190
people found this helpful, as of 2023
ranked #174,951 most helpful
out of 571,544,897 reviews
★★★★★
A Good Turntable For Different Reasons
I'm going to start off by saying I like this turntable. If suits my needs. My needs are - I want a turntable that is fully automatic so I can lay down listening to a record and not have to worry about getting up to turn it off. I want a turntable that can produce decent sound from my collected vinyl over the years. This turntable does both. Records will never be my main source of recorded music again. I just wanted a convenient way to play my records with decent music reproduction. That being said this unit cannot reproduce music like a $500.00 and up turntable. I have a $500.00 manual turntable with a very nice cartridge and it outperforms this turntable quite a bit reproduction wise. I love it and I hate it at the same time. Music wise it is great. Convenience wise it is the pits. I have to know the last song on the record so I can prepare myself to get up and stop it. And for sure don't fall asleep or your needle will be grinding away. So I had to decide do I want great sound with inconvenience and hate it or good sound with convenience and love it. Since records are not my main source of music I choose the convenience and good sound of the Sony. I am pleased with the unit but again if you are looking for top audiophile from a turntable this is not the one. If you want really good sound plus the convenience of an automatic turntable this is for you, and for me.
UPDATE
After using this turntable a while I am pleased with it. I have no issues with speed fluctuations. It makes me wonder if the folks that are having problems with the speed have the belt twisted around the motor pulley or it is not properly installed around the platter radius. It is a flat belt, not a cord belt so I can see where if not careful it could be twisted. While you can't change the cartridge, you can upgrade the stylus (needle) to an elliptical cut instead of the conical stylus shipped with it. An elliptical stylus will get you more upper range from your records. I also replaced the felt pad cover with a nice acrylic cover. Then I bought a turntable weight that fits over the turntable spindle. I'm going to have to tell you for a $200.00 turntable it sounds really nice. I was surprised. The bluetooth works flawlessly and sounds exceptional for a bluetooth signal. I send the signal right to my elaborate 5.1 setup and the sound is amazing. Tons of bass (with a subwoofer) and very good highs. Another area where this unit excels is the smoothness of the automatic functions. Very smooth operation with no jerks and the tone arm raises and lowers with damped precision. The buttons for start, stop and lower/raise the tone arm are mechanical but they are smooth too. Electronic touch buttons would be nice but that would have added more cost and the mechanical buttons work just fine. I wrapped up my $500.00 manual turntable and will store it totally sealed up in my closet and someday pull it out if needed. But for me this turntable sounds great even with bluetooth and just so convenient to use.
UPDATE
After using this turntable for months now, I am totally sold on it. I don't care what the the audio experts say, this unit sounds excellent even using bluetooth. It has a very smooth operating mechanism and it utilizes damping when lowering the stylus to the record. Very smooth. The aesthetic materials that is made of while stable and very adequate, it does not have a high end look to it But you are getting a well built and excellent sounding turntable for the price of some of those cheap all-in-one units that use a ceramic cartridge. This unit utilizes a magnetic cartridge. The only negative thing I have found is a replacement stylus which is not available on Amazon at this time is expensive. Ridiculously priced. I purchase two stylus just to have then on hand. The first time I ordered from a Sony Authorized Dealer it cost me $40.00. I ordered another months later and to my surprise it was $60.00. But I have three stylus now and that should last for years and it is worth it to me.
April 2021 · Electronics · verified purchase