My somewhat unconventional Sonos setup

Vinyl. I love collecting music on vinyl. Call me a hipster, call me anachronistic, call me a music snob; I'll wear all of the above. Despite the format's shortcomings, I find a certain joy in owning something tangible in this streaming-first world.

With MP3s, I'm paying for bits and bytes; with CDs I rip them and put them on a shelf; with vinyl, I've got something a little more substantial, a little ritualistic. It's something I can own and appreciate, rather than lose in the depths of my glove box (or more appropriately, my iTunes library).

Of course, vinyl has its limitations. Some of these are charming, whereas others can be a little frustrating. It an age where every second device you own has Bluetooth or some sort of wireless connectivity, the format's rigidity can feel limiting. Interestingly enough, some manufacturers have started building Bluetooth enabled turntables, but mine is a hell of a lot more old school.

After a bit of thinking and a bit of tinkering, Sonos' range of multi-room speakers seemed like the best option for bringing my somewhat anachronistic hobby into the 21st century, without sacrificing sound quality.

Sonos' Play:5 is at the heart of my setup; the original and the newly updated model both support line-in audio (they're Sonos' only speakers that do). My turntable has an inbuilt pre-amp, which means I can comfortably wire it straight into the Play:5 as a music source over a 3.5mm lead. When I've got wax spinning, I'm able to use the connected speaker as a direct output. 

More importantly, using the Sonos controller app I'm able to beam it to any other Sonos speaker in my apartment, whether it's a second Play:5 for a true stereo setup, a PlayBar, or a lone Play:1. Alternatively, you can have them all seamlessly playing from the one source at the same time (for those times when you want to get back at the neighbours for that loud party they had the other weekend).

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