pros and cons
- Impressive sound
- Versatile setup
- Sturdy design and build
- Expensive for what it is
- No adjustable anti-skate or tracking force
more buying choices
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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.
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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.
Newer albums sounded just as good, too: Bob Moses’ “Days Gone By” sounded crisp, bubbly even, on the electronic-based tracks. On Taylor Swift’s “Evermore” (yes, I’m a Swiftie, sue me), the vocals were clean and sharp and gave a newer sound to one of my favorite albums.
A very cool feature of this turntable is that you can connect the USB output to your computer to digitize your vinyl. While this isn’t a use case the average person would need, for DJs wanting to pull out samples for songs or for those looking to digitize their vintage collection to listen to on the go, this is a great way to do so.
Now here’s what experienced vinyl listeners and purists will not like: there is no adjustable anti-skate and no adjustable tracking force, meaning you are limited in your cartridge replacement. The turntable comes with an MM cartridge in the AT-3600 variant, so it’s not a terrible cartridge by any means, but customizing the cartridge is something many people look for in a turntable. If that’s the case, this isn’t the turntable for you.
I also am hesitant about the price: while the audio sounds great and the build is of great quality (no vibrations or skips were heard whatsoever), I think this turntable would be better priced at $350, rather than its $500 price tag.
ZDNET’s buying advice
That isn’t to say this isn’t a worthy turntable, it is — especially for those looking for an easy upgrade from their cheap, first turntable that won’t require much knowledge of setting up or customizing. The sound is really impressive and packs a punch on both vintage and newer records. The Sony PS-LX5BT is versatile for both traditional and modern setups and is built to last.
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However, not having adjustable anti-skate or tracking force doesn’t justify the $500 price tag in my opinion, even though it’s currently discounted to $475 on Sony’s website.
If you want to spend a little less for a turntable that’s just as impressive, I recommend the Audio-Technica AT-LP70XBT, which is $348.
