Have your say & ask the experts

I've read great reviews by what hi fi on both these products however they've never compared the two.  Can anyone shed any light on the differences? If money is no object which one would you get?

Also if I have a play station 3 which I currently use to stream music in my living room could I still use that with one of these boxes? I'd like sound in the lounge, bedroom and bathroom at the very least. Id also like ceiling speakers. Do you know of any good companies which will sell the whole lot and fit it too?

Hi Matt

That would be a great comparison between Sonos and squeeze box and just the one im looking for.

Re installation/ceiling speakers Sevenoaks would be a good place to start.

I'm also really interested in this as I am seriously thinking about the Sonos but would like to know more about the Squeeze Box.

I know there are a few owners on the forums so would really appreciate some of their views.

Aeis

I spend a lot of time reading about these 2 and in a nutshell..

Sonos
+ Mesh network (up to 24 devices I think, works perfectly)
+ Easy to Setup
+ Better UI (easier to use remote control, change zones etc..)
+ ZP120 has build in amp might be good for kitchen etc.. if you don't have another amp/dac combo.
- Expensive (699£ + Bridge (69£) + 250£/350£ extra for each zone)
- 'Brick' remote control
- White

Squeezebox
- Client/Server network (it multiplies amount of data that is send for each receiver.. apparently 3/4 receivers might be enough to block your WIFI)
- Needs squeezecenter to run on PC/NAS (only few NAS drives have squeezecenter preinstalled and if you want to do it yourself it's a nightmare, most NAS drives are DNLA compatile but squeezebox doesn't support it)
+ Cheap (250£ + 99£ extra for each zone)
+ Black

Apparently the sound quality is better in Sonos (via analog), but I was listening to Sonos connected to amp (via analog) vs Sonos (via digital) to DAC to amp and trust me you need a DAC because it's just rubbish without a DAC! So assuming that you will get a DAC then I would say sound quality will be the same.

I think Sonos is simply better.. but more expensive and has this big 'brick' remote control.. In the era of iphone/itouch it's just unforgivable :)

Hope this helped.. 

I think I'm going to get Squeezebox simply because it's cheaper and I need to buy NAS anyway so I can get the one with squeezecenter.

MattAdamson:

I've read great reviews by what hi fi on both these products however they've never compared the two.  Can anyone shed any light on the differences? If money is no object which one would you get?

 

MattAdamson:

If money is no object I would get a Transporter :)

I would go even further.. One of the Linn DS systems!

I've heard the Linn Majik DS.. wow.. very very good.. But 1.7k just for the DAC... too much!

Although I have to admit it's not exactly multiroom system 

Sonos has a nicer interface but costs more.

SB sounds better with its internal DAC.

Both sound the same with an external DAC.

Apple solutions are very good too - perhaps better and cheaper.

"Both sound the same with an external DAC"

 Not sure what you mean exacty here. The sonos comes with versions with or without a built in amplifier. Are you saying the Sonos with the built in amp is not as good as the squeeze box with an external amp?

Apple solutions? Which ones are there that provide similar to Sonos?

I'm on the verge of spending nearly 3000 on a Sonos system ( 3 zones with amps, 1 without, 1 bridge, 3 pairs of ceiling speakers + installation charges 500 per day for approx 2 days ) so if there are other / better options I'd like to know now

MattAdamson:

"Both sound the same with an external DAC"

 Not sure what you mean exacty here. The sonos comes with versions with or without a built in amplifier. Are you saying the Sonos with the built in amp is not as good as the squeeze box with an external amp?

Apple solutions? Which ones are there that provide similar to Sonos?

I'm on the verge of spending nearly 3000 on a Sonos system ( 3 zones with amps, 1 without, 1 bridge, 3 pairs of ceiling speakers + installation charges 500 per day for approx 2 days ) so if there are other / better options I'd like to know now

MattAdamson:

"Both sound the same with an external DAC"

 Not sure what you mean exacty here. The sonos comes with versions with or without a built in amplifier. Are you saying the Sonos with the built in amp is not as good as the squeeze box with an external amp?

That means that if you connect SB or Sonos via digital out to external DAC+Amp they will sound the same.

If you connect them with analog out than Sonos 120/150 (the one with amp) will sound better than others, but I compared analog out + Amp with digital out + DAC + Amp and there is not much too compare..  DAC solution is just far far better.

MattAdamson:

Apple solutions? Which ones are there that provide similar to Sonos?

I would like to know the answer for that as well

MattAdamson:

I'm on the verge of spending nearly 3000 on a Sonos system ( 3 zones with amps, 1 without, 1 bridge, 3 pairs of ceiling speakers + installation charges 500 per day for approx 2 days ) so if there are other / better options I'd like to know now

From what I've read/heard if you have 3 or more zones and you want stutter free music experience than Sonos is your choice. I mean Sonos is just better than SB but SB is cheaper. And Sonos has it's own mesh network which is far more reliable than SB client/server via your wifi.

Thanks madeinstein

So are you saying then if external DAC is better should I not go for the 150 model with amp then and go for one without amp and then buy external amps for each zone?  I want to do this right so appreciate the tips :)

 If you meant go for external amp then which one. Essentially I have 3 rooms of approx 10 * 15 ft I wanted to put in ceiling speakers into.

madeinstein:

MattAdamson:

Apple solutions? Which ones are there that provide similar to Sonos?

I would like to know the answer for that as well

 
I did quite a bit of  research on this, the apple solution Airport is a very good and cheap piece of kit. It does not however provide all the abilities of Sonus/Squeezebox. One of the main things i am looking for in my solution is to allow the set up of zones(which airport allows) and allow the pushing of two (or more) music feeds from a central server to two (or more) zones at once. As far as i know Airport can not do this.

If anyone has information that the airport can do this i'd be very interested in it. I love how cheap and simple the airport is if only it provided the above functionality.