S2 app and Qobuz Hi-Res

Everything above 24/44 or 24/48 will be played at 16/44 however all Qobuz tracks at 24/44 or 24/48 will be played at that rate through the Sonos S2 app which is still Hi-Res and a decent upgrade if you have good speakers. Also most newly released albums coming out the now are available at 24/48 so some good future proofing done by Sonos. 

I have a Sonos Amp connected to 2 x Fyne Audio F501 speakers so I was thrilled with the news. However I'd like to know if I can only get the new 24/48 resolution through the app to my amp or am I able to get it through Qobuz desktop app on my Intel Nuc which is used as a line in to my amp. 

Is anyone from Sonos able to confirm if this is possible? 

I’m not Sonos, but the answer to this is surely no.  Using the line in, your desktop has to convert the audio to analog, which will surely not be high res at that point.  Not 100% sure, but I think Sonos converts back to digital within the amp  as well.   Regardless, it’s not at all the same as the amp streaming directly.

To be clear, the app is just a controller, not the source of the audio stream.  If your Quboz desktop app has the abilty to cast audio to Sonos, than that would work.  Or any other cast/control method.  And of course, Sonos has their own desktop controller.

I hate to say this, but any audible difference is almost certainly due to remastering rather than the extra 8 bits. The extra room does however allow a remastering without clipping or truncation.

A Line-In is analog, which is then digitised at 16/44. Irrespective of the digital make-up of the original stream it will end up as 16-bit once input to the Amp via Line-In.

You won’t get 24bit sampling from line-in on the Amp, no. To get 24bit playback on the Amp, you will need to use the Sonos app to play it from the service.

Thanks for the answers everyone, I have the ability to stream from the Qobuz desktop / mobile app as well as the Sonos app so the 24/48 can still be achieved that way. 

Does anyone know if it has to be through the S2 app or can I still get the 24/48 streaming to the amp through the Qobuz app?

I guess I really need to find out if Airplay 2 will be streaming from Qobuz to the Amp at 24/48

If you mean via the PC then no. As noted, it would be converted to analog in the PC then redigitised at 16/44 by the Amp. You’d need to use the Sonos S2 app to get 24 bit.

I don’t believe Qobuz offers a ‘direct casting to Sonos’ option in their mobile app.

Yeah it looks like they only cast via Airplay. Would really need something similar to Spotify or Tidal connect. 

 The problem with this is there are many albums on Qobuz that are listed multiple times. 1 in Hi-res and 1 in CD quality. unless you go into the app you have no idea whether you playing at the highest available quality.

Its really frustrating no knowing the playback rate.. can you please look to add this.. would save a lot of issues for us!

Isn’t it known by how it sounds? On my TV there is the option to know the stream quality, but the eyes can tell it right away without invoking that information.