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Sony PSLX300USB Sony PS-LX300USB USB Turntable
See it at Amazon.co.uk for £134.99Average Customer Rating
(4.0 out of 5)
Amazon Customer Reviews
Most Helpful First | Newest First | + Share38 of 41 people found the following review helpful:
Absolutely Superb
(5 out of 5) by Boonster on Mar 5, 2009 (UK)When my parents separated my father left us his old Hi-Fi, which is late 60s early 70s. Although it would have been cutting edge in its day, I wasn't interested in it, because like most teenagers had already built my own powerful system. So for quarter of a century it sat unused.
However last year, I officially 'became old' when I concluded everything in the charts was utterly crap. So I started to look for 'new' music elsewhere.
My father had left an extensive record collection. So I dusted off the old Hi-Fi and put on some records (note the 30 year old Hi-Fi worked flawlessly). Not only did I like the music, I also curiously like the sound of vinyl. I'm an absolute audiophile and cannot stand imperfections, but for some reason I like records.
Eventually I questioned if they could sound better and also wanted to be able the play some the music in the car. The Sony PS-LX300USB appealed as it met my requirements, black, full size, automatic and future proof (it has a line out as well as phono. Some modern AV amps don't have phono inputs). The USB feature was an excellent bonus.
I received it in excellent time, considering it came from Germany. I had to put the turntable in and connect the drive belt, but this was quick and easy. I connected to the phono input as my amp has one and the instructions recommend it if you have one. I then played my first record, it was great from the outset, all I had to do was push the start button and it done the rest (I don't like placing the arm manually) and the sound. I could not believe the difference, I was hearing sounds I'd never heard before, the stereo is more defined and there was dramatic reduction in popping and cracking. You can easily forget you're listening to a record, even mono records are improved, they seem less flat. The player emits no hum, if the needle is off the record the speakers are silent. When the record finishes it returns the arm to its rest position and powers down.
I have only just tried the USB feature, so I can't comment too much on the software. It was easy to set up and I had no problems under Vista. The instructions are easy to follow. The software is easy to use, it walks you through the procedure step by step. It then detects the different tracks, which it asks you name. It then can auto clean up (reduce popping etc.) and level the volume. I allowed this and it definitely removed some obvious pops from the original. The software looks like it can do a lot more, but I've not had the time to play with it yet. The software can burn it to CD but I done it through iTunes as it had played the finished wav files by default.
I'm certainly not an expert in the sound of vinyl but I am very pleased with this Sony turntable and thoroughly recommend it.
However last year, I officially 'became old' when I concluded everything in the charts was utterly crap. So I started to look for 'new' music elsewhere.
My father had left an extensive record collection. So I dusted off the old Hi-Fi and put on some records (note the 30 year old Hi-Fi worked flawlessly). Not only did I like the music, I also curiously like the sound of vinyl. I'm an absolute audiophile and cannot stand imperfections, but for some reason I like records.
Eventually I questioned if they could sound better and also wanted to be able the play some the music in the car. The Sony PS-LX300USB appealed as it met my requirements, black, full size, automatic and future proof (it has a line out as well as phono. Some modern AV amps don't have phono inputs). The USB feature was an excellent bonus.
I received it in excellent time, considering it came from Germany. I had to put the turntable in and connect the drive belt, but this was quick and easy. I connected to the phono input as my amp has one and the instructions recommend it if you have one. I then played my first record, it was great from the outset, all I had to do was push the start button and it done the rest (I don't like placing the arm manually) and the sound. I could not believe the difference, I was hearing sounds I'd never heard before, the stereo is more defined and there was dramatic reduction in popping and cracking. You can easily forget you're listening to a record, even mono records are improved, they seem less flat. The player emits no hum, if the needle is off the record the speakers are silent. When the record finishes it returns the arm to its rest position and powers down.
I have only just tried the USB feature, so I can't comment too much on the software. It was easy to set up and I had no problems under Vista. The instructions are easy to follow. The software is easy to use, it walks you through the procedure step by step. It then detects the different tracks, which it asks you name. It then can auto clean up (reduce popping etc.) and level the volume. I allowed this and it definitely removed some obvious pops from the original. The software looks like it can do a lot more, but I've not had the time to play with it yet. The software can burn it to CD but I done it through iTunes as it had played the finished wav files by default.
I'm certainly not an expert in the sound of vinyl but I am very pleased with this Sony turntable and thoroughly recommend it.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
OK
(3 out of 5) by Michael Cater on Oct 17, 2009 (England)This isn't a bad turntable all told. On the positive side, it is easy to use, has excellent sound quality, easy to connect to PC and amp and is a neat and nice looking. The USB facility will be a draw for some.
Major negatives though; the needle/stylus is far too light, meaning it skips at random points on even brand new records. There seems to be no official solution to this, such as buying a heavier needle, so the only solution is to weigh it down with blue tack or a similar object, which means it doesn't look nearly as good. For a new machine costing a fairly substantial amount, you don't anticipate such issues.
Another slight problem is that the recordings to your PC can be hard to execute in terms of the software.
It's a good player when it isn't skipping, but I think you could find a better value for money turntable.
Major negatives though; the needle/stylus is far too light, meaning it skips at random points on even brand new records. There seems to be no official solution to this, such as buying a heavier needle, so the only solution is to weigh it down with blue tack or a similar object, which means it doesn't look nearly as good. For a new machine costing a fairly substantial amount, you don't anticipate such issues.
Another slight problem is that the recordings to your PC can be hard to execute in terms of the software.
It's a good player when it isn't skipping, but I think you could find a better value for money turntable.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
SONY No1
(5 out of 5) by Mr. David H. Cross on Jul 11, 2009 (NORFOLK ENGLAND)What an excellent buy well worth the money very easy to use once i had recorded one vinyl 33 onto my computer,it only took about 5 more clicks for it to be downloaded to my sony walkman ready to go
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Great sound but stylus skipping even on new records
(3 out of 5) by Andy Millea on Nov 21, 2009Hi,
Bought this recently as I found that even though (or because) I have 3000+ mp3's I don't listen to music as much as I used to. So I decided to buy a turntable and records, you can't beat the aesthetics of vinyl and lots of the covers are art in themselves. I've no interest in converting stuff to mp3 as I've enough of them and want the warmer analog sound. This was the cheapest brand name turntable I could by in Dublin so I did. It's by and large v good but I found that it skipped on records that had no visible scratches, the reason is that the cartridge head is too light, the solution was to put some blu tack on the head to weigh it down, Sony are one of the best electronics company in the world and its very disappointing that they didn't spend a few cents extra to test it and weigh the head properly.
Bought this recently as I found that even though (or because) I have 3000+ mp3's I don't listen to music as much as I used to. So I decided to buy a turntable and records, you can't beat the aesthetics of vinyl and lots of the covers are art in themselves. I've no interest in converting stuff to mp3 as I've enough of them and want the warmer analog sound. This was the cheapest brand name turntable I could by in Dublin so I did. It's by and large v good but I found that it skipped on records that had no visible scratches, the reason is that the cartridge head is too light, the solution was to put some blu tack on the head to weigh it down, Sony are one of the best electronics company in the world and its very disappointing that they didn't spend a few cents extra to test it and weigh the head properly.