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I just bought BL18, and I would like to connect it to my Sonos Connect. Should I use RCA (analouge) out or Toslink (digital) out for best sound quality? Digital out would mean, that I only use the D/A converter in BL18, but I have heard, that the volume control in Sonos could be a problem when using digital output (not bit perfect). Could I improve the sound quality be adding a DAC/Pre with volumen control? I guess the answer would be the same if I had a Beolab Transmitter.
To my knowledge, BL18 only has analog in, if you do not use power link.
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Hiort: To my knowledge, BL18 only has analog in, if you do not use power link.
Please disregard this. BL18 has Toslink connections.
Hi Bissen,
Welcome to the forum! I would personally try the analogue input on the speakers first, as many people find the Sonos DAC to sound good, you just need this cable to connect both speakers: http://soundsheavenly.com/line-in-connection/6-av-processor-pre-amp-sonos-to-beolab-rca-line-in.html
Sonos is unusual in that it has a volume controlled digital output, but using this can potentially compromise the sound quality.
Kind regards, Steve.
Steve.
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Founder of Sounds Heavenly Cables and Brand Ambassador for Bang & Olufsen
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Since there is no way to control the volume of the 18's internally, when you connect a source via SPDIF,
you would have to do it externally!
You would have to find a preamp, that has an internal processing of the signal at more than 16 bits.
Or you could use a PC/Mac with an equivalent software.
But why not just try to connect the analog-out to the analog-in of the 18's to see/hear how it sounds.
After all the Sonos would not output more than a 16 bit signal anyway.
Depending on your music preferences and listening habits, I'd be surprised if you would find much difference ------and the setup would be much 'slimmer' without the preamp etc.
I found this note/answer somewhere - it covers very much my own opinion in this case:
'No, the zp90 is not the limiting factor to the quality of the sound you will hear.For hifi sound the limiting factors these days, not in any order of importance, tend to be:1. Quality of the original performance and its mastering to the CD from which you have ripped the music in lossless.2. Quality of your speakers3. Speaker positioning and room acoustics.Get the above right, and you are addressing 90% - maybe more - of the subject.Hi res music is a gimmick. The only time it sounds better is when the mastering of the source material is done with greater care than for the regular CD. Which isn't to say that all regular CDs are poorly mastered.'
Enjoy your BL18's.
MM
There is a tv - and there is a BV
I found this on the Sonos Forum:
https://en.community.sonos.com/troubleshooting-228999/zp80-output-specifications-4362
According to the chat SONOS Volume control is 24bit. So if you feed your SONOS digital signal to a 24-bit DAC or processor, there is no "information loss" using the SONOS volume control as your main volume control or "digital preamp". Experiments show that there is no "information loss" to 16-bit program material until the volume is lowered to below -48dB. When lowering the volume with 24-bit digital signal processing, and when you get down below -48dB, you can hardly even hear the music anymore, let alone the distortion, which is still many times lower, so if you are no longer achieving 16-bit performance, it really doesn't matter. With 24-bits available, you can set your system up to have headroom above ordinary listening levels, and not lose your 16-bit performance at ordinary listening levels and even below that. Without the 24 bits, that "headroom" would be eating into your DAC performance.
If thats correct, then I guess I would get the best sound quality by using Toslink (digital) out or ... Did anyone in this Forum tri to compare sound quality between analoge and digital out from Sonos Connect with Beolab 18/20?
@Bissen
Thank you, spot on!
Bissen: Did anyone in this Forum tri to compare sound quality between analoge and digital out from Sonos Connect with Beolab 18/20?
Did anyone in this Forum tri to compare sound quality between analoge and digital out from Sonos Connect with Beolab 18/20?
You could be the first ;-)