Equipped with premium features and Ortofon cartridges, these turntables put a new spin on your favorite albums — converting vinyl to streaming audio in up to 24-bit/48kHz FLAC.
For the first time ever, you can experience vinyl’s mystique throughout your home on any Roon-supported device, thanks to our new Roon Ready Relay technology. Victrola’s streaming turntables marry analog charm and modern convenience, creating exciting new listening possibilities for a timeless music format.
Stay tuned for my upcoming user experience blog/product review on enjoying vinyl through Roon using the Victrola Stream Sapphire.
the turntables themselves are pretty attractive looking, with a sleek modern design. I could see the appeal, particularly for homes that are primarily Sonos, Bluesound, or other networked speakers (KEF). Put the TT on a credenza, connect it to the network (there’s an ethernet for on the back), and party on.
I saw that. My question is, if I bought one today, could I actually use it with Roon, or would I have to wait for a new Roon Server release that supports Roon Ready Relay.
Seems odd that Roon Labs would start certifying products as “Roon Ready Relay” without having support for this feature available to subscribers.
The Roon use case starts to make more sense for folks who are using OPRA for headphone DSP or Roon’s convolution engine for digital room correction. Being able to use these features with vinyl playback certainly enhances the experience. At least for those who are not wed to the notion of a pure analog signal path.
Well, yes and no. I’ve done this for a handful of albums for which there are no commercially available digital recordings (no CDs, not on streaming services).
But folks who have and maintain turntables in their systems generally get something out of the experience of handling and playing physical media. That, and recording hundreds or thousands of LPs to digital files is huge work with little benefit since most albums are available on streaming services and usually sound better.
None of that experience is diluted by having a phono stage (like the Parks Audio Waxwing) that applies RIAA EQ in the digital domain (arguably more accurate). Once digital, streaming vinyl playback through Roon is advantageous for reasons I’ve already mentioned.
Actually, in Roon, there’s a wealth of options far beyond those you mentioned, @woodford. These turntables use Roon Ready Relay to route sound to any Roon-supported device — whether that’s AirPlay, Chromecast, phone, tablet, or laptop-based Roon controllers or the cornucopia of high-performance Roon Ready devices.
The possibilities are practically limited only by the imagination. I’ve even streamed vinyl to Bluetooth headphones connected to my iPhone Roon remote while prepping dinner, good stuff!
Yes
Quite a few Roon customers have told us they also have a vinyl collection. The ability to stream vinyl through Roon, thanks to Roon Ready Relay technology, is an exciting development we wanted those users to know about.
It does! Stay tuned for my review of the Stream Sapphire - coming to the Roon Blog this month.
Not with Roon. There are other software tools and DAW solutions that can do that. Once music is encoded and saved in a compatible format, it can always be tagged and uploaded to your library. But the point here is that people want to use the vinyl every time. That’s part of the appeal — vinyl can be played and enjoyed through Roon now.
Helpful information. Thanks, @jamie. Will Roon Ready Relay only be supported on commercially integrated products, like Victrola’s streaming turntables, or does Roon Labs also plan to release an “Roon Relay Bridge” image for the Raspberry Pi (for example). I expect this would work with a compatible ADC or S/PDIF to USB adapter.
I don’t mind continuing to use the rooPlay extension for this purpose, but I’d love to explore a native Roon option if/when it becomes available.
Edit: I realize this is slightly off-topic, but thanks.
Hey @David_Snyder, my response you quoted above was specifically related to current endpoint options and how wide a net they cast for enjoying vinyl. I don’t want folks to see it out of context and have it cause confusion or appear to overpromise.
As you may have guessed, I can’t say anything specific about future integrations other than expressing that Roon—and a number of our partners—are excited about the range of potential compatibility and playback possibilities Roon Ready Relay offers.
The rooPlay extension supports recording also. Seems like it’s still way better than Roon Ready Relay…at least what we know about it in it’s current form.
After reading this news, I upgraded the software on my Victrola Carbon turntable and “Roon ready” showed up as an option for streaming in the Victrola app. Once selected, all my Roon endpoints (that were active at the moment) appeared and I was happily streaming to my Eversolo A6, which displayed 48 mHz and 24 bits input. All works via the Victrola app. Can choose a “default” streaming target. Seems to work fine. One doesn’t need special Roon endpoints as they all seem to work. (I have Sonos, Apple TV, Eversolo, OPPO, and Denon/Marantz receivers as endpoints.) My Ropieee was not powered on so I haven’t tried it yet.
One can certainly argue (and I agree) that Victrola is not a high end turntable but this looks like a great way of increasing music options for Roon users.
