What’s the Best Way to Listen to Vinyl on Sonos Speakers?

Not long ago, playing your vinyl records throughout your home on Sonos speakers was pretty difficult. You basically needed Sonos’s best and most expensive speaker, the Five or the Play:5 (its predecessor), as it was the only Sonos speaker that supported line-in. Otherwise, you were out of luck.

But times have changed.

Now, many of Sonos’s newest speakers support line-in and Bluetooth connectivity, so they can be connected directly to a turntable or paired via Bluetooth. Also, a select few turntables are Works with Sonos certified and thus can stream directly to Sonos speakers.

But each way has its caveats.

The best way: Get a Sonos speaker with line-in

Photo by Tucker Bowe for Gear Patrol

The most straightforward way to play vinyl records on your home Sonos system is to get a Sonos speaker (or component) with a line-in connection.

This way, you can connect your turntable (which must have a built-in phono preamp) directly to the speaker, select the Line-in option in the Sonos app and then group it with the rest of your home’s Sonos speakers. It’s so easy.

The Five (and Play:5 before it) is the only Sonos speaker with a 3.5mm line-in port, so you need an RCA to 3.5mm cable (like this) to hook it up directly to your turntable.

Sonos’s newest speakers, such as the Era 300, Era 100 and Move 2, have USB-C line-in ports and require you to also have Sonos’s special line-in adapter.

You can also hook up the turntable to Sonos’s streaming components, the Port or Amp, as both have RCA jacks. Once your turntable is connected, you can group it with the other Sonos speakers in your home.

Next up: Get a Sonos-compatible turntable

Photo by Tucker Bowe for Gear Patrol

The next best option is to get a “Works with Sonos” turntable certified, which can stream vinyl directly to your home’s Sonos speakers. This doesn’t require a direct wired connection and thus gives you more freedom to place your turntable and speakers where you want in your home.

However, there are two major caveats to this method.

The most obvious is that very few turntables are Works with Sonos certified — and Victrola is the only brand that makes them. Its Stream Carbon ($800), Stream Pearl ($800) and Stream Onyx ($600) are the only turntables with such a certification. And they are all quite expensive.

Secondly, the turntables are discoverable within the Sonos app. However, they require you to use Victrola’s app, which walks you through the setup process and asks you which Sonos speakers you want to link the turntable to. It’s easy, but not as simple as you’d probably like.

Last gasp: The Bluetooth method

Photo by Tucker Bowe for Gear Patrol

And finally, there’s the Bluetooth method. This is probably the most affordable way to listen to vinyl on Sonos — you can buy a Roam 2 or Roam SL and then pair them with a Bluetooth turntable — but it’s also the method I least recommend.

The main reason for this is that pairing a turntable and speaker over Bluetooth is a little finicky. It requires you to place both next to each other and in pairing mode, and then wait for the Sonos speaker to make a sound and the LED light to turn to a solid blue. You can’t use an app as a crutch.

And then when the connection is done, you have to go through the pairing process all over again. Basically, it’s not a very “relaxing” experience.

Additionally, Bluetooth doesn’t have the same high-resolution streaming capabilities as Wi-Fi, so your records won’t sound as great. It also requires a turntable that supports Bluetooth, which generally isn’t the highest-quality turntable.

For more information about playing vinyl on Sonos, check out the company’s support page.

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