Audio-Technica’s Sound Burger curbed my vinyl craving with a game-changing audio feature
ZDNET’s key takeaways
- The Audio-Technica Sound Burger is $199 and is available in yellow, black, or pink.
- The Sound Burger has unparalleled portability, a protracted battery life, and gives a novel listening expertise.
- It does not have a counterweight, and in addition does not have an auto-return characteristic.
Know-how is all about embracing the now. So, although I’m a kind of individuals who might be caught of their methods (comparable to listening to vinyl information with the suitable analog setup), I am glad this time I branched out to see what’s doable.
I not too long ago received my palms on the Audio-Technica Sound Burger Bluetooth turntable. Whereas it initially got here out in 1983, the corporate not too long ago revived it and added modern-day tech like Bluetooth to make it the transportable document participant they envisioned manner again then.
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Whereas I actually do not assume it is a alternative for a extra normal vinyl setup, I loved listening to my information somewhere else in the home reasonably than being tied to the basement. The Sound Burger, in brief, gives a novel expertise of one thing that has remained largely the identical for many years.
Within the Eighties, this transportable participant (initially often called Grasp Disc) was powered by batteries and got here with a set of foldable headphones, so you can take heed to your vinyl wherever you needed. Now, the Sound Burger makes use of USB charging — which gives a battery lifetime of as much as 12 hours — and Bluetooth 5.2 connectivity, letting you join it to a transportable Bluetooth speaker, a soundbar, Bluetooth headphones, and extra.
The Sound Burger additionally comes with a wired cable in case you wish to take heed to vinyl the analog manner, though I assume you are shopping for this system for its portability reasonably than to make use of as a wired document participant.
Another notable specs: it has a belt drive, a Die-cast aluminum alloy platter, a frequency band of two.402 GHz to 2.480 GHz, and a replaceable ATN3600L stylus.
The Sound Burger is simple to arrange. I had vinyl enjoying on the system by means of a Bluetooth speaker in minutes. My common vinyl setup is within the basement, so the Sound Burger satiated my craving (pun meant) to take heed to vinyl in the lounge. I even took it out to my deck one evening, and it was enjoyable to vibe out to an unique Fleetwood Mac document exterior with a hearth going.
The Sound Burger could be very delicate — strolling round or by it may well make the document skip a bit. It’s because the document participant lacks a counterweight, which might probably injury your information if the monitoring drive is simply too excessive. It additionally does not have auto-return, which is not essentially an enormous difficulty for me; it is extra of a nice-to-have characteristic.
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I might see the Sound Burger being enjoyable to convey alongside on a tenting journey. Because you’re already listening to music round a bonfire, why not make that music vinyl as an alternative of the identical previous Spotify playlist? I might additionally suggest the Sound Burger to those that dwell in a small area and do not have room for an expansive vinyl setup.
ZDNET’s shopping for recommendation
The Sound Burger’s portability is unparalleled, and that is my favourite Bluetooth turntable as a result of it embodies what Bluetooth was meant for — portability. When you plan to take heed to vinyl through Bluetooth, that is the way to do it.
After all, audiophiles or vinyl diehards would possibly argue that this transportable participant is a waste since portability is not the purpose of vinyl. However hear me out: if we will use know-how to take vinyl to the outside or on trip whereas tucked away in a cabin, why not take it for a spin?