Sonos Connect. Still worth buying???

Well... I have my Connect hooked to a $99 Sony amp, which powers the speakers in my bar and on my patio. Is the sound perfect? For me it is, so I couldn’t be more thrilled with the performance of the Connect, which to me is nothing more than the vehicle to drive the Sony, which handles the sound. And again, for my needs, its perfect. Don’t know what Kumar is saying above, but I’m not hearing any of that. 😃

Lol. Because you are, sensibly, more interested in the music.

Decades ago when I was playing in bands and mixing sound and recording it all made sense and was important. It’s great to read, but really unnecessary for me these days. Loved the posts though.

Decades ago when I was playing in bands and mixing sound and recording it all made sense and was important.
A much better reason than mine; for over a decade, I was just an audiophile. No complaints, the equipment hobby was fun and healthier than crack or blue crystal, but it had little do with music.

It is nice to have outgrown that though. A lot more music that sounds just as good, and I can have better holidays with the money saved.

I was on a kick years ago of ripping my CDs primarily to FLAC. Then one day I got to listening to it’s 320 kbps MP3 counterpart and comparing. No discernible difference to my ears. None. Converted the FLAC to 320 MP3 and enjoyed the extra TB of real estate on my NAS.

A final note for the Google handy, who are entitled to think that mine is just one small data point that is questionable for that reason: try the Hydrogen Audio website/forum on the realities of home audio if you want more information.

https://hydrogenaud.io/index.php?PHPSESSID=ph4rr1dlrgr3bbgvgrc3ddicg1&action=forum

Be warned though before posting anything there that folks there, from the moderators and down, are extremely short, even rude, with anyone that does not talk objective reason.

I'm certainly not telling the OP to go out and spend lots of money. On the contrary my advice is to enjoy the connect, it's a very good device.

The good thing about music is there's equipment out there that lets you enjoy it at all price points and the beauty of the Connect is that you can add the Sonos ease of use to equipment you already own and enjoy. Different equpiment does sound different, whether that's better or not is a whole different debate, but I do believe that using a connect on an existing HiFi is better sounding than buying Play speakers, and will be much cheaper too, So no real downsides for the OP.

The OP did say they prefered the sound of their Airport Express, so in my view there's no reason not to experiment a bit with differnent ways to see if they can get closer to that. There's always a chance over time that they'll get used the Connect and stop noticing anyway.

At the end of the day, what's important is that you're happy with how what you have sounds, and then remember to just enjoy listening to music on it, which is mostly why we buy this stuff in the first place. If you're happy with it then it's not for anyone else to say it's rubbish, as enjoying music is a good thing, full stop... 😃

I'm certainly not telling the OP to go out and spend lots of money. On the contrary my advice is to enjoy the connect, it's a very good device.

The good thing about music is there's equipment out there that lets you enjoy it at all price points, and the beauty of the Connect is that you can add the Sonos ease of use to equipment you already own and enjoy. Different equpiment does sound different, whether that's better or not is a whole different debate, but I do believe that using a connect on an existing HiFi is better sounding than buying Play speakers, and will be much cheaper too, So no real downsides for the OP.

The OP did say they prefered the sound of their Airport Express, so in my view there's no reason not to experiment a bit with differnent ways of connecting it to see if they can get closer to that. There's always a chance over time that they'll get used the Connect and stop noticing anyway.

At the end of the day, what's important is that you're happy with how what you have sounds and then remember to just enjoy listening to music on it, which is mostly why we buy this stuff in the first place. If you're happy with it then it's not for anyone else to say it's rubbish, as enjoying music is a good thing, full stop... 🙂

The OP did say they prefered the sound of their Airport Express, so in my view there's no reason not to experiment a bit with differnent ways to see if they can get closer to that. There's always a chance over time that they'll get used the Connect and stop noticing anyway.

There is no objective reason for the AEX to sound different or better. Speakers have sonic signatures, leading to valid subjective preferences, but not things like AEX. AEX is just as good as Connect on the sound quality front, when it works well; the reason I dumped it for Sonos in 2011 is that it kept dropping the music stream, stuttering and stopping.
As to experimenting, I am merely sharing my views based on over a decade of experience that this can rapidly take you down the rabbit hole, facilitated by audiophiles and marketing that targets their all too human tendencies of being dissatisfied all the time, for no valid or scientific reasons.
If the OP still chooses to dive in to Alice's Wonderland, that is his business of course and odds are on his doing so; perhaps someone else coming across this thread will be aided to dwell on what matters - the music. And Connect is as transparent as it needs to be to allow that.

Ian, I totally appreciate the advice. You have been more than helpful & also understanding of what I am hearing with my own ears. To Kumar, I am a musician & when I sit & listen to music in my living room I want to be able to listen & enjoy. The music is VERY important to me. The Sonos one’s I have in my dining room are totally fit for purpose but they are in no way comparable to my Hi-Fi nor did I expect them be.
The connect unit however is very expensive for what it is & I expected to hear an improvement over a device ie: Airport Express which cost £250 less than the connect.
I am not an audiophile as you can see from my reasonably modest kit but I do appreciate good sound. The Connect does not sound as good as the Airport Express to my ears. I don’t even think this is ‘subjective’ it was clear as day ( to me) that the AEX has a clearer sound with better separation than the connect..
I am posting here because I really want to keep the connect & enjoy the functionality. I’m hoping that Sonos will read this & if they update the connect in anyway will do so to improve the sound.
Also hoping to hear from others who may have been able to improve the sound in some way.
This in the end would encourage people who are in the same position as me to perhaps keep the connect. Not put others off buying it.