Latest news with #UPnP
Yahoo
06-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Victrola adds more wireless options to its Sonos-compatible turntables
If you own one of Victrola's high-end, Sonos-ready turntables from the last few years, your techie record player is about to get more versatile. The company said on Thursday that all of its "Works with Sonos" vinyl turntables will support Bluetooth, Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) and hi-fi Roon streaming through a software update. The update will dramatically increase the streaming versatility of the Stream Carbon, Pearl and Onyx turntables. Meanwhile, Victrola says the ultra-premium Sapphire player, which also supports those standards, has already received the update. The company says it will install automatically, and the new options will appear in the section of the app where you previously only saw the option to pick a default Sonos speaker. While the new capabilities are good news for anyone who spent anywhere from $600 to $1,500 on a hi-tech vinyl player, it seems curious (if not infuriating) that the premium gear launched without these capabilities despite having all the requisite hardware. And while the company framed the update as a natural continuation of its mission to help vinyl lovers, you could look at Sonos' calamitous year and speculate that Victrola calculated that hitching too many horses to that post might not be the best idea. An incomprehensibly botched Sonos app update in May led to months of downward spiraling. Despite numerous attempts to plug holes, the debacle culminated in two rounds of layoffs and the departure of its CEO and chief product officer in January. Although Victrola launched cheaper Sonos-less alternatives to the same turntables months before Sonos' plummet began, it's easy to imagine it nervously eyeing that mess and deciding now is a good time to awaken the Sonos variants' dormant wireless capabilities. "This update is a major step forward in our mission to blend the warmth of vinyl with the convenience of modern wireless audio," Victrola Scott Hagen wrote in a press release. "The Victrola Stream turntables have been the best option for Sonos users, and now we're extending that same effortless streaming experience to even more audio ecosystems. Vinyl lovers can now enjoy premium wireless flexibility without compromise."
Yahoo
05-03-2025
- Yahoo
Victrola Stream Sonos turntables get a surprise Bluetooth upgrade
Victrola's line of Stream turntables are getting an automatic, over-the-air software update that will give owners the ability to stream music via Bluetooth, Universal Plug'n'Play (UPnP), and they'll also be able to use their turntables as source for Roon-based multiroom systems. The update is expected to begin rolling out today and it will include Victrola's first three Stream models: Stream Carbon, Stream Onyx, and Stream Pearl. When Victrola debuted its Stream turntables, their claim to fame was their built-in Sonos integration. They were the first turntables that could stream vinyl directly to Sonos speakers over Wi-Fi, without the need of a middle component like a Sonos Port or Sonos Amp. At the time, however, if you wanted a turntable that could stream over Bluetooth, you would have needed to look elsewhere. Now, it looks like Victrola had the hardware for Bluetooth streaming already built-in to its Stream models and simply didn't enable that functionality at launch. Bluetooth gives the Stream turntables the ability to pair with and stream to any Bluetooth audio device, including wireless headphones, earbuds, or Bluetooth speakers. The upgrade is also good news for those with Wi-Fi based multiroom audio systems that aren't built on Sonos components. With UPnP support, a Stream turntable can use Wi-Fi to stream to an UPnP-compatible network music streamer, endpoint, or integrated amp like the Wiim Amp Pro. In August 2024, Victrola launched its $1,300 Stream Sapphire — the flagship of the Stream collection — with Sonos, AirPlay, Google Cast, Roon, and UPnP, however, like the first Stream models, it didn't feature Bluetooth connectivity. It will also be included in the update, giving it the Bluetooth connectivity it previously lacked. Editor's note: an earlier version of this story said the Stream Sapphire wasn't included in the update.
