help me make sonos better

Guys,
Up until about a month ago I was running a Sonos through a Dac Magic, and I was very happy with the quality of the music, which we used primarily for background and casual listening. Certainly not at the level of your vinyl playback, but still very enjoyable.....and at a relatively low cost.

I've since purchased an Esoteric SA-50 which allows me to run the Sonos through its DAC. The quality of the Sonos music is now on par or better than most CD players I've ever heard. The DAC and a good cable make a world of difference. Sonos + good music files + good DAC + good cable = good music that is limited only by your other components.

The level of quality you choose to attain is limited only the amount of money you wish to spend. Good luck in reaching your respective decisions.

Hi Bobf1717 and Pkubica,

I have the ZP90 feeding the Monarchy DIP Classic (non-upsampling) and DacMagic (at Min filter setting), pulls lossless content from a NAS, and reproduction is fantastic!!! And as Larryski2 says, with a decent cable it's hard to beat. It's a single-zone setup so my ZP90 is wired directly to the router to ensure it can handle the large lossless files. I'm very satisfied with the result.

Thought you may want to try this setup before you dive into more costly mods and options.

Would be happy to hear your feedback whatever you decide to implement.

hey gang, so far so good with the advice. many thanks. hope more keeps rolling on in. here's another thought: move to a remote island and listen to birds chirp! probably cheaper and 100% true analog playback!

An external dac is essential for getting high quality sound out of Sonos. But you should be aware that the digital output from Sonos is very high in jitter. Because of that, if you want to get the most from Sonos, you should either (1) select an external dac with very good jitter reduction, or (2) use a reclocker before the dac.

I chose (2). I use the Empirical Audio Pace Car 2 reclocker between my Sonos ZP and my dac. It isn't cheap (between $1250 and $2050, depending on the options), but it turns Sonos into a truly high end transport, and it widens your options for dac's.

I can report on 'plan 1.5' as Paul layed it out above.

I have a couple ZP90's in various systems in my home. One of them has been modified by Rick Cullen. The two DACs I have at my disposal are a Peachtree Decco and a Cambridge DacMagic. With good files and good cables, I've A/B'd every combination of these components. The Cullen-modded player through the DacMagic is by far the best-performing setup I can piece together right now. Wondering about adding a Monarchy DIP now...it's the only truly incremental ($-wise) improvement I can see out there.