you can airplay to any number of airplay enabled speakers/appleTVs/devices.

Last time i tried, it wasn't in perfect sync and that's why i spent a whole lot of money into Sonos, and now i deeply regret it.

jgatie

Genuinely, do you have some problem?

I understand you have no issue with your Sonos setup and i'm happy for you, but can't you really see the issue for other users?
Is it so hard to imagine a big room where there it sits one of those immensely popular A/V receivers connected with Sonos to a big 5.1 or 7.1 system, and in the same ambient a couple of play speakers, and you can't use both?
Or, is it so hard to imagine a veranda with an A/V system in it, and a garden outside with some Play speakers?

How does the fact that you don't have a problem disable your mental capability to see the problem for other users?

It's like i'm saying "this car starts cracking when i pass 100mph, there's a problem", and you answer "idiot there's no problem, i travel at 90mph perfectly fine what are you complaining about".

First of all, can the rudeness, unless you are 12. We can all be adults here. Second of all, you claimed the Connect "is a device that does not work anymore" and "if your using the connect with an A/V receiver connected to speakers AND you are using Play 3/5 speakers, your music will simply be out of sync." - Two definitve statements which are decidedly inaccurate and misleading to anyone looking to purchase a Connect for his system which does not add a delay (of which there are thousands . . . no millions . . . in use). I called you on your inaccurate and misleading statements, corrected them with the same qualifiiers you have since pasted on with your subsequent posts, and I'm the one with the "problem"???? Puh-leaze. :rolleyes:

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vannibombonato

Avid Contributor I

First of all, can the rudeness, unless you are 12. We can all be adults here. Second of all, you claimed the Connect "is a device that does not work anymore" and "if your using the connect with an A/V receiver connected to speakers AND you are using Play 3/5 speakers, your music will simply be out of sync." - Two definitve statements which are decidedly inaccurate and misleading to anyone looking to purchase a Connect for his system which does not add a delay (of which there are thousands . . . no millions . . . in use). I called you on your inaccurate and misleading statements, corrected them with the same qualifiiers you have since pasted on with your subsequent posts, and I'm the one with the "problem"???? Puh-leaze. :rolleyes:

Ok adult, let's play the nerd game.

Here-below are the features reported from the Sonos website under the Connect feature list.

CONNECTS TO A HOME THEATER SYSTEM OR EXTERNAL AMPLIFIER Seamlessly integrates your home theater system and other audio devices into your Sonos Multi-Room Music System.

LISTEN TO THE SAME SONG IN EVERY ROOM, IN PERFECT SYNCHRONIZATION Play the same song in different rooms, simultaneously, without echoes or delays. Add or drop rooms from your rooms grouping and still be in sync.

Does it perform as advertised? NO.
On the contrary, it performs exactly as Sonos says it won't, with echoes, delays, etc. That's what happens if you connect your Sonos system to some strange A/V receiver from unknown brands like Pioneer, Yamaha, Onkyo and the likes.

End of story.

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