Contributor I

Answered

Sound quality better on boost than 'just' wifi. Fact.

23 replies
627 views

Smallish house, Sonos One stereo pairs in 4 rooms, plus ARC, 2x ERA300 Surrounds & 2x Sub in living room. Trying set up with/without Boost. Always Truplay tuned.

On ‘just’ the Deco single router house wifi, everything is solid. Sonos works perfectly. The house has around 100 devices using the router. We get no issues with anything.

On the (wired to the switch) Boost though, the audio drops in and out if you walk in front of speakers etc in all rooms apart from the one where the boost is. Tried EVERYTHING to reposition the Boost to no avail.

By contrast, you can place the wifi router itself pretty much anywhere and everything stays rock solid.

Why then, am I bothering with Boost you’re all asking? Surely this is the dumbest post in the history of Sonos?! Simple. The sound quality is much crisper and punchier on Boost than on just Wifi. It sounds soooo much better.

Why is this please? Anyone? There is no info anywhere on sound being much nicer to listen to on Boost (SonosNet) than on standard wifi. We put up with the drop out to get the nicer sound. Plus after about 30 mins the drop out reduces significantly, and does eventually go all together if you run it for hours. Clearly the signal strength is better on ‘just’ wifi. So why is quality higher on Boost?!

Would love to hear advice. Thanks!

This topic has been closed for further comments. You can use the search bar to find a similar topic, or create a new one by clicking Create Topic at the top of the page.

jgatieAnswer

Impossible if the two sources are the same. There’s nothing about the quality of sound that can be altered by the method of transport, digital streaming doesn’t work that way. There’s no increasing of the “crisper and punchier” bytes in the stream, they just don’t exist. You either get the entire stream, or you get stuttering and dropouts. If the source is the same for both, then the sound is exactly the same and your ears are playing tricks on you (as they are very prone to do).

jgatieAnswer

Impossible if the two sources are the same. There’s nothing about the quality of sound that can be altered by the method of transport, digital streaming doesn’t work that way. There’s no increasing of the “crisper and punchier” bytes in the stream, they just don’t exist. You either get the entire stream, or you get stuttering and dropouts. If the source is the same for both, then the sound is exactly the same and your ears are playing tricks on you (as they are very prone to do).

R

Rhonny

Prodigy III

@jgatie is absolutely right. It’s like saying a pdf is much clearer to read when you download it via 2.4ghz WiFi rather than 5ghz.

Ditch the Boost.

Edit: I’ve asked ChatGPT too just in case we’ve missed something but there is no way the stream can be different between Boost or router. Sonos isn’t adaptive and so if, for example, your router suffered jitter or packet loss, it wouldn’t drop from Lossless or Atmos or HD to a lower resolution to accommodate, it would just drop out or stutter. So your router isn’t impacting the sound quality.

Smilja

On the (wired to the switch) Boost though, the audio drops in and out if you walk in front of speakers etc in all rooms apart from the one where the boost is. Tried EVERYTHING to reposition the Boost to no avail.

Did you change the SonosNet channel as well?

Change your Sonos system’s wireless channel | Sonos

»And the world is like an apple whirling silently in space, Like the circles that you find in the windmills of your mind.« (›Windmills Of Your Mind‹ [1967]. Music by Michel Legrand ; English lyrics written by Alan & Marilyn Bergman)

buzz

Grand Maestro

What is the source of your music? Are you Grouping Rooms?

R

Rhonny

Prodigy III

Where’s this going?

Airgetlam

I think they’re trying to determine why the OP perceives a difference. Digital data is merely digital data. There’s not supposed to be any difference in it depending on the way it is delivered, so I think they’re looking for interference in the speakers not receiving all the data. But whether it’s in a number 10 envelope delivered by mail, or in a FedEx envelope, the letter inside is still the same.

Bruce

jgatie

I think they’re trying to determine why the OP perceives a difference. Digital data is merely digital data. There’s not supposed to be any difference in it depending on the way it is delivered, so I think they’re looking for interference in the speakers not receiving all the data. But whether it’s in a number 10 envelope delivered by mail, or in a FedEx envelope, the letter inside is still the same.

The only way interference will manifest itself is if the streaming buffer runs out trying to resend bad or missing packets, which will result in stuttering, then dropouts. There’s no way interference can result in subjective changes to the music, like a less “crisp” or “punchy” sound. Packet loss doesn’t work like that (much to the chagrin of many an audiophile).

Airgetlam

Which makes sense in a digital package, which Sonos uses to communicate between devices. Which is why the OP’s post is so confusing.

Bruce

jgatie

Which makes sense in a digital package, which Sonos uses to communicate between devices. Which is why the OP’s post is so confusing.

Could be the OP is playing two different sources like Lossless vs. Lossy or Amazon Music vs. Apple Music. Volume difference can also trick the ears into thinking there are differences when there are none. Testing has showed that even when the ear cannot discern a volume difference (under 3 dB), one will “feel” a difference in quality without hearing the change in volume.

N

nik9669a

Senior Virtuoso

It’s interesting to note that since their initial post the OP has not yet responded to the comments and speculation on here.

Show more replies

Sign up

Login to the community