joecheech Posted December 24, 2020 Share Posted December 24, 2020 Sorry for long post. Background: I have Sonos - had it prior to getting C4 - and have what I consider to be a pretty decent amount invested into the system. I have a home "theater" in my family room that includes a connectamp, playbar, and in-ceiling surround speakers; a second playbar in another room, and two connect amps (kitchen and patio) with associated wired speakers at each location. I honestly have no qualms about the theater setups as I don't need to feel like I'm in an IMAX to watch reruns of Two and a Half Men or King of Queens. I have zero performance issues with sonos for my TV viewing. My problem is with the performance of the music side. I generally listen to Sirius and Pandora and use the C4 integration to launch favorite stations via a button press at my Kitchen and Patio locations. For about a month now, my Sonos has been intermittently acting up - failing to respond to button presses. To resolve, I'll have to launch the Sonos app and pick my station. When doing so I will often get a number of "Sonos Failed to connect to Sirius / Pandora" messages before finally getting a connection after several attempts. When I think about how I use my Sonos for music, 99% of the time (especially lately) it's in my Kitchen gathering space, which is were we spend a ton of time. My question is - does it make sense to phase out my Sonos equipment and move to something such as Triad? I feel like swapping out my kitchen connectamp for a Triad One would solve the issue of my near daily struggle with just getting the music to play. Seems like I can simply hook my kitchen speakers up to this thing, have my dealer add it to my project, and add my stations through HE. Also feels like I'd have better options for browsing music with things such as room control driver, etc. Let me know your thoughts, thanks everyone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tdougray Posted December 24, 2020 Share Posted December 24, 2020 I started an investment into Sonos but the clunky integration into c4 stopped me in my tracks. Like you, our main room for audio is the kitchen so I purchased a triad one to see how i would get on and I have to say I’m not disappointed. Not that I had an issue with the sound from Sonos but all the little bug bears I had with the integration disappeared over night. The sound is excellent and being able to browse artists and albums ( I use Tidal) through C4 is lovely let alone the ease of programming. c44me, joecheech and msgreenf 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tdougray Posted December 24, 2020 Share Posted December 24, 2020 Oh and merry Christmas everyone joecheech and msgreenf 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msgreenf Posted December 24, 2020 Share Posted December 24, 2020 Triad 1 all the way! evil0ne and joecheech 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joecheech Posted December 24, 2020 Author Share Posted December 24, 2020 Thanks, everyone. Definitely considering making this change. Have a great Holiday everybody! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Leeds UK Posted December 24, 2020 Share Posted December 24, 2020 You could always look at buying a Roon nucleus - This as C4 drivers and works well with C4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OceanDad Posted December 24, 2020 Share Posted December 24, 2020 Sirius and Pandora are both pretty grim at the best of times. I'm gradually switching away from all-Sonos towards C4 native TIDAL, but you might try TIDAL and/or Spotify through Sonos before you give up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joecheech Posted December 25, 2020 Author Share Posted December 25, 2020 Hey guys, Merry Christmas Follow-up question: Can someone give me or point me to an overview of how to use the DLNA server? I have the My Music DLNA driver in my project and I have my itunes library and ripped music on a QNAP. I installed "Asset" on my QNAP to act as a server and I configured the My Music DLNA driver to find my server. So how do I listen to the music now? I feel like the answer is I can't and that is because neither my EA3 or my EA1 are connected to any audio output device. Is this correct? If so, would the Triad One solve this problem? Further, would the Triad need to be connected to one of my controllers to get the functionality? The location where I am considering swapping out my Connect Amp is an aux closet that also warehouses my EA1. Thanks, folks, don't drink too much eggnog! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msgreenf Posted December 25, 2020 Share Posted December 25, 2020 37 minutes ago, joecheech said: Hey guys, Merry Christmas Follow-up question: Can someone give me or point me to an overview of how to use the DLNA server? I have the My Music DLNA driver in my project and I have my itunes library and ripped music on a QNAP. I installed "Asset" on my QNAP to act as a server and I configured the My Music DLNA driver to find my server. So how do I listen to the music now? I feel like the answer is I can't and that is because neither my EA3 or my EA1 are connected to any audio output device. Is this correct? If so, would the Triad One solve this problem? Further, would the Triad need to be connected to one of my controllers to get the functionality? The location where I am considering swapping out my Connect Amp is an aux closet that also warehouses my EA1. Thanks, folks, don't drink too much eggnog! you just need to make sure you haven't hidden digital audio and the DLNA driver in the room. It will be under listen. You would need your EA3 connected to a matrix amp or somethign liek that. but the Triad 1 would solve this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joecheech Posted December 25, 2020 Author Share Posted December 25, 2020 6 minutes ago, msgreenf said: You would need your EA3 connected to a matrix amp or something like that. Thanks, Mitch. Does the Triad need to be connected to the EA3 or can I connect it to the EA1 that is on the same side of the house that the Triad would be on? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msgreenf Posted December 25, 2020 Share Posted December 25, 2020 No physical connection between triad is needed. Triad needs eth or wifi and speakers only joecheech 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joecheech Posted January 10, 2021 Author Share Posted January 10, 2021 OK, so got my Triad One up and running on Friday night and have been super pleased with the performance. The sound quality has been superior to Sonos in my opinion, especially after tweaking the built-in multi-band EQ settings. Sonos simply had bass and treble adjustments and sounded a bit flat by comparison. Response has been amazing - i use a keypad to trigger Sirius and with the Connect Amp / Sonos the response was super inconsistent, sometimes taking a few seconds, but mostly taking anywhere between 30 seconds and a minute to fire up. Sometimes no response at all, which forced me to launch the Sonos app. Triad One responds within 5 seconds. I absolutely love having my owned music collection integrated through the My Music (DLNA). All of my shit now shows up on my navigators and iOS app, including playlists, artists, genres, but I do have a few things yet to figure out around the queue - like how can I view it? Let's say I want to shuffle all of my Pink Floyd collection? When I go to artist - each album comes up - do I add them one by one to the queue? If anyone has any reading material on that it would be super helpful. It's only been a few days but for folks starting from scratch - I'd definitely skip Sonos and go with the native integration path - I would have if I hadn't already owned a bunch of Sonos gear before I got my system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejn1 Posted January 10, 2021 Share Posted January 10, 2021 For those with a non C4 multi-room amplifier or don't want to spend the money on a Triad system, I just picked up a used C4 audio matrix and connected via RCA outs from my EA3 and C4 integration has been seamless. In my case, I connect my existing music library from my NAS drive which many C4 users already have (and don't need use via DLNA). There are some limitation on how many concurrent different sources can play from a EA3 so that could be a factor for some. For folks wanting C4 music integration, there are some less expensive routes that can be considered. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejn1 Posted January 10, 2021 Share Posted January 10, 2021 On 12/24/2020 at 4:14 PM, Gary Leeds UK said: You could always look at buying a Roon nucleus - This as C4 drivers and works well with C4 Indeed but i thought the entire purpose of Roon was it's interface and metadata integration so not sure why a Roon lover would ever want to run through C4? Does all the Roon information show on the C4 touchscreens like if you were using an Ipad? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msgreenf Posted January 10, 2021 Share Posted January 10, 2021 28 minutes ago, ejn1 said: For those with a non C4 multi-room amplifier or don't want to spend the money on a Triad system, I just picked up a used C4 audio matrix and connected via RCA outs from my EA3 and C4 integration has been seamless. In my case, I connect my existing music library from my NAS drive which many C4 users already have (and don't need use via DLNA). There are some limitation on how many concurrent different sources can play from a EA3 so that could be a factor for some. For folks wanting C4 music integration, there are some less expensive routes that can be considered. The difference with dlna is there is no scanning and new music or changes are immediately reflected joecheech 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joecheech Posted January 10, 2021 Author Share Posted January 10, 2021 Found the queue - you tap the artist icon in now playing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejn1 Posted January 10, 2021 Share Posted January 10, 2021 23 minutes ago, msgreenf said: The difference with dlna is there is no scanning and new music or changes are immediately reflected yep, but i have my NAS scanning in background weekly so at least for me, I'm not adding new music to my library that frequently. I wonder if there is a quality difference with high rez digital music when direct connect to a NAS vs DLNA? How things buffer/latency in digital music can make a difference if memory serves me. For multiroom audio with ceiling speakers not an issue I would presume. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msgreenf Posted January 10, 2021 Share Posted January 10, 2021 there should not be an audio difference as both are playing thru the same C4 audio processors Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejn1 Posted January 10, 2021 Share Posted January 10, 2021 4 minutes ago, msgreenf said: there should not be an audio difference as both are playing thru the same C4 audio processors Makes sense... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DLite Posted January 11, 2021 Share Posted January 11, 2021 14 hours ago, ejn1 said: Indeed but i thought the entire purpose of Roon was it's interface and metadata integration so not sure why a Roon lover would ever want to run through C4? Does all the Roon information show on the C4 touchscreens like if you were using an Ipad? I guess I am a Roon Lover who integrated Roon with C4. You are right that Roon's interface is the big draw, and I use the Roon app very often. However, the Roon Nucleus plus C4 driver also allows you to browse your music library, Tidal, and Qobuz on C4 touchscreens, and play the results to any of your Sonos endpoints. So, even family members who don't care much about the Roon interface -- e.g., my kids -- are happy about getting improved C4 integration with Sonos. (As an aside, the C4 touchscreens show the same info for Roon as for anything else, so you don't get all the metadata that the Roon app provides.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejn1 Posted January 12, 2021 Share Posted January 12, 2021 18 hours ago, DLite said: I guess I am a Roon Lover who integrated Roon with C4. You are right that Roon's interface is the big draw, and I use the Roon app very often. However, the Roon Nucleus plus C4 driver also allows you to browse your music library, Tidal, and Qobuz on C4 touchscreens, and play the results to any of your Sonos endpoints. So, even family members who don't care much about the Roon interface -- e.g., my kids -- are happy about getting improved C4 integration with Sonos. (As an aside, the C4 touchscreens show the same info for Roon as for anything else, so you don't get all the metadata that the Roon app provides.) Thanks for the added info. So it appears the driver basically allows C4 to access the Roon Nucleus library of music. Seems similar to how C4 accesses a NAS share of music. Do the C4 audio endpoints show as Roon endpoints in the Roon app? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DLite Posted January 13, 2021 Share Posted January 13, 2021 23 hours ago, ejn1 said: Thanks for the added info. So it appears the driver basically allows C4 to access the Roon Nucleus library of music. Seems similar to how C4 accesses a NAS share of music. Do the C4 audio endpoints show as Roon endpoints in the Roon app? Yes, that's right. Not sure if this is what you are asking, but Sonos audio endpoints do show up as Roon endpoints in the Roon app as well. (I don't have any Triad or other C4 audio endpoints, in case that is what you are asking about.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
merodi Posted January 13, 2021 Share Posted January 13, 2021 bRI9yAGefwh3rfj0aMpnTnfog4bT3+E2IrqKL/SPzzP+hJo9kuIOgnlxWHUisg5cC1miazDSGokNkqQ6T0wcMP3gryfoxu4mJom7ruPMkzXaFsaSXGEUPVzB+rVtebJTFmmpHo+egJbGzANFMhby+tzzmq4cxNUUDUhr7mmEFZflMwUcrJjjnFjYlqsS6TH7ePDAXMp8GphOH9f6GAILw6BrbYeb9m/D8O2+FEQLepKLyemzmIVUHCK67YM/9kQ7RR8+2fX1vnsAySh3O+qnI56oQ8Mhv7UDTf17p0lKiA+FdYw84w+E4/W3ZvMIoK4pAxe+KFJwpZZXcwTtw+1Run4CYx2FJKSQ8j05kkHuVAPJawt8tMhMn/c8Dkw7/3mtl5SRfCEnpP4Ne56bg/9jkhmTlVfySHsm4Vi4keC5qFNdyn83nIlR1TfNf9+fylUt1YVuuPQw+f75mC7J1nl9jj== Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejn1 Posted January 13, 2021 Share Posted January 13, 2021 14 minutes ago, merodi said: bRI9yAGefwh3rfj0aMpnTnfog4bT3+E2IrqKL/SPzzP+hJo9kuIOgnlxWHUisg5cC1miazDSGokNkqQ6T0wcMP3gryfoxu4mJom7ruPMkzXaFsaSXGEUPVzB+rVtebJTFmmpHo+egJbGzANFMhby+tzzmq4cxNUUDUhr7mmEFZflMwUcrJjjnFjYlqsS6TH7ePDAXMp8GphOH9f6GAILw6BrbYeb9m/D8O2+FEQLepKLyemzmIVUHCK67YM/9kQ7RR8+2fX1vnsAySh3O+qnI56oQ8Mhv7UDTf17p0lKiA+FdYw84w+E4/W3ZvMIoK4pAxe+KFJwpZZXcwTtw+1Run4CYx2FJKSQ8j05kkHuVAPJawt8tMhMn/c8Dkw7/3mtl5SRfCEnpP4Ne56bg/9jkhmTlVfySHsm4Vi4keC5qFNdyn83nIlR1TfNf9+fylUt1YVuuPQw+f75mC7J1nl9jj== Completely agree... msgreenf, PorterTX, Elvis and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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