Best Sonos ZP-80 Mod?

If it is under 1k - I am in........ But I doubt it.
Different, more economically driven choices arisen lately.
As good as Peace Car can be, it comes down to financial decision.
But it seems that selling larger quantities works better then having a thick skin and hoping for the best. I am not an expert by any means but have seen
it work. Also onother benefit of an entery level product offered to the masses is that company is gaining future consumers, which can.... or will come back in the future , base on their earlier ( positive ) experience + products like that can finance future research or/and marketing. You will see few other products like that in the very near future. Both were talked about at the table during CES. Both analog. Both over-build and better then competition in that price range. Both for the same reason and through many conversations and planning. I also saw a similar moves from other brands - Wadia for one.
You have great product Steve but others are catching up.
We have met during CES, and you are a very good guy and I wish you well.

Thanks much for the information, Steve. It seems like an interesting product.

I have both a CD player and unmodified Sonos ZP-80 connected to my preamp via digital outputs. I ripped my CD's to my hard drive in FLAC format. I set up my system where I had a CD in the player, and at the same time the same CD ready to play via the Sonos system. I played both at the same time and used the preamps remote to do quick A/B comparisons. All I can say is the results were inconclusive. Sometimes I thought the music through the CD player was a bit better (voices and strings may have sounded slightly more present and less dull); other times I couldn't hear any difference at all.

Has anyone else attempted this test? If so, what conclusions have you found? If you've modified your Sonos with Empirical or Cullen mods, what differences have you found over a stock Sonos or your transport?

Some feedbacks I have read:

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?ddgtl&1204503359&openflup&9&4#9

http://www.audiocircle.com/circles/index.php?topic=42526.30

Steve N.
Empirical Audio

Steve,

How would the Pacecar compare in SQ to a Prepro that has built in streaming, like the Denon Prepro. In this case the flac files are streamed from a NAS drive directly to the Prepro. Shouldn't this have the best SQ?

I have a Sonos, and the convienience is much better than the Denon interface, so the Sonos may still be the way for me to go. But, I am curious about the SQ trade-off.

Thanks,
Darrell