MY PRODUCT OF THE MONTH
This no-nonsense, fully automatic turntable with built-in phono stage and Bluetooth offers a surprisingly musical sound
Sony PS-LX310B,
An ideal introduction to vinyl for the newcomer: automatic, with a phono stage, Bluetooth – and fine sound to boot
For many people, the prospect of shelling out for various bits of highly involved and potentially incompatible hi-fi can turn the happy notion of Sundays spent chilling with your music into a headache. It's a particular problem for those wishing to listen to vinyl – Cartridge, phono stage, alignment gauge, tracking weight scales, long-nosed pliers, set of allen keys? It can be a daunting technological assault course.
And yet, having done little more than plug Sony’s PS-LX310BT turntable into the wall socket, we are listening to Bruce Springsteen’s Born To Run through Bluetooth headphones. The whole set-up process takes about the same time it takes to make a pot of coffee – from box to The Boss in less than five minutes.
Space-saving set-up
For a while now, decks housing both a phono stage and Bluetooth have been offering a fuss-free, space-saving wireless set-up. Some even come in at under £200, such as Sony’s cheapest turntable, the PS-LX310BT.
The PS-LX310BT is a no-nonsense design. It feels lightweight, but considering all the extras going on under the black plastic casework, the build is perfectly acceptable for the price.
And it feels user-friendly – no running through all four gaming categories of The Crystal Maze to see if you have what it takes to enjoy vinyl. And you can forget scouring Youtube tutorials to work out how to calibrate the tonearm; there is nothing to set there. The buttons that operate the fully automatic arm might feel slightly clunky, but they are sufficient at this price.
But the bigger question might be, do you really need automatic operation? For vinyl veterans, the physical act of lifting the tonearm up, hovering over the LP and lowering it onto the record is often a ritualistic component of the experience. However, those who just want to spin a tune quickly and easily will doubtless find this feature a bonus.
Music on a platter
When it comes to set-up, apart from setting the belt to drive the platter, there’s nothing to do. No need to fit and align a cartridge, set the tracking force, set the correct anti-skate or use a test LP to fine tune before you get to play music.
Provided you’ve fitted the belt around the motor pulley and placed the platter on the main bearing, the PS-LX310BT simply requires you to remove the guard from the cartridge and press ‘start’.
Take care when you first remove that stylus guard – the delicate assembly came away in our hands, though the way it is mounted means it goes back on easily. The design of the arm means there’s little scope for upgrading the cartridge should you wish to do so later.
Sony has given us a ‘plug and play’ fully automatic deck, included a phono stage, thrown in Bluetooth and priced it at the low end of the market – it could score more highly for usability only if it somehow took the LPS from their covers. So surely the compromise must be on sound performance?
We place the PS-LX310BT on a flat, low-resonance support stand – which is imperative with any deck – thus making the stylus tip’s delicate journey through its intricate and ever-decreasing circle easier and more stable.
Using the Sony’s built-in phono stage, we run the turntable through our reference system of a Gamut D3i/d200i amplifier combination and ATC SCM50 loudspeakers for some of the test. However, more price-compatible partners would be the Onkyo A-9010 stereo amp (£199) and Dali Spektor 1 standmount speakers (£159).
A dose of drive
We place INXS’S Kick on to the platter mat, press ‘start’ and let the PS-LX310BT do the rest. Michael Hutchence’s vocal on Mediate retains its emotion, with the accompanying percussive bass kept tight and in check. There’s a healthy dose of drive and attack, with rhythmic flourishes handled competently.
Changing pace with a 45rpm record, David Bowie’s Starman retains its petulant zeal, with each musical strand handled deftly and methodically. However, compared with purist, fully manual decks, such as Rega’s Planar 1, there is an accompanying woolliness to the dynamic; a loss of clarity over where one note ends and another begins. The song is limited in its intensity too, as we miss an injection of dynamic punch.
We switch to Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony and it’s a pleasing sound. There’s plenty of emotion and a decent dynamic build when the strings and horns rise out of the dark, rumbling percussion. It doesn't quite reach the upper echelons of detailing and stereo imaging – we cannot locate exactly where sections of the orchestra are sitting – but that level of detail often costs thousands, not hundreds, of pounds.
That said, you can improve the Sony without much investment. If you have an integrated amp or dedicated phono preamplifier, we’d recommend flipping the Sony PS-LX310BT’S line out switch to ‘phono’ and using that instead.
You can pair the PS-LX310BT with up to eight Bluetooth devices and, in our tests using a pair of wireless headphones, the connection was strong enough to walk into another room, close the door and even wander outside to a distance of at least 15 metres.
There’s plenty to celebrate here though. Decks such as the 2018 Award-winning Rega Planar 1 (£250), might offer a superior sound, but the manually operated Rega lacks a built-in phono stage and Bluetooth.
The PS-LX310BT is more than an excellent ‘my first turntable’ option. For those wanting a fully automatic deck with built-in phono stage, it’s one of the best we’ve heard. What it lacks in terms of top-quality sound, it makes up for by being fun, ridiculously user-friendly and resoundingly listenable.
“For anyone wanting a fully automatic deck with built-in phono stage, the Sony PS-LX310BT is one of the best we’ve heard“