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Brandon_7
Avid Contributor I
June 9, 2020
Question

Anyone else feeling a bit conned?

  • June 9, 2020
  • 12 replies
  • 616 views

When Sonos announced the S2 one of the draws for switching over was the support for Hi Res audio due to “increased audio bandwidth.”  I can’t be the only one who assumed that this additional bandwidth would allow use of Hi Res streaming services, but apparently this is not the case.  The Hi Res  support is for local files only.  Wondering how others are feeling about this.

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      rleventhal
      Lyricist III
      June 18, 2020

      I agree that it is very disappointing that the high res streaming is limited to locally stored files when the steaming services that Sonos integrates offer much higher quality files for streaming.  For the prices that Sonos charges and the fact that it has asked us to upgrade our equipment, I would have expected high resolution streaming to be available.  Roon is able to do this, so I do not understand why Sonos cannot.

       

      I also believe it would be a good idea for Sonos  in the future to have upgradeable electronics in its pricier speaker, such as the 5.  The speaker and amps can last a long time and for $500 the customer should be able to upgrade the DAC and the memory without having to purchase a whole new speaker.

      david82
      david82
      Collaborator II
      June 19, 2020

      folks need to keep in mind Sonos can only control, and announce features for, its own services, platform, and hardware. as such, they have announced support for increased hi-res for those portions it can control directly.

      that functionality provides a base for all of the streaming services in the Sonos ecosystem to leverage but those streaming services. unfortunately, all of those companies also have infrastructure and associated apps, library content, licensing, and, last but not least, business plans that all may be impacted in bringing hi-res streams to the Sonos platform.

      so, generally your options are:

      • be patient and wait for them to arrive in good time
      • call your favorite service(s) and request, demand, or dramatically flounce about until they make it available
      • or, since there are so many experts here and it is evidently Very Easy™, start your own speaker company and/or streaming service company to compete with Sonos; profits will roll in
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