Sonos - Any downsides ?

[kingcobbler]

I think I am going to step into the breach and splash the cash on a Sonus bu130 bundle.

I have just bought a 500Gb Buffalo Linstation Pro to act as the NAS.

My only very slight worries are

1) With this being wireless, is the signal ever lost resulting in it either not working or stuttering through a song.

2) Regarding "Mix" albums. does a following track start instantly when the current one finishes, this playing seamlessly a mix album. Mt current folution is a Freecom Mediaplayer 3.5. This is a right pain is when song 1 ends it is only then it searches for song 2, thus resulting in a delay of about 2 seconds. This a minor issue when playing a "normal" album, but a right pain when its a "Mix" album.

 

[bolts]

1) Yes but you can get round it by using a devolo dLAN Duo or simular product.

http://www.broadbandstuff.co.uk/pro...Starter_Kit_-_Ethernet_or_USB&products_id=243

2) I have not had any problems with pauses between songs, it plays like a mixed CD.

 

[Autopilot]

1) Just like the Squeezebox, as long as you have it not too far away its fine. The buffering is very good, i have never ever had a single stutter with my SB3 in 1 and a half years of heavy use. I believe the Sono's is just as good.

2) You mean gapless playback - yes it fine with the Sono's but not with all formats.

 

[kingcobbler]

Many thanks.

Hopefully no worries about formats as all the music is mp3. I might re-rip a couple of hundred albums into flac.

 

[kingcobbler]

Any query regardingg connecting it all up. I do like the idea of a fully wired solution so the devolo dLAN Duo Starter Kit - Ethernet or USB does appeal.

I have my router upstairs and will be starting the sonos network with 2 zones (lounge and dining room downstairs).

So is a solution to wire the router to a "home plug thingy". Then "home plug thingy's" to both sonos boxes ?Thereby needing 3 lengths of Ethernet cable to go from plug to router and 2x plug to sonos boxes.

 

[Autopilot]

I have seen many people recommend home plug kits, but never heard of anyone who actually owns one being that pleased with it. Hopefully they have improved now.

Many thanks.

Hopefully no worries about formats as all the music is mp3. I might re-rip a couple of hundred albums into flac.

FLAC was designed with gapless playback in mind, but with MP3 you will have to make sure they were ripped properly and using the latest LAME encoder.

 

[lazymatt]

So is a solution to wire the router to a "home plug thingy". Then "home plug thingy's" to both sonos boxes ?Thereby needing 3 lengths of Ethernet cable to go from plug to router and 2x plug to sonos boxes.

Nope. You only need to hard wire one of the Sonos'. The other will be wireless.

 

[Crustyloafer]

I have seen many people recommend home plug kits, but never heard of anyone who actually owns one being that pleased with it. Hopefully they have improved now.

I use the Solwise Homplug 85MBps kits with my Sonos system and have used them on several other Sonos systems that I have installed for clients with not a single problem with them to date.

 

[Crustyloafer]

The other will be wireless.

That should read "The other could be wireless". You are still better to use a wired conenction if you can, even if that means using Homeplugs to do it.

 

[lazymatt]

That should read "The other could be wireless". You are still better to use a wired conenction if you can, even if that means using Homeplugs to do it.

You are, of course, correct.

Generally though, I've not had any problems with wireless drop out.

Oh, and to echo what Crusty says, I use the Netgear HD Powerline Adapters and not had any problems either. They're probably over-kill for the Sonos, but I use them for streaming HD video to my 360 as well (again without any problems)

 

[Autopilot]

I use the Solwise Homplug 85MBps kits with my Sonos system and have used them on several other Sonos systems that I have installed for clients with not a single problem with them to date.

Thats good to hear

I have heard many people say they find they get drop outs, interference problems and rarely get anything like the rated speeds - often slower than wireless. But i have not looked into them for a while now - might do now as i would prefer a hard wired solution once i get a few more units . Would you say Solwise were the best?

 

[Crustyloafer]

Thats good to hear

I have heard many people say they find they get drop outs, interference problems and rarely get anything like the rated speeds - often slower than wireless. But i have not looked into them for a while now - might do now as i would prefer a hard wired solution once i get a few more units . Would you say Solwise were the best?

The Solwise ones are the ones I have used the most and they most certainly give you a connection far more reliable and faster than most wireless connections.

My Homeplugs are currently running at 75MBps with complete stability. In fact I've have only installed one once where it didn't work too well which was from inside a house to a socket in a shed at the other end of the garden on the end of two 25 metre extension leads. It worked, but not perfectly.

 

[adriandg]

My Homeplugs are currently running at 75MBps with complete stability. In fact I've have only installed one once where it didn't work too well which was from inside a house to a socket in a shed at the other end of the garden on the end of two 25 metre extension leads. It worked, but not perfectly.

Crusty

I see on the homeplugs website they are doing a homeplug turbo 200MB. Have you had any experience of these and would they be suitable for the Sonos?

Cheers

 

[Crustyloafer]

Crusty

I see on the homeplugs website they are doing a homeplug turbo 200MB. Have you had any experience of these and would they be suitable for the Sonos?

Cheers

There's no reaosn why not, but they are a lot more expensive and that sort of speed is completely unnecessary for the Sonos system to function.

 

[adriandg]

Ah Cool

So the 85Mbps ones are plenty fast enough for the Sonos to operate?

Cheers

 

[Crustyloafer]

Ah Cool

So the 85Mbps ones are plenty fast enough for the Sonos to operate?

Cheers

Yes, more that quick enough. To stream a single completely uncommpressed wav file only requires just under 1.5Mbps. An apple lossless file is about half that and MP3s only require tiny fractionsa of that bandwidth.

 

[spl23]

In response to the original poster, I have 3 wireless ZonePlayers in my house, and have never had a stutter while playing Apple Lossless files from my NAS. I have had problems with stuttering when feeding an analogue signal into a line input on a ZP and distributing it as uncompressed audio, and even having ZPs exchanged by Sonos hasn't really fixed this.

Not a major issue - I'm sure it would go away if I went wired - but be advised that line-in distribution on the Sonos seems a lot more fragile than distribution of compressed files - I guess "live" line-in is inherently more fragile due to the higher data rate and the fact that you can't buffer as the signal is real-time.

 

[lazymatt]

In response to the original poster, I have 3 wireless ZonePlayers in my house, and have never had a stutter while playing Apple Lossless files from my NAS. I have had problems with stuttering when feeding an analogue signal into a line input on a ZP and distributing it as uncompressed audio, and even having ZPs exchanged by Sonos hasn't really fixed this.

Not a major issue - I'm sure it would go away if I went wired - but be advised that line-in distribution on the Sonos seems a lot more fragile than distribution of compressed files - I guess "live" line-in is inherently more fragile due to the higher data rate and the fact that you can't buffer as the signal is real-time.

That is a very good point, however, I use a line-in on mine, and never had any drop out. I guess it just depends on signal strength & interference etc.

 

[Crustyloafer]

You can choose to compress the line-in signals on the Zoneplayers, although this will inevitably cause a delay between the original source and what you hear through the Zoneplayers.