Best Sonos ZP-80 Mod?

Barrelchief, just for clarification, are you saying that the modded zp80 WITH an outboard dac still doesn't match your reference cdp? Can you elaborate by identifying your reference cdp (and cost) and the dac(s) used with the modded zp80? I think this would help everyone understand your evaluation to date. I too am trying to get to the point, hopefully at a reasonable cost, of getting cdp-type performance from my sonos setup. However, I think it is important for all of us to establish a cost/performance reference. If I'm looking simply to equal the performance ofr my old Adcom GCD700, I shouldn't have too far to go, nor (hopefully) should I have to spend $2-3000 in total to match $700 performance. On the other hand, if someone is trying to match the performance of a $5k-10k reference quality CDP, well, that's another story. Can the Sonos system ever get there, and at what cost? Look forward to your current system comparisons. Regards..Jeff

Based on this thread, I am going to give the Cullen mod a try. Unlike others, I am not trying to replace my cdp (Esoteric P3 D5 combo), though I do want my digital music to sound as good as reasonably possible. For me, my Esoteric serves as my primary source for critically listening. The ZP-80 is used for casual listening while I am working or reading. Because of large music collection, I only encode in VBR 256 so since the source is already limited, I dont need the ZP80 to be match the performance of my Esoteric. That being said, I know some people encode in lossless and want to replace their cdp. Good luck!

I will let everyone know what I think after I get my ZP80 back.

Hi Jeff:

Yes, my goal is to have my Sonos system perform at least as good as some well respected & pricey cdp's.

My reference cdp is Electrocompaniet EMC-1 (24/192,) which had a $5K MSRP. This reference source was compared to the modded dac, driving $1K Dac's from PS & Monarchy and the $2250 Electrocompaniet ECD-1, which is essentially the Dac section of the EMC-1UP cdp. Amplification components used to evaluate were from: MBL, H2O, Cary.

In a second system, the modded ZP-80 fed the digital inputs on an Audio Aero Prestige Cd/SACD (I beleive that this lists close to 10K.)

Though the modded ZP-80 did sound better than the stock player, in both systems, the original cd definitely beat the Sonos playback. Furthermore, the improvements were more noticeable with the pricier AA player's dac & all tube Joule Electra amplification. Could this have been because the AA has a better dac section? Could this have been because of the nature of the J-E tube gear???

Again, I think that this is very system dependant. Your milage may vary.

I hope this helps.

I need to clarify that though I have not yet been able to acheive the level of performance that I desire from Sonos, I do feel the Cullen mod is a worthwhile improvement over the stock zone player.

The modded player with a good dac ($1K or under) very well may be comperable to cdp's that aproach $1-2K.

Again, I strongly feel that the benefits of the mod are system dependant.

Thanks Barrelchief. So your results are a bit of a mixed bag: definite improvement via the cullen mod, but still not enough to match your cdp's, even when using the same dac (the AA internal dac fed digital from sonos). Perhaps the limitation in rate via the sonos limits best possible results? I wonder if there are any other reasons we are not accounting for? You did seem to suggest that the differences were pretty definitive, so there is obviously something holding this back. The only other note I might add is to echo your statement that this is all probably very system dependent. I would assume, given the rest of your system, that you also have very revealing, high quality speakers as well. Obviously the less revealing the speakers, the less the perceived difference (duh!). Hopefully we can all get to the bottom of this and find a way to make sonos what we all want: equal to a quality cdp at roughly the same cost outlay (ie, 5k cdp = 5k investment in sonos, mod, dac combination)