Integrating Naim to Sonos

You can add the UnitiQute to the NAIT XS via the uniti-gain AV input, and utilize the n-Stream app for control.

Also - you can connect the TV to the Qute as well, either analogue (uniti-gain) or digital. Problem solved - and you can ditch the Cambridge DAC.

You could replace the NAIT XS and the Cambridge Audio DAC with a SuperNait & use its internal DAC. Not quite the 1 box solution you were looking for, but an upgrade on the Naim front and 1 less box (and the Sonos Zone Player hardly counts as a box, so maybe a 1 + 1/4 box solution!)

You could demo the NaimUniti and UnitiQute and see if if gets close to the Sonos --> DACMagic --> Nait XS for quality. If so then just run a UPnP server on the Mac alongside it providing music to the Sonos devices. This is the only (Naim) one box solution.

Or the Supernait instead of DACMagic and Nait XS.

Or add a Naim DAC to the XS to replace the DACMagic (though this is obviously not reducing box-count).

Or the new NDX into the Nait XS.

Eloise

I'm using Sonos into Supernait and am very happy. It may be 2 boxes, but the Sonos is so small you might even be able to find a way to hide it - afterall it doesn't need a line of sight for the controller as it works via the wireless networlk, not infrared.

Thank You for everybody's input and advice. Food for thought:

a. Getting rid of the Sonos and/or Replacing with Naim would bring more disadvantages than benefits

I did think of the Supernait option, yes, it does not get rid of the Sonos box but you're right, it almost does not count as a box

This is going to sound really silly but what I really miss in the sonos is a little screen a-la-Squeezebox that tells me whats playing, since my system runs 24.7 on shuffle and I constantly add new stuff... (and yes, Im too impatient to fire up my Sonos app on the iphone everytime I walk into a room and Im too tight to spend £300 on a Sonos remote!) - an always-on ipad maybe? hehe

Re. the Naim DAC, i tried it at home and I could not justify the 2K outlay for the (small) gains in performance IMHO... I guess I was expecting fireworks but that simply does not happen at this stage (level) of hifi, everything is minimally incremental... (but that is another thread)

Some weeks ago I brought home a Cyrus 8 XP d Qx to try... and if it wasnt for the fact that it simply does not have Naim's PrAT (plus its fugly) I would've kept it, compact chassis, Incorporated decent DAC and a screen with programmable inputs for my TV, Sonos and MacMini Media centre... Anyway.

I sometimes think I have this obsessive-compulsive disorder that pushes me into this single-box quest plus the fact that I've been like brain washed into believing that my Cambridge Audio DAC 'cannot be any good' My ears disagree, hence my need to replace it with anything Naim!

The Uniti's do sound better than your combo and a SN is big diff to the Sonos via dig out. It will leave the Cambridge in the mud. Doesn't make the Cambridge bad but it's a big dif.

quote:

Originally posted by Alonso:
This is going to sound really silly but what I really miss in the sonos is a little screen a-la-Squeezebox that tells me whats playing, since my system runs 24.7 on shuffle and I constantly add new stuff... (and yes, Im too impatient to fire up my Sonos app on the iphone everytime I walk into a room and Im too tight to spend £300 on a Sonos remote!) - an always-on ipad maybe? hehe

Look for a 2nd hand/ex-dem/end of line CR100 - the older Sonos remote. I got a brand new on there for £80 not so long ago but there are so many on there right now you'd almost certainly be able to do even better than that.

It may not be as swish or smooth as the new CR200 but it does the job perfectly well and solves your problem.

Or an Ipod touch. Works as well as the new Sonos remote with the free app and you still have an Ipod touch when not using sonos.

quote:

Originally posted by DT79:

Look for a 2nd hand/ex-dem/end of line CR100 - the older Sonos remote. I got a brand new on there for £80 not so long ago but there are so many on there right now you'd almost certainly be able to do even better than that.

It may not be as swish or smooth as the new CR200 but it does the job perfectly well and solves your problem.

That is a fantastic idea DT! Thanks! I will look into it... I wonder if these things have an always on feature if its in its cradle... without the risk of fire or screenburn or any other thing... but yeah, a CR100 could do the trick for the 'what's playing' situation! Especially that Spotify is coming to Sonos at the end of the month (for premium only but what the heck!)

quote:

Originally posted by js:
Or an Ipod touch. Works as well as the new Sonos remote with the free app and you still have an Ipod touch when not using sonos.

That is something else I have also considered, but it would be like a waste... wife and myself both have iphones.. and the touch would suffer from the same slow response (5-10 secs) to find the network...

WOuldnt an ipad stuck to the wall be perfect? Its a shame that Sonos missed the train by not really exploiting the WOW factor that the real estate of the ipad's screen could give them instead of just making a bigger controller

quote:

Originally posted by js:
The Uniti's do sound better than your combo and a SN is big diff to the Sonos via dig out. It will leave the Cambridge in the mud. Doesn't make the Cambridge bad but it's a big dif.

I uniti better than NaitXS+CA DAC? Are you sure?

I know the SN is ideal cause it does have an integrated DAC but Ive heard from a few sources that the XS is actually "nicer" sounding than its big brother. Besides, even if the SN does perform better than my current set up, I need to decide if that extra "better" justifies the £1K outlay to replace my XS! All so relative in the HiFi world... Some people would remortgage the house for a tiny tiny improvement.

Alonso - the controllers (CR100 at least) sleep if you leave the system inactive for a while (it's hours at least) and takes a few seconds to 'wake' when you pick it up, but from what I can tell it doesn't sleep while things are playing. Whilst the system is playing the screen does switch off if you don't use the controller for a minute or two, but comes back on immediately as soon as you move it or touch a button.

Also I definitely recommend that you give the SN a try if you're in a position to do a demo.