Should you’ve been patiently ready for Sonos to increase its high-resolution audio help to streaming music providers, excellent news: your wait is over.
Sonos simply introduced that Qobuz would be the first streaming music supplier to ship tunes in 24-bit decision to the platform. The high-resolution Qobuz integration will likely be obtainable within the Sonos S2 app beginning immediately within the U.S., in addition to in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Eire, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, and the UK.
Sonos enabled high-resolution audio for its audio system final fall, with the discharge of its up to date S2 app. However till now, you possibly can solely stream 24-bit FLAC or ALAC information from an area music library or NAS drive, not from streaming music providers.
“Qobuz has all the time strived to make the very best high quality audio accessible, as folks turn into extra focused on higher sound, “ stated Qobuz USA Managing Director Dan Mackta in Sonos’s announcement Wednesday. “Now, on Sonos gadgets, we’re making it simple for hundreds of thousands extra folks to expertise the development hi-res audio could make.”
Qobuz affords limitless 24-bit music streaming with sampling charges as much as 192kHz beginning at $15 a month ($150 if paid yearly). As a result of the Sonos platform helps a most sampling charge of 48kHz, if the Qobuz monitor you choose within the Sonos app is encoded at a decision larger than 24/48, Qobuz will ship a 16/44.1 stream to your Sonos system as a substitute.
Qobuz tells us about half or a bit extra of its library is offered in 24/48 decision, in order that’s what you’ll get in your Sonos audio system if it’s obtainable. Because the Sonos app doesn’t expose audio format info to the consumer, nevertheless, listeners gained’t get a visible affirmation of the standard that’s being streamed. Once we quizzed Sonos about this, a spokesperson responded “We’re all the time taking a look at methods to enhance our app expertise and can share extra over time.” Right here’s hoping that characteristic is within the works.
Sonos stated that 24-bit music streaming will work on “most” Sonos S2-compatible merchandise, together with the Sonos One One SL, Five and Play:5 (Gen 2) audio system; the Arc, Beam Playbar, and Playbase soundbars; the transportable Move and Roam audio system; and the IKEA Symfonisk Bookshelf and Table Lamp speakers. Two Sonos S2-compatible gadgets that gained’t help 24-bit streaming are the discontinued Play:1 and Play:3 audio system, though they proceed to help 16-bit streaming through Qobuz.
The primary- and second generations of the Sonos Sub are additionally restricted to 16-bit/48kHz streams; thankfully, nevertheless, Sonos has confirmed that having older S2-compatible elements in your community is not going to pressure your total system to drop to 16-bit decision. The {hardware} that’s able to dealing with a 24-bit stream will just do that, whereas the gear that isn’t will play a 16-bit stream. For the document, the third-generation Sonos Sub is able to decoding a 24/48 stream.
Moreover Qobuz, Sonos helps different music providers with high-resolution audio tiers, equivalent to Amazon Music HD and Tidal. For now, nevertheless, Sonos customers can solely stream CD-quality 16-bit audio from Amazon and Tidal. Audiophiles think about solely 24-bit audio to be worthy of the “high-resolution” moniker, though whether or not the typical listener can inform the distinction between CD-quality and high-res tunes is a matter of (typically heated) debate.
Sonos additionally boasts integrations with Deezer, which has a Hello-Fi tier with 16-bit (however not 24-bit) audio streaming, and Spotify, which just lately introduced its personal upcoming, CD-quality HiFi plan.
Different music providers obtainable on the Sonos app, together with Apple Music, Pandora, and YouTube Music, have but to supply high-resolution or CD-quality music tiers.
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