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Hi everyone,

I was very excited to hear that Qobuz now supports Hi-Res streaming on Sonos S2 devices. However my excitement rapidly changed to dissapointment I realised that most of Qobuz’s catalogue is higher than the 24-bit/48 kHz which Sonos supports. Anything higher is played 16-bit/44.1 kHz FLAC which defeats the purpose. 

I have asked Qobuz if they could make their entire catalogue of Hi-res available in 24-bit/48 kHz but it is  a big ask and I don’t hold that much hope that it will happen. 

I wonder what the community thinks about this.

Thanks

 

Where did you get this information from?  From a tech site or from Qobuz directly?  Not doubting you, just interested in more information about this.

I had come across the same discrepancy which I found confusing. 

 

This article may throw some light on the issue.

 

https://darko.audio/2021/03/hi-res-streaming-comes-to-sonos-via-qobuz-sort-of/

 

Neibrad thanks for the article, I hadn’t come across that.

 

Hi Melvimbe, you can find this information here: https://support.sonos.com/s/article/1782?language=en_US

 

 

Sonos Amp has been measured to have about 93db SINAD, which isn’t even 16 bits (96.33 db).  So there’s really no point in 24-bit streaming to Sonos, or the vast majority of amps out there, until you get to Mola-Mola or Benchmark products.  Highly unlikely anyone is going to hear a difference in the noise level, especially considering the noise floor of most listening rooms is MUCH higher than the noise floor of a properly engineered 16-bit recording.

 

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/review-and-measurements-of-sonos-amp.6957/

https://www.techhive.com/article/3612690/sonos-drops-the-needle-on-high-resolution-music-streaming-via-qobuz.html

This techhive article goes into more detail regarding the expected 24-bit compatibility of each Sonos S2 component. Apparently, even though they are S2 compatible, the Play:1, Play:3 and Sub (Gen 1 and Gen 2) will not be able to live stream 24-bit.  

“Two Sonos S2-compatible devices that won’t support 24-bit streaming are the discontinued Play:1 and Play:3 speakers, although they continue to support 16-bit streaming via Qobuz. The first- and second generations of the Sonos Sub are also limited to 16-bit/48kHz streams; fortunately, however, Sonos has confirmed that having older S2-compatible components on your network will not force your entire system to drop to 16-bit resolution. The hardware that’s capable of handling a 24-bit stream will do just that, while the gear that isn’t will play a 16-bit stream. For the record, the third-generation Sonos Sub is capable of decoding a 24/48 stream.”

 

Hopefully, 24-bit streaming from Amazon Music HD is in the works...

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