Connecting Sonos(kitchen) with Naim HDX(HDD)(living room)

I haven't set this up yet, but my plan is to do this in our new house which we move into next month. I'll be using a Unitiserve SSD and my understanding is that the Sonos will recognise music stored on the home network and play it. Having said that, if you sign up to Spotify, you hardly need to be able to access it. I'm also going to put a ZP90 into the living room and through the NDAC - might be worth looking at doing this into the Supernait DAC to give you Spotify and Internet Radio.

A UnitiQute and a small pair of speakers (the Qute need not be visible) will give you far better performance.

As it should at about 4 x the cost!

"As it should at about 4 x the cost!"

More than worth it for both sound quality and convenience....

My only complaint is the iPad software

John - I'm not going to pretend to be an expert, but surely if the HDX is a upnp server then a 3rd party device accessing it's data is not going to be an issue.  If you 'point' the Sonos to the HDX musicstore share then all it's going to do is read the data stored there, which is no different from what a UnitiQute for example would be doing.  Fundamentally the Sonos isn't going to work unless you tell it specifically where to find the music, but surely that's the same as any streaming device?

I don't have a UPnP server on my Apple Music Sever, so I'm assuming Sonus Bridge must provide UPnP in my set-up as it uses CIFS to see music on my AMS (only protocol I've allowed it to use through my firewall - except for DAAP, which I don't think it uses). Then other Sonus Devices interact with the Sonus Bridge (they stop working if I turn off the Bridge). However, I don't think the Sonus Bridge could do this if an HDX were substituted for my AMS unless HDX can be configured to allow CIFS access to its file-system. 

If it were HDX-SDD with files stored on a NAS then I think this would be different. 

All the best, Guy

HDX has read-only CIFS support by default, as sharepoint named Music–make sure to select the MQ folder within.

That should do it then, David. Just add a Sonus Bridge (fairly cheap) and you should be able to Sonus HDX ripped music around your house or at least the OP's kitchen. Agreed it is no UnitiQute, but it is much cheaper and doesn't really claim to be. I have both and the UQ is different class, but I still like the Sonus (sounds good through my trusty Naim DAC). 

I think the UQ is the best vfm hi-fi item I've ever bought - sounds fantastic fed through its S/PDIF from a MF VLink/Apple Music Server. It sounds better than ever now its been left on for a few months. I've had to work today at my computer and the UQ has provided a superb accompaniment. 

All the best, Guy

I have this exact setup with a Naim HDX connected into my eight zone Sonos system. The Sonos sees the HDX as  UPNP device and you browse it through the Folders option under the music library menu option on the Sonos.  Music plays fine through the Sonos from the HDX and you get to see album artwork etc on the Sonos controller. The only downside is the HDX msuic naming standards are not Itunes based so you do not get the same search flexibility or title display as you do with Itunes tracks.

Quality wise you can tell the difference between HDX ripped tracks when played through the Sonos as opposed to my normal 320kbs MP3 tracks in Itunes but the difference is not huge.

From a user interface point of view the Sonos controllers/Iphone/Ipad apps win when compared to the Nserve.

Thank you very much for all the replies. Of course I would prefer to purchase the UnitiQute but its a bit too costly for me for only listening music in kitchen while cooking. I also want to keep the money to buy this year the DAC for the HDX. For the kitchen the Sonos looks like a good solution, small & cheap!

Many Thanks

Greetings from 

Lorenz 

You just tell the Sonos system to browse for music from the NaimHDx. Go into Sonos desktop on a pc and add the MQ folders on the Naim HDX as a browse music location. 

Works perfectly with no problems.

Yes the Sonos is just reading the music store on the HDX.  Works very well with no problems and no danger as the Sonos merely reads music from the HDX. You can access multiple songs from different zones all with music stored on the HDX and it works very well. The advantage of this approach is that all the control is done on the Sonos which is functionally better than the Naim equivalents. Naim seem to understand/manufacture the hardware (electronics) very well but their software is work in progress (and they have a lot to learn)

I am belatedly picking-ip on this thread.

I have got the same set-up: HDX (SSD version) in one room and Sonos in the kitchen.  I have no problem getting Sonos to play music ripped on the HDX but, of course, the one thing you can't do is play the same thing simultaneously on HDX and Sonos.  Or am I wrong and someone has found a way to do this? 

The Sonos is a proprietary system which understands the concepts of zones and groups, allowing you to add Sonos devices to groups to make them act as one zone and control them either individually or as a group. The HDX is not part of the Sonos network and so the Sonos cannot control it, nor can the Naim n-Stream control the Sonoses (Soni?). So no, you can't do it.

Regards,
Frank.
All opinions are my own and do not reflect the opinion of any organisations I work for, except where this is stated explicitly.