Is Wyred 4 Sound's Sonos Connect upgrade worth it?

Only if you believe in stuff like that. The claims made for the mods almost never show up in A-B-X blind testing (High-end sample rate converter made by TI, Low jitter clock with less than .5ps jitter), and some rise to the level of snake-oil (Low noise power supply).

As to the last two claims, all Sonos devices have a "micro processor controller" (as do almost every digital device made). Ditto for input & output digital buffers; Sonos couldn't do what it does without an I/O buffer. When a company resorts to listing mundane and ubiquitous "features" like these as something unique and special, red flags go up everywhere. It's like listing channel changing and color display as unique features on a TV set.

Also, some of these aftermarket mods have been reported as compromising wireless performance and causing the player to run rather hot.

I"m a budding audiophile, but also really like the convenience of my Sonos Connect. Has anyone tried the Wyred 4 Sound upgrade to their Sonos Connect, and if so, can they tell me their experience or results?

https://wyred4sound.com/products/upgrades-and-mods/sonos-connect-modified

As it's a $550 upgrade, I'm quite curious to know if it's worth it. Thanks!

I think it's worth it. But it also depends on your music taste. I think you will notice less benefit with hard rock music as it's so in your face anyway. But if you like other types music where sound stage and dimensionality are easier to discern you will see the benefits more. But I just today did a side by side comp of a stock connect and a Wyred Connect listening to Talking Heads Cross Eyed and Painless and the separation and fullness was subtle but obvious on the Wyred. I did a blind demo with my daughter when I first got the Wyred and she nailed it right away and described it as a "fullness" and she is a typical 20 year old music listener. I had a Airbnb guest listen and he was a jazz fan. He wanted to listen to Miles Davis So What from Kinda Blue. He nailed the Wyred right away and said it just sounded more heavenly.

So if you are only listen to music casually or as wall paper or blair R&R then its a marginal improvement and may not be worth it. For critical listening it transforms the Connect into a legit piece of Audiophile gear.

You do know that this mod is for digital out only? So you need to be going into an external DAC.

So they're adding some "audiophile" EQ, no doubt. Kinda like the tube amps with the secret sauce, nothing more than a not-flat response and low damping factor for flabby bass; simple to reproduce in DSP, but far less than optimal SQ.

I just did some more direct comparison between the stock unit and w4s connect. On Tom Petty's Wasted Life song there is bongo/conga style percussion throughout the song. On the stock unit it's audible moving to the front between Petty's lyrical breaks. On the W4S it comes alive and is on full display with a nice tone. Even with my beleaguered hearing it's easy to tell the difference. Overall it just makes it makes for a more pleasant listening experience.

Great. Now try it double-blind after level-matching within 0.1db, and get back to us... If you still hear a difference, they're coloring the sound, never a good thing.

Let us pray upon the cold stark alter of neutrality

Double sigh.

This thread should be pinned at the top of the board for matters of hilariousness. Evangelists of any acoustic religion shall rejoice reading through it.
Meanwhile in the real world, young people (possible future customers) are enjoying music through internal laptop and smartphone speakers...

I forgot to mention the bass; flabulous just fullllabulous.