Sonos or Squeezebox

[siy]

Guys - I know there are loads of topics and I have searched and read most, but would appreciate a little assistance...

I would like to buy a sonos or Squeezbox.

My set up is pc in study at top of house with wireless router (and wireless laptop downstairs).

All AV and home cinema equipment in living room is in a cupboard out of sight, with a phillips pronto to control.

I just want to send my mp3's from my pc to the amp.

Although I am happy to pay a bit more for the sonos, as far as Ican tell, the only additional function I get from it would be the funky remote control???

Also, would either allow me to listen to the radio if I were to put anothe runit and speakers in a seperate room?

Thanks

[David PluggedIn]

Hi

They are both great systems. The Sonos is more expensive for sure, but it is also a complete, self contained system. The multi room idea that you have for the radio will work fine - there is a document that we have which gives more detail on this and a few more of the cool features, drop me a PM with your email address and I will send it to you.

cheers
David

[Gary_W]

You can connect several squeezebox units together, and sync them if you wish so no problem.

Go look at the slimdevices forums. For me, it's the pluggins that make the squeezebox such a wonderful product (Last fm support, Alien BBC etc). Once you see what else it can do and whether these are good features for you then you can make a decision :)

[Yoggo]

Personally (because I've got one), I'd go for the Sonos. You could hide the ZP80 in the cupboard as the controller is wireless and everything is displayed on that. Setup is a breeze as well, it took me 30 minutes to get 2 ZP80s, the controller, the PC software and a brand new NAS working.

Sound quality is also really good, can't speak for the Squeezebox as I've not heard one, but where I bought my Sonos (a pro-hifi shop), they use theirs all the time for in-shop background music - even to demonstrate some of the high end stuff (and they also had a Squeezebox as well - they just preferred the Sonos).

[David PluggedIn]

Gary makes a good point, the SqueezeBox is a more configurable, open system, with a wealth of add-ons in the form of plug-ins. These are actively encouraged by the manufacturer, making the Slim a great choice for the user that wants to customise their system. Sonos have adopted a closed route, while it is possible to integrate to the Sonos it isnt supported by them, and the integration that you can achieve isnt as well, integrated :grin:

Yoggo is right as well - the remotes being based on wireless rather than IR mean that you can use them anywhere, and you can put the zones anywhere. Also because the amplification is all built in then thats another box saved, both in cost and in terms of having to remotely control.

At the end of the day, it often comes down to user experience, the Sonos delivers that in spades, as the remote control is so well designed and is completely interactive. In many ways the decision is like buying a Mac versus a PC, do you go for the more expensive, closed system with a more controlled and slicker experience, or the cheaper, more open system with more configuration capability and slightly less ease of use as a result.

If anyone needs help in figuring out which would suit them best in terms of their own requirements then feel free to drop us a line...

happy listening!

[contraste]

There is of course The Transporter:

http://www.slimdevices.com/pi_transporter.html

The Squeezebox's much more expensive big brother.
$1999.00 in the US as opposed to $999.00 for the entry level Sonos.

Personally I have 2 Squeezeboxes, 1 wired and the other wireless. Because I already had suitable equipment to hook them up to, the Squeeezebox route was perfect for me and I'm very happy with their performance and usability.

[chuckalicious]

My thoughts on this one....

PluggedIn makes a very good point there, suggesting it's like choosing between a Mac and a Windows PC.

I used to have a Windows Media Centre PC running in my living room, and it was terrible. So many updates, fiddling, work arounds etc, so I got rid of it, and got Sky+. Yes, it costs more, but it's wonderful. It's the best PVR I've seen yet.

I also used to have a Windows PC and Windows laptop. They have now been replaced by one iBook. I got sick of having something that didn't just do what I wanted. Popups, updates, spyware scanners, virus scanners, blue screens, annoying installers, annoying uninstallers, so I went with the Mac, and it just works. Beautifully.

This is why I eneded up buying a Sonos. I checked out all the other media players, and went with the Sonos, because it does what it's supposed to, and beautifully. It really is the best bit of kit I've spent my money on in a long time :)

I understand that some people feel (and I think rightly so) that the higher end Squeezebox has a higher quality output, however, unless you're plugging it into a high end DAC (I'm only going on what I've read), you really won't notice the difference. From reviews I've read of the Sonos, where it has been plugged into some high end kit, via it's optical output, it should and does sound exactly as any other digital output would, if fed the same files.

So if you want to be able to configure (other than just playing your music and listening to internet radio/Rhapsody if you're in the US), then go for the Squeezebox. If you want something that when you pick up the sexy remote, select a song, and it just plays, instantly, with no fuss, no squinting at far away screens (I'm not saying the Squeezebox doesn't acheive all of this as well), then go for the Sonos.

I love it :)

[dlorde]

Squeezebox SB3 sound is very good at its price-point - 24-bit Burr-Brown DACs are used, and you have the choice of digital co-ax, optical, and analog output.

[shoehorn]

I checked out all the other media players, and went with the Sonos, because it does what it's supposed to, and beautifully. It really is the best bit of kit I've spent my money on in a long time :)I'm in full agreement with this and it gets huge WAF as well!
All that's in the open now is two speakers per room - she loves it!

[cbemoore]

I understand that some people feel (and I think rightly so) that the higher end Squeezebox has a higher quality output, however, unless you're plugging it into a high end DAC (I'm only going on what I've read), you really won't notice the difference.

As well as having extremely low jitter on the digital outputs, the Transporter also has an AKM 4396 DAC which is supposed to be VERY good. So you don't need to plug it into a high-end DAC to get good results!

Chris

[chuckalicious]

As well as having extremely low jitter on the digital outputs, the Transporter also has an AKM 4396 DAC which is supposed to be VERY good. So you don't need to plug it into a high-end DAC to get good results!

Chris

And this is my point :) I really don't care what kind of DAC is in the item I buy, as long as it sounds good to my ears :) I don't want to know what hardware it uses, or conversion types etc, I just want it to work, as does my wife.

At the end of the day the 2 products are aimed at different people. I just don't want to have to have server software + pc running somewhere, I just want my little nas sitting in the cupboard, and the gorgeous remote.

I'd say the Slim is for proper audiophiles, and the Sonos is for the rest of us :)

[sueewing]

:god: I know it's naughty but I listen to Pandora (the US music site) and would love to be able to hear it, wireless, in every room. They recommend the Squeezebox. Would the Sonos also pick up Pandora? Whichever one I chose, would I just need one system with several sets of wireless speakers? Sorry if that's a dumb question.

[chuckalicious]

:god: I know it's naughty but I listen to Pandora (the US music site) and would love to be able to hear it, wireless, in every room. They recommend the Squeezebox. Would the Sonos also pick up Pandora? Whichever one I chose, would I just need one system with several sets of wireless speakers? Sorry if that's a dumb question.

No, the Sonos doesn't do Pandora (yet). It does Rhapsody, which is only available in the US.

If you want to play different tracks in different rooms at once, you'd need multiple Slim boxes, plus (I think) the remote in line of sight with the device in order to control it.

Similarly with the Sonos, you'd still need a ZonePlayer (the white box) in every room you wanted to play music in. The bonus of using the Sonos is the one controller can control any ZonePlayer in any room, from any room. As an example, if I'm listening to music in the living room, and then decide I need to go upstairs for any length of time, I just tell my Sonos controller to link up to the upstairs player, and it starts playing there straight away, while still playing in the living room (or dropping the living room if I want). It's flawless. Of course, I could leave the music playing downstairs, and send a different track upstairs. It's so nice :)

[David PluggedIn]

Hi Sueewing,

You can get Pandora running in Sonos, there are 3 ways.

1] Use the line out of a PC soundcard in to a zoneplayer - you now have multiroom capability of that audio

2] use a Squeezebox to pick up Pandora and run the line outputs (or digital output) in to a ZP100 zoneplayer or ZP80 zoneplayer accordingly.

3] use the following mechanism to redirect a Pandora stream http://forums.sonos.com/showthread.php?t=2692&page=4&highlight=pandora

see post 32.

Not trivial this 3rd option.

Hopefully Sonos R&D are implementing native support for it, like they did for Rhapsody. Rhapsody support was pretty flakey when it was based on the PC desktop application from Real, but now that it is built in to Sonos it is solid - it really shows where the future of digital music is going.

Regarding your speakers, then remember that they are wired back to your amp(s). Is that what you meant?

[chuckalicious]

So in other words, the Sonos doesn't really "support" Pandora, or at least not in any integrated manner.

[David PluggedIn]

So in other words, the Sonos doesn't really "support" Pandora, or at least not in any integrated manner.

correct - it is a hack at the moment.

[chuckalicious]

I have to say though, so far the Sonos team have been very quick in responding to owners requests. I bought mine just before v2.0 was released, and from what I can see, the requests that were made on their forums were more or less implented. So there's no reason why, licensing assuming, that they can't integrate Pandora too.

Out of interest, does anyone use Rhapsody in the UK? It seems to be able to tell that my ISP is in the UK so I don't even get as far as trying to sign up

[Ceejayav]

If you want to play different tracks in different rooms at once, you'd need multiple Slim boxes, plus (I think) the remote in line of sight with the device in order to control it.

Similarly with the Sonos, you'd still need a ZonePlayer (the white box) in every room you wanted to play music in. The bonus of using the Sonos is the one controller can control any ZonePlayer in any room, from any room.

I have two squeezeboxes, and think they're great. I'd go along with the general thrust of the comments in this thread: the squeezeboxes are much cheaper (especially if you already have a PC lying around you can use as a server), hugely configurable and give great sound. But the remote doesn't challenge the Sonos, and the system as a whole can turn out to be more complex.

Just one word on the comment above, however: its really easy to use standard wireless devices such as a PDA to control any or all of the squeezeboxes on your network: some people (not me) have also started using the Nokia 770 as a remote with a very sexy and smooth UI written by one of the community.

I'll also endorse the comment made earlier in the thread about the power of the open source / plugin approach - there are some wonderful bits of extra functionality being added by the community all the time, and the speed of bug fix / enhancement response can be astounding.

[sueewing]

I tried for the 14-day free trial for Rhapsody. If you change your personal details on the site to show you're location as US, it lets you through to the sign up stage but then wants a US address billing address ... so I gave up.

I think you've convinced me that Sonos is the way to go, especially as I should be able to get Pandora on it. But it's a lot more expensive that squeezebox. Anyone know of any good deals going?

[chuckalicious]

Once again, that shows that the Slim is more of a techies device. It's great having plugins and using third party devices to control it, but for that you have to mess about with wireless settings, general pros and cons of PDAs and mobiles, such as bad battery life when using wireless/bluetooth.

So it's cheap and it sounds good. It still can't challenge the Sonos in terms of useability (if all you want is to listen to music) :)

So they both have their pros and cons. Price being the biggest. However, by the time you've bought 2 SqueezeBoxes, and a PDA or decent mobile to run it with, you're not saving a huge amount on buying the ZP80 bundle and a cheap NAS like the Buffalo Linkstation, which totally removes the need for having a PC on to listen to your music.

[chuckalicious]

There are no deals on Sonos. It's a bit like an Apple, it costs pretty much the same wherever you shop.

They do a great bundle, the ZP80 bundle, which comes with 2 ZP80s, and a controller. I bought this directly from Sonos.

However, be aware of the following before you buy:

1. The ZP80s require powered speakers, only the ZP100 have built in amps to power passive speakers directly without an external amp
2. Unless you want to start playing with wireless bridges, you must have one of your ZonePlayers hardwired to your network by ethernet. The other(s) can be wireless.

Lastly, something I discovered, and you may well be able to do this with a Slim as well. If you connect a device to your Sonos ethernet switch (Each one has 2 ethernet ports on the back), you will have network access, as if you'd plugged it into your router. So as well as having music in any room, you have a network connnection in any room :)

[shoehorn]

Lastly, something I discovered, and you may well be able to do this with a Slim as well. If you connect a device to your Sonos ethernet switch (Each one has 2 ethernet ports on the back), you will have network access, as if you'd plugged it into your router. So as well as having music in any room, you have a network connnection in any room :)It's the icing on the cake - and the ZP100's (the ones with the in-built amp) have 4 ethernet ports on the back!

[Dan.Scott1234]

I think I might rig up a slim demo using the slim software emulator on a fanless embedded pc currently lying around in need or a purpose.

Then use my ppc or grab a nokia 770 and give the remote interface a go, I'd love a Sonos but I just don't think I can justify the cost of a ZP80 / Sonos remote (I only need 1 zone at the moment so the multi-zone isn't important yet)

any opinions/ideas?

Cheers
Dan

[David PluggedIn]

Hi Dan

the nokia 770 is a nice unit - it is great for armchair surfing. However the ergonomics of the thing arent great (a surprise really from Nokia) in terms of the physical buttons etc, and you will have to wait for the unit to reconnect to your WLAN (unless you have it set permanently connected, in which case it will need recharging all the time)
The upside though is that if you can build an internal web site for your home handling all your automation, and the 770 can access all of that.
let us know how you get on - it sounds an interesting project.

[Dan.Scott1234]

Thanks for the input David, I have to say i'm half expecting the project to be a faliure, whilst I have no doubt in the fact i'll get the system running I doubt I'll stick with it as I can see it being 'Niggly' for want of a better word!

I do love the Sonos, it's ease of use and reliability seem to be fantastic but the cost at £300+ for a remote that doesn't even control other devices (If it could control my amp and CD Player via IR it would be better) is quite hard for me to stomach...

The ZP80 at about £60 more than a Squeezebox aint too bad, I'm a Mac lover so don't mind paying more for a hassle free product but the remote cost is a big turn off!

Anymore suggestions/pointers greatly appreciated!

[dobbin]

Hopefully Sonos R&D are implementing native support for it, like they did for Rhapsody. Rhapsody support was pretty flakey when it was based on the PC desktop application from Real, but now that it is built in to Sonos it is solid - it really shows where the future of digital music is going.

David.
After my recent purchase I am starting to get to grips with my SONOS system and Rhapsody looks very interesting. WIth regard to your earlier comments (above) can I get Rhapsody on my SONOS here in the UK?

[Dan.Scott1234]

ok i had a demo of Sonos today and the good news for my bank account is that I really wasn't impressed. I found the scroll wheel on the remote really unresponsive - I really hope the remote in the shop (Harrods) was just knackered as It took me a few goes to get the song/artist I wanted.

Also I found the software a little jerky in between screens on the UI but that is just me being picky. It was the track wheel that really put me off.

Was it just the shops display models or is this a bit of a prob with the CR100??

[David PluggedIn]

Hi Dobbin

There is no supported mechanism for getting Rhapsody in the UK, when you subscribe the website checks your IP address and if it is not in the USA then it wont let you join. I probably cant say more than that really, but I am sure you can guess the rest.

Hi Dan
I think the slow down between screens is an occasional thing that happens, it depends on the network (i.e. how fast is the access to your music), and sometimes you can see this happen. Re the wheel issue, then this was corrected in the new 2.0 release (http://www.sonos.com/support/software_updates/index.htm) so it might be that the instore system you saw wasnt up to date?

Maybe the best solution for you is a ZP80, and run the sonos webserver on a PC serving up the UI with a nokia 770 as your front end? If you dont like the CR100 then that is good way of doing things, certainly it is a more powerful solution than the CR100 though it wont have the 'pick up and play' ease of use of the standard Sonos setup. If you are interested in this approach then drop me a PM.