Companies have been rolling out various products at the Consumer Electronic Show (CES) in Las Vegas over the course of the week. Most have nothing to do directly with music, but a few companies have been rolling out some products for the music market including Sony who is now getting into the vinyl market with a new PS-HX500 hi-res audio turntable model.
The company unveiled it at CES and it aims to give Sony a foothold in the turntable market, notably the hi-fi market. The turntable is a sleek and minimal take on a very classic devise. Its all black color scheme will appeal to people who want a more modern look
Our new PS-HX500 turntable serves as an important bridge that connects the growing number of vinyl record collectors to the convenience and sound quality afforded by hi-res audio," said Yamato (Tank) Tanikawa, Director, Home Entertainment & Sound, Sony Electronics in a statement.
The turntable has a USB port for users to hook up to their computers or other device and covert vinyls into hi-res audio formats. The formats would be .wav for most or as Sony would prefer, their proprietary DSD format, which is what is supported on their Walkman players. It also includes an app that makes it easy to edit those convert those files.
The turntable should be available sometime later this spring and it isn't clear how much is will cost consumers.
Sony will have to market this hard to try and distinguish this from other competitors, especially with Technics also rolling out a brand new version of their celebrated SL-1200 turntable. It seems like a way to try and complete the loop from vinyl to their walkmans.
