Sonos Questions

Red2,
I used the Audio Horizons tube DAC with the Levinson 37 transport and with the Sonos, so that part of the digital source was constant. The external power supply was a project that Joseph undertook at my request. I have been a beta tester for his other products - we live in the same town. He was interested in the Sonos technology.
Joseph told me that if other Sonos users expressed an interest then he would build more of the supplies. Presently mine is one of a kind. I've asked him to build a second unit (as you know, the Sonos system requires 2 ZP80s - one transmitter, one receiver. The outboard power supply is connected to the receiver which, in turn, drives the DAC.
Joseph hasn't told me how much he would charge for the power supply. He did tell me that he thought he could build as few as 3 at a time. I'll ask him what the price would be and let you know. My guess would be in the $150 to $200 range per power supply.
Given the quality of what I am hearing through my system, I'd go for that without hesitation. However, I have voided my Sonos warranty by modifying the ZP80.
Here is how I valued the choice:
1. I replaced a transport which I could sell used for $2K+
2. The Sonos ZP80 system (with remote control) cost ~$1K
So, I wasn't reluctant to spend some money in order to raise the performance of the Sonos.
I've been testing the current configuration of this power supply for 4 months now. No problems so far; it sounds great.

I have 4 Sonos ZP80 and a zonebridge.

I also have a GNSC modded Wadia 20.

Running both into my Audionote 3.1X Signature DAC, the transport is noticably better. It has more air, and much better soundstage.

I find myself listening to the Sonos more though.

It just makes the music more accessable. I have over 4,000 CD ripped to the server in FLAC format.

I'm not noticing any jitter problems, but the Sonos is slightly dark sounding using the internal DAC.

If I had to rerip my collection again I'd still do it myself. You can easily rip 10-20 cd in a sitting, and except for swapping CD's, it can run in the background.

If you paid a service to rip them, its about $1/CD, plus shipping and insurance both ways. 2,000CD @ lets say $15 average value gets you a shipment insured for $30,000! UPS charges 50 cents per $100 value for insurance, or $300 insurance each way.

So, to pay to get them ripped will cost $2,600 or so, and you still have to take every CD out of its jewel box, ship them on spindles, and get each one back in the correct box afterwards.

Regardless of how your music gets ripped, or to what format, you don't want to have to do it all over again. Make sure you have a RAID drive, or other way of preventing loss of data.

Cedar:

VERY interested in the mod you have. Any chance of posting pictures?

John C.

Sonos has increased my listening time dramatically as I am a flipper and change cds often song to song. This is easily done by the sonos, but was a pain if done manually. Also, sonos doesn't have to be wireless. You can connect each zone in line with ethernet cable making a hard wired system. Of course, cost is increased significantly.

I would jump on the modified PS for my ZP80 in my critical listening room. I have found the ZP80 to my Meridian processor to be an excellent alternative to spinning discs, and I listen to a lot more music.

I got a sonos in October and it has had a bigger impact on my system than any single upgrade I've ever done. And I didn't even get the remote! (I live in a NYC loft so didn't need it.)

I just wanted a way to listen to music the way I do on my ipod but in full home stereo quality sound. I already had a home network so all I "had" to buy was the ZP80 and an NAS drive. (A Maxtor shared 320g storage drive was enough for now. A second USB drive can be plugged in to back it up.) I chose to attach the ZP80 to the router via ethernet to keep 100% of the streaming hardwired. I then control playlists wirelessly from my laptop. No stress on the computer. No worrying about ram, fan noise, buffering, sound cards, network interference- none of that.

Re-ripped the whole collection to itunes apple lossless and was on the way. Of course, that opened up the upgrade can of worms. Out of the box, the sonos rca's were fine, but not quite up to the same standard as my Cal Icon cd player.

So, a good dac and ic's are a must if you want to get the best out of the system. A Bel Canto Dac 1 was the right price for me. Once that was in the system, neither I nor anyone else who listened could hear the difference between the cdp and the sonos.

Since then the amp and preamp have been replaced too. Not because there was anything wrong, but because I was now listening so much it became a disease. What started as a $350 idea to make my itunes wireless on the cheap is now $2,500+ and counting. I'll also probably be on line for that power supply...

Oh- to answer your other questions. I would go Apple Lossless format. I almost got a Buffalo NAS but got scared off when I read somewhere that they are painfully slow. Sonos recommends Maxtor (among others) so I went with that...