Sonos - Monarchy Audio Upsampler - Deezer

[Bear]

So about two years ago I almost sold my Monarchy Audio Upsampler along with my old EAD 1000 transport as I was migrating to computer based audio and entering the 21st century. A fellow audiophile on Audiogon made a comment I should keep the Upsampler as the transport already has very good clocks etc. and that the Upsampler could be put to good use in other applications such as Sonos. I hung on to it and fast forwarding a year or two I have now moved into a new house and have a Sonos system which was mainly bought so my wife could stream music throughout the house without having to interact with the "big rig" which causes her endless frustration. I hooked a Sonos Connect up to my DAC more for kicks than anythng else. As predicted the sound quality was less than optimal. That's when the Upsampler came to mind and I rummaged through boxes to find it. Hooked it up and to my amazement the sound was vastly improved to a level where even compressed audio was tolerable through the main system which is very revealing. Very exciting! Then last week I get an e-mail that Sonos has hooked up with Deezer to stream uncompressed music with 30,000,000 songs available making it supposedly the largest in the world. The excitement level went up a few notches! I signed up and have now been playing around with Deezer for about a week. While AB tests reveal some differences compared to coming off my music server the sound quality if close enough that except for the most critical listening sessions it is totally acceptable. The small trade off in sound to get access to this huge music library is well worth it for every day sessions and listening. I am so glad I did not sell my Upsampler!!! Hook one up to your Sonos system and start streaming audiophile quality music with Deezer!!! I think we are getting somewhere in the digital world!!

[wappinghigh]

^ Hey this is a great post. Thanks for sharing.

[ErikM]

I've also used one of the Monarchy's on a Sonos in the past and it does work really well..I've since had the W4S Cullen mod done on a Sonos and it works even better! By having the re-clocking done in the Sonos one also eliminates the need for an extra digital cable..

 

I think a lot of folks dismiss the Sonos as a non-audiophile product, but in truth Sonos can be made to sound awfully good, and certainly more than good enough for normal non super critical listening..

[Bear]

I must also say that their speaker systems are not bad at all - especially the sound bar for TV. I have had a few sound bars in the past and they have always been disappointing. The Sonos bar is very good in my experience and puts out some serious bass for what it is and it doubles as a Sonos player to boot making it ideal for the bedroom or kitchen where you may want to stream some music as well.

[Toolonginexile]

I've been experimenting with Sonos and Deezer this week and even without the benefit of a reclocker I am impressed by the quality. Wonder if tidal offers anything Deezer does not.

 

I also like the Deezer interface