Zp 24/96

BTW I don't disagree. I think playback of 24-bit files would be a great thing to have. The DAC in the ZPs is certainly (on paper) capable of supporting 24-bit audio, and the DSP looks like it should be able to support it too.

I'll mention that I've read a few comments by various people on the improved audibility of hires files. The general view seems to be that an increased bit depth can make a difference on some material on a high-end system.

The general view seems to be that increased sample rate is far less audible, if at all.

EDIT: Actually, I got this wrong. It's the other way around, but the audible effects of increased sample rate may be attributable to improved filtering, rather than the ability of the ear to hear sounds above 20kHz.

Cheers,

Keith

Hi - I've been very impressed with my Sonos kit and the quality of the sound from CD quality files streamed to my hi-fi. I've been using 16 bit 44.1kHz files but would like to be able to use higher res versions as they seem to be becoming increasingly available. I'm not a great fan of lossy file formats and there are some studio masters I would love to be able to play in their full glory.

Is there an opportunity here to make Sonos more appealing to the audiophile market by providing support for 24 bit 96kHz (WAV, FLAC)files?

Moderator's note: We moved Gar-Badger lone post into this thread in an effort to keep things tidy. The three deleted posts suddenly became extraneous comments about the move. I simply eliminated the clutter, no one has done anything wrong.

It would be a nice feature, also good for the positioning of Sonos in the High-End market.

Be better the quality of the tracks the better the sound on your equipment.

High priority?

I would just like to echo my vote for Sonos to support up to 24/96 data rates (WAV, FLEC or whatever). A good number of high-end audio players/dacs take and decode up to 24/96 data when presented to their SPDIF digital input (like the Audio Aero players I use in my home/business main system). I do understand that in the main mass market were Sonos does most of its business, there is probably not any demand for this, but I know my customers (Hi-End Audiophile geeks 🙂 ) would really dig this capability... not to mention that hires downloads are starting to become more readily available.

BTW, I did have a chance to listen to the Cullen modded ZP-80 (a customer of mine had his player modded and brought it in for a listening session - it was used to feed the DAC in a Audio Aero Prestige CD Player). I (and my customer) did not find the difference great, but there was a small worthwhile improvement... just a bit better clarity and the sound-stage seemed a bit better laid out. The Audio Aero easily locked onto and decoded the 24/96 output of the Cullen modded unit.

BTW, I did have a chance to listen to the Cullen modded ZP-80 (a customer of mine had his player modded and brought it in for a listening session - it was used to feed the DAC in a Audio Aero Prestige CD Player). I (and my customer) did not find the difference great, but there was a small worthwhile improvement... just a bit better clarity and the sound-stage seemed a bit better laid out. The Audio Aero easily locked onto and decoded the 24/96 output of the Cullen modded unit.

As your player already reclocks the signal, the gains from the cullen mod could have been expected to have been marginal. From prior postings, I've gotten the impression that the ZP80/90 benefits most from clocking enhancements, be it on the ZP side like the cullen mod, or on the other end by a reclocker or a reclocking DAC.

In my system the Cullen-mod made big improvements in sound quality :)

BTW: Now HDtracks.com has opened the 24/96kHz Store:

http://www.hdtracks.com/index.php?file=9624albums

I just purchased some albums from HDTracks 24/96 and they will not play. Error message on the Sonos Controller says:

Unable to play - it is encoded at unsupported sample rate 96000 Hz

I should've looked before leaping, darnit. Hopefully support will be added in the near future.

Until support does arrive, you can downsample to produce a compatible file, so your purchase is not a complete loss.

db

thanks DB, after reading your post I searched and found foobar. Is this the preferred tool for downsampling flac files?