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In a world of Spotify and Apple Music, vinyl records are still going strong as an audio medium. Last year, vinyl record sales reached over $1 billion for the first time this century, proving that music lovers are still drawn to the art of listening to and collecting records.
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With all these record sales, you have to have a way to play them, and turntables have now entered the 21st century with features like Bluetooth and USB outputs to record vinyl to digital. I've tested quite a few turntables over the years, so I was excited to try the new Sony PS-LX5BT to see how it held up to my sound standards -- and if it would be a good buy for anyone looking to upgrade.
Sony says the PS-LX5BT is an "upgrade to your vinyl journey," meant for those who are not new to vinyl, but also not seasoned collectors and audiophiles. The turntable has a really good quality build and is designed with a one-piece body and an aluminum tone arm, which reduces vibrations and skips in your music. It also has hi-res wireless audio with Qualcomm's aptX Adaptive, which has a frequency of ～96kHz/24bit.
Setting it up is super easy -- perhaps the easiest turntable I've ever assembled -- especially when it came to installing the belt, which can be daunting for some people. Purists won't like the autoplay, but I appreciated hitting the start button, having the tone arm go up on its own, and auto-queueing to the first track.
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The PS-LX5BT has both a phono output and Bluetooth, so you can use it in the traditional way by hooking it up to quality speakers, or the modern way by casting it to your Sonos speaker or headphones.
Listening experience
Whenever I test a turntable, I always put on a vintage vinyl that has seen lots and lots of plays, as well as a newer vinyl to compare the sound. On the vintage vinyl (the Beatles' White Album), the record almost sounded new. I did miss a little bit of the crackling and popping sounds that older records have, but overall, I can't complain about the sound quality.
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