"Whole home audio" - What are you doing?

JSQT

JSQT

Member
Joined
Dec 23, 2018
Messages
174
Location
Salem VA
I've recently been in flux in my office system and decided to put some Sonos components around the house during the holidays. Overall I have been really impressed with the overall "it just works" simplicity of the whole thing. I have 2 Sonos Ones (kitchen and master bath) as well as a Sonos Move in the living room/great room (which is open to the kitchen)... the idea there being it is a portable sound source which can move from the living room to the piano room to the deck, etc. I have a Sonos Amp in the office system with the Heresy IIIs and JL d110 sub.

Which is weak point actually - the Sonos Amp functionally is fantastic. Especially when I'm upstairs in the kitchen and I can hear the sub down in my office playing the same tunes. But it's clearly not hi-fi and as much as I want to say "hey, no worries, it's background music!" I'd still like to move the needle a bit in the office and be able to hang out there and enjoy some critical listening every once in a while.

So I am able to do a 1-for-1 exchange for my extra MW-88uSE for a Naim Uniti Atom, which I have been interested in for a long time. I am geeked about getting this cool all-in-one unit that also is very easy on the eyes.

But it strikes out the office from the "whole house" music system of the Sonos universe.

The Sonos 1 speakers sound JUST FINE to have tunes in the kitchen, bath, piano room, etc. So I could just keep things as-is.

I also have a couple of Google CCA pucks, which means since the Atom is Chromecast ready, I could Line-in the CCA puck into my Klipsch The Three in the living room, and I have one to spare. But that isn't an ideal situation.

The other option is to gradually swap out Sonos units with Mu-so QB 2 and Mu-So in the living room. I kind of think that's overkill. I'd be swapping out a $150 Sonos 1 in my bathroom with a $800 QB 2 in the bathroom just for the convenience of being able to walk around the house with seamless music. Doesn't seem to make $$ense.

So I'm interested in hearing how fellow sharks have approached whole-house audio (if at all). What's working for you? Is there any point in looking beyond Sonos?
 
There are several ways to accomplish the "whole house" sound system you mentioned.

Sonos, as you mentioned, is one way.

A cheaper way is using Amazon echo devices. You can “group” several echo devices so they all play the same music simultaneously. The drawback is that the sound quality of the Amazon devices is not as good as that of Sonos devices.

Another way is using Roon and Roon Endpoint devices. With Roon you can also “group” devices and listen to the same music throughout the home. You can also have more than one “group” in your home and listen to different music on each group at the same time. In terms of cost, it will depend on how good sound quality you want (the sky is the limit since you can have whatever speakers/system you want as part of your group).
 
Many years ago we had speakers put in 8 rooms. The wiring all runs to one locations where it is connected to to a Niles switch box which contains autoformers to ease the load that one of my Krell integrated ultimately sees. I have Roon endpoint that I can control and select by music to be sent to any or all of the rooms and my upper deck too. Works nicely.
 
I use Roon to play music to a dCS Network Bridge, NAD M10, Classe Sigma integrated, and two Sonos systems. I don’t want to be tied into a single vendor system.
 
Projectman said:
I use Roon to play music to a dCS Network Bridge, NAD M10, Classe Sigma integrated, and two Sonos systems. I don’t want to be tied into a single vendor system.
Click to expand...

I had forgotten that Sonos now integrates with Roon. So the OP could actually continue using his Sonos devices in certain rooms and add higher quality components for high-end listening in other parts of the house. All that being controlled by Roon.
 
I use Control4 to manage audio, video, security and lights in my home; except for my dedicated music room with no automation, just my audio system. Expensive but it works great even remotely for security and lights. Also, Control4 has a plugin for Tidal I’m able to stream good quality music throughout my home.
 
Ritmo said:
I use Control4 to manage audio, video, security and lights in my home; except for my dedicated music room with no automation, just my audio system. Expensive but it works great even remotely for security and lights. Also, Control4 has a plugin for Tidal I’m able to stream good quality music throughout my home.
Click to expand...

Mike, I too run the exact setup you describe except my controller boxes are about 6 years old and now considered dated [emoji22]


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro
 
Thanks for the feedback folks...

I do use Roon, I feel like I'm pretty familiar with the way it all works. My understanding is that Roon can only group "like" technologies.

For example, it would be great to have a CCA puck running line in to my Klipsch The Three in the bedroom, the Sonos 1 in the bathroom playing the same music, and the Chord TT2/MScaler running in my media room - all playing the same music in sync.

However this is not possible with Roon - you would have to have a "Chromecast" group which would include the CCA and potentially the Uniti Atom (since it is CC-enabled), a "Sonos" group with the Sonos 1/Move/Amp, and a standalone group consisting of the Chord stack. You can only group the same streaming technologies together in Roon.

It would be great to have a way to group all the different streaming tech (Google CC, Sonos, etc) but unfortunately at the moment there is no way to combine streaming tech.

The closest thing I think to this MAY be if all the units have some form of Airplay 2, in which I think you could group all Airplay devices (or split into separate groups), or Bluetooth, but you are limited with BT by proximity (and sound quality).

Sonos/Chromecast/BluOS/Airplay 2 all work well within their own ecosystem, but from what I understand you just can't connect/group Sonos with Google or anything else like that.

Sonos really does appear to have the easiest and best-integrated ecosystem but it does have limitations around sound quality... which is not a big deal when you're cooking dinner or in the shower, but it would still be nice to have something integrating both the main system (Chord) and the office system (Uniti Atom/Chromecast).

I wouldn't be surprised if the tech companies have this sorted out sometime in the next few years, but I predict Sonos will play a big part in whatever that solution is. Just too many installers using Sonos all over the place for ease of use and integration.
 
UltraFast69 said:
Mike, I too run the exact setup you describe except my controller boxes are about 6 years old and now considered dated [emoji22]


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro
Click to expand...

My home system is only 2 yrs old and has worked flawlessly.
 
You know more about it than I do, I wondered Iif you have looked at the Bluesound or HEOS products? May provide a step up from Sonos in SQ. You could use the HEOS Link in your office, it has digital out if the DAC isn't sufficient.

I don't recommend any of It for your main system.

It's a shame Roon wouldn't work, my friend has it, he can pick a song and Roon just takes over and DJ's, does a good job too.
 
A cheaper way is using Amazon echo devices. You can “group” several echo devices so they all play the same music simultaneously. The drawback is that the sound quality of the Amazon devices is not as good as that of Sonos devices.


Yea, a listening device in every room. I wouldn't have one at all in my house. If you want some basic info on how to protect your rights, read the below NYT article.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/03/us/ccpa-california-privacy-law.html
 
If you like Sonos get a Wyred4Sound modified Sonos Connect and use an external DAC and other electronics of your choosing. This is the only real option for Hi-Fi in the Sonos ecosystem.

https://wyred4sound.com/products/upgrades-and-mods/sonos-connect-modified

When I first got the w4S modified connect I tested it and it was bit perfect from files on my HDD to its digital coaxial output.

Still limited to Redbook 16/44.1
 
That Wyred4Sound Connect looks like a good idea. Sonos has replaced the Connect with the more expensive Port. I am thinking it may be possible to still grab a W4S Connect and run that into a digital input on the Uniti Atom when I want to run the "whole-house" thing; that would bring the office back into the equation and keep the Sonos ecosystem in the rest of the house. The Sonos Amp that is currently in the office can go in the garage or a kid's bedroom.

Thanks!
 
Check with W4S - I think they have a stock of modified Sonos Connect units they can sell you directly.
There are always used units available on auction sites if you don't mind the delay and want to save a few bucks.

The W4S modifed Connect sounds really good driving my Schiit Yggdrasil and Benchmark DAC 3 HGC. No complaints.
You get a transformer isolated coaxial S/PDIF output with the mod so there are no interface or grounding issues with the rest of your system.
I think the W4S modded Connect is an Audiophile bargain.
 
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