The Dark Side; Digital audio equipment recommendations and setup.

Hollywood said:
Sonos is definitely more geared towards Home Theatre 🎥 systems and surround sound speakers 🔈
Click to expand...

And just convenience in general. Their surround system is good but it’s quite expensive.

I’d actually say they sell more of their stand alone speakers, particularly the little ones, than anything else. They’re so easy to just stick on the side and stream to if you just want to stream as easily as possible with an improvement over the cheap junk you stick a phone into. Hell I’d get one for a kitchen and they make great rear channels in my tv system.
 
Joe Mac said:
And just convenience in general. Their surround system is good but it’s quite expensive.

I’d actually say they sell more of their stand alone speakers, particularly the little ones, than anything else. They’re so easy to just stick on the side and stream to if you just want to stream as easily as possible with an improvement over the cheap junk you stick a phone into. Hell I’d get one for a kitchen and they make great rear channels in my tv system.
Click to expand...
According to my buddy Jason, he sells more soundbars (Beam and Arc) more than anything else he carries from the brand.
 
Hollywood said:
According to my buddy Jason, he sells more soundbars (Beam and Arc) more than anything else he carries from the brand.
Click to expand...

Im kinda surprised because they’re quite a bit more expensive than the norm for sound bars. They are nice things though.

I have the old playbase which I love to be fair. It sits really nicely under the tele and the old play:1’s tie in seamlessly as wireless surrounds. I did think I’d paid a little over the odds for that convenience though!
 
Joe Mac said:
And just convenience in general. Their surround system is good but it’s quite expensive.

I’d actually say they sell more of their stand alone speakers, particularly the little ones, than anything else. They’re so easy to just stick on the side and stream to if you just want to stream as easily as possible with an improvement over the cheap junk you stick a phone into. Hell I’d get one for a kitchen and they make great rear channels in my tv system.
Click to expand...
Yea I only went with Sonos for surround set up because I hate wires and don’t want them running across my floor or all the way around my door frames. Got a used Beam and then the ikea Sonos for surrounds and they are more than adequate for me (don’t watch a ton of movies or need a fancy surround sound rig). And have picked up a few of the ikea Sonos for around my house. I quite like them for what they are! Wouldn’t have Sonos as my main setup but for something like a kitchen they are perfect. The ikea ones are good value for what they are in my opinion but regular Sonos are pretty pricey
 
Hollywood said:
According to my buddy Jason, he sells more soundbars (Beam and Arc) more than anything else he carries from the brand.
Click to expand...
Soundbars have become pretty popular. Especially among the older generations. It’s convenient—1 wire, it’s plug and play, and people don’t really want speaker stands or to have to run wires for speakers. And nobody really wants to listen to the internal TV speakers (if their models even have them anymore). Removes the need for a receiver too for most people
 
MikeH said:
Soundbars have become pretty popular. Especially among the older generations. It’s convenient—1 wire, it’s plug and play, and people don’t really want speaker stands or to have to run wires for speakers. And nobody really wants to listen to the internal TV speakers (if their models even have them anymore). Removes the need for a receiver too for most people
Click to expand...
Agreed 👍 I have a JBL Bar 9.1 True Wireless Surround w/ Dolby Atmos soundbar and sub and that's all I need for home theater!
 
MikeH said:
Yea I only went with Sonos for surround set up because I hate wires and don’t want them running across my floor or all the way around my door frames. Got a used Beam and then the ikea Sonos for surrounds and they are more than adequate for me (don’t watch a ton of movies or need a fancy surround sound rig). And have picked up a few of the ikea Sonos for around my house. I quite like them for what they are! Wouldn’t have Sonos as my main setup but for something like a kitchen they are perfect. The ikea ones are good value for what they are in my opinion but regular Sonos are pretty pricey
Click to expand...

Yeah I watch a lot of football and do love the surround sound for that but had always held off because I didn’t want a second amplifier and a tonne of trailing wires. It is great but I spent a bit more because I got them new and bought tv stand that floats the tele over the playbase and the stands for the play:1’s too. To be fair it’s still running brilliantly after a few years now and is likely to keep going onto whatever the next tele is too.
 
Joe Mac said:
Yeah I watch a lot of football and do love the surround sound for that but had always held off because I didn’t want a second amplifier and a tonne of trailing wires. It is great but I spent a bit more because I got them new and bought tv stand that floats the tele over the playbase and the stands for the play:1’s too. To be fair it’s still running brilliantly after a few years now and is likely to keep going onto whatever the next tele is too.
Click to expand...
We ended up getting play:1s and stands from various people as a wedding gift 😎 but ikea now has very cheap stands for their Symfonisk bookshelf speakers to use as rears or even front speakers.
 
For those resisting Roon because of annual license being the only option, you might want to give Plex a shot. Plexamp does not have all the bells and whistles of Roon but does also include Tidal integration. You need a paid version of Plex to use it, but the lifetime fee is about $100usd and it goes on sale a few times a year.
 
jamieanderson1968 said:
When I get my built-in book cases/tech cabinet done this year I think I will grab a couple of those IKEA Sonos for the shelves. I have a stand alone Sonos in the kitchen where I don’t really care about it be high fidelity.
Click to expand...
Same. I’ve a Sonos One in the kitchen which is perfect for podcasts and the news. And the odd album I throw through it. If I had a bigger kitchen… well I’d probably just get another One and do the joiny thing
 
jamieanderson1968 said:
For those resisting Roon because of annual license being the only option, you might want to give Plex a shot. Plexamp does not have all the bells and whistles of Roon but does also include Tidal integration. You need a paid version of Plex to use it, but the lifetime fee is about $100usd and it goes on sale a few times a year.
Click to expand...

I use Plex to access by brother-in-law's movie collection. Kind of cool to stream stuff from his server.

On another note, I just spent the day setting up a Tidal trial sub. Looking good so far. A little more clunky than Spotify when it comes to playlist editing (and no possibility for customized playlist images - hopefully they change that soon). But overall, pretty seamless switch over. Master quality files do sound really great. You don't know what you're missing until you hear it I guess. That alone will be reason enough to stick with Tidal.

Quick question - can you serve Sonos speakers directly with Tidal connect? They don't come up in the app automatically like they do with Spotify. Is there something special I need to do?

(EDIT: oh, I can see the Sonos speakers with the iphone app... it's only the PC app I need to sort out).
 
Turbo said:
I use Plex to access by brother-in-law's movie collection. Kind of cool to stream stuff from his server.

On another note, I just spent the day setting up a Tidal trial sub. Looking good so far. A little more clunky than Spotify when it comes to playlist editing (and no possibility for customized playlist images - hopefully they change that soon). But overall, pretty seamless switch over. Master quality files do sound really great. You don't know what you're missing until you hear it I guess. That alone will be reason enough to stick with Tidal.

Quick question - can you serve Sonos speakers directly with Tidal connect? They don't come up in the app automatically like they do with Spotify. Is there something special I need to do?

(EDIT: oh, I can see the Sonos speakers with the iphone app... it's only the PC app I need to sort out).
Click to expand...


Looks like you need to add and sign into tidal on your sonos and that it should work for casting direct from the tidal app after doing that.
 
Joe Mac said:

Looks like you need to add and sign into tidal on your sonos and that it should work for casting direct from the tidal app after doing that.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it's weird. I can play Tidal to my sonos speakers or the sonos connect from within the Sonos desktop app, but I can't see the Sonos speakers in the Sound Output on PC Tidal app (but I can in Spotify).
 
New Node is set-up. One thing I didn't expect to like so much is the presets. I put the Tidal "My Mix" 1-5 on there so they will keep updating with stuff I generally like every day. Only gripe with those is they don't automatically play in shuffle (I rarely use shuffle mode, except for playlists like these).
 
You know how Spotify has this weekly "Release Radar" playlist, that auto-compiles new releases from artist you like or they think you might like? Does Tidal have anything like this? That would be a great one for a preset.
 
Turbo said:
You know how Spotify has this weekly "Release Radar" playlist, that auto-compiles new releases from artist you like or they think you might like? Does Tidal have anything like this? That would be a great one for a preset.
Click to expand...
Hmmm not sure tbh 🤔
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top