Verdict
There ’s no arguing with the convenience or wireless strength of the Victrola Stream Carbon – but its overall effectual caliber fall fractionally short .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
‘ go with Sonos ’ is not , I imagine , an light or inexpensive condition to achieve . But it ’s a badge the Victrola Stream Carbon is ennoble to wear – and it means this record book player is quick to wirelessly pour your vinyl group collection to your Sonos wireless speaker scheme just as well as you stream music from your smartphone .
This sort of functionality does n’t come especially cheap , though – so does it make financial , as well as sonic , sense ?
The Victrola Stream Carbon is on sales event in the United Kingdom priced at £ 899 . In the United States it ’s a more or less more toothsome $ 799 , while in Australia you ’re look at AU$1199 or something quite like it .
It goes without saying this is proper money for a turntable , and many right trade name – Pro - Ject , Rega andTechnics , to name but three – have a similarly priced and very well - consider alternative with which to tempt you . But none of them has a feature - set like this one …
Design
No two ways about it , the Stream Carbon is a nicely design and good - looking equipment . plain it looks precisely like a turntable – but within that there are some very accordant touches .
The veneered MDF plinth with its aluminium front - dental plate , for example , is elegantly curved at its left and correct edges . Despite the deck of cards being just 109 mm tall , Victrola has managed to position the platter in a recess – so when a transcription is deform , it sit very closely to the top of the plinth indeed . It ’s supplied with a similarly low - visibility dust - cover for use only when the Stream Carbon is not in use . It sit almost flush to the disc and has a bump at one end for elucidate the tonearm .
Build quality is more than adequate . There ’s a little more play in the big , lighted button / turn dominance telephone dial at the end of the dashboard , it ’s true – but in every other obedience the Victrola feels as sturdy as its Mary Leontyne Price demands , and seems work up to last for the foresighted haul .
Features
Some of the Stream Carbon ’s features are on the dot what you ’d require from a reasonably costly lazy Susan , and some are most decidedly not . Probably full to start with the stock stuff …
The Victrola is a bash - movement intent that can operate at both 33.3 and 45rpm – fastness - modification is just a matter of turning a little thickening at the edge of the lazy Susan ’s top surface . The 225 mm tonearm is a straight , C - fibre design – the headshell attaches using a bayonet meet and comes pre - fitted with an Ortofon Red 2 M cartridge .
The Victrola control app have a ten - step fix - up scout , and in all honesty it could n’t be any simple : seize the headshell , slip on the equaliser and screw it down – and you ’re pretty much there . There ’s an anti - skate control condition by the tonearm rise , and that ’s about the extent of the set - up that ’s required . It ’s a well-disposed and straightforward cognitive operation .
From here , though , the Stream Carbon becomes a rather more private proposal .
There ’s a little recess at the rear of the footstall where the Victrola keeps its forcible connections . There ’s an input for mains power , naturally , and a pair of stereo RCA sockets for connecting the turntable to an amplifier or powered verbalizer . Bear in mind , though , that the Stream Carbon outputs at dividing line level – its desegregate phono stage is always on , which think it will physically link to pretty much any system . And there ’s also an Ethernet socket , which it ’s safe to say you tend not to see on record players all that much .
The Victrola has Wi - Fi build in , too . It ’s a certify Works with Sonos production , of course – which means that once you ’ve used its app to get it onto the same Wi - Fi web as your Sonos speaker(s ) , it integrates into the Sonos control app as a source .
And from there , it can stream wirelessly to yourSonos speakeror mathematical group of speakers , seamlessly and stably and with very picayune effort want by the user . evidently , some parallel - to - digital conversion is going on before the information bugger off to your loudspeaker – but the eccentric and touchstone of digital file the Victrola sends is not information I ’m party to .
The control dial on the front has an illuminated section that glow in different colours to indicate that power is on , that geminate to a Sonos scheme is available and that pairing has been achieved . After that , it functions as a volume ascendence . And the platter has an automatic start / stop mechanism that ’s activated once the tonearm is moved to above the platter or taken off again .
Sound Quality
The Stream Carbon takes no prison term at all to set up , make out its handshake with your Sonos arrangement without alarum , and is completely stable in its wireless connectivity from there on out . As far as the convenience aspect of the specification is concerned , Victrola has absolutely nail it .
During the course of this test , the turntable streams to aSonos Era 300speaker , aSonos Arc soundbar , and is hardwired to a Roksan stereo amplifier connected to Acoustic Energy loudspeakers . While there are discernible differences in the way it performs depend on the method of output , its broad characteristics remain pretty much the same . And no matter if it ’s playing a decade - previous written matter of Kimono My Houseby Sparks or a stigma - newfangled reprint of De La Soul ’s 3 foot High and Rising , the Victrola goes about matter in the same way .
It ’s a chunky , full - tidal bore listen that never sounds less than weighty . There ’s considerable low - frequency presence in all circumstance , a bonnie amount of detail retain and revealed , and a fair even - handed way with key that lets it sound consistent from the top of the frequency range to the bottom . Consistency is seldom a bad trait in audio equipment , and if the Stream Carbon is anything it ’s consistent .
Despite the scurvy - remnant substance , basso sounds are sensibly swift and control . Rhythmic expression is decorous , momentum is uncommitted when postulate , and there ’s fair version at the bottom ending too . The detail spirit level are just as high in the midrange , and there ’s enough space on the soundstage for a singer to do their thing without seeming crowded . At the top of the frequency range there ’s a little bite and shine , though in ultimate term the treble sounds a little rolled off and conservative .
What the Stream Carbon ca n’t really come up , though , is any sense of intensity or participation . It ’s a very matter - of - fact auditory sensation the Victrola presents , with not much in the way of active expression . Whatever happens in a transcription go on at a very standardised degree of magnitude throughout , and there ’s no sense of useable dynamic headroom if the loss get particularly rowdy .
No matter that we all know the Sparks songs have moment of hushed calm and eye - pop attack – the Stream Carbon does n’t really distinguish . Its presentation reaches a tableland straightaway , and it ’s loath in the extreme point to move from there .
All of the above relates to the way the turntable sounds when it ’s wirelessly swarm to a Sonos speaker system . When it ’s firmly - wire to a stereophonic system amplifier , shortcomings in the integrated phono amplification that ’s on board the Stream Carbon mean it does n’t create quite as convincing a soundstage when hear this way , and it sounds rather more two - dimensional than it does when usingBluetoothas a connexion . If the Victrola ’s phono stagecoach were defeatable , it ’s possible it would be a more engaging listen when hear through a traditional hi - fi scheme .
Latest deals
Should you buy it?
desire to take heed to vinyl through your Sonos system and not have to worry ? The Stream Carbon is a static and uniform listen .
There are some positive to the Victrola ’s functioning , but more focussed choice at the same money sound quite a routine better .
Final Thoughts
There ’s a lot to be said for convenience , almost all of it confident – and that is specially true if you could bring a niggling gizmo to this most inconvenient of music storage formats . Putting convenience ahead of carrying out when take a disk player is absolutely fair enough – just as long as you ’re aware that you ca n’t have your cake and eat up it too .
Trusted Score
How we test
We prove every turntable we review exhaustively over an extended period of time . We expend industry standard tests to compare features decent . We ’ll always recite you what we find . We never , ever , accept money to critique a product .
Find out more about how we examine in ourethics insurance policy .
FAQs
The Stream Carbon feature an integrate phono stagecoach that ca n’t be vote out , so you wo n’t be able-bodied to use the turntable with a phono stage of your own choice .
Full Specs
Sustainability
Trusted Reviews ’ hold the fact that global heating is not a myth as a kernel time value and will continuously endeavor to help protect our major planet from hurt in its business sector practices .
As part of this commission , whenever we review a product we place the company a series of questions to help us gauge and make transparent the impact the gadget has on the surroundings .
We currently have n’t receive answers to the questions on this product , but will update this page the consequence we do . you’re able to see a detailed equipment failure of the question we need and why in oursustainability info varlet .
