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I am a long time Spotify user with a house full of Sonos. I love the UI of Spotify and the music discovery ability. I also love that I can play from the Spotify app to my Sonos system at the same quality as via the Sonos app. HOWEVER, I am getting very frustrated with the lack of hi res audio on Spotify.

I have been testing Spotify vs. Amazon Music and to me the difference is obvious. (And Atmos mixes when done right are very cool.) I would consider switching to Amazon Music or Apple Music or Tidal for the high res audio, but in order to get the highest resolution to stream, it needs to be played via the Sonos app. That's fine if I know exactly what I want to listen to, but that's not often my process. I cannot stand using the Sonos app for music browsing. It just doesn't do it well. I have no problems using the Sonos app for speaker configurations, etc., but it's jut not built for music discovery.

Is there any high res service out there that will stream full resolution audio to Sonos directly from the service's app and not require playing via the Sonos app? This is a HUGE deficit of current technology as far as I can tell. It seems so simple, but nobody that I have found has implemented it other than Spotify (which does not offer high res). Anyone have a workaround or idea?

 

Thanks!!

Spotify is a lossy streaming service which means it’s lower quality than Amazon Music.

 

Sonos does do better resolutions (max 24/48) but for for 24/192 playback you need to look at WiiM, Bluesound (and others) that support the connect model for your chosen music service. 
 

Qobuz Connect is currently available on WiiM and coming to Bluesound soon.

Tidal Connect works on WiiM and Bluesound

Amazon connect works in WiiM but a few complaints of it’s not working well in the WiiM forum

Apple Music - forget it, they make it almost impossible to play back on anything outside of Apple Hardware and the connect is via Airplay which does not do lossless using the Apple Music App over Airplay 2. So better off using the Sonos App.

 

Personally I use the native app to discover music and the save as favourites or a playlist to open in whatever music streamer I am using.


Edit, For the best music discovery look at Roon using either Qobuz or Tidal and then choose a suitable hires endpoint.

Amazon's highest resolution streaming requires a monthly premium, find it under "ad free," I find it well worth the expense when feeding Atmos to my 300 pair or HT Rooms.

I wouldn't pay a premium for higher than CD quality stereo music, can't hear any difference. I would pay to upgrade from lossy to CD quality though. 

My TV's Amazon app is pretty good for finding stuff to play and the extra information it shows is nice too.

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