Advice needed please CA np30 or Marantz na7004 or Sonos ZP90

The Sonos will require an offboard DAC to sound as good as the other two, so once this is added, it's up to the price of the Marantz anyway. Plus, the Marantz can deal with 24/96.

thxs for reply, advice noted.......anyone else out there with there experience with any of the units and if useing dac with sonos which ones?

rgds jon c

Don't discount the Squeezebox Touch + DAC 

how well do these network players/streamer work with nas devices, obviously im trying not to have my pc on if i can help it.

ive looked at logitech duet and sqeezebox's before and didnt like the bad feedback i found on some customer reviews, its seems it very hit and miss if you get a stable setup. how well do these network players/streamer work with nas devices?, obviously im trying not to have pc on all the time. im inclined to buy the cambridge np30 or the marantz but i would need to be sure it will work with my dlink nas drive

rgds jon

What's the rest of your system Jon?

As far as my understanding goes, if you send a digital signal into your amplifier/AVR, the DAC within the amplifier/AVR has to process and convert the Digital signal to work with the internal analogue Amplifier stage that then drives your loudspeakers.

With the ZP90 + amplifier/AVR you have two choices – A. DAC in the ZP90 and send analogue to the amplifier/AVR (you then don’t use the DAC in the amplifier/AVR) or B. DAC in the amplifier/AVR and send Digital from the ZP90.

Adding in an external DAC gives you a third option C. DAC in the DAC - send digital from the ZP90 to the DAC and then analogue from the DAC to the amplifier/AVR.

Your simply shifting where you do the Digital to Analogue conversion – it has to happen somewhere and different DACS may produce a different sound!

Hi Fi amplifiers tend to offer superior performance than AVRs.

So an external DAC isn't really necessary if your amplifier is up to it. My advice is to check the sound quality without an external DAC first, & then go for a DAC if you're not happy.

Depends on what's the Sonos ZP90 connected to. You won't always need a separate DAC to get superior sound.

As I mentioned in the other thread, it depends how good the decoding is in the AVR. Those using a ZP90 through an AV receiver with a good DAC won't find the need for one, but many will if it's put through a 2 channel system that has no digital abilities. As I said, it's all down to how good the individual wans their streamed music to sound. I appreciate that many will be happy just listening analogue out from a ZP90.

system info for david @ frank harvey hifi, i have the pioneer vsx- lx53 receiver currently useing a creative audigy 2 platinum ex soundcard with external device which outputs my audio by co-axial digital cable to my pioneer, ive been useing this as music source for a long long time and with new technology about im sure i can achieve a better sound, i think the marantz or cambridge audio network player is definately the way to go as long as they work with my current dlink dns 323 nas.

rgds jon c

system info for david @ frank harvey hifi, i have the pioneer vsx- lx53 receiver currently useing a creative audigy 2 platinum ex soundcard with external device which outputs my audio by co-axial digital cable to my pioneer, ive been useing this as music source for a long long time and with new technology about im sure i can achieve a better sound, i think the marantz or cambridge audio network player is definately the way to go as long as they work with my current dlink dns 323 nas.

rgds jon c

i give up with posting post i always get double or no posts lol

With the benefit of 24/96, I think they'd be a better long term investment. Although the Sonos does have a very nice iPad app if you have one. A ZP90 through the LX53 will be fine - as I said, mine is being used through my LX83.