Chromatic Producer I

Sonos and Hifi compatibilty

Forum|Forum|3 years ago
July 28, 2023
25 replies
993 views

Hi,

Since Tidal offer up to 9216 kbps audio quality streaming with the premium Hifi Plus membership, are you aware that sonos 3rd generation speakers can supports that high quality with multi-rooms without any unsync issues? I still have unsync issues always with hifi stream (without ethernet wired speakers and multi-room only) and i would like to know if the firmware have solved this issue, or maybe this is just that sonos speakers are not capable to handle this high song quality with multi-rooms… I have read couple years ago on sonos specs that the device can handle up to 1400 kbps if i remember but i don’t find the info anymore.

Btw i have fast internet 1000 mbts speed and premium wifi Orbi Wifi with satellite device connected to my modem in bridge mode. I do not have interference because i do not have any issues with my cameras, chromecast, xbox console, or any others devices at home… Last year i tried everytings from reset all my devices and tried every others channels available without any succes. I can make and send you a video link if you want to see the issue itself but i think that i well explained the problem.

Do you believe that is a hardware issue?

If you asking me i see that sonos can handle 24 bits with 48kHz maximum so if i convert this 24bits 48kHz = 2,304 Kbps max! I cannot understand that sonos offer hifi streamers like Deezer and Tidal services since sonos devices cannot handle 9216 kpbs at all without any warning messages or notifications to aware users…

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Show previous replies

ratty

The only ‘wireless hardware capacities limitations’ Sonos devices have are those inherent in the WiFi hardware tech supported. So old devices are limited to 802.11g (as with SonosNet), whereas the latest support 802.11ax.

The adaptive bitrate Amazon Music behaviour is discussed at https://tech-blog.sonos.com/posts/happy-music-streaming-with-mpeg-dash/

I currently have about 15 Sonos devices connected, with Amazon Music and Qobuz services installed.

T

Thewizard2000Author

Chromatic Producer I

The first two goals pose inherent trade-offs in the design of an ABR algorithm. If the algorithm is too conservative, it would cause no re-buffering events, but end up delivering poor-quality contents. In other words, such an algorithm would always select the lowest bitrate stream in order to avoid buffering. If the algorithm is too aggressive however, it would deliver the best-quality content, but likely trigger re-buffering events. That is, such an algorithm would always select the highest bit rate stream in order to deliver the best quality media.
Therefore, the core design principle around an ABR algorithm is how to make a good trade-off between the conflicting user experience and best media quality goals. A good algorithm will avoid buffering events while maximizing the quality of the delivered media. There are numerous proposals to solve this challenge and they can be categorized into two approaches [9]. The first is a throughput or rate-based approach where the ABR algorithm maintains a model for throughput, estimates an available bandwidth, and adapts the bitrate based on the changes. The second is a buffer-based approach where the ABR algorithm adapts the bitrate based on the change of playback buffer occupancy.

Very interresting article, it looks like my problem is directly linked to the algorithm and the buffer. Maybe he's not modulating in time. It would be interesting to know if a 4th generation of sonos which will accept a higher bitrate according to the new industry standards would be possible or it is the wifi technology which is simply limited.

Thank you for the article.

ratty

Very interresting article, it looks like my problem is directly linked to the algorithm and the buffer. Maybe he's not modulating in time.

To my knowledge this adaptive technique is only applied to Amazon Music for now, not Deezer or Tidal. And it does ‘modulate in time’ to lower the format/bitrate if it suspects the bandwidth is choked. The ‘HD’ flag drops without the music being interrupted.

Again, it sounds like you have a local network issue. Ask Sonos Support for their insight.

buzz

Grand Maestro

Thewizard2000,

Submit a diagnostic within about 10min of an event and log the confirmation number. Network issues, if any, will leave tracks. Follow up with support. We don’t have access to diagnostic data here. Sometimes SONOS Support will reply here, but don’t count on this.

T

Thewizard2000Author

Chromatic Producer I

@ratty Reply from sonos level 2...

According to all the notes, troubleshooting steps, and equipment provided for your system, we have confirmed the wireless environment does not support the players to play high bitrate content like this. Therefore, this will redirect us to the best workaround for your system, which is Sonosnet (hard-wiring most of the products you can until the problem is fix).

I know it is not what you expected, however, this is the best option for Hi-fi service to work properly.

If you have any additional questions or if there is anything else I can assist you with, feel free to reach out by replying to this email and I’ll be happy to help.

Regards,

Karina P
Sonos | Customer Experience - Level 2

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