Audio tech upstart DTS takes on Wi-Fi speaker juggernaut Sonos Audio tech supplier DTS is taking on Sonos’ wireless speakers with its Play-Fi tech, which it claims employs open and lossless audio technology. DTS doesn't make its own kit, but rather develops and licenses its technology to OEMs who sell consumer brands. The latest OEM to jump aboard the DTS ship is the Fine Sounds Group …
"Fine Sounds’ brands will now use DTS technology to provide its Play-Fi wireless streaming capability. Music sources, such as internet radio stations and music streaming sources, DLNA media servers and a listener’s own devices can stream music over standard Wi-Fi, using the DTS/Fine Sounds tech mashup, to speakers throughout a house."
wow... sounds amazing... truly revolutionary... never been done before.. *cough* squeezebox *cough*
"DTS also says the signal going to the speakers is lossless – again, unlike Sonos "
Sonos is also lossless (provided the source is lossless of course, such as FLAC). You can actually play a DTS encoded CD (remember those?) over Sonos and via its digital out decode it without errors in your surround sound processor/receiver. You just get digital noise if it was lossy.
While I am not adverse to any new wireless speaker tech, this does stink of false info or a sales pitch by El reg.
"Play-Fi works inside the range of the building’s Wi-Fi system, meaning it can work outside, an area of weakness for Sonos". err I have my sonos bridge directly next to my wifi router and I can't get wifi down the bottom of my garden but my play 5 works perfectly down the end, and yes I have tried new routers and different wifi channels on both 2.4 & 5Ghz.
"DTS also says the signal going to the speakers is lossless – again, unlike Sonos and others – and especially Bluetooth-based systems" Sonos has supported lossless for some time now using online streaming services and FLAC local streaming direct to the speakers, and update last year brought lossless direct to the amp / speakers.
Yes having a bridge is a bit of a PITA but it bundles it for free in most cases now when the offer is on with the play series.
Most of my kit is cabled anyway but it's handy having a play 5 that can be used anywhere in the house/garden where my wifi fails, maybe due to the meshing nature of the kit?
The mesh is actually a huge plus for Sonos and one of the reason it's so stable. You don't contend with data on your own wifi network. And each Sonos component acts as an extender. Plus the Android app actually allows you to use the Sonos mesh to connect back into your own router- so I can browse the internet on my tablet at the end of the garden where wifi doesn't reach.
Don't knock the Sonos mesh network - friend of mine extended his network out to his garage (where his fitness gear is) and the end of his garden using his Sonos system, (he could have used home plugs for only part of that).
Also if you have a large house, or too many thick walls, then your range is not limited to distance between receivers and your wifi hub, but rather between nearest units.
An earlier, and as yet closed, standard in this space is WiSA: see http://www.wisaassociation.org/. It's lossless, potentially with lots of bits and samples, and does not use Wi-Fi for good technical reasons to do with latency and skew. The association boasts a large rag-bag of members, including a few biggish names, of which, as far as I'm aware, only B&O has products on the market as yet.
Sonos Bridge required? Really? I don't have one as I have ethernet run to a ZP100 or ZP80. Almost all of the products have at least one ethernet port and thereby remove the need for a bridge. The baby units (Play:1 and the like) may not have them though, but supposedly only one node needs the connection.
Then again the mesh network performs so badly at my place that I've ended up with ethernet to 4 of my 5 zones and a switch that supports spanning tree. Perhaps the updated mesh in the ZP90 and ZP120 would perform better, but upgrading costs too much for limited gain.
I have been using Sonos for 10 years and now have 12 zones.
* Sonos plays completely lossless if the source is lossless.
* Sonos mesh network is better and more stable than my wi-fi network. I can't get wifi in the backyard but the Sonos unit works perfectly. In addition there is never a problem with network traffic because Sonos uses it's own wireless network. I am guessing with the newest routers with their higher throughputs this could be less of an issue but YMMV depending on how much you spend on that router. Cheaper routers usually flake with multiple connections.
* Sonos currently supports almost 30 music services with more being added all the time. In addition you or a guest can stream music directly from the users iPhone or Android device. How many are currently supported by Play-fi? One?
* Sonos has universal search and cross fading across all those services. Meaning you can search your local library and every single music service you use for a track or artist. If you want to do a party mode crossfade between tracks, Sonos does it. You can also build playlists across every service and library.
* What doesn't Sonos support? 24 BIT audio. Sonos also has a local library size limitation of 65k tracks or over 5,000 albums. Probably not a problem for most people but something to consider.
I love seeing new competition but Sonos has a serious lead in the space. These new competitors are so far more focused on the hardware but It's the software that actually makes this an amazing experience.
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