Use Era 100/300 Line In with a digital source?

  • 8 March 2023
  • 9 replies
  • 1675 views
B
Userlevel 4
Badge +3

From the FAQ it looks like you have to use the dongle to do line-in to the ERA speakers… but it mentions analog sources like a turntable or cassette player.  I assume the dongle is similar to the Apple Lightning to 3.5mm dongle where the DAC is in the dongle. In this case the ADC stage is in the dongle… and that makes sense if you are trying to connect an analog device, but it seems silly that you can’t input a digital source directly without having to do 2 conversions (DAC on the way out of whatever digital device you are using, say a CD player using optical instead of RCA) and then the ADC via the dongle into the ERA100 since its a USBC port and is seemingly expecting a digital signal from the dongle anyway.  Any plans to make a dongle that allows straight digital input?  If you had a digital signal could a USBC direct connection work (assuming its 24/48 pcm or whatever sonos expects)?

 

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9 replies

Airgetlam

Unknown at this time. And likely to remain unknown until such time as/if  Sonos releases such a device.

I would expect that if that was an upcoming feature, Sonos would have brought it out as part of the Era’s announcement and upcoming release process. So, I wouldn’t be holding my breath for this to just “appear”.

Bruce
melvimbe

I saw this asked and answered in one of the announcement threads.  You need the dongle for audio input at this time. There is no pure digital connection. 

Not an expert at this, but my guess is that digital has different formats, so you'd have confusion about what formats are allowed.  I'm sure people would try and do surround and atmos formats as well?

Danny
K

 Any plans to make a dongle that allows straight digital input?  If you had a digital signal could a USBC direct connection work (assuming its 24/48 pcm or whatever sonos expects)?

 

That should actually not need a dongle at all, if the USB audio out on the source is of the same format as what the present dongle provides by way of conversion of the line out analog signal. Assuming that Sonos cannot presently handle all existing digital formats, the one that it does accept via its own dongle has to be the same as at least one such provider via its USB out, so it is strange that direct use of such a device is ruled out by Sonos.

@Corry P : any insights?

Speculating: Sonos in future may well expand the digital formats that the on body USB C can accept, and then the dongle, for such formats, will be redundant. But that isn't a big deal seeing that all that will be lost in these cases is the small investment in the dongle. I can’t see any such future change making any user perceivable difference in sound quality or latency.

Corry P
Userlevel 7
Badge +18

Hi @Kumar 

Anything further coming from me would be pure speculation, and I can’t really get away with doing that. But the inclusion of a USB-C port for anything other than power delivery does seem to imply a certain amount of future expandability.

"Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen." - Albert Einstein
K

@Corry P ; I get that, but would this following also be speculation - What the present USB C port is accepting via the Sonos dongle has to be some publicly available/standard digital format, and in that case, there have to be some devices out there that are also putting out their output in the same format via their digital outputs? In which case, there is no need of the Sonos dongle for such products even today?

Corry P
Userlevel 7
Badge +18

@Kumar - that would be speculation, yes 😁

I think I see what you’re getting at, but USB is not an audio-carrying standard. It has no wires on it that are meant for carrying a raw digital audio stream - one would have to be carried via the port’s data stream along with - importantly - transport data, rather than be a pure stream such as the one carried by TOSLink optical or coaxial digital. This means it would have to be explicitly supported by the devices at both ends, and therefore unlikely to work unless specifically intended to do so. I think a dongle supporting TOSLink would be much more likely to work, but I’m verging on speculation again as there would be specific kernel requirements and software support needed.

Please don’t take any of this as official wording - this is purely how I see things, but I think I’m right (or not far off it).

"Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen." - Albert Einstein
melvimbe

The question is somewhat moot, since the Era speakers also are bluetooth capable.  I would think the vast majority of digital sources are also bluetooth capable, so a wired digital to digital connection is not needed.   Older TVs and receivers possibly have coax or optical outputs, but I don’t see any convertors from coax/optical to USB C after a quick search.  Not sure what format the data would take in that case anyway.

The more obvious digital to digital connection would be from a phone or tablet via USB C, and we know that those devices can output audio via those ports.  The devices to convert USB C to analog do exist, and they all contain a DAC and surely some sort of coding to let your source device know that it can receive audio.  If you had a USB C to USB C connection to the Era speakers, you wouldn’t need the DAC ( assuming digital format is a standard), but you would still need something to let your phone know to send audio. Your phone won’t just send audio through the USB C port without a device connected for audio.  Obviously a regular cable wouldn’t do that, and the Era speakers don’t need to do that for their designed purpose, so probably do not.  You need a custom device or chip in the cable just to do that function.

And again, you have bluetooth option, and there will still be the 75 ms delay.

 

 

Danny
R

Wondering if I could come out my CD player on optical and use to come into the Sonos era 300 on usb c 

Cubilux SPDIF to USB C Input Adapter 

?
 

buzz

You need analog audio and the SONOS USB-C adapter.

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