While sauntering through the halls at IFA 2014, we stumbled across a turntable setup that appeared to be playing back a vinyl record through a Sonos speaker. Incredulous, we stepped in for a closer look. It turns out, that’s exactly what was happening.
Flexson is a UK-based company that makes Sonos accessories. Most of its wares are things like speaker stands and color skins for Sonos’ various speakers. But the VinylPlay is perhaps its most clever idea yet. Built into the turntable is a digital to analog converter and USB output for digitizing a record. Also baked in is a phono-stage preamplifier, which means the VinylPlay can be connected to nearly any audio device, including a Sonos Connect or Play:5 speaker.
To be fair, there are other turntables on the market that offer built-in pre-amplification, and could just as easily team up with a Sonos device — we’re not talking about a ground-breaking idea here. But Flexson makes it easy, and it has developed what at least appears to be a solid turntable with all the right bits to make the connection simple. At roughly $500, the table isn’t cheap, and is in direct competition with comparable rigs such as the Project Debut Carbon USB or Audio Technica’s AT-LP120-USB. But if it can spin its marketing wheels hard enough play off its Sonos tie-in, it may just see some success.
