AM Lossless Audio to Stereo Paired Play 5’s using iPhone connected via Line-In

  • 5 December 2022
  • 5 replies
  • 157 views

Badge +1

Hi,

I’m aware that you can listen to AM lossless via ATV but I’m wondering if you can also listen to lossless audio through line-in? I have my TV set up as beam with sub and surrounds but the majority of my music listening is via stereo paired play 5’s (considering whether to move sub to join them). I’d like to listen to AM lossless and wondering if iPhone connected to one of the play 5’s via line-in with ‘uncompressed’ selected in audio compression settings of Sonos app is the way to go? Thanks! 


5 replies

Userlevel 7

You could connect an iPhone to the Play:5 using Apple’s Lightning to 3.5 mm Headphone Jack Adapter which contains a DAC that supports up to 24-bit/48 kHz lossless audio. But keep in mind the Play:5 has an internal ADC that will convert the analog signal to 16-bit/44kHz WAV format (using the Uncompressed Line-In setting). So I guess, technically, it would still be a “lossless” audio signal playing out of the Play:5s.

Badge +1

Thank you. Presumably this will sound better than playing wirelessly via AirPlay2 or via Sonos App wirelessly (which I think sounds better than via AirPlay2 anyway)? 

Userlevel 7

Playing Apple Music directly from the Sonos app streams at 256 kbps AAC. And, as far as I know, AirPlay 2 is about the same quality. So technically, the iPhone/line-in option should be higher quality. Whether or not it will sound better is up for debate. Some people will claim they can hear the difference. Others will say they can’t, or the human ear isn’t capable of hearing the difference. I’ll let you determine that for yourself.

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Thank you for your insights. Appreciate it 

Userlevel 7
Badge +17

Must be getting old. Only after reading the answer to the question I realised AM meant Apple Music and not AM Radio…..

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