New Sony HX500 turntable looks nice. How have Sony tables been historically?

It would sell in the UK for around £10K based on high end hi-fi inflation. These TTs were practically unobtainable in the UK and cost several times an LP12 at the time.

 

I still see this thing as a HUGE missed opportunity. They should have dusted off their Biotracers, and coupled it with an all-digital built-in preamp that uses high-res digital processing to not only perform the RIAA equalization curve, but also flatten the output of any cartridge via an included calibration disc.

You could also throw in realtime click & pop reduction and a bunch of other digital processing tricks.

 

It doesn't look nice to me, Imuch prefer my inexpensive Goldring GR-1 TT withits inexpensive Denon MC cart. Not as sexy looking as this Sony TT but sure much better sounding.

 

BuyDig (authorized Sony reseller) has this for $240 w/free ship, via eBay: Sony PSHX500 Hi-Res USB Turntable - Black | eBay

At that price, I couldn't resist. Probably play with it a bit, then let one of my kids use it.

 

Why do you have to post that??!!

MUST RESIST!! MUST RESIST!!

 

Here let me help:

1. If you activate the offer beforehand, PayPal offers free return shipping on such a purchase. Return Shipping Refund - PayPal
2. You can probably sell it locally for close to what you pay for it, if you change your mind about it one day.
3. Probably very hard to find a $200 new-in-box TT that even reviewers like Fremer find worthy.

 

Back up to $498. I love Sony and was seriously considering getting it even though I have a nice running Technics SL-1600... But it's silver and I hate silver

 

You can get a refurbished version directly from BuyDig's site: BuyDig.com - Sony PSHX500 Hi-Res USB Turntable - Black - Factory Refurbished

Use code ZDM176401266SU for extra $10 off.

 

STOP IT! I don't need another turntable (or can afford it now). You're making it too easy to spend money, lol

 

So no one here has one of these? Someone should post a needle-drop

I am a total novice at needle-drops, but will probably do some testing with this. I plan on upgrading my existing phono pre-amp in the upcoming months in hopes of doing 'drops with my main rig, so the Sony would be more of a "secondary" set-up.

 

I got one from this seller and after three days of getting poor sound I returned it. Maybe you get what you pay for. I'm just getting back into vinyl. Any other suggestions for 24/192 analog to digital turntables?

 

A conventional turntable with a good 24/192 capable sound card or USB Doohickey.

 

OMG, this thing brings back nightmares! After nearly 20 years of working at Sony, this was my least favorite product to repair, bar none (I used to call it the "biogrinder", due to the impossible task of tracking alignment during service). I dreaded the alignment procedure, as the service manual was written incorrectly (if you followed the procedure to the letter, it'll never work again). There were seemingly a thousand different pots to turn inside, dozens of AND gates, OR gates, NOR gates and discrete IC's and transistors to drive any tech batty.

I basically considered them unrepairable. One good thing, when they were written off and either replaced with a new one or refunded, I had the pleasure of destroying a few of these monsters . Seriously, we destroyed defective products with sledge hammers, out back of the shop, near the dumpsters. I didn't feel bad as I pulverized these into (literal) dust - the composite material they were made from was similar to concrete and broke up easily. I would never own one, even if you gave it to me.

BTW, I worked at Mitsubishi Electric in 1979- early 1980, where I was their only audio tech in the US - and worked often on what would become my all- time favorite TT, the vertically oriented LT-5V. Had one in my own home for years before selling it, really wish I'd kept it now. It was a great table!

 

My PS-HX500 arrived yesterday, new-in-box from BuyDig.

Setup was pretty straightforward, and the build quality was better than I was expecting. You're not going to confuse it for a $3K+ table, but it's obvious this is a custom design, that is well executed from a visual design and implementation standpoint.

I used the built-in phono pre-amp, and ran RCA directly into my OPPO HA-1 headphone amp, paired with the PM-1 headphones. Sound was really good! Very quiet, with a nice soundstage. Very "analog" Compared to my reference setup, the midrange was farther back than I prefer, but certainly still enjoyable.

For the $239 price I paid, I cannot recommend this one enough. More insight to come later this weekend...

 

How are you getting on with it?

 

Here

Uploadfiles.io - 12_20170527194056.wav

 

Quite nicely! The built-in phono pre-amp sounds much better than I was expecting. No issues with speed, and the understated looks have really grown on me. I still haven't done a needle-drop, but I'd consider this an excellent value 'table for <$250, if you come across it at this price.

 

Lovely, thanks for sharing! Now I must go listen to more Pete La Rosa. Which LP pressing/version is this?

 

Music Matters 45rpm re issue. 2012

 

I just purchased. Here's my first sample test. LED ZEP TEST-2.wav

 

Re the Sony PSHX500 turntable. I have read loads of reviews and importantly I can afford this player and copy some old records. Just one question which I could not find an answer too. I have mono and stereo albums. To copy them will I need to try and find a mono cartridge for this player? I assume the turntable is set up for stereo. I am not sure the folk in the Sony stores will understand what I am talking about, hence asking here.

 

So you can buy it with cart. and built in phono pre for $400. That tells you something about the quality when you compare it to the vast range of TT's and carts in the market. Big selling point is HiRez and that's a joke in this case. You can not improve the output beyond the quality of the source. A record from say the 70's will never be Hi Resolution no matter how much up sampling you do. It looks like Sony's marketing is in high gear here. They have always been in the forefront of selling the market products that are "cutting edge" until they fail in the market...remember BetaMax and others. You will not need a separate stylus for mono.

 

forgive the off topic.
how long does a stylus last?
(calculated in playback hours)

 

Thanks for the information re the stylus. The price in the UK for this Sony is £275 so it is a basic range turntable. I know Sony are masters of self promotion but I have other Sony stuff which I was always pleased with. It is not on my profile but I still have a Sony sacd player that I bought purely for sacd playback.
I have some old mono and stereo records from the 1960s and 1970s that were bought way back then and have been played on numerous record players and turntables since. I used to make cassette copies back in the 1970s so I am just looking to do something similar now using the usb facility ie just a fairly straight copy of a vinyl record.

 

You can use your stereo cartridge to record/digitize mono LPs in the same manner you would stereo LPs; theoretically the stereo cart will transcribe 50% of the mono signal to the stereo L and R channels equally. Post-digitization, there are many (more) 'futzing' options available than would be w/stereo source, i.e. if the R channel is noisy and has a lot of clicks and pops, you could replace it with the contents of the L channel, as both channels - digitization artifacts aside - contain the same sonic monophonic information.

Otherwise, the only thing I would do is clearly label the resulting digital file as 'mono', or as being 'mono sourced', as, for all other purposes and devices, it will appear to be a stereo file.