Are Sonos ZP90 mods better than standard version?

And yet a Sonos ZP90 will still sound different to a modded ZP90, to a CD5XS, to a CDX2.2, to an ND5XS, to an NDX and no amount of lit sync lights will change this.

That said, I actually think an unmodded ZP90 sounds rather good through the nDAC...

Tomorrow's the day and I'm quite excited about it.  The modded box is back from Germany and I've got tomorrow off work to do the comparison with my friend.  For info, Item Audio UK (the wyred4sound UK distributor) offered us the loan of one of their boxes but couldn't get it to us in time for the test tomorrow so we'll probably do another comparison in a month or two.  I'll post something on here over the weekend....it might be very short..."They sound identical to me." but regardless, it's a great excuse to have a few beers and enjoy each other's music.

> it might be very short..."They sound identical to me."

It is not the same after the W4S mod - it sounds different this is probably because it up-samples to 24/88.2 - the bitstreams are different; however might be different with the mod you are going for. I hope it works out and you are happy with the results. The mods you are getting looked very well thought out and the price was very reasonable, so I would expect something good 

All the best, Guy

Ok the testing is complete and I'm nursing a sore head. The short answer is that that the mod made a difference although quite a small one.  The difference was more pronounced on some e.g ac/dc thunderstruck live and the eagles hell freezes over whilst others e.g johnny cash American iv didn't sound different at all to my ears. no idea why that is and I don't really care either.  The main difference was a widening of the soundstage.

I did a short comparison with my arcam alpha 8 as source and there was little difference but if pressed i'd go for the disc spinner as the better quality source.  The best part of the day was when we finished listening to the equipment and got back to enjoying the music. And relax.

My friend's decided to get his upgraded too and i'm glad I did it. Until i hear something that sounds much better and has a decent control system I'll stick with sonos.

Glad the Sonos mod made an improvement.  What was very clear to me is that there was a chasm of diference between the unmodded sonos and other solutions such as computer-hiFace-ndac and squeezebox NDAC that this "bit perfect" nonsense and the NDAC can de-jitter anything has to be taken with a pinch of salt.  It is no more true than the old "perfect sound forever" claim of CD.

Having set this particular hare running last year, I thought I'd post a progress update. My Gert Volk modded Sonos ZP90 into Audiolab MDAC is now firing on all cylinders and I'm as happy as the proverbial pig.

Even better, I've just ditched the Sonos mains cable for a Merlin Tarantula and, seriously, things are now better again! I would really recommend upgrading the mains cable for your ZP90s, folks.

I'm going through something of an electronic music phase (no puns intended) and I never thought I would get quite so lost in space listening to Kraftwerk without headphones as earlier today.

[Have noticed that Fidelity Audio are doing various Sonos ZP90 upgrades including a separate PSU - would be interested to hear if anyone has tried them.]

Good to hear it's been worth the effort David, enjoy your modded ZP90!

I took a different path than Nick who started this thread and would like to share my experience, as well.  Two weeks ago I purchased a Wyred4Sound modified Sonos to replace a standard unit in my audio system.   So after connecting it up, how did it sound?  Wow, a major improvement over the standard Sonos in many important ways, even with a low quality signal from MOG (320k bits).   The effect is immediately noticeable, too.  No straining to hear small differences.  The W4S Sonos grade is money very well spent IMO.  For context, my system includes: W4S Sonos>Rega Dac>Naim Nait XS>Totem Rainmaker>Chord Cables.  I am also using a Furutech cable ($150) to power the Sonos, and it really improves the sound quality 

BTW, before making this purchase I considered a new re-reclocker from Empirical Audio called Synchro-Mesh and posted information about the product earlier in this thread (Feb 3^rd).  Synchro-Mesh may still be a good option for others, including Squeezebox users.  However, I decided to purchase the W4S Sonos because of the many positive comments in this forum.  In this regard, I would like to thank Guido for sharing his experience with the W4S Sonos and competing products, which in the end help guide my decision.  

Kendrick, it sounds excellent and i'm glad you found a big difference...from the sound of it, a bigger difference than the one I experience with the Dr Volk mod.  My friend and I intend to borrow one of the W4S mods and compare it to the vanilla and Volk models in a couple of months so will report back.

Just a quick question, I've heard that because of the upsampling you lose the ability to group the upsampled zone with any other.  Is this true?  This isn't an issue for me as my zones are far apart and I'm happy to start each zone individually but my friend has a more open plan house and he likes to group his kitchen and living room zones when he's wandering around the house.

MoooMoo - You mentioned hearing only a small difference with the Gert Volk Sonos mod.   Did you ever say what mod level you purchased?  If level 1, that might explain why you hear only a modest difference.   Level 2 and 3 are more expensive, and one would think offer better sound quality.  

Glad to see you are considering testing the W4S and Volk mods and posting the results on this forum.   This would very helpful to anyone thinking about a Sonos upgrade.   I looked extensively for something similar a few months ago and found nothing helpful.  Plenty of reviews of pain vanilla vs. the modified unit but nothing comparing two totally separate modifications.  BTW, someone on the Sonos forum (see “ZP90/Connect Modification Comparison” in Feb 2012) intends to compare W4S, Audiocom, and Volk Sonos mods but has not yet shared any results. 

Sorry that I can’t answer your question since I only have one zone player.  Maybe you can call or email Sonos or someone else on the forum can help.   Best Regards,  Kendrick.

Kendrick, when we emailed volk he didn't mention anything about different levels of mod. We simply asked what the mod was and he said something about power supply and the clock but nothing about different levels. He also just gave us one price.  Looking back, he also didn't say anything about doing coax as standard and the optical for another 50 euros (he did this in the end for nothing) so its possible that he does have different levels but it got lost in translation. 

I think the person on the sonos forum could be my friend James.  He also posted on avforums in much more detail than I did here.  I'll ask him.  I'll be back with the w4s comments as and when.

David

MoooMoo - I'm wrong about Dr. Volk offering three levels of Sonos modifications.   My memory did not serve me well, though it's not the first time!   When writing, I was thinking of Audicom's thee levels of Sonos mods but somehow confusing that with Dr. Volk's products.  I am sorry. 

Revisiting this thread today as i got together with my chum to compare the w4s upsampling zp90 to the dr volk mod and the unmodded. This was done at his house on a non naim system alternating between the arcam rdac and audiolab Mdac.  We played around a bit and the difference is noticeable and worthwhile (in my mind) but not night and day to my ears.  In summary I preferred both the modded boxes over the vanilla but they offered  different things.  The soundstage was wider with the w4s and it also gave me an airy sound that I really enjoyed. The dr volk mod gave me the ability to place the vocals and also had a bigger punch which I particularly liked when listening to some rockier tunes.  Both these modded boxes are worth considering if you love the sonos setup but it would be tough to decide between them. We've only got the w4s box for a week so it's unlikely that I'll get to try it on my naim setup but will post again if it works out.

David

Thanks for posting your impressions here an on the forum David! The fact that you and your mates are able to compare all three Sonos versions is quite unique. It would be great, if you could convince your friends to repeat the session at your place using your Naim system. I think the nDAC is quite special and different from the DACs you used in your listening session. Most of us here are of course interested in how the modded zp90s differ from the standard version when used in conjunction with the Naim DAC. What are the chances of you being able to entice your mates? Might only be the price of a few bottles of wine or a six pack or two? Keep us posted....

Cheers!!

tp

I'll do my best tp   

Have you ever tried to compare the two mods: W4S vs Dr Volk in a Naim system?