Sonos Connect. Still worth buying???

Yes I have debated for some time replacing with the cleaner look of having 2 Play:5s in their place. Because I currently have a tv cabinet in that area the wired system and amp don’t really don’t get in the way so I haven’t tried for wireless there yet.

I don’t disagree that a pair of play:5s and sub may give that wired system a run for its money.

But - if the implication that a connect is obsolete because same price as Pair of play:1s doesn’t compare here. To equal my current system the price of a connect is far cheaper then buying a new pair of play:5s and a Sonos sub.

I do beleive though the connect remains at a fairly premium price. Although that could be because of volume of scale in that they sell far less of them then play units (driving cost/price up).

But - if the implication that a connect is obsolete because same price as Pair of play:1s doesn’t compare here. To equal my current system the price of a connect is far cheaper then buying a new pair of play:5s and a Sonos sub.

Good point and it is well taken, that correction. But the Connect does become a bad decision if the equivalent HiFi system sounds only as good as a 1 pair placed with the same care, and with Trueplay run, because the Connect will cost more than the 1 pair.
There is however the possibility that the price of a 5 pair + Sub, less the resale proceeds of the HiFi system of the kind you have, will be less than the price of adding a new Connect to it. In that case, the 5 pair + Sub need not even sound better, just as good, to justify itself. And if the room and the legacy kit is such that a 1 pair + Sub suffices, this will make even more sense. There may even be a profit opportunity here, not just one of loss minimisation!
Or the 1 pair + Sub, less the resale value of cheaper legacy kit than yours, can make more sense than adding a Connect.
In both cases, one may need to be lucky to find an audiophile that loves legacy kit for reasons other than dispassionate ones, who will pay a good price for it.

I do not disagree that a pair of play:1s makes sense in a lot of situations. And the amount of legacy equipment beingbrepirpsoed to sonsonwoth a Connect will most likely decline in coming years.

Personally I feel the connect needs a more powerful replacement. I have long Called the superconnect. With digital and hdmi input that services 7.1 speakers all wirelessly.

The thing about the Connect and why it no longer makes sense as it is, is because when it was released, there were not any alternatives to legacy kit for HiFi sound - neither play units or active speakers in general except some very expensive powered ones. At that time it was the only option if you wanted a Sonos front end and HiFi sound. That has changed.

As I have said already, no argument about a more featured Connect - my ideal would actually be a smaller unit that can serve Sonos play units and the Sub such that one can built a HT set up with it as cheaply as the present Sonos option, but with more capability and better flexibility in also serving stereo music because of separated front speakers.

Finbow's assertion that the Airport Express (AE) sounds 'not even subjectively' better than a CONNECT made me curious, as well as a little concerned I'd given bad advice. So I did a quick, far-from-scientific test comparing the following:

- AE analog output direct to headphones
- CONNECT analog output direct to headphones
- CONNECT digital output via the DAC in my Yamaha receiver, to headphones

I used Audio Technica ATH-M50X headphones, which deliver audio quality superior to the NAD/Monitor Audio combination being discussed. I played the same tracks from Spotify at Extreme quality, via Airplay for the AE and via the Sonos app for the CONNECTs.

The bottom line: all sounded very good, as one would expect: DACs are commodities. (There is even a decent one in the tiny $10 Apple dongle I use to convert from the lightning connector on my 8Plus to a regular headphone connector).

I did notice the AE sounded perhaps just a little different, however -- a difference similar to activating the Loudness settings on the CONNECT, but not as pronounced. Which made me wonder whether the AE is applying some kind of modest EQ adjustment deemed by Apple to sound pleasing, while the CONNECTs are delivering a neutral sound (with Loudness off).

Anyway, this is far from definitive, but I satisfied myself at least that there is no meaningful audio quality difference between the analog outputs of the AE and the CONNECT. (Also, that money spent on a downstream DAC is wasted and would produce no effect that could not be replicated by EQ adjustment.)

Some time ago I did a more careful comparison of a CD Player (Arcam Alpha 7), with a CONNECT playing the same CD, FLAC encoded. Analog outputs from both into an Arcam Alpha 8 amplifier and Tannoy M20 speakers. They sounded identical.

I’m if connection issue but in my experience airplay to an airplay express audio is noticeable below quality of SONOS Connect.

Pwt - it would not surprise me at all to hear that the AE sounds like it adds some processing - it would be a very “Apple” thing to do, especially because you were listening over headphones. I was using my MacBook several years ago with an external speaker connected via the headphone jack. I had a Windows virtual machine running at the same time, and for some reason I played the same song on the Mac and on the Windows VM. Totally different sounds. When I switched to Bluetooth connection to the speaker instead of headphone jack, the sound was basic;alt identical. When I looked into it I discovered that OS/X applies a headphone-specific equalization to the sound whenever something is plugged into the headphone jack. Windows did not, and OS/X didn’t over Bluetooth.

I satisfied myself at least that there is no meaningful audio quality difference between the analog outputs of the AE and the CONNECT..
My experience that confirms this dates back to 2011, when I was disappointed with the AEX stuttering far too often; I had no complaints on the SQ front when it did not stutter, and if I remember right, I was using an optical cable into the dual use jack on the AEX. If AEX had not stuttered, I would have stayed with it, since I had extra units lying around.
Having discovered the window of internet music, I then discovered Sonos that was recommended to me for its stability of streaming over AEX. Once I satisfied myself that there was nothing lost on SQ for music via my first purchase, a ZP90/Connect, comparing its SQ to what I was used to from my legacy wired HiFi, I added more Sonos units - the play 1 option did not exist at the time. At that time, since I had the Marantz SACD player with digital inputs, I was able to assess sound quality from the Connect both via its DAC and when that was bypassed in favour of the DAC in the Marantz. No differences.
I have since given away one Connect to my daughter with some of my legacy kit, and one remains to supply the external speakers, where the play units are not best suited.
I have no idea if anything different is done for headphones, I never use them.
While the Connect has been overtaken now by surrounding tech, from Sonos and others, it still shows how much Sonos got right when they designed it fifteen years ago. It is one of the solid nails in the coffin of CD players.

I discovered that OS/X applies a headphone-specific equalization to the sound whenever something is plugged into the headphone jack.
I do not believe that any such is being done for the AEX audio output jack that used to be dual use - analog or optical; I don't know what the present models have, but it also isn't a headphone jack as such.
What the likely reason for what pwt heard is higher signal voltage at the analog output of AEX compared to Connect. I know that at 2 volts, Connect is lower than almost every CD player/External DAC, and the same may be the case here. The slightly louder sound heard suggests that as the reason.

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.


I love the convenience of Sonos in general and the Sonos connect in particular if you have a stereo amp and speakers. Like you I find the analogue out of the Connect does not sound as good as I would like. I have not personally participated in a properly setup ABX test and I am open to the possibility that I am a 'victim' of psychoacoustic bias but still... for now I have tentatively accepted what my ears and brain point to: The Sonos connect can be improved. To that end i have tried feeding the digital output to a number of dacs: Naim Dac V1, Rega Dac-R, Cambridge audio dacmagic, Arcam Sonlink, Arcam IrDac II, Chord QBD 76, Audiolab M-Dac+. I liked the first 2 the most. I also noticed that the optical digital connection fed to various dacs, sounded a bit less boomy to my ears. The problem with feeding the Sonos digital out to a dac (as noted above) is the introduced delay that results in sound being out of sync with other sonos speakers. Depending on the dac, the problem can be increased. For example the Naim dacs as well as the chord dacs all use a RAM buffer to help reclock the signal. This increases the delay between input and output and as a result the sound will be out of sync with other sonos speakers. The result is an unpleasant echo. I found the Rega Dac-R, Arcam dacs and CA do not introduce much of a delay (although a tiny bit is still audible). Unless you really pay attention you will not notice any echo with these dacs.

The ABX test is challenging to set up and it does have limitations (mainly sample size requirements and statistical significance attained) . An interesting discussion can be found here in case you want to read more: https://audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/statistics-of-abx-testing.170/

Another link in case you fancy watching. Not an ABX test (more of an AB blind test) but here is a comparison between the Sonos connect analogue out and a few other dacs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGk7-mCwZX0&t=10s

Have fun 🙂