Sonos Connect Wyred4Sound Mod Any Good?

I think the Wyred mod is excellent. I use a modded Connect in main system and non modded in bedroom. I run both through an outboard DAC. Well worth the upgrade but have not compared to other brands, as I like the Sonos interface so much.

Thanks for responding.
if your main Sonos Connect became unusable, would you pay the $450 again on your other Sonos to use on the main system?  Just wondering if there was enough difference would you do it over again.

I would without hesitation - significant difference . I run it through the DAC in Aesthetix Romulus CD player

I believe the mod bypasses the internal DAC, so an outboard DAC is necessary.  I also much prefer the standard Connect with an external DAC, such as Peachtree Dac itx or Parasound Zdac.

It is superb. I have my modified Sonos plugged into my Job INTegrated and it sounds amazing. If you stream a lot or don't have any high res files, it's probably the best, easiest solution out there. Add a great DAC to it on a conventional system and enjoy higher quality tunes.

I have the Sonos Connect Ultimo by Magna audio.

The difference is the Ultimo has an upgraded power supply along with a new clock.

It’s very good. I use it with an external DAC.

You have to use it with ethernet and not wi-fi.

And great care has to be taken with the ethernet signal to avoid noise.

I am a hardcore CD playback guy, but streaming Tidal with the Connect Ultimo is winning me over.

Macdude


what DAC are you using? 
I have a yggy and it seems my stock Sonos gets it clock cleaned by the yggy,  but I would like to be able to give the yggy the best opportunity to excel. 
Can you add any advice of me leaving my Sonos as stock or spending ~450.00 to perhaps not really hearing any improvement ?

Psickerson, I’m using an Exemplar exception DAC.

I haven’t heard a stock Sonos, but I’m happy with the Ultimo upgrade.

I would think it’s no-brainer upgrade for Yggy.

You can by a new Sonos Ultimo from Magna audio and get a 2 week audition period.

Though care has to be taken with the ethernet connection.

I use ethernet power line and when I moved it from the wall outlet to my Entreq Powerus Challenger, there was a seismic leap in performance.

I will be adding a Waversa hub to regenerate the ethernet signal to feed the Sonos.

And upgrade from the cheap ethernet cables I’m using.

Schiits response to my email said to not send an up sample to yggy,. It is better to let it do take care of it.  The only other improvement from the upgrade would the better clock low jitter.  The yggy already says it has s good stream so I don't see how an upgrade to the stock Sonos would be any improvement.   Am I missing something?

Jitter is a big deal. You want to feed your DAC the lowest jitter source possible. 

The power supply upgrade on the Ultimo can't hurt either.

jitter is a major weakness of the Sonos

Yes, that's why the clock is upgraded by Magna audio.

There's quite a bit of noise coming through the ethernet in my setup. 

I hope the Waversa hub will address this.

Ethernet?  Let's not get confused here. 
Not trying to be condescending but you can remove that worry as long as you don't get total sound drop outs. Believe me

I have the yggy DAC from Schiit.  They are not confirming or denying that sending the yggy a better PCM steam with less jitter makes any RATIONAL sense.  If the stream is not good enough the light for "Need Better Stream" comes on.  The stock Sonos stream is good enough and does not cause the light to come on. Only really bad equipment would cause this.  

Anyone have the Sonos and YGGY that had done the mod post getting the YGGY out there care to comment. 

This Schiit already sounds so good matched up with my Prima Luna HP. 

I use a Wyred4Sound the Remedy in between my Sonos Connect and my W4S DAC2 and it definitely makes a big difference.

Installed the Waversa hub to regenerate the ethernet before feeding the Sonos and it's finally getting closer to my CD playback reference.

A drop in the noise floor and a big uptick in refinement and musicality.

The Waversa dealer kindly sent me the unit to audition, and this box is not going back.

The streaming puzzle is finally coming together.

Mcdude - 
I'll check into the Magna Audio upgrade thank you for the advice. 
Reading through baldr's post of the yggy I did find an indication that the yggy would take the lower jitter stream and it would be an improvement.  They are also very clear to point out that not everyone can hear lower level details.  But I don't think that applies to anyone in this hobby, right? 

Magna Audio is across the pond.  I would go thru wyrd4 audio here.  

I would like to find someone here that has a sonos connect and the yggy that did the sonos mod.  Don't want to be the trailblazer in this one Spending $550 for no noticeable sound improvement and dare I say it no audio eye candy.

Magna audio also modifies the power supply on the Connect and they have an audition period.

Schiit is correct that not every system is on the same level.

As I've upgraded my system, I realized there's more to redbook CD than I ever imagined.

Wyred offers a 30 day trial of the Remedy reclocker, which is most of what the Sonos upgrade is...a good way to find out if it's for you..Wyred told me the Sonos upgrade sound a little better than adding the Remedy

I checked the reclocks that was a good idea to be able to compare. Seems it up samples to 96kHz.  Schiit customer support said not to upsample need to let the burrito filter take care of it.   The less equipment in the chain was also a strong recommendation.  

The latest Sonos update was awesome. It is great to see them actively enhancing the front lend and easily delivering updates.   

Wyred can set the Sonos upgrade to another sample rate if you prefer

call Wyred, I found them very helpful

Yes for the Sonos they can set sample rate but I'll give them a call for the reclocker

@psickerson you said "the latest Sonos update was awesome" - which update do you mean?

last update was an improved user interface

yes. Less presses to play and keeps the music going.   I use Deezer, hopefully more financial stable  than Tidal.  

I called Wyred4sound today and asked about  the remedy and the Sonos  modification.  Suggested I go with the modification since it can maintain the non-upsampled stream.

they said it is one of the oldest offerings they have but one of the most  popular over the years so they continue to do it.  

I just went from an Audience AU24se power cord to a Nordost Purple Flare C7 for the Sonos.

I had to send the AU24se to audience to have it reterminated to C7.

Let's just say I will be putting back the AU24se as quickly as possible.

I doubt there is a better C7 power cord out there than the Audience.

macdude-did you hear a noticeable improvement in changing the Sonos power cord out? I didn't  realize there was even an option to put a aftermarket PC on the Sonos.

I had good results using a Pangea C7 on the Wyred Sonos

This nagging technical question stopped me Friday from pressing submit of the Wyred mod upgrade.  

Is there any value in using a device (Emperical Audio) that says it performs Asynchronous Sample-Rate conversion between a music streamer and the yggy. Or is this redundant if the yggy is already performing the resampling to improve and reduce the jitter? Maybe this is one of the things yggy does that is responsible for its massive adoption.  

Isn't the Sonos basically doing the same thing as the Emperical device and my yggy DAC would already be doing this?

the full Empirical upgrade is probably better, but is way more costly

the yggy will not reduce jitter as well as the Wyred or Empirical upgrades...becomes a question of how much improvement you want and how much you want to spend...I would not use the standard Sonos with a quality DAC...tried it...

thanks jl35 I would for sure get the Sonos modified,
But  yggdraisal has Schiit's AdaptiClock proprietary technology that takes the stream and reduces the jitter as long as it is not too bad.  
Otjer  DACs may not have this ability

Just can't  seem to find anyone that has a Sonos and yggy that later did the mod to see if there was an SQ improvement or if it is just redundant. 

Just how how much the yggy can clean up the Sonos stream is the ?. $ 550 to find out I guess

The Audience AU24se is a very good power cord, probably the only reference cord available in C7.

Yes, it will make a big difference with the Sonos and Yggy.

Also, I just replaced my cable modem and Airport extreme with a Netgear modem/router 1 box.

Powering the Netgear with a Teddy Pardo 12v, instead of the wall wart.

Now I am starting to hear the potential of streaming. And the modded Sonos is no slouch.

I would recommend Rob at Magna audio for anyone looking for a modified Sonos. He's a class act and one of the best experiences I've had in this hobby.