Sonos vs NAS for streaming Flac 16/192 CD Quality

Posted by: T3Z on 29 August 2014

Hi everyone,

this is my first post so perhaps I should introduce myself,

I like everyone else here loves my music but for me this is my first venture into Naim and streaming so everything is new of me.

The setup, I have a Unityquite 2 paired with PM1's and a Sonos connect.
Speaker cables are 1.5m long Rumour.
Interconect between sonos and UQ2 is optical but will be changing this very soon to coaxial.

I have very basic questions.
Iv ripped my rather small CD collection of 147 to Flac lossless and have it stored on an external drive plugged I to my network. I have mapped the folder on the Sonos controller and am able to stream the music along with Spotify.

I'm really enjoying it, it's a great sounding little system to my ears and the simplicity of the streaming setup is a breeze.

I cannot help to wander if I would have better sound quality if I had my music stored on a NAS drive and streamed it using Nstream by completely bypassing the Sonos, In my mind the sound quality should be the same as the research I have done concludes that Sonos supports 16/192 Lossless Flac.

In your experience would bypassing the sonos provide a better sound quality or would there be such a small difference between the two that I'd probably not notice it?

The one advantage of the NAS is that I would feel safer with my music on it vs a USB drive, my music is however backed up to Microsoft Onedrive.

lastle, regarding the output power, would I see a vast improvement in low level sound quality by adding a NAP100 to the mix, I'm only interested in this size footprint so physically bigger amps are not an option for me.

The system is in my bedroom which is about 4m x 5m

Thank you for reading this long post.

Tez
Posted on: 29 August 2014 by Fueller

Tez,

 

I think you would notice a difference, I run an NDX with a sonos connect into it for spotify only. Both the NDX and Connect can stream from my NAS and the NDX is much better when i've compared. I'm not a techie but if the Sonos can see and Stream from your external drive then the Unitiqute should be able to as well (via nstream) so you can then try this out for yourself and use the full capability of your Qute. At the moment unless i'm misunderstood you are completely bypassing the streaming capability of the Qute and using it as a dac/amp for the sonos.

 

Sonos only supports up to 16/44 CD resolution so if you have or intend to own hi res files the sonos cant play them but the Qute can which is another benefit.   

 

Sorry I can't comment on the nap100 v Qute with your speakers but i'm sure others here can.   

Posted on: 29 August 2014 by endlessnessism

For your stored music (ripped CDs) you will get much better results streaming from a NAS to the UQ over your network, by-passing the Sonos Connect. 

 

By-passing the Sonos Connect will also allow you to play downloaded hi-res music through your UQ.  Sonos is limited to 16/44 resolution (CD quality) but the latest UQ will play hi-resolution 24/192.

 

Keep Sonos connected, though, for the things the UQ won't do (yet) - direct streaming from Qobuz, Spotify, etc.

Posted on: 29 August 2014 by T3Z

Thank you very much for your replies, its such a pity about Sonos though, the App is so simple and intuitive to use.