I’m not a lot of an analog audio man. I like listening to music, however I don’t get so obsessive about sound high quality that I attempt to optimize each single listening second. So I assumed that moving into amassing albums on vinyl wouldn’t be for me. Till I attempted the Victrola Stream Onyx, a participant designed particularly round a digital streaming expertise.
Victrola has a protracted historical past of creating glorious file gamers, however the Stream Onyx is a bit of distinctive. Its major distinguishing function is its capability to stream to Sonos audio system—which sounds a bit of counterintuitive. Isn’t the purpose of investing in a vinyl assortment to get that wealthy analog sound?
Nicely, possibly. And the Stream Onyx nonetheless has analog outputs if you wish to retain the choice of listening that approach. Nevertheless, the addition of Sonos streaming—and the simplicity that the Onyx supplies—makes a powerful argument that vinyl and digital pair rather well collectively.
The Digital Paradox
The Stream Onyx is a remarkably easy machine. It has an analog stereo RCA output, so you should use it like a standard file participant, and it has an Ethernet port for connecting to your community. Nevertheless it’s solely needed to attach the ability cable. Then you’ll be able to stream audio from the participant to any Sonos-compatible speaker in the home.
This isn’t the one file participant that may join wirelessly to audio system, however many alternate options use Bluetooth, which doesn’t seize fairly as a lot element and richness as Sonos audio, and has extra limitations by way of streaming distance. Whereas it may not fulfill audio purists, I discovered the sound high quality coming from my Onyx—paired with a Sonos Period 300—to be glorious. The clicks, pops, and texture of taking part in a file got here via simply as clearly as they’d from analog audio system (to my ears, anyway).
Nevertheless, since Sonos isn’t the one possibility, there’s nonetheless flexibility to get the perfect of each worlds. The analog RCA output means you can join the participant to a sturdy analog system, however nonetheless stream music to different rooms that could be much less handy to attach. Possibly you like listening to information in your hi-fi den, however there’s nothing stopping you from persevering with playback on a speaker within the kitchen.
Past the Needle
{Photograph}: Victrola
It’s additionally price protecting in thoughts how a lot of the expertise of listening to information isn’t nearly audio high quality. I’m not an enormous file collector, however I had the identical expertise as critiques editor Julian Chokkatu when he first bought into vinyl. Visiting a file retailer, placing arms on a full album, the tactile expertise of interacting with a single work is unparalleled in a streaming world.
The interface for listening to music can also be very totally different on a file. One may ask, “When you’re going to stream digitally, why even trouble utilizing a file participant in any respect?” My high reply is you can’t pause a file. As soon as I placed on a vinyl of Queen’s best hits, I’m dedicated. There’s no observe skipping, no shuffling. Simply listening to an album the best way the artist meant. And I’ve bought a large sleeve with album artwork, images, and extras to peruse whereas I do.
It’s laborious to overstate how liberating that is, how way more intimately I really feel the music after I hear like this. It’s an expertise that streaming simply can’t contact. After I hear to 1 music on vinyl, no algorithm goes to attempt to guess what I’d like to listen to subsequent, solely to bafflingly comply with Van Halen with a music from Bo Burnham: Inside, simply because I’ve listened to each not too long ago. ( you, YouTube Music.)