3rd party upgrades to Sonos - beneficial?

Sonos is impressive technology hampered by its software rather than hardware. True you can Become obsessed about its relatively low grade power supplies and jitter prone s/pdif connections (I don't ) -some of the mods may give you reassurance ... But the mesh networking is robust and v impressive.

For me it is the current limitations of software - the clunky queue system, lack of hi-Res and memory issues that put me off long term use.

Tog

My only gripe (and then only in principle rather than practice for me) is the lack of high-res support. I've toyed with the idea of modding my ZP90, but in all honesty is sounds great so I'm probably not going to mess.

Graham - do you have any specific area of discontent with the ZP90 performance. You got a pretty top flight set-up so it would be very interesting to know!

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the clunky queue system, lack of hi-Res and memory issues that put me off long term use.

I agree about he lack of high res but the other points do not worry me as such. I asked a Sonos rep about this when I visited the National Audio show and the reply was that "they are aware of it" implying they are working on something but nothing definite was forthcoming.

Re "True you can Become obsessed about its relatively low grade power supplies and jitter prone s/pdif connections" - it was this that prompted me to ask the question.

I am not knocking the Sonos as I think it does an excellent job for the money but I suspect the price reflects the effort put in to the power supply etc. Hence my query as to whether the third party upgrades significantly improve sound quality or not and whether they are worth the money.

I would consider trying a modified Sonos v my own one if a home demo option was available but unfortunately it is not.

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Originally posted by GrahamFinch:
I would consider trying a modified Sonos v my own one if a home demo option was available but unfortunately it is not.

A home demo IS available from Audiocom, the down side is that they only home demo the Signature mod (top mod out of three, if you give them a grand deposit and pay carriage both ways) I was toying with the idea but then decided not to; I thought that a) the ZP90 was getting a bit long in the tooth and an upgrade should be due soon, b) if Sonos doesnt do a hifi reference player some other manufacturer will fill in the gap between them and say the NDX and c)Once modded, I would never get my money back if I decided to sell on a well known auction site... but yes, if you want to demo it, you can, but only the top flight one... and that I think put me off too, I knew I would not be able to afford it (the top mod) so demoing it would be an excercise in futility...

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Originally posted by GrahamFinch:
The clunky queue system, lack of hi-Res and memory issues that put me off long term use.

Ive never experienced any of these? What do you mean by clunky queue system and memory issues? Can you explain?

Re. Hi res... mmmm... a) I tried with Robert Plant's raising sand and was soooo disappointed (could NOT hear a difference) and b) If I could have MOST of the stuff I listen too in Hi Res, I would complain but I see no point upgrading a system to play music in that I dont like in the first place! TBH I struggle to find anything out there thats of my interest... I imagine that some out there go the other way round, "if its in HiRes, will listen" I wont, unless I liked the std. res version...

The mods to the Sonos don't include the clock upgrade which their SB Transporter mods include. If jitter was that big an issue surely the clock would be one of the first places to look?

Before you have any mods done please try it with a Powerline. I continue to be amazed at the effect this has.

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Originally posted by John Bailey:
Before you have any mods done please try it with a Powerline. I continue to be amazed at the effect this has.

Although curious, my faith stops me from spending £400 on mains cable and my reasoning rings an alarm when I think that a piece of cable is sold (Not 'cost' but 'sold') for a third of what I paid for a complete amplifier! Somethings wrong there...

Borrow one from a dealer....

I originally bought it (following a demo) for the CDX2 but have since found even greater benefits on the Sonos.

Never buy blind or on someone elses say-so but if you can borrow one (you will also need an IEC 3 pin female to figure of 8 male conversion cord) then it will, I think, raise a smile.

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Before you have any mods done please try it with a Powerline. I continue to be amazed at the effect this has.

I have done that already and agree with you. This partly reinforces my curiosity as how much "better" a modified Sonos might be.