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I recently purchased the Sonos Port and the Project T1 SB turntable so I could connect it to a set of move speakers and listen to vinyl. 
 

Overall I’m happy with the sound quality, the stereo effect is quite good and it has the expected warmth and depth that comes with vinyl. There are however two things I’m trying to understand better to see if it’s worth adding. 
 

  1. connecting either a Bluetooth transmitter so I can use my Sony XM4 headphones with it, or buying a headphone pre-amp and wired set
  2. adding a DAC pre-amp

On number 1, I believe I can just connect this to the line out plugs on the port and either power a wired set or connect my Sony headphones to it, is that correct? Has anyone done this?

On number 2, I’m not sure there’s any point in adding an external pre-amp or DAC component if I’m not connecting it to analog speakers, since it’s the port that streams to the Sonos Moves. Is my understanding right?

 

Appreciate any guidance as I’m new to this type of stuff 

 

1): Using a Bluetooth transmitter would be a good approach. Simply connect it to PORT’s Line-Out. You could debate about the wired headphones sounding better than the wireless headphones.

2): Accomplishes nothing.

I used to have the basestation of my Sennheiser wireless headphones connected to the audio out of the Connect (predecessor to the Port). Worked well. Connecting a bluetooth transmitter to use your Sony would be a good (and not to expensive) first first step.

connecting either a Bluetooth transmitter so I can use my Sony XM4 headphones with it, or buying a headphone pre-amp and wired set

A small snag is that the ‘XM4 only offers SBC, AAC and LDAC codec support. (The ‘XM3 could also do aptX/aptX-HD.)

  • SBC is to be avoided. It’s the lowest common denominator, and helped earn BT audio its poor reputation in the early days.
  • AAC is used by phones and tablets. Apple does AAC well, Android less so. Encoding incurs a substantial processing load. I’ve not encountered a free-standing transmitter that offers AAC.
  • LDAC is the best, and of course originates from Sony. LDAC is also available on Android. However free-standing transmitters that support LDAC are few and far between. A top one -- possibly the only one -- supporting LDAC is the FiiO BTA30 Pro.

If you plan to go with a wired headphone there are of course a huge number of options to choose from. Check out the head amps from Schiit.

connecting either a Bluetooth transmitter so I can use my Sony XM4 headphones with it, or buying a headphone pre-amp and wired set

A small snag is that the ‘XM4 only offers SBC, AAC and LDAC codec support. (The ‘XM3 could also do aptX/aptX-HD.)

  • SBC is to be avoided. It’s the lowest common denominator, and helped earn BT audio its poor reputation in the early days.
  • AAC is used by phones and tablets. Apple does AAC well, Android less so. Encoding incurs a substantial processing load. I’ve not encountered a free-standing transmitter that offers AAC.
  • LDAC is the best, and of course originates from Sony. LDAC is also available on Android. However free-standing transmitters that support LDAC are few and far between. A top one -- possibly the only one -- supporting LDAC is the FiiO BTA30 Pro.

If you plan to go with a wired headphone there are of course a huge number of options to choose from. Check out the head amps from Schiit.

 

Thanks for this - very helpful.

 

I’m looking into it a bit more and I see that the FiiO BTA30 Pro has either Coax In/out or Optical in, but no Line in functionality. The port then has either Line out or Digital out. So I guess my follow-up question would be the type of cable that’s best -- do i need a cable that converts RCA line out to coax in or optical in to make this connection work? 

The Port’s digital out is Coax. You could connect it directly to the BTA30 Pro’s Coax In. Use any budget digital coax cable, nothing fancy.

The Port’s digital out is Coax. You could connect it directly to the BTA30 Pro’s Coax In. Use any budget digital coax cable, nothing fancy.

thank you!! i’m going to do this

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