24 bit on Play 1

Ah, forgive me @Mr. T, I had forgotten about that matter with the Sub (gen2) and wasn’t sure if it was with older, or newer surrounds, but you have just jogged my memory.

I know that master devices decode and play the audio to their surrounds/slaves, whereas grouped speakers all get the same stereo file from the GC, but just play their own audio channel only, even though both channels are sent to all.. In fact I’ve coincidentally discussed that topic recently with ratty. I just wasn’t entirely sure if the bonded older surrounds might drag down the master to request the 16bit track only - although I had it in my mind that 24bit audio would play in this situation. 

So I will go another few months now and try not to forget this fact again.. (thankyou too @John B🙏, for bringing certainty to this discussion). I was hovering on the fence about what ‘might’ happen with this sort of setup.

I don’t think I have ever seen Sonos use the term ‘bonded’ other than for HT.  But I couldn’t swear to that.

Apologies to OP for digressing this thread!

Anyway, quick Search for “Bonded” and the first thing that comes up under Support is:

https://support.sonos.com/en-us/article/create-a-stereo-pair

OK I admit defeat!  Although I think that the author of this particular document has unhelpfully used the term “bonded” in a loose general sense!  The article talks only of “pairing” after the introductory sentence.  But I agree that the labels don’t matter as much as the actual difference in the nature of the connection.

Admittedly, despite that articles wording, I agree with @John B, many experienced users and Staff in the community here tend to use ‘bonded’ when discussing HT’s and describe the Surrounds and Sub as being ‘bonded’ with/to the master Arc/Beam etc… whereas same/similar Sonos speakers are (stereo) ‘paired’ to each other and Sonos rooms (same/different) are ‘grouped’ (often that’s a temporary configuration). I see that linked article wording as ‘just an exception to the usual rule’ 😀 ha ha.

Yes, I agree with you both there. I would always refer to a stereo pair as being “paired” rather than “bonded”, but add a Sub into the equation of the stereo pair and that’s probably where I would use the terms interchangeably. Going forward, outside the HT, I will stick to “pairing”!

Edit: just another example.

https://support.sonos.com/en-us/article/home-theater-or-stereo-pair-appears-as-not-configured

• When a Sub or Sub Mini has lost communication with its bonded speaker

It’s not specific that the above bullet point is only referring to a HT setup, so I think you can see my confusion over the terms.

I do actually see the sub as being ‘bonded’ to a stereo pair, but maybe that’s just me 😂

It’s just usually a case that the term ‘bonded’ is mentioned most often with HT setups - only time I use ‘pair’/‘pairing’ is when two speakers the same/similar are setup together for use as the left/right stereo channels. 

Ok this is exactly what I suspected and helps makes sense of these different behaviors! For clarity, I currently have a playbar, Play 1 surrounds and a Sub(gen 2) and from what I can gather from all of your guys feedback is that if I were to replace the Playbar(master) with an Arc I will then be able to enjoy 24 bit quality because the Arc will be sending the signal to the other speakers. I guess the issue is the DAC and/or memory or something else in the older Sonos speakers but not the speaker itself and that is great news! No need to replace the older slaves...just upgrade the master😁

Or switch and use Qobuz, as that service under their agreement with Sonos supports 24bit with the older Playbar (confusing, isn’t it🤔?).

The Play1 and Playbar are clearly is listed in the following article: https://www.qobuz.com/us-en/info/Qobuz-Vous/Qobuz-Streaming-the-compatible179461 but it does not say Hi Res like some of the others in the list. Tell you what...I will do the Qobuz free trial and do some more testing... I will let you know my findings...