Sony PS-HX500
No one loves the vinyl revival more than us, but the format wasn’t brought back from the dead because of its convenience. But what if vinyl could be pocketable – allowing you to rip LPS to digital files and carry them around in your pocket?
Record-ripping turntables have been around for a while, but Sony is calling the PS-HX500 a ‘hi-res turntable’ as it can record up to DSD 5.6. It means those buying their favourite LPS won’t have to head to a download site to get them in hi-res for their smartphone or portable music player.
While some will jump at the chance to digitise their collection, others will be less bothered. If you belong to the latter camp, you should know that the PS-HX500 looks and behaves very much like a typical turntable.
Clean and simple
The PS-HX500 hasn’t followed in the footsteps of Sony’s colourful Walkmans; instead the plinth is largely unadorned, apart from a dial to switch the speed between 33⅓ and 45rpm. The low-sitting platter adds to the simplistic aesthetic, though the feet fixed to the plinth can be adjusted to raise the overall height.
Place the die-cast aluminium platter and 5mm-thick rubber mat onto the 30mm-thick MDF plinth, hook up the belt drive, balance the tonearm, set the anti-skating, and you’re ready to go.
Of course, there’s little point in ripping your vinyl to hi-res if the PS-HX500’S sound quality is poor. But, as we settle Dire Straits’ Brothers In Arms down on the spindle, there’s no mistaking the Sony’s penchant for detail. The pan flute and African-influenced drums in Ride Across The River come through with clarity and texture. The track’s offbeat rhythmic pattern is articulated well, with the multiple strands tied together in a coherent and layered delivery.
Look on the light side
But with more sanguine tracks, the PS-HX500’S slight tonal inclination towards the light side of neutral reveals itself. The presentation favours a crisp consistency over the full-bodied solidity of some of its rivals. It’s not something to penalise the Sony for, but perhaps something to bear in mind when it comes to system matching.
There’s a delicate naturalness to Mark Knopfler’s vocals too, which are confidently presented in the soundstage and demonstrate the Sony’s pleasing midrange insight. Furthermore, the piano notes and trumpet in Miles Davis’s So What, are engaging, informative and staged with convincing stereo imaging. We feel confident extending praise up to the treble too; the intricate cymbalbrushing that fills the right-hand channel is clear and subtle, the Sony balancing detail with refinement admirably.
There are big gains in both clarity and detail when we switch to our reference Cyrus Phono Signature phono stage (£1200); vocals are more fleshed out and instruments are more sure-footed, but that’s only to be expected.
Best of both worlds
Anything that keeps vinyl fresh and appealing is good in our eyes, and the PS-HX500 is a best-of-both-worlds turntable that caters for record spinning and hi-res ripping, and to anyone torn between a nostalgic affection for vinyl and the convenient practicality of digital.
As always, performance is king, and in this instance that only increases the Sony’s likability.