Sonos Speakers Can Stream Better Audio Than You Might Think

Since Sonos launched its S2 app midway through 2020, it empowered many of its old and new wireless speakers with the ability to play lossless-quality audio.

Specifically, the update enabled Sonos speakers to play audio up to 24-bit/48 kHz, which is much better than MP3-quality audio and even better than standard CD-quality audio (16-bit/44.1 kHz).

That said, not every Sonos speaker owner can play the same quality of lossless audio tracks — it matters which lossless streaming service you subscribe and, to a lesser extent, which Sonos speakers you have.

Photo by Tucker Bowe for Gear Patrol

Your streaming service matters

Other than Spotify and Pandora, most music streaming services nowadays support lossless-quality audio tracks. So, if you’re a paying service member and have the proper speakers and hi-fi setup, you can listen to them.

However, different music services support different levels of lossless audio. And, more importantly to Sonos speaker owners, Sonos only supports the max audio quality of up to 24-bit/48 kHz for a few streaming services … and they aren’t necessarily the ones you expect.

As of March 2025, you need to subscribe to either Amazon Music, Apple Music or Qobuz to be able to stream the maximum quality audio on your Sonos speakers — all support up to 24-bit/48 kHz audio.

Even though lossless streaming services like Tidal and Deezer can play significantly higher-resolution audio, Sonos doesn’t currently support them. If you’re a Tidal or Deezer subscriber, Sonos speakers max out at CD-quality audio (16-bit/44.1 kHz).

To learn more about the various services that Sonos supports, as well as their high-resolution playback, check out its support page.

Photo by Tucker Bowe for Gear Patrol

Which Sonos speakers support the max hi-fi?

The good news is that the vast majority of Sonos speakers are capable of playing the highest-quality audio that Sonos supports. In fact, every Sonos speaker that is compatible with S2 — which is basically every one released in the past ten-ish years— supports higher-resolution playback.

The only Sonos speakers that are in danger of not supporting it are the really old ones.

If you’ve been a Sonos speaker owner for over ten years and still use some of the brand’s original speakers or components — such as the Play:5 (Gen 1), Connect:Amp (Gen 1), Connect (Gen 1) or Zone Players — that don’t support Sonos S2, they won’t play as higher-resolution tracks.

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