Sonos Multi-room Audio System - Media and networking unlimited
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The Sonos system supports virtually every popular media format, including obvious contenders such as WAV and MP3, along with many less common ones including FLAC, Ogg Vorbis, Audible audio books and the Apple Lossless format.
The system also supports streaming of any analog device connected to any ZonePlayer, although obviously the Sonos controller doesn't have the ability to control such devices itself. Neither can it perform miracles such as changing the CD in a deck or switching on the power to your DAB radio, so there are limits to the power of the Sonos wireless system.
Which is not to underestimate its networking capabilities. SonosNet is designed on the mesh principle, with each ZonePlayer connecting to the next closest available unit rather than to a single, possibly distant, access point. This approach provides a number of benefits, including:
Redundancy: If a ZonePlayer breaks down or goes offline, the network continues to operate. Any players connected to the dead zone will simply find the next nearest available zone and carry on as usual.
Minimal interference and degradation: Because signals are traveling the shortest possible distance between nodes, the possibility for interference and signal attenuation are reduced to the minimum.
This is vital where audio is concerned, particularly when playing synchronized audio, as any drop outs and delays are painfully noticeable. In practice, such glitches are rare with the Sonos system as long as the ZonePlayers are not located too far apart.
Expandability: Adding new client devices to a standard wireless network typically degrades performance by increasing the load on the network's hardware. SonosNet is an exception to this rule. Adding ZonePlayers to the system actually improves performance by effectively increasing the number of access points and reducing the distance between them.
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