PC or Mac Based Software Zone Player

[Paul.Raulerson]

Originally Posted by Morsleib

I too was originally of the opinion that this was a good idea. However having read the technical issues (and listened to my TV live in one room and Sonos'd in the next) I can see the difficulties. The point about S5 availabilty is perhaps relevant. It points possibly to the potential demand for the small S5 (S1 or S2) which has been discussed in other threads. A 'cheap' (did I just use that word in a Sonos thread? ) player would largely satisfy the demand for PC side music. Make it USB powered and it would even look like a PC device.



Agreed. Despite claims to the contrary sync is all.

Terry

I'm a rank newbie here guys, and I am really here because my local audio store uses your products. That's a very high recommendation.

Two things I have noticed, and please feel free to correct me if I am wrong:

(1) There is no hi-res (24/44.1, 24/96, 24/192) capability with any of the Sono's players (yet), and

(2) There is no way to connect a USB DAC up to the system.

This was why I was looking at this thread of course, since it would make sense to me if I could run some software that would allow me to hook up my Wavelegth DAC (USB only) to our main system, and run USB as well as high res music to it.

I don't care so much about the two or three remote locations, so long as the player or software driving the player will downsample 24/96 files and at least play them.

Would you folks be so kind as to point me in the right direction to further educate myself?

By the way, we looked at the Squeezebox Touch and it would come pretty close to meeting the need, but it will not drive our USB DACs without hissing and popping like a very annoyed cat.

Thanks
-Paul

[NoBoB]

Welcome to the forum.

1) Correct.

2) In theory, the analog output of a USB DAC can be connected to the analog Line-In of a ZonePlayer (ZP90, ZP120, Play:5 but not the Play:3). However, that connection then runs through a ADC to digitize the signal so that it can be distributed to the rest of the network, even when playing back only through its own outputs. I suspect that the double conversion will do far more damage than transcoding a compatible copy and using that for direct Sonos playback.

There's no provisions for using Sonos as a conduit to an external DAC for the unsupported bitstreams. You can feed a DAC via Sonos with 16/44, but not 24/96.

The USB-only DACs, like your Wavelength, have no provisions to digitally connect to Sonos at all.

[Paul.Raulerson]

Originally Posted by NoBoB

Welcome to the forum.

1) Correct.

2) In theory, the analog output of a USB DAC can be connected to the analog Line-In of a ZonePlayer (ZP90, ZP120, Play:5 but not the Play:3). However, that connection then runs through a ADC to digitize the signal so that it can be distributed to the rest of the network, even when playing back only through its own outputs. I suspect that the double conversion will do far more damage than transcoding a compatible copy and using that for direct Sonos playback.

There's no provisions for using Sonos as a conduit to an external DAC for the unsupported bitstreams. You can feed a DAC via Sonos with 16/44, but not 24/96.

The USB-only DACs, like your Wavelength, have no provisions to digitally connect to Sonos at all.

That is indeed a shame. I would not mind paying for a zone if I could use the computer to do that.

I can see where there would be worries about it eating into hardware sales though.

-Paul

[dann0]

I'd consider purchasing software that would allow my Mac to act as another player.

Depending on the price, I think that it would be acceptible to make it only act as a mirror of an existing Sonos player.

[jgatie]

Originally Posted by Paul.Raulerson

That is indeed a shame. I would not mind paying for a zone if I could use the computer to do that.

I can see where there would be worries about it eating into hardware sales though.

-Paul

Originally Posted by dann0

I'd consider purchasing software that would allow my Mac to act as another player.

Depending on the price, I think that it would be acceptible to make it only act as a mirror of an existing Sonos player.

If you read the entire thread, the general consensus is a software player is impossible to sync with existing hardware players due to timing issues inherent to the PC/Mac architecture. Without sync, you have a standalone player, which is pretty much anathema to the Sonos design.

[ochofflo]

Originally Posted by dann0

I'd consider purchasing software that would allow my Mac to act as another player.

Depending on the price, I think that it would be acceptible to make it only act as a mirror of an existing Sonos player.

I'm new to Sonos and I find the product very cool. Especially the zone groupe feature. Howewer I'd like to be able to use the speaker on my PC to play the Music from Sonos. Before buying the product I looked at the Logitech Squeezebox and it was possible for doing so. I was awaiting the same feature from Sonos !
I have no more room in my home office for additionnal speaker as I've already subwoofer and medium connected on my PC.

I read this thread and I could understand Sonos as giving some arguments why not possible but I really don't understand the sync problem....
but then I would await following features:
be able to use my existing PC speaker system for playing music from Sonos. Anyhow I need this feature !
Does anyone have a suggestion for this ?

Probably the solution will come from an independent programmer coding such an application.

[jerryb]

I don't know your setup, but is there a way to let Sonos feed your speakers directly? If so then feed Sonos from your computer using Bluetooth. I use Belkin's little receiver for a similar purpose and it works great.

[mikes]

Originally Posted by ochofflo

Howewer I'd like to be able to use the speaker on my PC to play the Music from Sonos. Before buying the product I looked at the Logitech Squeezebox and it was possible for doing so. I was awaiting the same feature from Sonos !
I have no more room in my home office for additionnal speaker as I've already subwoofer and medium connected on my PC.

I haven't read this whole thread so maybe it's been mentioned, but I am doing this right now. I have the RCA audio out on my zp120 connected to the audio input on my computer. I have a mac, so I am then using Rogue amoebas free utility "linein" to pass the audio from the input, to the output, making it play from my computer speakers. I have zero lag between this zone and my other zones.

This isn't a PC/Mac based zone player (you still need the sonos hardware) but does allow for you to play the sonos stream through your PC speakers.

[The]

I can't believe that the only way to utilise the computer speakers from the computer that is streaming the music is to BUY another zone and use the line-in!!! This is nuts (and ridiculously expensive)!

I'm tech savvy but no programmer, so if there's anyone that can shed any light on this then I'd appreciate it. Is there any hardware required to add a computer as a zone?! Especially if it's the computer that's streaming the music in the first place? Surely this is a software matter? And if so, Sonos, PLEASE can you show some kindness to those of us paying a lot of money for your system who would like to be able to include computer speakers as part of our setups....?! Please?!

Moderator note: We moved this post, and the following reply into this main PC as a Zone discussion -- in an attempt to avoid some keyboard rage.

Oooops! I'm such a Noob! Thanks so much for doing that for me! My apologies for the rage potential.

[jgatie]

General concensus amongst knowledgeble people is a PC based Zone is impossible given the hardware deficiencies in a PC/Mac. See this long and contemptuous thread:

http://forums.sonos.com/showthread.php?t=3004