You can do everything you want. You don't need a Port.  For podcasts, Airplay might be the best option.

If you have a mesh WiFi  network you would do best to wire one Sonos device to your network. If it isn't convenient to wire one of the speakers you would need a Sonos Boost. 

Even if you don't want to use one of the 'snooping' voice command systems like Alexa, you may find Sonos Voice Control useful. This would need Ones rather than One SLs.

Is your main system SONOS? If not, do you want to integrate this system with the SONOS players? PORT would allow a non SONOS system to become a SONOS ‘Room’. PORT will be added to the main system as if it is a cassette deck or CD player.

You can also ‘Group’ SONOS Rooms to play the same music.

Thanks John B

it is not possible to wire one of the speakers so I’ll need to rely on the Wi-Fi system. I am currently having a couple of access points installed which will improve coverage. I assume that Sonos Boost is a Wi-Fi extender, I have had bad experiences with those in the past.

BOOST is not a generic WiFi extender. When one or more SONOS units is wired to the LAN, SONOS builds a private wireless network known as “SonosNet” and all SONOS units except MOVE and ROAM will join SonosNet. BOOST will service SonosNet. ROAM and MOVE are WiFi exclusively. SonosNet and WiFi ignore each other.

All of the SONOS units and controllers will be on the same network, unless your access points mess with things. Which access points are you using?

The Boost is not an extender. It is a networking device. When a Boost or speaker is wired it creates a dedicated wireless mesh for the Sonos system.

Sonos does not support wireless extenders but Sonos will almost certainly work fine IF you use a Boost.

One further thought.  Although you don't need a Port to make the Ones work, you could use one to bring your Lyngdorf system into Sonos 

Thanks

so does it hard wire to the router ?

Any Sonos speaker or Amp wired to the Router will provide Sonos-net.

Person I'd go for Sonos Ones, voice control once you've used it you'll never go back (not tried SVC but Alexa coupled with Tunein and Spotify is a game changer imho).

If you want to use SonosNet, and I recommend this, at least one SONOS unit must be wired to the network. BOOST is not required, but if it is not convenient to wire one of the players to the network, then add a wired BOOST. BOOST can be wired to the router or a network switch that is wired to the router. I don’t recommend wiring BOOST to an access point.

It may be possible to simply use WiFI (without any wired players or BOOST), but some extenders will not gracefully support a SONOS system.

Thanks

I know that with a Port I can connect this to my Lyngdorf this won’t actually give me any benefit.  I am looking to save £400 and use Sonos as a separate system in the house apart from the living room.  I am happy using Roon although I could save the subscripton by using a port

Thanks

Does the BOOST need to be wired to a speaker as well or just to the router ?

Just the router, it's just a gateway to SonosNet if you haven't got a speaker near enough to wire in.

My main system is Lyngdorf.  I am not sure I would gain much by having a Port, there is no benefit in integrating the two systems, especially as the Port will cost £400  I quite like using Roon for the main system

They will be ubiquiti

Wiring only one unit (in your case a BOOST) to the router will avoid some potential issues. Give BOOST some space. Don’t place BOOST physically adjacent to the router, allow at least a couple feet or more space.

I wanted my Ubiquity gear set up for optimum performance with my other WiFi gear, tweaking it to deal with Sonos limitations instead seemed a poor choice.

I bought a Boost to start off with and liked the ability to optimize my main WiFi as well as being able to put my WiFi and Sonos on different non-overlapping channels. Since then I have wired several Sonos devices rendering the Boost redundant.

Thanks

What do you mean by ‘optimize my main WiFi’ ?