Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Audio / Video
  3. News

Sonos dips its toes into hi-res audio streaming with Qobuz

By

For years, Sonos steadfastly refused to support hi-res music formats on its massively popular line of wireless speakers. Today, that finally changes: All Sonos users who are currently running the S2 version of the company’s software will be able to stream hi-res music from Qobuz, with a valid subscription. Qobuz debuted its streaming music service in the U.S. in 2019.

With a Qobuz subscription, which starts at $15 per month, those who own one or more compatible Sonos products will be able to play hi-res streams at 48kHz/24-bit quality, marking the first time that Sonos speakers have been able to play better-than-CD-quality music. At the moment, the S2 software will support 48kHz/24-bit streams from Qobuz or 48kHz/24-bit music files from people’s personal audio collection.

girl holding up sonos roam
Sonos

Compatible products include the Arc, Beam, Five, Move, One, One SL, Port, Amp, Symfonisk Bookshelf, Symfonisk Table Lamp, Playbar, Playbase, and Play:5 (Gen 2). The forthcoming Sonos Roam will also be hi-res compatible. Notably absent from the list is the Sonos Play:1, and yet this older speaker is still compatible with the S2 software. Sonos tells us that in situations where people try to stream hi-res audio to a non-hi-res Sonos speaker (whether on its own or grouped with hi-res capable devices), the non-hi-res speaker will get a 16-bit version of the song, while the compatible products will get the 24-bit version.

Recommended Videos

Hi-res music is regarded by many as superior to both CD audio as well as virtually all lossy digital formats like MP3 and AAC because it captures and retains more information about the original song. To hear hi-res music, you need a source — like a streaming music service or your own collection of hi-res tracks — and a device that is capable of decoding and playing these tracks. Given that CD audio is captured at a sample rate of 44.1kHz and a sample size of 16-bits, anything that captures and preserves more data than this is usually considered hi-res.

Related

However, it’s worth noting that the Japan Audio Society, which maintains the definition of what qualifies as hi-res audio, claims that any 24-bit file with a sample rate of less than 96kHz does not qualify.

person putting white sonos roam in bag
Sonos

When Digital Trends asked Sonos why hi-res support is currently limited to 48/24, a spokesperson told us that higher-quality tracks are “not widely supported by streaming services. We’re continuing to watch how high-resolution audio evolves and will explore changes to our platform over time.” We’re not entirely sure we agree with this statement. While it’s true that Apple Music and Spotify (and even the upcoming Spotify HiFi) do not support hi-res audio at all, Tidal, Qobuz, and Amazon Music HD all offer hi-res tracks at 96kHz/24-bit (or better) quality.

Now that Sonos has (more or less) joined the hi-res music party, the question is whether and when it will expand this support to higher quality versions of hi-res, other streaming services beyond Qobuz.

We’ll let you know as soon as Sonos has more to say on these issues.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Simon Cohen
Simon Cohen
Contributing Editor, A/V
Simon Cohen covers a variety of consumer technologies, but has a special interest in audio and video products, like spatial…
Tidal will finally let you see which hi-res tracks are FLAC versus MQA
Tidal's beta app for iOS showing a track in FLAC format.

Tidal's Hi-Fi Plus subscription tier recently became the first place in the streaming music world where you could stream hi-res audio in both FLAC and MQA formats on your smartphone. Unfortunately, there was no way to know which one you were getting unless you used an external digital-to-analog converter (DAC). Tidal is now on the verge of correcting that error, at least partially: a new beta of the Tidal app for iOS now shows you the format of your currently playing track, instead of the essentially useless "Max" or "Hi-Fi" labels that non-beta users still see.

Audiophiles initially greeted the news that Tidal would be adding the open source, lossless FLAC format to its Hi-Fi Plus tier with enthusiasm. Many members of that community have concerns over MQA -- the format that had previously been Tidal's exclusive pick for its better-than-CD quality collection (Max) tracks -- and had been lobbying for FLAC for some time.

Read more
Sonos Move 2: Sonos’ biggest portable speaker gets a big update
Sonos Move 2 in olive.

Sonos has unveiled the latest version of its Move portable smart speaker -- the Move 2. It looks nearly identical to the original Sonos Move, yet contains several updates that bring it in line with the company's recently released Era 100 and Era 300 speakers. The Move 2 has been priced at $449, a $50 increase over the previous model, and will be available starting September 20, 2023, in a wide selection of countries. The Move 2 replaces the first-gen speaker, though Sonos will continue to sell the original Move while inventory remains, so you may want to keep an eye open for some deep discounts.

At a distance, you can't tell the Move and Move 2 apart, well, unless the Move 2 shows up in its new color option -- olive. The Move 2 is a hair bigger, but it still weighs the same 6.61 pounds. Sonos has kept the same rubberized no-slip base as well as the integrated carry handle on the back. As with the original, the Move 2 is built for the outdoors with an IP56 rating for dust and water resistance.

Read more
Tidal’s new hi-res FLAC option couldn’t be more annoying
Tidal app for iOS on an iPhone 14 showing now playing screen with Max quality track.

When Tidal CEO Jesse Dorogusker announced in April 2023 that the music service would soon be adding lossless hi-res audio in the open-source FLAC format, a lot of folks cheered the move. And by a lot of folks, I mean audiophiles who have never been happy with Tidal's decision to use the controversial MQA format as its sole better-than-CD quality option. Right or wrong, it looked like the addition of hi-res FLAC would be the perfect compromise: when available, a listener could hear the FLAC version of their favorite track, and Tidal seemed to indicate that it will be keeping MQA as well, which  made this seem like a win for all concerned.

But that's not what has happened.

Read more