Getting fed up with Sonos

Steven Bornfeld

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Mar 15, 2021, 2:01:58 PM3/15/21

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I've just about had it with Sonos. I got around the ridiculously low
track capacity with Plex server. But I think the search function sucks,
and they're obsoleting older components with regard to controllers.
Have any of the sages here successfully used another type of
storage/ripper/player? Being able to get on my local network is fine,
but not necessary.
I received an ad for this:

https://thebrennan.com/collections/frontpage/products/brennan-b2

...which sounds something like what I'm looking for, but judging from
the reviews on Amazon it's not ready for prime time. Ability to play
multiple file formats would be a big plus.

Thanks,
Steve

MiNe109

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Mar 15, 2021, 2:29:15 PM3/15/21

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This?

https://www.smallgreencomputer.com/collections/audio-server/products/micro-jukebox?variant=5714824068

Much pricier than the similar Vortexbox appliance I got from them six
years ago. I use Logitech Media Server which generally does what I want
it to do.

Those with the ability could install free vortexbox software on an old
or cheap computer and get similar results.

Steven Bornfeld

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Mar 15, 2021, 4:13:48 PM3/15/21

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On 3/15/2021 2:29 PM, MiNe109 wrote:
> Logitech Media Server

Thanks--on paper it looks somewhat similar to the Brennan. Unfortunately
it seems to be sold out.

Martin Cohn

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Mar 16, 2021, 1:46:07 AM3/16/21

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Keep the Sonos, Steve. It is what it is. The secret is not to use their software. You can get Roon and run them all through Roon instead. Roon is far from perfect, but in a very imperfect world, I think it's the best we have.

Martin

Steven Bornfeld

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Mar 16, 2021, 11:33:23 AM3/16/21

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Thanks. Most of their website seems to concern itself with the
streaming services it's compatible with. Does it do a good job indexing
tracks I add with the metadata? It looks a bit similar to Plex in that
regard.

Andrew Clarke

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Mar 16, 2021, 9:14:43 PM3/16/21

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I don't know much about this kind of system, but it seems to me that all media player devices these days are primarily built to receive streaming services. For playing ripped CDs and downloads, I think we're primarily looking at computers, hand-held devices and 'active' speakers. I imagine Blutooth quality sound is good enough for 95% of the market, so mebbe other systems just can't compete?

Andrew Clarke
Canberra

Steven Bornfeld

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Mar 16, 2021, 10:59:55 PM3/16/21

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I certainly don't consider Sonos to be anywhere near audiophile quality.
However, these days neither are my ears.

Martin Cohn

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Mar 17, 2021, 1:53:15 AM3/17/21

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It's a million times better than Plex. As for the metadata, it pretty much relies on what you enter.

Martin

Martin Cohn

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Mar 17, 2021, 1:57:16 AM3/17/21

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The point of using Roon is that it's compatible with your Sonos units and can be even more compatible with better equipment where you have it installed.

I use Roon and Quobuz and the CD files I have on my Mac. That way I have a choice of anything I want to hear no matter which system I use. It feeds the Sonos in my bedroom and the one in my kitchen. But it also feeds my main, high resolution system in my living room.

Martin

Steven Bornfeld

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Mar 17, 2021, 1:07:28 PM3/17/21

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Thanks for the information!

Steve

Andrew Clarke

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Mar 17, 2021, 11:04:50 PM3/17/21

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Steve, I wasn't thinking of the sound quality, I'm sure Sonos is excellent, although I've never actually listened to any of their equipment. I've also just discovered that Sonos is available in Canberra not only at Hifi specialists but at our two discount chains as well, so they aren't just aimed at a niche audience, as I'd previously assumed.

I'm more interested in the Sonos concept, i.e. broadcasting via WiFi to any room in the house from a central source. What happens when different people want different music in different rooms of the house?

Andrew Clarke
Flophouse Audio
Canberra

Steven Bornfeld

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Mar 18, 2021, 11:34:20 AM3/18/21

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You can play different music in each room you have the system set up
simultaneously.

Steve

George M.

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Mar 18, 2021, 2:58:25 PM3/18/21

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I would like to second Logitechmedia Server or as it used to be known a squeezebox server. It does all that Sonos does plus more, there is no limit to library size or bit rates or anything, it plays all formats (I think DSD is not supported). Logitech no longer produces hardware players so you can use either a chromecast or preferably PI based players (check https://www.hifiberry.com/ for a number of configurations). As for a music server, Raspberry PI4 with attached usb3 hard-rive is working very well, I'm running a setup like that (plus 30w class D amp on the server) for many months now.

There is a little tinkering involved but if you shop around you might find pre-configured server and players. Tinkering is not serious, its just some basic setup. I can be of email help if required.

Logitechmediaserver is an Open Source now, so it will not go anywhere, there are active releases and improvements.

David Fox

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Mar 18, 2021, 5:22:51 PM3/18/21

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I've been using LMS (Squeezebox Server) for about 12 years now. It does everything that I want but many will need technical help setting it up and maintaining it - but not using it. Logitech exited a long time ago which may have been the best thing that ever happened to the product as community support filled in the gap and mushroomed. It is all Open Source so you don't have to worry anymore about a vendor shutting the platform down or randomly changing direction.

There is a strong plugin ecosystem and the plugins fill in many gaps. For example they can readily access Sonos existing players as LMS clients. I prefer to build inexpensive receiver clients from Raspberry PI's. The cheapest Raspberry Pi Zero (about $15 for the board) works just fine running the preconfigured piCorePlayer distribution complete with the LMS client squeezelite. Attach it to the USB DAC or your choice and you can hear your music on anything that can play, from a boom box to a $100K+ audio system. You can stream simultaneously to many clients at once, or switch on the fly.
If you use the full-strength Raspberry Pi board (about $35 ish) and your collection isn't too large, you can even run LMS on the Pi itself and spare the need to run the server on another machine.

David Fox

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Mar 18, 2021, 5:51:37 PM3/18/21

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On Thursday, March 18, 2021 at 11:58:25 AM UTC-7, George M. wrote:

I started using LMS within the VortexBox framework. Over time the distribution has slowly withered away. The underlying platform is Fedora Linux. For years Vortexbox remained on orphaned Fedora 23 and the most recent update only takes it to Fedora 25 which itself lost support and updates in December 2017. I slowly dipped my toes in the water and learned how to migrate my server and the features I care most about to the most recent Fedora releases. My server is currently running Fedora 33.

That being said, LMS is platform agnostic. It is written entirely in Perl (don't worry if you don't know what that is) and can readily be installed on Windows, Mac, and all Linux's. You can install LMS on whichever machine holds your music collection, or on any machine on the network which can access it.

Andrew Clarke

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Mar 19, 2021, 9:16:45 AM3/19/21

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Thanks, Steve

Andrew Clarke
Canberra

Steven Bornfeld

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Mar 19, 2021, 3:05:58 PM3/19/21

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Thank you David and George. My tech skills are meager and much of what
you've written is Greek to me, but I'm not afraid to play around with
this, as it seems inexpensive to do.

Steve

George M.

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Mar 20, 2021, 8:56:20 AM3/20/21

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There is an active support forum, very knowledgeable and mostly patient folks at https://forums.slimdevices.com/