Sony PS-HX500 vinyl record player review: half music and half emotion

From a certain perspective, in addition to the high-tech and industry-leading industrial design capabilities, the magical thing about the Sony brand is that it has created many products that are regarded as magical products by Sony fans, such as the Sontina crystal sound tube, and what we are going to talk about now, the Sony vinyl record player PS-HX500.

During CES 2016, Sony unexpectedly went retro at an exhibition full of tech giants, launching a new vinyl record player in an unconventional way. What was even more unexpected was that over the following year, many people expressed their strong love for and desire to buy this product online.

Finally, in September 2016, Sony brought this PS-HX500 record player to consumers, and it came with a price tag of RMB 4,990.

So, is this belief sufficient or not?

  How to play Sony vinyl

What you need to know in advance is that after placing an order for a vinyl record player, the record player you get in your hands first is not a finished product, but various parts that need to be assembled.

Of course, the process of piecing together the main unit, top cover, vinyl disc, turntable and other parts into a vinyl record player is also very interesting. You can completely regard this process as an experience of creating a work of art, although the AC adapter of the PS-HX500 feels a bit ordinary.

Fortunately, Sony's product design will never disappoint. The PS-HX500 record player adheres to the minimalist style and has the magic that makes people fall in love with it at first sight. The body with a thickness of about 30mm is made of medium-density fiberboard used for speakers, which fits the unique characteristics of vinyl in terms of visual and tactile properties.

In terms of parameters, the PS-HX500 is a vinyl record player that uses a DC motor belt drive and a moving magnet pickup, with two speeds of 33rpm and 45rpm. Previously, Yamato Tanigawa, head of Sony's home entertainment and audio department, said that one of the purposes of launching the vinyl record player is to allow users to transcribe vinyl records into Hi-Res audio files through correct configuration, while being able to accurately restore the tone of the vinyl records.

But why not just go online to find digital Hi-Res audio files? With this question in mind, we decided to use the PS-HX500 mainly for listening to vinyl records.

Of course, for modern people who are used to listening to music on smartphones, listening to vinyl records is a ritual: first, you need to adjust the exquisite die-cast aluminum alloy cartridge on the PS-HX500; second, you need to find a speaker to better enjoy the charm of vinyl music; finally, you need to prepare a few more vinyl records. Because vinyl records are not CDs or digital players that can store many songs. From the "Zhang Xinzhe Song Era" album that comes with it, there are only five songs on one side.

Back to the metaphysical question of sound quality, the warm feeling conveyed by vinyl records is enough to make you stay next to the PS-HX500 for a long time in this impetuous digital age.

At the same time, it is certain that, just as an excellent front-end player needs to be paired with good headphones, the importance of audio equipment in influencing the effect of vinyl is self-evident. Sony's vinyl record player PS-HX500 is classified under the category of high-fidelity audio components on Sony's official website, which also means that it is suitable for use with high-fidelity equipment.

  To whom will it belong?

How many people really keep vinyl records spinning regularly? Perhaps among the already niche groups of audio enthusiasts and equipment enthusiasts, vinyl lovers are an even smaller group, but within this group, Sony's vinyl record player PS-HX500 is definitely the star product of the year. If you are really a vinyl enthusiast, you have to buy this one.

In addition, it cannot be ruled out that many people buy vinyl records for the purpose of focusing on the inherent sense of history and product connotation of the vinyl record player.

This seems to be about a more metaphysical issue of taste than sound quality. Sony has always been very good at using electronic products to embellish living and working places. As we mentioned earlier, Sony's PS-HX500 vinyl record player has become a very eye-catching product because of its retro design before it was launched on the market.

From various analysis angles, Sony's PS-HX500 record player is unlikely to become the mainstream device for enjoying music in the current digital age again. But whether it is bought for listening to music or to express nostalgia, there will always be many people who want to own it, which seems very Sony.

From this perspective, the price of RMB 4,990 cannot be simply judged as expensive or not based on the product itself. To be precise, it is a device that makes people feel very special just by placing it there. At the same time, a top technology manufacturer brought the vinyl record player back to consumers in a new form in 2016, which is something that has a fascinating sense of retrospection.

This potential force constantly reminds you that, if your spending power allows, it’s time to recharge and prepare for the year-end “faith test.”

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.