Sony PS-LX310BT review

A fully automatic, Bluetooth turntable with a surprisingly musical sound Tested at £200

Sony PS-LX310BT review

What Hi-Fi? Verdict

Oodles of features, effortless usability and entertaining sound make this Sony a real winner

Pros

  • +

    Entertaining sound

  • +

    Bluetooth

  • +

    Easy to set up and use

Cons

  • -

    Purist alternatives sound better

Why you can trust What Hi-Fi? Our expert team reviews products in dedicated test rooms, to help you make the best choice for your budget. Find out more about how we test.

For many music lovers, the prospect of shelling out for various bits of highly involved and potentially incompatible kit can turn the happy notion of Sundays spent chilling with vinyl into a headache. Cartridge, phono stage, alignment gauge, tracking weight scales, long-nosed pliers, set of allen keys? It’s a daunting technological assault course.

And yet, having done little more than plug Sony’s PS-LX310BT turntable into the wall socket, we are listening to Bruce Springsteen’s Born To Run through Bluetooth headphones as it spins in front of us. The whole set-up process takes about the time it takes to make a pot of coffee; from box to The Boss in under five minutes.

For a while now, decks housing both a phono stage and Bluetooth have been offering a fuss-free, space-saving wireless set-up. Some even come in at under £200, such as Sony’s cheapest turntable, the PS-LX310BT.

Build

Sony PS-LX310BT build

The PS-LX310BT is a no-nonsense design. It feels lightweight, consider all the extras going on under the black plastic casework and the build is perfectly acceptable for the price. 

And it feels user-friendly – no running through all four gaming categories of The Crystal Maze to see if you have what it takes to enjoy vinyl. And you can forget scouring YouTube tutorials to work out how to calibrate the tonearm; there is nothing to preset there. The buttons that operate the fully automatic arm might feel slightly clunky, but they are sufficient at this price.

The bigger question is, do you really need them? For vinyl veterans, the physical act of lifting the tonearm up, hovering over the LP and lowering it onto the record is often a ritualistic component of the experience. But those who just want to spin a tune quickly and easily will doubtless find these buttons a bonus.

Features

Sony PS-LX310BT features

When it comes to set-up, apart from setting the belt to drive the platter, there’s nothing to do. No need to fit and align a cartridge, set the tracking force, set the correct anti-skate or use a test LP to fine tune before you get to play music.

Provided you’ve fitted the belt around the motor pulley and placed the platter on the main bearing, the PS-LX310BT simply requires you to remove the cover from the stylus and press ‘start’. 

Take care when you first remove that stylus cover – the delicate assembly came away in our hands, though the way it’s mounted means it goes back on easily. Also bear in mind that the design of the arms means there’s little scope for upgrading the cartridge should you want to at a later date.

You can pair the PS-LX310BT with up to eight Bluetooth devices and, in our tests using headphones, the connection was strong enough to walk into another room, close the door and even wander outside – at least 15 metres. 

Sony has given us a ‘plug and play’ fully automatic deck, included a phono stage, thrown in Bluetooth and priced it at the low end of the market. It could only score more highly for usability if it somehow took the LPs from their covers. Surely the compromise must be on sound performance?

Sound

Sony PS-LX310BT sound

We place the PS-LX310BT on a flat, low-resonance support stand – imperative with any deck, thus making the stylus tip’s delicate journey through its intricate and ever-decreasing circle easier.

Using the Sony’s built-in phono stage, we run the turntable through our reference system of a GamuT D3i/D200i amplifier combination and ATC SCM50 loudspeakers for some of the test. However, more price-compatible partners would be the Onkyo A-9010 stereo amp (£199) and Dali Spektor 1 standmount speakers (£159). 

We lower INXS’s 1987 album Kick on to the platter mat, push ‘start’ and let the PS-LX310BT do the rest. Michael Hutchence’s vocal on Mediate retains its emotion, with the accompanying percussive bass kept clear, tight and in check. There’s a healthy dose of drive and attack, with rhythmic flourishes handled competently.

Sony PS-LX310BT

Speeds 33⅓, 45rpm

Dimensions (hwd) 11 x 43 x 37cm

Phono amp Yes

Automatic operation Yes

Tonearm included Yes

Cartridge included Yes

Belt drive Yes

USB port No

Changing to a 45rpm record, David Bowie’s Starman retains its petulant zeal, with each musical strand handled deftly and methodically. However, compared to purist, fully manual decks, such as Rega’s Planar 1, there is an accompanying woolliness to the dynamic; a loss of clarity over where one note ends and another begins. The song is limited in terms of intensity too, as we miss an injection of dynamic punch.

We switch to Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony and it’s a pleasing sound. There’s emotion and a decent dynamic build when the strings and horns rise out of the dark, rumbling percussion.

The upper echelons of detailing and stereo imaging aren’t reached – we cannot locate exactly where sections of the orchestra are sitting – but that level of detail often costs thousands, not hundreds.

That said, you can improve the PS-LX310BT without much investment. If you already own an integrated amp or dedicated phono preamp, we’d recommend flipping the Sony PS-LX310BT’s line out switch to ‘phono’ and using it.

Verdict

The PS-LX310BT is more than just an excellent ‘my first turntable’ option. For those wanting a fully automatic deck with built-in phono stage, it’s one of the best we’ve heard.

Players such as the 2018 Award-winning Rega Planar 1 (£250), might offer a superior sound, but the manually-operated Rega lacks a built-in phono stage or Bluetooth.

What the Sony lacks in terms of top-quality sound, it makes up for by being fun, ridiculously user-friendly and resoundingly listenable.

SCORES

  • Sound 5
  • Features 5
  • Build 4

MORE:

Best turntables 2020

Best stereo amplifiers 2020

Best hi-fi deals

Read our Rega Planar 1 review

What Hi-Fi?

What Hi-Fi?, founded in 1976, is the world's leading independent guide to buying and owning hi-fi and home entertainment products. Our comprehensive tests help you buy the very best for your money, with our advice sections giving you step-by-step information on how to get even more from your music and movies. Everything is tested by our dedicated team of in-house reviewers in our custom-built test rooms in London, Reading and Bath. Our coveted five-star rating and Awards are recognised all over the world as the ultimate seal of approval, so you can buy with absolute confidence.

Read more about how we test

  • modric
    total novice here (apologies) but when they say it connects to a bluetooth device, does this include the google nest/dot mini as well? I think I'm getting confused between bluetooth output and receiving
    Reply
  • LGLemay
    modric said:
    total novice here (apologies) but when they say it connects to a bluetooth device, does this include the google nest/dot mini as well? I think I'm getting confused between bluetooth output and receiving

    Hello, unfortunately bluetooth connectivity does not include Google speakers such as the Google Home, Nest & Mini as these use Chromecast rather than bluetooth.

    After looking for a reasonably priced turntable that would play on Chromcast enabled speakers such as those from Google, and not finding anything, I bought this turntable today & I am quite happy with it.

    I did find out that Google makes a larger speaker called the Google Max that will take an aux line in from the turntable, then use Chromecast to broadcast to other Google speakers. The Google Max is over $500 CAD though, so more than I wanted to spend. I'm using a JBL bluetooth speaker with this turntable & find the sound quite good. This turntable can broadcast to up to 8 bluetooth speakers but I'm not sure how far away they can be from the turntable.

    I realise your question was over a year ago, but maybe this info is still helpful. Cheers.
    Reply
  • dhkatz
    modric said:
    total novice here (apologies) but when they say it connects to a bluetooth device, does this include the google nest/dot mini as well? I think I'm getting confused between bluetooth output and receiving

    I know this is 2 years later, but for anyone seeing this yes I was able to connect this turntable to a Google Nest Mini and Google Nest Hub. The bluetooth on this turntable can be a bit finnicky (I partly blame Google too) but you can definitely get it to work.
    Reply