Way to enable Sonos 24 bit?

Audio Gear Talk Sonos
1

Seems SONOS supports 24bit/48kHz FLAC according to this:

I can see Roon converting streams to 16/48.

--[ SignalPath ]---------------------------------------------
SignalPath Quality = HighQuality
Elements:
    Source Format=Flac 96000/24/2 BitRate=2673 Quality=Lossless
    UpgradeBitDepth FromBitsPerSample=24 ToBitsPerSample=64 Quality=Lossless
    VolumeNormaliation GainDb=-6.16473340155501 Quality=Enhanced
    SampleRateConversion FromSampleRate=96000 ToSampleRate=48000 Algorithm=HighQuality Quality=HighQuality
    Truncate FromBitsPerSample=64 ToBitsPerSample=16 Quality=HighQuality
    Output OutputType=Sonos Quality=Lossless SubType= Model=ONE
------------------------------------------------------------

Is there a way to enable 24 bit output by messing with a config file somewhere in Roon?

2

No, this is not a limitation of Roon, but Sonos is not able to play 24 bit files. Only supports 16 bits. FLAC best practices (according to Sonos)

3

@DeLub if you read the Sonos forum post I linked to you’ll see that since update 7.2 the new Flac library internal to the speakers can handle 24 bit files.

It’s unofficial but was curious if Roon has a configuration file I can edit and force 24 bit instead of 16 to my Sonos devices. Just out of curiosity.

4

From the post I learn mostly that this is an unsupported side effect from version 7.2 and that the forum members are wondering wether the extra 8 bits contain something else than “junk”.

But you’re right that Sonos apparently accepts 24 bit files. The question is: would this lead to increased SQ.

I cannot answer your question though: I’m not aware of a config file that can be hacked.

5

When I updated my sonos controller app on android last night I noticed there was an item in the settings menu that I never noticed previously.

The option was for audio compression. It was greyed out so I was unable to go in to the menu without doing a firmware update on all my sonos devices so I never bothered at the time but I will have to have a look when I get home tonight.

6

Looks like that’s for the Line-in on the speaker. The options are simply Automatic, Uncompressed and Compressed

7

Ah right OK. I was excited at first but I only use the sonos playbase in the living room for the TV and use the play 5 in the kitchen when cooking so I don’t do any critical listening.

8

Just want this to work out. Sonos only does 24 bit from local, not from streaming. Roon is both local and streaming, but seems Iike it ought to be able to “spoof” being local, but maybe that’s a pipe dream.

9

Roon now seems to be streaming 24 bit data to Sonos, most certainly from Qobuz at any rate.

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10

This is a known behavior since Roon (build 831):
“Implemented support for streaming 24-bit audio content to Sonos device running “S2” Gen firmware”.

For S2 Sonos devices Roon plays 24bit in principle (local, Qobuz, TIDAL), even if the source is only 16bit.

1 Like
11

If I play local media or Tidal with no DSP or Headroom enabled I get 16/44. But it depends on the source material as well (unless sample rate conversion is turned on (at least with Tidal and local))

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If I enable Headroom management then that changes

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I am guessing that Volume Leveling and Crossfade might have the same impact

12

You are right. The 24bit playback only takes place in connection with DSP. Otherwise the bitrate corresponds to the source.

13

It Surprised me as I responded and did some extra testing.
Worthwhile as I learned something as I have been looking at this for a couple of weeks and it finally clicked what was happening