Will Sonos ever make high res audio supporting hardware

  • 22 January 2020
  • 6 replies
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With the release of 24bitrate streams becoming available on mass via Amazon music Ultra HD and Spotify and the rest to no doubt follow, is sonos planning to make versions of the speakers that actually support the streaming of high res audio? (Similar to Sony).

 

I think they will be shooting themselves in the foot a bit if they don’t. Along with the news of hardware being considered legacy, There is no way I will be replacing my speakers with more sonos if there is no support for UHD going forward for when my speakers inevitably be classified as “legacy” (probably about 3-4 years from now with the play one and five).

 

TL:DR - Is Sonos going to make speakers that support high resolution audio streams in the near future (next couple of years).

 

Thanks All


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6 replies

Userlevel 7
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Why would Sonos do that?

This topic has multiple prior discussions answering that question.

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Why would Sonos do that?

This topic has multiple prior discussions answering that question.

Just wanted to come back to this for a told you so. Sonos needed to go high-res. There PR team has done a good job of turning that previous device bricking incident around. Looking forward to the high res product line.

I think the answer to the question ‘why would they do that?’ is ‘because it has become a marketing necessity, and nothing to do with audio’.

Sonos users will now have the option to spend their money on these services.  I personally think it a total waste of money, but each to their own.

Given that Sonos is saying that play 1 units made in 2014 and prior will be compatible with S2, this means that Sonos has been making hi res hardware for many years now, and as I have said here a few times, because hi res components must have been cheaper to procure than non hi res ones for some years now.

The only reason it was not enabled is because older units could not play the streams in the same group, a problem they have now addressed.

I also think that the music stability issue for more dense bitstreams can be addressed by the 2 second delay/buffer that does not matter for audio.

I also see no point in hi res, and I will therefore be keeping my 4 play 1 units + Sub in legacy mode, but Sonos could not forever be left open to the attack - “ Sonos does not do Hi Res”. No matter how unscientific that attack, sound bites being all that matter to customers of today.

But for those that move to S2, the choice is now there to pay premium prices for Hi Res services. For real or perceived returns.

Userlevel 5
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Why would Sonos do that?

This topic has multiple prior discussions answering that question.

Just wanted to come back to this for a told you so. Sonos needed to go high-res. There PR team has done a good job of turning that previous device bricking incident around. Looking forward to the high res product line.

I don’t think they have since so many people re still questioning their choice of buying Sonos or if they should buy new Sonos products.  I do think a lot of it is hysteria but lots of concerns still being stated about Sonos support long term.

As to high res I want it since I use Tidal and Roon and also higher end headphones and days/amps and can hear the difference.  But my guess is S2 is more about object based formats like Atmos which Sonos badly needs to support in future products.

Userlevel 5
Badge +10

Given that Sonos is saying that play 1 units made in 2014 and prior will be compatible with S2, this means that Sonos has been making hi res hardware for many years now, and as I have said here a few times, because hi res components must have been cheaper to procure than non hi res ones for some years now.

The only reason it was not enabled is because older units could not play the streams in the same group, a problem they have now addressed.

I also think that the music stability issue for more dense bitstreams can be addressed by the 2 second delay/buffer that does not matter for audio.

I also see no point in hi res, and I will therefore be keeping my 4 play 1 units + Sub in legacy mode, but Sonos could not forever be left open to the attack - “ Sonos does not do Hi Res”. No matter how unscientific that attack, sound bites being all that matter to customers of today.

But for those that move to S2, the choice is now there to pay premium prices for Hi Res services. For real or perceived returns.

 $20 a month for Tidal...not exactly premium prices.  I pay half that as a veteran but wouldn’t notice another $10 a month.  The combination of Tidal and Roon in higher quality equipment is definitely noticeable.  I don’t think it would be that noticeable in the 1 series which aren’t exactly amazing sound quality.