Sonos Digital Music System Review

Remember at the beginning of this article I mentioned that I was about to enter the Ether of the Net? It didn’t take long for the fog of service issues to engulf me. Connectivity issues are relatively easy to tackle since either Sonos or Rhapsody can provide support. However, any issue beyond a connectivity problem is not supported by Rhapsody, despite paying for a subscription! My Real (Rhapsody’s parent company) tech shared that they dropped Sonos support except for connection issues, and, behind the scenes where no mere subscribing mortal can touch them, a phantom crew of support staff work with Sonos on post-connectivity issues! The owner only has access to post-connection help through Sonos, which turned out to be an involved affair…Sonos blamed Rhapsody, Rhapsody blamed Sonos or the ISP, both thought the ISP might be at fault…

Initially, it seemed the problem was with Sonos, even though they sent me off to speak with Rhapsody. The Sonos tech mentioned that the problem might lie with Sonos’ servers, and if that was the case, I would have to be switched to a different server. I was unsure why that might need to happen or what it would mean. Supposedly, the picture became clear when the Rhapsody tech said that the issue likely was that Sonos’ servers cut customers off after a period of time. When a customer uses Sonos, their servers flow through Rhapsody’s servers, and then to the customer. Rhapsody won’t die on the customer. But, Sonos can, so the customer has to work through the issues and demand escalated service to get music whenever they want, not whenever Sonos wants.

Then, I talked to Sonos again and find out that this is all wrong; they do not use their own servers to connect to Rhapsody. According to this Sonos tech, aside from the phone issue, it’s impossible for Sonos to cut out. If you’re following all this, it means that you’re as confused as I was, but experiencing only fraction of the frustration! It would seem that cessation of sound would be a rather straightforward issue to rectify for gear and service providers dedicated to providing it. Sometimes it just doesn’t work out that way.

The next test was to try a different music service, and I chose Napster. For a sample of the confusion which surrounds such simple things as starting a trail subscription, I initiated my 30 day trial of Napster with the Sonos hand held controller. It worked. However, when I went to the computer to attempt to establish a desktop connection, it wouldn’t work. Napster only offered a 7 day trial by applying online. I called Napster and was told by their tech that I needed to get the codes for the account I had set up from Sonos, then return to the computer and create the account.

“Does anything with internet music work smoothly,” I began to sincerely wonder. I was (surprise, surprise!) corrected by the Sonos reps that no, they do not have access codes, as Sonos uses backend servers to the music services. These are not the same music servers that the public uses, rather they are dedicated for Sonos. This was the reason why I couldn’t set up a parallel computer and Sonos controller link. Of course, no one tells the customer these things… This knowledge did absolutely nothing to rectify the actual issue, and the blame game continued. At this point I had spent a solid four hours on this issue with techs – it was getting a bit irritating. Despite the unfailing pleasantness of the techs, I was getting fed up. It is easy to see how a less patient person would give up and in a fit return the entire system. This may not be a common problem, but for a system designed to be carefree such issues could lose customers.

The third time around the Sonos tech seemed a veritable book of internet information, so I queried him about it. He ran a diagnostic on the office Sonos system and it came out perfectly. However, it was obvious something was wrong, as he reported that the signal had “Timed Out” several times. Yup, it just died. Someone was crimping my internet music style! It was suggested that I keep conducting tests to determine which sources were dying. This time I was told to run two different internet radio services, one being addressed by IP address and the other by domain name. Depending on which one had drop outs, the Rhapsody server was likely to blame. He explained that sometimes routing issues interfere with access to the big three national servers used by Sonos.

So began the internet public radio station listening portion of this review. In a word, how was the sound? Boring, which is to be expected from talk radio. Meanwhile all Hell was breaking loose at Sonos, “WHAT’S wrong with Schroeder’s account,” screamed the V.P. of sales! Ashen faced minions scrambled to rectify the issue. It’s a nice fantasy, but I was informed that my issue would be escalated to a higher tier of service. That’s nice, as I might finally get resolution of this issue! To date, the issue has not been resolved, but I anticipate that it will be.

There are times in hindsight when a reviewer questions the rationale for beginning a review. I had to spend inordinate amounts of time on this system to resolve all the glitches. At this point you may be tempted to say, “Yuck! Hours on tech support, glitches, etc.” I will be blunt; in my emotions had I known ahead the time and commitment needed to resolve these issues, I very likely would not have done this review. In my mind, knowing that it would get resolved over time, I am glad I have proceeded.

If you purchase Sonos you likely won’t have the number of issues that I did, but even if you do, don’t cave, as this truly is a superb source for high-end audio. Some of my issues were self-inflicted with the dual location scheme; others, such as the phone interruptions, were easily, though not economically trivial, rectifiable. This is the only networked digital system I have used, but already I have determined that I will not dump this gear and networked music now that I’m using it. It’s simply too close to primo high-end sound and too broad a resource to eliminate. I am confident that you would arrive at the same conclusion, too.

Sound Of Sonos

I know I have put you through tremendous suffering having to read all that, and so, you will be well rewarded! For now we critically assess the Sonos sound. The founder, John MacFarlane, saw the convergence of broadband, wireless, network storage and music subscription services. He pulled together a team of ex-Microsoft employees to develop the software. An agency delivered the brand name that resembled premium quality and was synonymous with sound or music. The product development team and the brand was in place, but did this produce a high-end audio product worthy of readers willing to part with several thousand dollars for a networked system, or is it Bose for a new generation?

It certainly looks like a Bose sort of deal, that is diminutive boxes with defined functions. Sonos is puny and cute, the kind of thing that would meet with IWA, “Immediate Wife Acceptance”, but much derision by audiophiles. Can something like this sound good? Yes, it can; in fact it can sound excellent!

The lowest performance I obtained was by using streaming audio through Sonos, Rhapsody or another internet music service. The sonic quality of the ZP-100, with its onboard amp, was decidedly Mid-Fi. In planning my long term set up for superior results, I will utilize a second ZP-80 and route it through a receiver in the family room rather than use the ZP-100.

To take Sonos one step higher, I recommend a dedicated outboard DAC. I still had the Monarchy Audio M24 on hand from an earlier review, and was I glad I had it! The luscious tube output was superb. I had a hard time comprehending that I was hearing streaming audio as it was as engaging as many fine CD players that I have used. It elevated the lowly Sonos to great heights. The qualitative difference between the Azur as a CD player and as a DAC for the Sonos was not great. Consequently, a budget-conscious audiophile can confidently proceed to pair the Azur with a Sonos and get very satisfying results from both CD playback and streaming audio.

For those who are more hard core, an exploration of a dedicated DAC is a must. Be assured that the rewards will be great.

How good can Sonos get? I do not know, as it is early in the game. Already, opportunities to mod the power supply or add a reclocker are beginning to appear online, which would of necessity void the warranty. Allow me to share that recently I have been downloading Chieli Minucci’s music for playback through Sonos. People, this is good sound! I have put together dozens of systems over the years and I’m hearing things from the music that really move me! The attributes which are required for high-end sound are there.

The largest critique I can level at Sonos so far is that the treble with the Azur 840C was somewhat compressed and enmeshed, not by large amounts, but enough to discern as opposed to the Auzr’s CD playback. With the Monarchy M24 tube DAC, the reverse was true: I heard a startlingly clear presentation across the spectrum, but the top-end but a bit too hot. I solved that issue by flipping the 2 dB+/- switch on the back of the Legacy Audio Focus HD’s – a wonderful feature to have in such a situation! It checked the aggressiveness of the highs quite nicely, but with a smidgen of loss in the reverberation of the recording venue. I am eager to try the Pathos Classic One MkIII integrateds as their tube preamp stage might work a special magic in this setup.

A rather unusual outcome of the review was that I preferred the sound of the Sonos wireless to its sound hooked up directly to Ethernet! This may sound fantastically weird, however I was up against a serious barrier with a 100-foot run of CAT-5 cable from my home office computer to the listening room. I have not seen studies conducted of longer runs of Ethernet cable and its effects on audiophile sound, but to my ear the wired presentation was stiff and uninvolving. I switched back to the wireless orientation and have not adjusted it since. It certainly says something good for wireless sound when, in that mode, downloaded music is nearly as good as CD and playback and from a NAS is slightly better!

Hearing the NAS as a source was an entirely new experience for my home rig. I had heard some very good hard drive-based systems at dealers but never set one up. Again, the presence of the outboard DAC was critical. NAS playback without the Monarchy DAC was compressed, shallow and not nearly as lively as CD. However, with the Monarchy it perked up substantially, to the point that it is very nearly as engaging as disc playback. The effect reminded me of MIT cables – the way they magnify the music close range rather than expand it like a telescope. I was to discover yet another level of performance of the 840C and the Monarchy M24. For all but the most hard-core analytical types, the sound of the NAS will be plenty good for daily listening. It is incredible how quickly one can find excuses not to rise and put on a CD when comparable quality is to be found by flicking buttons on a controller!

Another unexpected development was the discovery that I prefer the sound of music streamed by Napster to that provided by Rhapsody. Not all music services sound the same! This test was also incredibly easy to conduct as the track selected for comparison could play on one music service while the other was being called up. I listened to Isaac Hayes’ “Theme From Shaft” and was startled by the increase in detail of the cymbals and the heft and resonance of the piano case which shone through much more clearly through Napster’s service. Even though played on a serious high-end system, Rhapsody carried a sound more akin to a Mid-Fi stereo than a high-end rig. The difference is large enough that I would not willingly listen to a particular artist on Rhapsody if they were also available on Napster. It also seems that there is little overlap on licensing so that determination to have all of an artist’s work will likely require membership in both music services.

I cannot emphasize enough the critical role that cables play in this scenario. Cables can make or break the entire endeavor for setting up Sonos with a DAC and server. Just with one brand, Wire World, I was able to extract significantly different results by using an unorthodox method of a pair of digital coaxial cables as interconnects. I have also discussed this in detail in my review of the Wire World cables. Using digital cables as interconnects is controversial, but the results have yielded a large degree of flexibility to component mismatch problems. With the Sonos, I much preferred using the digital cables as interconnects and a single interconnect acting as a digital cable to the traditional configuration! This sounds completely unintuitive, but the results were startlingly good.

There is a tremendous amount of information I could yet convey about my Sonos experience. I will, however, spare the reader from information overload and conclude. In conclusion, I have been converted to File playback as permanently as a CD is ripped into FLAC and stored on a drive; I see no way of going back. It’s a source that will continue to be used, and if the upgradeable Sonos software continues to evolve, the use of CD’s could be seriously curtailed. After jumping, I am flying, and this new medium is a rush! I have only half my disc collection ripped so far, and yet putting it on random play through Sonos brought me more enjoyment of my collection than I have had in months, maybe even years. This is a device to put more love of music back into the gear-obsessed audiophile’s life. Playing files randomly from the NAS for an hour, I was refreshed in a holistic way, being reminded of how much I enjoy my collection of music!

Indeed, my treasure trove of music has become much greater, to the point of literally being global. Sonos is not Bose. It’s the sonic equivalent of DNA, the neural network of the internet’s music woven into my system. It is the only source component which has ever motivated me to accept an absolute decrease in perfection of the reproduced sound. Thinking back in my past, no source has ever been purchased by me if it carried a diminishment in sound quality to my ears. What will be heard from the Sonos will carry a slight diminishment in sound quality compared to the best CD playback, but as a source I will make an exception for it because what it brings to the listening room in terms of access to the world’s music is so expansive, so outlandishly complete, I would be remiss to bypass it.