Some people buy cheap speakers that they can replace any time they like. Others buy mid-priced items that they upgrade every few years. And a few buy expensive audio systems with premium sound that they refuse to replace for decades. If you’re one of the latter individuals, chances are, you’re missing out on the conveniences of modern systems. If you’d like to hold on to your precious gear without feeling like an outdated caveman, you can hook up that vintage audio setup to the Sonos Port to bring it up to speed.
A direct replacement to the Sonos Connect, the new adapter hooks up to your legacy audio system and gives it all the modern conveniences you’ll normally find in one of the outfit’s modern music gear. That means, it essentially turns into a Sonos speaker, albeit with the same old audio hardware you’ve fallen in love with all of these years.
The Sonos Port is a small black box that looks like a TV set top box from an earlier period. Instead of tethering to your TV, though, it connects to your old speakers using RCA and digital coaxial audio outputs, essentially serving as a wired audio source. Once connected, your speakers now get access to a whole bunch of modern wireless conveniences. It has Bluetooth Low Energy for pairing with your phone, so you can manage a whole bunch of settings, as well as both Ethernet and Wi-Fi for connecting directly to your home’s network. Oh yeah, it even supports AirPlay 2, so you can stream what you want from any Apple device without any issues.
Once set up, you can stream music to your legacy speakers via the Sonos app, giving it instant access to over 30 music services, on-demand radio, podcasts, audiobooks, and more. It works much like any Sonos speaker, too, which means it can sync with any compatible speaker you have at home, so whatever is playing in your vintage speakers in the living room will continue playing when you move to the bedroom where you have a Sonos One on the nightstand.
The Sonos Port has an RCA input, in case you have older audio sources that you regular use on those old speakers, such as turntables and CD players, as well as 12-volt trigger than automatically turns on the stereo or receiver as soon as a signal to the device has been sent. A built-in digital-to-analog converter ensures all audio signals are processed into the same format your speakers were originally meant to receive, which should raise the resulting sound quality, regardless of your music source.
Since the Sonos app now has Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant integration, any speaker hooked up to the adapter also gains those same talents. That means, you can now get your daily news roundup and morning weather reports directly from your old speakers, all while allowing you to control music playback by just barking instructions. Do note, the device itself doesn’t have a mic, so you’ll need have your phone or a compatible voice assistant device on hand in order to issue voice commands.
The Sonos Port is available now, priced at $399.