Zp 24/96

You should be interested to read the article that jgatie kindly linked in http://forums.sonos.com/showthread.php?p=159096#post159096 then. On second thoughts maybe you'd prefer not to read it...

Well..it's been some time since I've weighed in on this thread, as I spoke my piece some time ago. I've continued to follow it..yet chosen not to get into the debate on whether hi-res is "mainstream" enough yet to make it a market that sonos might address. Well...the fact that the most mainstream of mainstream providers (Apple) is now beginning efforts to provide hi-res music, is clearly a sign that there is an active and growing marketplace here. Now I know there has been also been an active debate about the value of hi-res....and whether or not it's an audible difference..can be actually heard/recognized...etc..etc...etc. Well...perhaps a story here may shed some light. While my wife is an avid wine enthusiast and has over the years attempted to sway me in that direction...I remain today steadfastly a "brew" man...I love all types of beer's, lagers, ales..but simply have not been able to develop a taste for wines. Now I've seen her and her friends sip the stuff..gargle w/it...slurp it...sniff it...and they all wax long and with great poetic license on the variations, scents, tastes, tannins...fruitiness..etc..etc (I could go on ad-nauseum)....but you get it..right? To them it's a wonderful world of disparate qualities that they all enjoy..whilst I cannot seem to acquire the taste. Does that mean I think the purchase and consumption of wine is a waste...or that you can't really tell the differences between two variants of chardonay's from the XXX district of France? Well no..not at all. Each to their own. So I think to argue that hi-res is not really an improvement or audibly discernible from CD-res music is really kind of beside the point..isn't it? The fact that many audiophiles are passionate about it...willing to spend large sums of monies to buy equipment that supports the retrieval & playback of hi-res signals...and further...invest large sums of monies to re-purchase favorite music (which they've already previously bought in lower res variants) says that it has value for them. And this is not a small segment of the market any longer. If you follow the audio world...read all the mainstream mags (stereophile, Absolute sound, etc)..visit audiophile websites..and follow the "big" shows and manufacturer's offerings...computer based hi-res music is an absolutely huge and growing business...period. Whether or not you can "taste" the difference..or choose to spend your hard earned cash on acquiring a wine-celler full of bottles and all the associated accouterments to enjoying them is really a personal decision based on your personal tastes, and the enjoyment, and value which you place upon them. Well...I for one can "taste" the difference...and that taste has enough value to me...that I've been willing to invest the time and monies necessary to acquiring, ripping and/or copying a large library of hi-res music files…and investing in the necessary equipment to decode, resolve and play them. Does the fact that there are those on this forum who say this is a waste, because the differences are inaudible, or not discernible in any way lessen my enjoyment of same…absolutely not. I'd never try to tell my wife and friends that those fine differences that they seem to be able to discern and taste are "phantom" flavors. Even if they are…I don't think that it would in any way lessen their enjoyment of their pursuits. So for me..my Sonos system will remain one of the best audio investments I've made..both in overall value and enjoyment…and one which I continually share with family and friends. I've probably helped with the purchase and installation of over 20 systems at friends/family after they've come to see how much fun a sonos system is…and how easy & what a joy it is…. to use. Do I wish Sonos would jump on board the hi-res bandwagon..absolutely. I hope at some point that Sonos management will see the opportunity they have to expand on the overall Sonos experience for a large community of users who…like myself..would be willing to pay a premium for a hi-res sonos component, software, or whatever it is… that Sonos would deploy to offer the capability. The hi-res marketplace is certainly a very viable, growing and enthusiastic market…and one which I think Sonos would do well to serve. Is it for everybody..or every sonos user…clearly not. But for those of us who do like to slurp…sip…sniff…and swirl our hi-res music about in our systems…and look for those nuances and joyful experiences that doing so brings to us…well…absolutely. I'll pay a premium for that experience any time…especially when it's simply an adjunct to an already great experience... which is my Sonos system today!

A little advice - Paragraphs, proper punctuation and capitalization, and less use of ellipsis will go a long way towards getting your message read. I know I didn't get through more than a couple sentences before my eyes started to swim. Seriously, it is about as illegible a post as I've ever seen.

A little advice - Paragraphs, proper punctuation and capitalization, and less use of ellipsis will go a long way towards getting your message read. I know I didn't get through more than a couple sentences before my eyes started to swim. Seriously, it is about as illegible a post as I've ever seen.

+1 from me, as well.

Could not get through the post at all.

Everyone that desires 24/96+ should read the link that ratty provided (originally via jgatie): http://people.xiph.org/~xiphmont/demo/neil-young.html

There are other writeups like it out there, but this is the best I've come across yet.

Best of Luck

Wow...I thought the forums were for the exchange of ideas. Apparently they are also to ensure we are all using the correct grammar, spelling and punctuation...for those readers who must be simply exhausted from their efforts to toil through the torturous prose of those less skilled in the arts of writing and expression. Hey..I've got an idea! If it's too much of a mental effort to read...then don't. What a concept..eh??

. Hey..I've got an idea! If it's too much of a mental effort to read...then don't. What a concept..eh??

I thought I already stated I didn't. 😃

Hey..I've got an idea! If it's too much of a mental effort to read...then don't.

+1 on your idea. Wished I'd thought of it yesterday.

Wow...I thought the forums were for the exchange of ideas.

They are. The previous posters have been trying to tell you -- fairly gently, I might add -- that your presentation makes your ideas unreadable. There may have been some excellent points in that giant wall of text, but we'll never know.

One of the requirements for exchange is that the medium used be suited for the purpose. It's not that we don't want to read it, but that it's unreadable.

You're welcome to present your positions in any format you like, but it's telling that the only response to all of those words is not based on the content but on the presentation. If you don't want people to read it, then that's exactly the way to ensure that nobody does.

I read it, all of it. I agree with your points 100%.

I also really like paragraphs 🙂

Interesting and well written piece.. but my HiRes files still sound better than the same ones converted to 16/44.. but that's just me.

And the fact that even if it is all marketing, which is open for debate, Sonos needs to be at the front of the line not at the back..

For me all of this will get resolved when a major player will put out a 96+/24+ format up for grabs easily by anyone. Were iTunes now silently upgrading all their files to 192/24, I'm sure Sonos engineers would then try to find a way.

I don't see my Sonos system playing them at high frequencies. I wouldn't care less, I don't think that caters up to majority of users outside a small audiophile crowd. But not playing a file, even if downsampled, annoys me. I choose some files in the lib, they are getting skipped silently, and it bothers me to no end.