I streamed vinyl records wirelessly with Sonos speakers, here's how it went
by Brady Snyder · Android PoliceOne of the easiest ways to get a great whole-home, surround-sound audio experience is to invest in a set of network-attached speakers. The Sonos and AirPlay ecosystems make it easy to cast content from plenty of devices to an entire system of audio devices. If streaming is the simple approach to music listening, vinyl is at the other end of the spectrum; I've been collecting for half a decade, and love the 200-plus LPs in my collection, but it's not easy.
There's beauty in the manual and intentional process that is vinyl listening. So, what does it look like when you blend the simplicity of a great Sonos ecosystem and the manual procedure of vinyl? It's the Victrola Stream Sapphire, a $1,300 premium turntable that can connect to Sonos systems and most uPnP-equipped products. This isn't a gimmicky solution either — the record player has a "Works with Sonos" certification.
We had a lot of questions and skepticism around how it all worked, and whether you'd even want to do it, so we tried the Victrola Stream Sapphire with Sonos speakers for ourselves.
How the Victrola Stream Sapphire works as a record player
Let's start by trying this turntable with a good-old RCA input
Let's start with how the Stream Sapphire plays as a turntable when paired with standard RCA powered speakers. Victrola occasionally gets a bad rap in the audiophile community for its low-end hardware, like the suitcase and vintage-style record players, but its high-end stuff is solid. This is a semi-automatic, belt-driven turntable with an Ortofon 2M Blue cartridge and a carbon-fiber tonearm. It's the nicest record player I've ever touched.
I've now tried fully manual, semi-automatic, and fully automatic turntables, and I think semi-automatic is the worst of the three. You don't get nice features like auto-start or auto-return (although you do get auto-stop), but you also don't have full control either. That's my only main gripe with the Victrola Stream Sapphire, from a hardware perspective.
My current vinyl setup is an AT-LPW40WN turntable with a pair of Edifier speakers and a T5 subwoofer.
The turntable sounded great with a basic pair of Edifier speakers, though these are certainly the limiting factor in this setup. They cost around $100, whereas the turntable itself is $1,300. To test the full sound of the Stream Sapphire, it was time to connect it to my Sonos system, where I could stream wireless audio in up to 24-bit/48kHz lossless FLAC.
Connecting to my Sonos system was effortless
I'm ready to ditch my HomePods for good
The setup process for the Victrola Stream Sapphire was surprisingly easy. There was a required update immediately after unboxing it, and I didn't like having to give my location for setup. Victrola says in the fine print that it's necessary for connection and pairing, but I'm not sure if I buy that. After connecting the Stream Sapphire to my home Wi-Fi network (it also supports Ethernet), it recognized and automatically connected to my Sonos system.
From there, you can tweak settings, a few of which are crucial. Simultaneous mode plays your records through RCA outputs and Sonos speakers, which I don't recommend. There's a natural delay when streaming wirelessly, so things won't line up. You might want to do this if you use RCA speakers in the room with your record player, and stream to the rest of your house. You can also fine-tune the delay — longer is better, because quality will be higher.
Unfortunately, because the Sonos Ace doesn't support Wi-Fi, they can't be used with the Stream Sapphire. That's a bummer, but by no fault of Victrola.
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Prepare for latency and great Sonos sound
I'm willing to accept lag to get seamless whole-home audio
You'll notice in the photos throughout this article that I don't have Sonos speakers on my table with the Victrola Stream Sapphire. That's by design. You don't want speakers on the same surface as your turntable, because the vibrations can cause unwanted feedback and distortion.
Unfortunately, I don't have the space or the means to do that with my wired RCA speakers, but the Sonos system gives me the flexibility to place speakers anywhere for a better experience. That's part of the magic of streaming vinyl wirelessly.
I used a Sonos Era 300, a Sonos Sub Mini, and a Sonos Roam 2 with the Stream Sapphire, and it sounded great. I felt that the Sonos system sounded better and crisper, especially in the high ends, than my Edifier speakers and subwoofer. After noticing some stuttering on the default medium delay setting — which adds a five-second delay — I set it to max. The audio quality was much better, and I recommend it if you can live with the lag.
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Believe it or not, my favorite way to use the Stream Sapphire was with the Sonos Roam 2, which costs under $200. It's a battery-powered Bluetooth and Wi-Fi speaker, and the latter means it can connect to the Stream Sapphire.
The sound quality really isn't great, but it felt amazing to be able to carry my vinyl tunes with me wherever I went in my home. Before, I used a 25-foot long RCA cable and two splitters to get this kind of audio experience. The comparison is stark, thanks to how easy it is to use my Sonos system with the record player.
Should you use Sonos speakers to listen to vinyl records?
It all depends on why you listen to vinyl in the first place
The elephant in the room is obvious: by using the Stream Sapphire to play records wirelessly, you're naturally converting an analog signal to a digital one, which results in a loss in quality. From a technical perspective, that kind of defeats the point. If you're an audiophile who listens to vinyl for the sound quality above all else, you shouldn't even consider the Victrola Stream Sapphire.
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I listen to vinyl for a different reason. In a world of great streaming services and on-demand music listening, vinyl makes enjoying music an intentional and physical experience. There's a connection between you, the artist, and the sounds you're hearing. It's also just great to own something, both for collection and simply so it can't be taken away in price hikes and digital rights battles that affect music streaming services all too often.
For those that listen to records for the same reason, the Victrola Stream Sapphire is a really cool way to stream vinyl wirelessly to your Sonos setup. Even if it's pointless on paper.
Best for Sonos
Victrola Stream Sapphire
Victrola's Stream Sapphire is the best record player that can connect to a Sonos system. This turntable can send wireless audio signals to network-attached speakers in up to 24-bit/48kHz lossless FLAC. It features an Ortofon 2M Blue cartridge and a carbon-fiber tonearm. It's a semi-automatic, belt-driven record player.
Room-filling sound
Sonos Era 300
I used the Sonos Era 300 to fill a room full of sound with the Victrola Stream Sapphire. This wireless speaker connects to a Sonos system and features Dolby Atmos, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.0, and USB-C. If you don't want to use that wireless connection, the USB-C port can be used for wired inputs.
Portable audio
Sonos Roam 2
The tiny Sonos Roam 2 is a wireless and battery-powered speaker that too fits into the Sonos ecosystem. Since it features Wi-Fi connectivity, you can stream audio to the Sonos Roam 2 from the Victrola Stream Sapphire record player. Walking around your house while listening to your records is a surreal experience.