Sonos Port multiroom streamer

After almost 15 years Sonos replaces their old and tired streamer, the ZonePlayer, now known as the Connect. Like the Connect the new Sonos Port is a streamer that integrates your stereo in the Sonos ecosystem. Time to have a look. 15 Years ago there was only the Squeezebox that was dedicated to playing music from your computer in another room. The server software had to run on your computer and was written in Perl. The system was far from robust and required a - for that time - reasonably powerful computer. Then came Sonos with their ZonePlayer.

00:45 - It was so easy to install and so robust that we were rather impressed. There were two ZonePlayers, the 90 that now is called the Connect and the 120 that is now called the Connect:Amp. There was also the luxurious remote control that had an iPod-like controller. I bought a complete set with one of each. After a few years other solutions offered better sound quality and I sold the Connect: Amp and Controller and kept the Connect for research purposes. The controller was no longer needed for the iPhone became available and Sonos came up with a controller app.

01:23 - Later on I reviewed a by Magna Hifi modified version of the Connect over the SPDIF output and loved it. It was clear that the Connect’s main problem, jitter, was reduced drastically my the Magna modification. But also the power supply was improved. The modification costed € 400 and that way you got the best streamer then, using the best software for that time. For the way the Sonos system worked - and still works - is extremely good. I then wrote that I would even trust my mother to install it.

01:57 - You don’t know my mother but I can assure you that’s a statement. Finally, after 15 years, Sonos introduced the successor of the Connect, the Port, and a successor for the Connect:Amp, the Amp. I will only review the Port here that I bought at discount thought the trade-in program for the Connect. It appeared you can trade in your Connect and keep it. I could have borrowed the Amp from Sonos but they wanted me to visit them in advance, I suppose to get a promotional speech from someone with more sales experience than experience in streaming audio. So I reclined.

02:39 - Time to have a look at the Port and where it fits into your stereo. The Port has to be connected over RCA cables to an amplifier and loudspeakers. It also needs to be connected to your network so it can access the internet over the router. If you have music stored on your computer or NAS, that has to be connected to your network too and - for playing music - has to be switched on. The Port is controlled from an app on a smartphone or tablet.

03:10 - An optional simple remote control lets you control play/pause, skip and volume. The Port also has a stereo analog input at line level that can be shared over the network to other Sonos devices you might own. Any audio source can be connected here with the exception of a turntable and microphones. So you can share the output of a cd-player, cassette deck - if you still use one - game console, MP3 player and so on. If you want to share the turntable, you need a so called RIAA pre-amp to amplify the tiny signal coming from the turntable to line level.

03:50 - Some turntables nowadays have such a pre-amp built in. Sonos offers some of these through their webshop. Another option is to have a DJ mixer connected to the Port so that the DJ’s show can be broadcast to all your Sonos devices throughout the house. If you have an AV receiver or amplifier with digital inputs, you can connect the SPDIF output of the Port to it so you can enjoy the qualities of the DAC inside your receiver or amp. If you want a better DAC than built into the Port but don’t have an amp with built-in DAC or AV receiver, you can use a separate DAC in-between the Port and your amp.

04:30 - Again you use the SPDIF output of the Port and connect it to the SPDIF input of the DAC. Remember that when using SPDIF you need a 75Ω cable and not just a regular RCA cable. It will work but you will loose sound quality. 75Ω Cables are often called digital interconnects or video cables and might have a yellow RCA if it’s a video cable. Connecting your tv to the line inputs is less of a good idea since there is a small lag which takes the sound out of sync with the picture.

05:07 - Sonos has made the Port clearly smaller than the Connect and has left off the buttons the Connect has. The size is now such that three Sonos Ports can be placed in a 1U high 19” rack shelf. Which of course is targeted at the custom install market. Sonos also has a program of in-wall, in-ceiling and outdoor speakers aimed at this market. The small black plastic housing measures 138 by138 by 41 mm and weighs less than half a kilogram. The front only holds a status led that is hardly ever needed. On the rear we find the 12 volts DC input for connecting the wall wart switch mode power supply. Next to it the line inputs with further to the right the line outputs and the SPDIF output. Top row a 12 volts trigger output that can switch on an external amp that has a trigger input, then two 100 Mbps ethernet connectors, one to connect to your network and one to feed the network connection to another device, like for instance your video streamer. Remains the only button on the Port. It only needs to be pressed once to confirm connection to the controller app on your smartphone, tablet or computer.

06:27 - The next step in my reviews normally is a look inside the device on test but I could not find a way to get into the Port without breaking something. Setting up the Sonos Port is so simple that I’m not even going to show it. Just install the Sonos app on your smartphone or tablet and follow the on screen instructions. If you already have or have had Sonos equipment you log in to your account and all settings, like where your music is on your computer or NAS and your streaming accounts, like Tidal or Spotify, are automatically added. The only thing that might trouble you a bit is entering the path to your share that holds the music.

07:13 - You need to know the name our computer or NAS, that is used to be identified by you. It’s the name you see when you open the network tab in your finder or file explorer. Windows machines often use DESKTOP- followed by a mix of characters while NASses ask you to give the NAS an appropriate name yourself. Just use the following syntax: //computername/path So if your computer is called Desktop-1234567 and your music is stored in the standard music folder, use //Desktop-1234567/music. I use for my Synology NAS backslashes in stead of slashes.

07:58 - So if your NAS is called MySynology you type \\MySynology\music. In both cases you have to give the Sonos app your user name and password for your computer or NAS or make the music map accessible for guests. As far as Wifi is concerned, it only works on the 2.4 MHz band using the B and G standard. Modern N and AC routers should work by switching to either the B or G standard. So don’t switch off 2.4 Ghz and the B and G standard. Sonos warns that Wifi extenders often give problems and that you better use a mesh Wifi network if range is a problem.

08:45 - When starting the app you enter the My Sonos screen that shows you recently played music, the artists from the service you recently visited and a page with playlists you have made earlier. If you then tap “browse’ along the bottom of the screen, you see the services you have access to: the Music Library is your own music on your computer or NAS. They can be browsed by artists contributing artists, albums, composers and so on. You can also browse by folder. Let’s just browse by album. The album art comes up a bit slow on my iPad Air 2 but for the rest is’s quite responsive. Browsing on artists works just as fine. Using the alphabet on the right you can easily just to artists starting with for instance a P.

But this album won’t play since it’s sampled at 88.2 kHz and Sonos still adheres to the 48 kHz maximum. Sonos has announced that they will introduce a new operating system and that it will upgrade bandwidth. There are rumours that MQA and Dolby Atmos might be added too, but these rumours are not confirmed by Sonos. It’s not even clear if higher bandwidth will already be introduced in June.

10:05 - Airplay 2 is already supported, so if you’re in the Apple environment, you can use that to have Multiroom too. Back to the app. Internet radio is done by TuneIn. It is the well know catalog of hundreds of thousands of internet radios stations from all over the world. Furthermore about any streaming service is supported. You see I have activated Deezer, Qobuz and Tidal. Let have a peek at Tidal. When you select a track or album to play, you are asked what Sonos device should be used for playback.

10:42 - And of course you can group more Sonos devices if you like. Searching for an artist is a matter of tapping the looking glass and typing the name of the artist. As said, it’s a very good and stable system. It was even possible to play music by voice command using Google Home or Amazon Alexa. This is where the real surprise was. I am not too much a fan of the Sonos plastic wireless speakers - or, actually of none of those speakers by any brand.

11:14 - They have this artificially beefed up processed fast food sound. Like hamburger restaurants they are rather popular but I am more into gourmand sound. That doesn’t need to cost top dollar, it can be a fresh salad to keep the metaphor going. And perhaps a fresh salad is a very good metaphor for the sound quality of the Sonos Port. Where the Connect clearly has the jittery sound of early digital streamers, the Port sound fully up-to-date.

11:44 - The lows go deep with a - for this class - fair amount of texture. Voices are even quite natural. The weakest part is in the highs that, although not bad for its class, have some harshness while sibilance isn’t fully controlled. The stereo image is 30 to 40 percent of what it ideally can be and that again is good for its class. Replacing the wall wart switch mode power supply by an audiophile power supply, like the sBooster BOTW P&P ECO MK2 I have used, brings the sound quality one step further up. Sound wise I would classify it then in the lower end of my setup 2, next to the Bluesound Node 2i.

12:28 - I would say that for using the Sonos environment on proper stereo equipment the Port brings Sonos to the modern times. So would I buy the Port? Well I have bought one, but mainly for testing purposes. Sonos has a very strong market position so I need to follow that. I prefer the Bluesound Node 2i for it not only support sampling rates up 192 kHz, it also does MQA, is probably the only competitor that has software and an app that equals that of Sonos, does support the use of any infrared remote control, a subwoofer output and a USB port to connect a USB drive to so you don’t need to have a computer switched on. On the other hand, the Sonos Port is the right choice for those that already have other Sonos product.

13:25 - Then it might come in handy that you can connect an analog source and broadcast it to the other Sonos players. Price wise the Sonos Port is cheaper at € 449. But if you want equal analog quality, you need to use a better power supply. The sBooster I used will set you back € 329 and then it’s more expensive than the Node 2i that costs € 549. If we look at the other competitors, they usually base their systems on DLNA or the about equal UPnP AV standard that to me is of clearly lower quality, software wise.

14:05 - You can tweak these systems and use DLNA server software like MinimServer to make it better, but what I like about both Sonos and Bluesound is the ease of installation and operation. Some on the web find the Port expensive. I fully disagree. It’s a good product for the money so if it fits your needs there is no reason not to buy it. Fine words to end this video with but not before I wish you a safe environment and ask you to please take care. Use your music to get through the day. It’s as good as meditating. See you next week. There will be a new video, if possible next Fridays at 5 PM central European time. If you don’t want to miss that, subscribe to this channel or follow me on the social media so you will be informed when new videos are out.

14:54 - If you liked this video, give it a thumbs up. Many thanks to those viewers that support this channel financially, it keeps me independent and thus trustworthy. If that makes you feel like supporting my work too, the links are in the comments below this video on Youtube. I am Hans Beekhuyzen, thank you for watching and see you in the next show or on theHBproject.com. And whatever you do, enjoy the music. And keep safe. .