Computer Audio Asylum

Sound quality - Squeezebox vs Sonos Connect - digital out

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This Post Has Been Edited by the Author

I just acquired a Sonos Connect to replace my 'classic' Squeezebox (SB3) since Rhapsody no longer works on the SB3. It was easy to swap the Sonos for the Squeezebox, I used the coaxial digital out on both, with the same cable. In both cases the digital out was going to an external DAC (Behringer DEQ2496 which has the AKM 4393 DAC chip)
What I didn't expect was a sound quality difference between the two. Listening to Rhapsody and Pandora, the bass is clearly better on the SB3, the Sonos sounds like some of the low bass has been removed.
As an experiment, I ripped a few orchestral CD tracks to WAV, and played the same track through the two systems using the Logitech Media Server for the SB3 and the Sonos was able to find the track on my computer. When I did this, the sound quality was, as far as I can tell, identical. The bass seemed about the same on either one.
So I wonder what is going on with the streaming sources, Rhapsody and Pandora. Music did not sound like it was being compressed more on the Sonos (like maybe the Sonos was being fed a lower bitrate stream), but I wonder why the Sonos lacked bass and on some recordings, the SB3 had a more 'coherent' sound, like when an acoustic guitar is close miked and you can hear/feel the pressure waves as the strings are plucked. The SB3 was better at conveying this than the Sonos.
Is it possible that the SB3 is being fed a better quality signal than the Sonos? It is not a huge difference but the SB3 sounds noticebly better, 'fuller' like a higher bitrate recording would, and there is somewhat of a sense of relief when I go back to listening to it.
any ideas? I'm going to give it another try in the morning and return the Sonos (got it at a local Best Buy) if the difference still bothers me and look for another solution. Just in case this is a burn-in issue (I don't think so because with the WAV files they sound identical) I can leave the Sonos playing the WAV file from the computer in a loop overnight.

Edits: 05/02/15

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