Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems Sonos users ?

Anyone using sonos with their M system ?
Would you recommend it ? Why or Why not ?

Bought a secondhand set of DSP5000 to use with my Sonos ZP80 in the lounge on Friday last week. Works great! I love it. I use a Buffalo TeraStation to store the music which I keep in FLAC format. FLAC is a lossless compression system. I have a total of 5 Sonos players around the house.

I have been using an SB3 for the last year (decided over the Sonos because, at the time, Sonos did not have digital out). I _really_ like the ease of the Sonos remote and am considering changing music server systems since the ZP80 came out. Thereofre, am interested in Sonos opinions too (especially if you've had an opportunity to use both SB3 & Sonos).

Thanks...gregg

I have not used a SB3. I do use Sonos (because the remote is so far superior to other systems with my M kit. The ZP80 (coax digital out) to my 568.2->DSP8000s is stupendous. I have listened extensively to the ZP80 compared to my 596, with and without my 518, and, in my opinion, with music ripped using Apple lossless, the Sonos is at least as good, if not better.

I had previously tried an Apple Airport Express, which was not as good as the 596 (though very good). Sonos takes it a step higher. I can only assume that the Sonos' jitter is low.

Go for it - you won't be sorry.

John

There is a review in this Months Stereophile of the SONOS system. I havn't had time to look at the test sidebat. The reviewer liked the Analog out on the Sonos sytem a bit more than the SB3.

I am also thinking of going with SONOS as a music server. I just have to figure out a way to get some audio feedback so that my girl friend can use it (she has no vision at all). I have low vision so the sonos remote is great for me as I can use my reading glasses to use it...IF I could only figure out a way to use the SONOS remote to control some other stuff in my system.....I beleive it is possible to use some of the Pocket PC solutions to control SONOS but I havn't finished my research in this area yet.

Has anyone compared FLAC to Apple lossless?
I want to create a library that I can use on both the SONOS and an iPod running RockBOX...(rockbox does have talking menus)

Brian

Thanks for everyone's comments.

johnmcelfresh, I do have a recently purchased 568 and 596 along with the DSP 5200s. Could you described your set up in little more detail ?
Also, do you have a dedicated music server ?
Thanks in advance.

A good solution for music server is some form of NAS (Network Address Storage). These tend to be a small standalone box that can easy be hidden in a cupboard. It important to remember that lossless formats require significant disk space, a average FLACed CD needs about 300MB. I use a NAS with one Terabyte of disk storeage (that's 1000GB), which uses RAID5 to protect against hard disk failure. Just think you have spent five months converting all of your CDs to your music server and then you lose it all when a hard disk fails!

The point about lossless formats like FLAC is that the bit stream that exits the ZP80 is identical to the bit stream that originally came off the CD. The major decision to use Apple lossless or FLAC is not how it will sound but how happy you as a user is in using the tools to RIP the original CD. Also Apple lossless is a closed system and you depend on Apple. FLAC comes from the Free Software comunity and just for that reason gets my vote.

A great place to find out much more about the Sonos is on the Sonos forums, have a look here.

http://forums.sonos.com/

Brian

I've not delved too far into the settings, but if you're using a Macintosh with the the latest operating system, the Universal Access and Voiceover settings may do just what you're after - you can having a talking menu for just about any text that appears anywhere on screen - even to drop-down menu content.

Regards

Mark

bmcelvaney asked: Brian, this link to the FLAC site shows a comparison of various lossless codecs, including Apple Lossless. http://FLAC.sourceforge.net/comparison.html

A bit OT, I know, but I've been reading up quite hard about this over the last couple of weeks becuase I'm interested in ripping CDs now and I'd also like an MP3 player that can use the same compression codec I will use. I agree with stephenkench's comment about open standards but there are a number of companies providing ripping and conversion tools for the various codecs, including Apple Lossless - http://www.dbpoweramp.com/dmc.htm is one - so it doesn't seem a blind alley.

Regards,
Steve

One of the best rippers is EAC. It main claim to fame is that it does the best job of extracting the music off the CD. Most rippers do not retry if a error occurs in the extraction process. EAC can generate all the common compression formats including FLAC. MP3 is not the way to go, it just sounds bad. Better to convert into a FLAC and then if want to transfer music onto a MP3 portable device use a transcoder to convert FLAC to MP3.

EAC only downside is that it runs best under Microsoft Windows.

I have no experience of this so can't comment about qualities of EAC or any other beyond what I've read. EAC is definitely an optionnI'm considering. Equally, the dPower AMP product is interesting too. It appears much faster than EAC and handles multiple formats including FLAC and Apple Lossless. License fee is $14 so not exactly freeware

Steve

Because of my love for Linux I use a ripper called "grip". Grip rips much faster than EAC, but the reason EAC is slow is because of the error correction it is doing. EAC compares a number of readings of the same sector and only carries on if they are the same. Unfortunately most CD drives buffer the data from the CD so you cannot just ask for the same sector again. You have to "rewind" the reading process to clear out the data buffer. This takes more time but gives a better result.