The Victrola Stream Carbon is a record turntable that connects to your Sonos home audio streaming system. You’ll still have to get up to flip your records to side B, but other than that, it’s the Sonos you already love, only with added hipster appeal. But doesn’t this kind of miss one of the points of vinyl, which is the whole all-analog, hands-on aspect of the format? “Instead of forcing people that already stream to have to purchase traditional (wired) speakers, Victrola can instead offer a very nice record player that doesn’t require new users to also have to retool their music room equipment. And with the hobby of vinyl still strongly enjoying its resurgence, I think Victrola knows that there are still untapped customers to be had,” Michael L. Moore, creator of the Devoted to Vinyl website, told Lifewire via email.
Brand New Retro
The Stream Carbon is made by the same Victrola that has been knocking out convenient home record players for decades. You probably won’t find one in an audiophile setup, but by all accounts, this model sounds pretty good and has some high-end parts. It even has standard RCA output jacks from its built-in vinyl preamp so that you can connect it to a regular hi-fi amplifier and speakers. “I actually believe this new Victrola turntable that allows for wireless streaming through a Sonos speaker system is quite a nice compromise. Users finally get some quality, premium features in a turntable this time around (a carbon fiber tonearm, an Ortofon 2M Red cartridge) while still maintaining the big convenience factor that fans of Victrola have come to expect,” says Moore. But really, the draw here is the integration with Sonos. Using the Victrola app, you can hook it up to your home network via Wi-Fi. You can also choose an Ethernet connection if you prefer. Once connected to your Sonos, you can control it via your Sonos, and the app is no longer required. The Stream Carbon has an MDF plinth, an aluminum turntable, plus that stiff and light carbon-fiber tonearm and Ortofon cartridge (the bit that carries the needle). It’s all pretty decent, as it should be, for $800.
Analog
There’s almost no way to listen to a pure analog recording these days. Even if you have a record turntable connected to an analog amp and speakers, the recording of the studio’s music was probably done on digital gear. And even if you’re listening to an old, pre-digital recording, it’s quite likely that it has been digitally remastered somewhere along the way. Some artists, like Jack White, issue recordings that are recorded and mastered on tape, then pressed to vinyl without a single digitized bit, but that’s not the norm. Which is to say, getting picky about the analog nature of vinyl isn’t worth the hassle. You probably won’t buy a Sonos setup just to use it with this Victrola, so the target audience is clear: existing Sonos users. And for them (or for you, I guess, if you’re reading this while chilling to some quality multi-room music), vinyl still has a lot to offer. There’s the physical part, the beautiful record itself, plus album sleeve art displayed at its full intended size, not as a stupid little illuminated thumbnail. You can see your records on the shelf and hear the trademark ‘warmth’ of vinyl. “There’s something special about owning a limited edition record or an old mixtape that has been passed down through the generations,” digital streaming expert Sakina Nasir told Lifewire via email. The digitization is done in-device, with a 48KHz digital-to-analog conversion, so sending the music off over the Wi-Fi should sound as good as the original, with all the pops and crackles intact. But perhaps the biggest draw here, apart from the convenience, at least, is how cool this thing looks. Plonk this thing down in the middle of your living room, and you’ll look a lot cooler than the day before you bought it. A lot of the appeal of vinyl is in the aesthetics, and in the Stream Carbon, Victrola totally has this covered.
