Trending Lyricist I

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Airplay 2 Hi Res and Sonos

Forum|Forum|5 years ago
May 19, 2021
15 replies
3237 views

With Apple confirming that Airplay 2 will now be capable of streaming 24/192 to an end point with a capable DAC will Sonos be making plans to support this?

My own end point is a Sonos Amp which i believe at the moment is only capable of 16/44 through Airplay 2.

Does Sonos have any plans to support Apple Music’s 70 million customers who from June will be able to stream in Hi-Res?

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Best answer by James L.

Hi @scobihughes,

I’ve answered this in the main thread for this topic here:

In short, we’re unable to confirm when/if this feature is coming to Sonos. It’s up to the music service provider (Apple in this case) to work with us and decide which features are/are not available on Sonos products. :slight_smile:

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K

Kumar

That 70 million are just playing catch up with much bigger combined numbers from Amazon, Spotify, Tidal etc that crosses 200 million. And it would be interesting to see what percent of total sub fee paying users today are actually paying the higher fees for HD music, because that would be relevant to knowing if HD music has grown legs beyond the hot air which has been around it for at least a decade now.

I feel safe in betting that this number of paying customers would be less than 10%. Maybe even less than 5%.

Sonos must be an interesting place to be a fly on the wall of strategy meeting rooms, but we are not that, and we have no real data to make recommendations from except saying my friends and I want it, so Sonos better give it.

S

scobihughesAuthor

Trending Lyricist I

That 70 million are just playing catch up with much bigger combined numbers from Amazon, Spotify, Tidal etc that crosses 200 million. And it would be interesting to see what percent of total sub fee paying users today are actually paying the higher fees for HD music, because that would be relevant to knowing if HD music has grown legs beyond the hot air which has been around it for at least a decade now.

I feel safe in betting that this number of paying customers would be less than 10%. Maybe even less than 5%.

Sonos must be an interesting place to be a fly on the wall of strategy meeting rooms, but we are not that, and we have no real data to make recommendations from except saying my friends and I want it, so Sonos better give it.

I don’t think anyone has said my friends and i want it so sonos better give it.

However i’m sure if plenty of people do want it and don’t get it, like everything else in life you will just go elsewhere to get it.

It was a niche market before, not so much now as Apple are about to introduce Hi-Res to the mainstream.

K

Kumar

I don’t think anyone has said my friends and i want it so sonos better give it.

I inferred that from your preceding comments. Perhaps a mistaken inference, perhaps not. Others here will decide for themselves:-)

S

scobihughesAuthor

Trending Lyricist I

I don’t think anyone has said my friends and i want it so sonos better give it.

I inferred that from your preceding comments. Perhaps a mistaken inference, perhaps not. Others here will decide for themselves:-)

Trial by ‘others’ lol

T

TTT15

Enthusiast I

I would suggest the market willing to pay for hi res is a significant niche but not Sonos‘s mass market given it was served by Tidal and Qubuz. But that is not a relevant argument any longer though as Apple Music hi res and Amazon UHD is now available at no extra cost.

Apple Music and Amazon are now highlighting on every track sample rates which increases awareness. If hi res is available at no extra cost and other manufacturers offer the ability to play it at no premium which they Will and they do emblazon it on their products then that is a marketing problem for Sonos.

The problem is that bandwidths and memory have moved on since Sonos was introduced. I have no doubt Sonos starting now would be hi res capable. Their problem is balancing changes in the market and technology against backward integration. I suspect that the market change will mean that they will introduce hi res on new products and it will simply down sample on old products.

Personally lossless on Sonos via AirPlay would be fine as Sonos is a great lifestyle product but it is not hifi so I will go elsewhere when I want to listen to hifi as that is not Sonos market.

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