Ask industry execs from the late 80s and early 90s if turntables would be featured at electronics conventions nearly 30 years later, and the response would probably be, “What the?! How did you get into my office? What was that flash of light?,” and then they’d stuff a jewel case in your mouth. A resurgence or continued prospering of vinyl probably wasn’t a common prediction back then, but now that we have people exploring or revisiting the medium in the wake of music’s arguably impersonal digital revolution, there’s actually a market groove out there in which big-name companies can drop their R&D needle. A huge-ass record figuratively in the presence of a smart phone capable of holding thousands of songs is kind of a weird coexistence. Let’s see who (else) is willing to tackle that…
Sorny! The maker of our PS4s unveiled a new turntable at CES ‘16 last week, and the matte black piece of hardware certainly appears meant for those caught in the purgatory between vinyl love and an ocular attachment to screens. The Sony PS-HX500 has as its trademark a designed ability to convert your records into potentially high-quality audio files — Sony’s proprietary DSD file format or 24-bit WAVs. The process works via USB, and the turntable also comes with software that supposedly allows you to easily edit the resultant files in some useful fashion. Maybe the tracks are or are not split up once you get to that stage.
You can rip your vinyl in other ways that don’t involve USB, FYI, but I suppose those processes are at the moment a bit too nerdy and complicated for folks generally. The PS-HX500 was just one among several turntables displayed at CES this year, so maybe “folks generally” is an increasingly applicable phrase when it comes to turntable owners. No longer special snowflakes!
