Sonos best for physical media throughout an apartment?

[tinpanalley]

This is a physical media question. I'm not looking for streaming service suggestions, we don't use them at all.

 

We're moving into a new place soon and my wife and I have noticed that because of the layout, our stereo where we listen to mostly CDs, records, and a large collection of music on harddrives will be down a long hall from the kitchen/dining area where we're likely to spend enough time to want to be able to hear that music there as well. Without wanting to run speaker wire down this long hall because that would be ridiculous, we've learned about the Sonos Port which would let us hear whatever the 5.1 system in the living room is playing at any moment whether it's records, CDs, the hard drive music, etc by getting some Sonos speakers in the dining area. I see there are other similar Wifi based audio solutions, are they in any way better for this simple setup that is purely for physical media? Or is Sonos really the only game in town?

[TheBean]

sonos is def good hardware and works well afaik, but I would advise against them because of all the weird things they do with software updates, older hardware compatibility and just in general weird software stuff that could brick your device later down the line. 

[tinpanalley]

10 hours ago, The_Vaccine said:

sonos is def good hardware and works well afaik, but I would advise against them because of all the weird things they do with software updates, older hardware compatibility and just in general weird software stuff that could brick your device later down the line. 

Right. Ok. I keep getting recommended Sonos because of how wonderful their streaming service compatibility is despite the fact that I tell people I'm ONLY interested in physical media going to WiFi speakers. I guess it's just the brand people know so it's the brand people plug. Plus, I've also heard it's not even the best speaker quality and that things like the Audio Pro, Bose, and Bluesound are far better.

Thanks for the input.

[Commodus]

26 minutes ago, tinpanalley said:

Right. Ok. I keep getting recommended Sonos because of how wonderful their streaming service compatibility is despite the fact that I tell people I'm ONLY interested in physical media going to WiFi speakers. I guess it's just the brand people know so it's the brand people plug. Plus, I've also heard it's not even the best speaker quality and that things like the Audio Pro, Bose, and Bluesound are far better.

Thanks for the input.

I'm of the opposite stance... I have a Sonos system (not a Port, but I'm a digital-first guy) and enjoy the sound and convenience. It's warm and slightly bass-heavy in my experience, but still a treat to listen to.

 

I also scratch my head a bit at complaints about hardware compatibility. It's only now splitting off app support for speakers that are several years old or more, and those speakers still work (they just use a different app). It's difficult to completely avoid that issue with connected speakers, and Sonos appears to have handled that better than most.

[tinpanalley]

12 hours ago, Commodus said:

I'm of the opposite stance... I have a Sonos system (not a Port, but I'm a digital-first guy) and enjoy the sound and convenience. It's warm and slightly bass-heavy in my experience, but still a treat to listen to.

 

I also scratch my head a bit at complaints about hardware compatibility. It's only now splitting off app support for speakers that are several years old or more, and those speakers still work (they just use a different app). It's difficult to completely avoid that issue with connected speakers, and Sonos appears to have handled that better than most.

So here's the problem I'm having understanding this. It seems these types of systems want to force you to use their speakers at the main hub as well. Can't I just connect my old receiver and its various audio devices to a non speaker hub that then sends the audio via Wifi to wireless speakers via our network over in the dining area? I don't need any more speakers in our living room, it would be completely pointless. I thought the Audiopro Link One was such a hub but it turns out it's for sending a wireless music signal to your receiver only, not a hub that sends a signal OUT to wireless speakers. Because it has no RCA or headphone jack inputs. Can someone help me out here? I'm feeling a bit lost. Unless I'm mistaken it looks like you can plug anything you want into a Sonos Port which will then broadcast it but only to its own speakers. Is that right?

[Commodus]

8 hours ago, tinpanalley said:

So here's the problem I'm having understanding this. It seems these types of systems want to force you to use their speakers at the main hub as well. Can't I just connect my old receiver and its various audio devices to a non speaker hub that then sends the audio via Wifi to wireless speakers via our network over in the dining area? I don't need any more speakers in our living room, it would be completely pointless. I thought the Audiopro Link One was such a hub but it turns out it's for sending a wireless music signal to your receiver only, not a hub that sends a signal OUT to wireless speakers. Because it has no RCA or headphone jack inputs. Can someone help me out here? I'm feeling a bit lost. Unless I'm mistaken it looks like you can plug anything you want into a Sonos Port which will then broadcast it but only to its own speakers. Is that right?

The Sonos Port has both line in and line out, so you wouldn't have to use Sonos speakers... but you'd probably also need another Port on the other end. Not a trivial expense. I'd check for Port setup and review videos on YouTube to see if there's one that fits a scenario like yours. 

[tinpanalley]

1 hour ago, Commodus said:

The Sonos Port has both line in and line out, so you wouldn't have to use Sonos speakers... but you'd probably also need another Port on the other end. Not a trivial expense. I'd check for Port setup and review videos on YouTube to see if there's one that fits a scenario like yours. 

Actually, I think the whole uniqueness of the Port is precisely that it can be connected to speakers but also sends out a WiFi signal to any other Sonos speakers in the home. I can't find any other devices that do that while allowing the input of a receiver, CD player, or other audio devices that aren't wireless. So I'm hoping the audio is good quality and that the reviewers I'm reading are just extraordinarily picky.