The $599 Victrola Stream Onyx Works with Sonos Turntable is an enthusiast record player that lets you stream vinyl albums to Sonos speakers. It relies on Wi-Fi rather than Bluetooth and bundles a decent cartridge, so the only sound-quality limitation is the strength of your wireless network and the quality of your speakers. However, we encountered hiccups during setup and struggled to get the RCA connection to work reliably. If you are willing to overlook the buggy experience, the Stream Onyx does what it claims, but the Sonos Amp ($649) is a better choice for most people who want to connect their existing record players (or any passive audio devices) to a Sonos speaker system.
Quality Construction
Coming in at 4.4 by 17.0 by 13.6 inches (HWD) and 12.2 pounds, the belt-driven Stream Onyx is available only in black. The matte-black, die-cast-aluminum platter and aluminum tonearm match the handsome look of the plinth. A ring around the control knob on the front lights up for various scenarios—it glows white when music is actively playing, flashes white when it is starting up, pulses orange when it has network connection issues, blinks red during a factory reset, and flickers green when it is trying to connect to your network or download a software update.
One differentiator between the more expensive Stream Carbon ($799.99) and this model is the included cartridge. The Carbon ships with a more audiophile-grade Ortofon 2M Red cartridge, whereas the Onyx comes with either the Audio-Technica AT-VM95E or Ortofon OM5E. Which cartridge you get with the Onyx depends on where you buy it, so make sure to check that detail before ordering if you have a preference. The cartridge ships uninstalled but easily snaps into place on the easy-to-site-cue tonearm. It doesn't return to its holder automatically when a record finishes playing, but the platter does stop spinning and playback ceases.
The Onyx's mix of hard-molded plastic and medium-density fiberboard aren't as nice as the metallic elements on the Carbon, but it's still a quality player. Its lift lever is easy to operate and the counterweight works reliably to achieve ideal playback. Near the base of the tonearm, there’s even an adjustable anti-skate knob.
It ships with the platter ready to install, and a tiny removable ribbon makes it simple to connect the belt below the platter. A top panel houses a 45rpm/33rpm speed selection knob and a 45rpm adapter for playing 45 records. The player also ships with a matte-black silicone slipmat.
On the back are RCA, Ethernet, and power connectors, but Victrola does not bundle an RCA cable in the box, which is disappointing at this price. The turntable supports 2.4GHz and 5GHz Wi-Fi, but not Bluetooth. If you want a Bluetooth-capable record player, the Victrola Revolution Go ($199.99) is a better choice.
Victrola Stream Onyx App Experience
The Victrola Stream app (available for Android and iOS) is essential to the experience, so its inconsistent performance can be frustrating. The app initially had trouble connecting with our wireless network, for instance, even though it did go through after repeated attempts. More concerning, however, were the significant audio signal dropouts over what I know is a reliable Wi-Fi network. I discuss some settings tweaks that can improve reliability a bit later.
The main page lists the Stream Onyx as a turntable you can manage upon a successful connection and also shows whatever Sonos speaker group you assigned to it. Below this, I recommend leaving the Autoplay function on; with it active, playback automatically begins on the Sonos system when you use the turntable. Further down, the Quickplay option allows you to quickly switch between Sonos speaker groups. Additionally, there’s an About Turntable section that shows any available software downloads, IP address info, and wireless signal strength readouts.
Pay attention to the Additional Settings section because changes here can seriously improve the playback experience. Options include Wireless Audio Delay (which lets you switch between Min, Medium, and High delay times between when the needle picks up audio and the Sonos speakers begin playback), Audio Priority (which switches between Sound and Connection priority modes), RCA Mode (which offers Simultaneous or Switching options), RCA Volume Control (which toggles the volume knob when you use the wired output), RCA Delay (which lets you specify how much of a delay you want in milliseconds), Knob Illumination (which has 100%, 50%, and Off choices), and Reset (which lets you either restore factory settings or retain basic network settings with a soft reset).
For reference, I could avoid dropouts in the Sound priority mode by switching the audio delay setting to high. As for the RCA modes, the Simultaneous choice allows simultaneous wired RCA audio and Sonos speaker playback, though the experience isn't ideal, as I note later.
The Sonos app (also available for Android and iOS) works with the turntable, as well, but you need to use the Victrola Stream app for the initial setup and any adjustments.
Speaker-Dependent Performance
Typically, I evaluate audio products based on how they sound, but there are so many factors that affect a turntable's sonic quality—your speakers, any other piece of the signal chain, and the condition and quality of the LP all contribute. I can't even assume that anyone who buys this will stream to a Sonos speaker because the Sonos Amp enables playback to lots of non-Sonos devices, as does the RCA output. This is all to say that you need to take my sound impressions with a grain of salt—you don’t have my setup, and I don't know what yours is.
I primarily tested the Stream Onyx with the Sonos Era 300. The sound quality in this configuration is excellent. A generous amount of bass depth makes kick drums and orchestral recordings sound rich, while plenty of higher-frequency detail provides balance. The deep percussive hits on a 180-gram pressing of Bernard Herrmann’s Jason & the Argonauts score comes across with power through the Era 300's drivers.
I also tested the wired experience with Martin Logan floor speakers in an audio chain with a McIntosh stereo receiver. Bernard Herrmann’s orchestral scores, as well as quality pressings of The Smile’s debut LP and PJ Harvey’s To Bring You My Love all sound robust. An older pressing of Miles Davis’s In a Silent Way sounds less impressive in the low end than the newer records, but still has plenty of warmth and crisp high-frequency content.
Overall, the treble elements sound crisper and cleaner through the Sonos Era 300, so Victrola might have tuned the turntable's output to complement Sonos speakers specifically.
As mentioned, you can play records via the wired RCA connection and stream to your wireless Sonos speakers simultaneously with the Stream Onyx. However, the playback of the wireless and wired signals likely won't match. The RCA signal lagged behind the Sonos Era 300’s in my experience. And the RCA Delay feature isn't very helpful here because it can only add more delay. Thus, the best solution is to switch the Wireless Delay Time for the Sonos system to Min (yes, this goes against the best practices I established above for playing directly to Sonos speakers) and leave the RCA Delay at +0ms. This still results in a noticeable slap-back delay, but it's more tolerable than any of the other setting combinations. To combat this flaw, you could keep your wired setup in one room and your wireless Sonos speakers in another, but that's not very convenient.
I also encountered some unpredictable volume-control oddities during wired playback. The app lets you toggle the volume knob for wireless audio, but in my experience, switching certain app settings (such as Wireless Audio Delay) while a record is playing resets the volume level. Additionally, when I connected the turntable to my McIntosh stereo receiver's integrated amplifier’s phono input via an RCA cable, the audio output sounded very distorted at first. Enabling the RCA Volume Control setting in the app solved this, however, and the volume knob let me change between levels with no distortion thereafter. Unfortunately, the distortion came back when I switched Wireless Audio Delay modes. Toggling the volume control knob reset things, and the output became normal once more. I asked Victrola about this issue, and it acknowledged the bug, so hopefully a firmware update can fix this.
Based on my testing experience, the Stream Onyx likely requires some tinkering to play properly with your Sonos and wired gear. My advice is to get it working in the configuration you prefer and then simply leave the app alone.
A Temperamental Turntable
For $600, you can buy an excellent turntable without streaming capabilities or a wireless turntable without built-in Sonos compatibility, so you surely pay a premium for the Victrola Stream Onyx's Works with Sonos certification. If you don't have a turntable and want to add one with Sonos compatibility, we can attest that this one sends a high-quality audio signal to Sonos speakers. But you can just as easily connect a regular turntable with a stereo amplifier to a Sonos system using the aforementioned Sonos Amp and enjoy a more reliable streaming experience. That's ultimately the route we recommend for most people in light of current bugs with the RCA connection and volume control on the Onyx.
