While most companies are focused on touting their latest Internet-connected refrigerators or self-driving cars at CES, Sony is kicking it old-school and announced a turntable at its press conference.
Yes, like the kind of turntable that will play your old vinyl LPs — except if you just got into vinyls and are still expanding your collection.
It’s called the PS-HX500, and is designed for people who want to preserve their records in high-res quality, or just enjoy their vinyls on the go. It is shipping this spring for an undisclosed price.
You can plug the device into your laptop and transcribe vinyl into digital files (WAVs or Sony’s proprietary format), or just play high-quality audio via a connected speaker system. Remember the good old time you had ripping your CDs into iTunes? Sony is trying to revive this cumbersome process — with a twist. The company’s turntable features anti-vibration and anti-skipping ripping.
The new turntable is probably more about Sony showing audiophiles that the company is getting serious about high-quality audio. Sony released the product at its CES keynote, during which it spent a good deal of time discussing the importance of high-definition audio throughout its product line.
While we’re not sure how many people will need the new PS-HX500, someone should let Martin Shkreli know that he now has a new way to play his $2M one-of-a-kind Wu-Tang Clan album.
