Getting into vinyl is a threat that looms over so many of us in our early-to-mid thirties and onward (keeping my age a little ambiguous there) – and I'm more vulnerable than most. I'm exposed pretty frequently to audiophile-grade hardware, and know the difference between codecs almost against my will.
So, it's scary news that Sony just unveiled its first new vinyl turntables for a couple of years, and that they're aimed at seducing people exactly like me, with easy-to-use features and super attractive designs.
First up, there's the PS-LX3BT, which will replace the successful and very popular PS-LX310BT as Sony's new entry-level Bluetooth-enabled turntable aimed at those buying their first turntable of any sort.
We named the PS-LX310BT the best turntable for beginners in a recent group test, and its replacement keeps much of what we loved, but with an updated design. It gets a gorgeous grey look, with a sort of floating main body that will look ideal on almost any surface.
This time, the big addition is a fully automated playback system that lets you just press a button and handles the rest. That makes it way less fiddly than some more manual systems, while the return of Bluetooth audio is added to by support for aptX, aptX-Adaptive, and Hi-Res Wireless Audio.
It'll cost £299, which means there's been a price hike compared to the older model, not to mention the fact that you can get the latter for well below its RRP at times, now. If you have more to spend, though, £399 will get you the step-up model, the PS-LX5BT.
It looks very similar to the more affordable LX3BT, but the LX5BT has a totally black look (instead of dark grey) that is indeed even sexier. It has a slightly fancier cartridge at its heart, which means it should have a slightly wider soundstage to offer up, and it also adds a gold-plated audio jack for a bigger range of wired connections.
Whether that's worth an extra £100 to you might come down to how much research you're willing to do into the benefits that come with the extra spend, but the design is that little bit nicer, to my eyes.
Put together, these two are likely to be residents on "best turntables" lists for the foreseeable future, unless there's a major shock when experts like our team start to get their hands on them. We're assuming they'll be on sale very imminently.
