Sonos Announces 3 New products - The Sonos PORT could be a very nice End Point!

Craig_Shumer · September 5, 2019, 9:47pm

Sonos Announced 3 new products today. A wireless Battery operated Speaker that looks amazing along with a new Play 1 called the SL and most important for me is the Sonos PORT !

Its a Bridge/Streamer I guess all new ground up with Coax Digital output ! This is huge for the Audiophiles and check this out its got a 12V trigger output so you can turn on devices when the music is played to that device for instance. They are finally getting the automation thing and supposedly its got some amazing 32 Bit Dacs although they don’t want to discuss what they are yet. Not sure what the decoding abilities will be but looks like a nice solution and may make a nice endpoint for Roon ?

What do you think ?

Craig Shumer
Theatermax LLC

John_Aiello · September 5, 2019, 9:17pm

Only makes a nice Roon endpoint if it does high res. Sonos has never done anything higher than CD quality. Price point?

Craig_Shumer · September 5, 2019, 9:22pm

Hey old friend how are you ?

399 MSRP

I have to take a guess on this and I honestly don’t know but they know Tidal and Qobuz are hot and that everyone wants high res audio. I hope and pray they will support 24/192 or even better. My fear is that they are still the wireless brand we know so they may have some limitations but I have a feeling it will do high res. I should have one here shortly to play with.

Actually as I type this i just realized that Coax Dig can only support I think 192 anyhow and won’t ever go above that but I would be okay with 24/96

Lets see what shakes out !

Craig

John_Aiello · September 5, 2019, 9:26pm

Hi Craig I am great. Just looked at their web site. No mention of specs at all. All the Sonos stuff does not do RAAT protocol. The only way this is a Roon endpoint is if it does RAAT. For $399 it’s great in an already established Sonos system but at that price the stuff from Allo is a better buy. Plus the Sonore and SoTM stuff is just a bit more.

thumb5 · September 5, 2019, 9:27pm

The existing Sonos Connect (aka ZP90) has the same i/o except for the 12V trigger output, doesn’t it? For what it’s worth, I’d be very surprised (in a positive way) if it does high-res.

Craig_Shumer · September 5, 2019, 9:30pm

I am kind of thinking you guys are right. Probably won’t do High Res Ughhh…

I need a Smart End point that can Control the Volume of my Anthem STR with Ethernet or RS232. Any ideas ? I just looked at Allo. Never heard of them. Looks like great little Solutions. Maybe they have something. For devices like the STR which don’t have Raat , I am asking Roon to help figure out a way to use a Nucleus or a Simple device to Control the Volume in the Roon App of the STR with some widget type device with RS232 or Ethernet etc.

zanimos · September 6, 2019, 9:26am

I’ve been waiting for this.

I have a few Sonos speakers and this will meet my needs to use with my main amp & speakers. No dimensions but looks like a nice small box, which suits me as space is an issue.

CrystalGipsy · September 6, 2019, 3:22pm

Two Ethernet ports!!

John_Aiello · September 6, 2019, 3:40pm

Two ethernet ports is the same as on all the connects. It’s not for double the bandwidth. One is for in and one is for out as a passthrough. The real issue is that the ethernet ports are 10/100 and not 1GHz.

thumb5 · September 6, 2019, 4:03pm

To clarify: there is no difference between the two Ethernet ports – at least on a Connect/ZP90 – they are not dedicated to “in” and “out” (in fact I’m not sure those are meaningful terms for Ethernet).

mdconnelly · September 6, 2019, 4:17pm

@Craig_Shumer - hope you’re doing well, buddy!

Check out the Orchard Audio PecanPi Streamer. Integrates an exceptionally good DAC and it does a great job of streaming Roon when using Ropieee. Volume can be controlled via the very nice volume control on the box or via Roon. 24/192 no problem. I’ve got two that I’ve used to replace a couple of aging Squeezeboxes and I am very pleased.

John_Aiello · September 6, 2019, 4:19pm

Of course you are correct. I didn’t mean to imply that one port was an in and one was an out. I can see how my comment was misleading. I was trying to point out that two ports did not mean double the bandwidth. I did it poorly. Thanks for the clarification.

Anthony_Bates · September 6, 2019, 4:40pm

I recall that the merest suggestion of a requirement for anything higher than 44/16 would get you shouted down on the Sonos forum a few years back. It was instrumental in me looking for something better, and that led directly to Roon.
It still uses the Sonos protocol,and doesn’t do RAAT, so there are plenty of better and more flexible alternatives available. Used prices are good if you want to break free and sell off your Sonos kit…

Orchard_Audio · September 6, 2019, 7:17pm

Thanks for the mention.

Rob_Simpson · September 7, 2019, 3:02pm

The Ethernet ports are much more than “in” and “out”. The two Ethernet ports create a LAN switch setup including your WiFi and the wireless mesh network SonosNet. This allows you to use the Sonos Port (and Connect and Amp) Ethernet ports to connect to any device (or two) that needs a wired connection. The Sonos device then “bridges” to your LAN via the SonosNet or your WiFi depending on your Sonos settings.

John_Aiello · September 7, 2019, 7:27pm

Doesn’t change the fact that it’s only 10/100 and won’t do hi res content.

David_Toole · September 8, 2019, 2:04am

I’ve never seen any evidence that Sonos is interested in high-res audio. In fact, they’ve made statements that indicate that they believe anything higher than their current CD-quality output is unnecessary. This has been discussed many times in the official Sonos forums.
I own Sonos gear, and I enjoy it for non-critical listening around the house. I have an Allo Boss in my network, as well as the current Connect (along with Sonos 1 speakers, Sonos 5 speakers and a Beam soundbar). The Allo is far superior in delivering audio to my receiver than the Connect, at a much lower price. I suspect the new Connect won’t represent good value relative to much cheaper Allo gear. But we’ll see. I don’t envision myself buying the new one.

Mike_Betts · September 8, 2019, 4:12pm

@mdconnelly any idea if that Orchard Audio PecanPi Streamer will sound better than a Squeezebox Transporter?
And does it come assembled and plug-n-play, or is it a kit?
Thanks for your insight

mdconnelly · September 8, 2019, 5:32pm

My guess is that it will. It sounds clearly better than the SB Touch. I’ve not owned a Transporter so I can’t say for certain. While the Transporter was an amazing piece of tech in its day, current day DACs have come a long way since then. If I recall correctly, the Transporter could only stream at 96kHz (unless modded) while the PecanPi can do 192kHz.

The DAC in the PecanPi Streamer has a clarity and openness that sounds wonderful to these ears. I will say that one of the reasons I wanted to replace the SB Touch was also to move all my endpoints to using Roon RAAT and that is also a big plus.

You can buy it preassembled as the PecanPi Streamer or you can just order the case and DAC which is what I did. You’ll then need to buy your own rPi 3B (or 3B+), a microSD card, and download Ropieee to the SD card. All the assembling screws are provided by Orchard Audio. Putting the kit together is quite simple plus there is a video on how to do it on the Orchard Audio site. Might take you 30 minutes at most. The kit will save you a few bucks, but it’s not that much more to buy the preassembled Streamer and be ready to role when it arrives.

boling · September 10, 2019, 12:48pm

But we have Roon to cope with the HiRes. I am playing right now a DXD 24/352 file into my Sonos ZP90 (= Connect). This ZP90 has been modified by the Dutch Magna people. The digital output goes into my Mytek Liberty on my workbench. I am listening nearfield…Dynaudio/Dynacoustic BBC LS5/12. No SQ problem at all…