SONY - USB Stereo Turntable (PS-LX300USB) SONY - USB Stereo Turntable (PS-LX300USB)

Pros: none

Cons: Missing parts - had a long chat with SONY - total waste of time - look:
LiveAssist Chat
Status: Analyst Joselyn_ is here and your issue status is: working Problem: Just unpacked the turntable, there is no drive belt End Session user klaus has entered room
analyst Joselyn_ has entered room
Joselyn_> Hi Klaus. Welcome to Sony Online Support. I'm Joselyn. Please allow me a moment to review your concern.
Joselyn_> Thank you for waiting, Klaus. I'm sorry that there is no drive belt in the Box . I'll be glad to assist you with this.
klaus> First of all I am very much frustratet that I have to assembly a Sony product I just bought, how do I get a belt now?
Joselyn_> Please let me know whether you purchased a closed box.
klaus> yes, I did buy a sealed box from Newegg
Joselyn_> Thanks for the information.
... ended fruitless!

Pros: Perfect device for playing vinyl. Easy, plug -n- play and sounds great. I have owned many vinyl record players in the last 40 years and I will have to say, this one is done right. Sony does vinyl justice.

Cons: Not free

Other Thoughts: Hey, plug your piewad into a speaker and spin on it. This turntable is excellent. READ THE SCREEN! (instructions)

Pros: Looks nice. Includes cables. Physically does function, spin, raise arm, speed, etc. Probably plays a record to the RCAs if that's what you want to do, though I have not tried yet.

Cons: Made by Sony. What more to say. Website sucks. There is NO tech support. NO DRIVERS on the CD. Just some audio app that I have yet to see due to the lack of drivers. Using a Win XP SP2 or SP3 computer, no dice. "USB Audio CODEC" drivers do not exist, and the "troubleshooting" makes no mention of why they might be missing. Advance Google Searched Microsoft.com and sony.com for 1.5hours. I can find nothing about USB Audio Codec and how to install it. The sony site even says under drivers and software "there are no file for your model". ???? Huh? So, if the CD is lost, you better have it backed up. You won't be getting software on the web for this baby. Makes me feel like I'm back in the Win98 days of USB, leave it to sony.

Other Thoughts: A friend bought one of these and asked me to install it for them. I had recommended the Rosewill but they got this thing for some unknown reason. I detest sony and this is just another example of why. Why not just say this thing does NOT work with Windows XP? I am not using a 64bit version either. 32Bit home and pro, both fail to see this and load a driver.

Pros: This turntable runs great for a standalone deck. You could plug your 'puter to the turn table via USB, but the deck itself rocks. I bought it for my wife for valentines day and she loves it.

Cons: None.

Other Thoughts: To all the negative reviews, read the instructions. In addition, to the comment that you need a sound system to make this work, that is false. You only need speaker system that has a RCA audio input. You can get a speaker system for 24.99 (Eagle ET-AR502-BK 15 Watts RMS 2.1 Speakers). But otherwise, this deck is worth the money.

Pros: NONE

Cons: As a newbie to stereo systems, I thought I'd be able to just take the turntable out of the box & play my records. I didn't understand that I'd have to buy a receiver & speakers just to listen to my records. After spending money to get the whole system set up, the sound was terrible--like major static & as if the needle kept bouncing around. Since I am a newbie, I thought it must be my fault so I cleaned my records real well (another cost) & tried again. Same dismal sound. by this time, I was just past the 30 day mark & found that a return in an exchange for a turntable that worked wouldn't be allowed. I never even got around to hooking the turntable up to my computer to copy my records to discs because the sound is so horrible. This has been a total waste of my time & money.

Other Thoughts: I didn't realize from the reviews I read that I'd have to already have a stereo system in place in order to hear my records. The reviews said it was so simple to take it out of the box & play--but that's only if you have all the other equipment in place. I didn't realize that the turntable wasn't complete in itself so I could just listen to my records.

Pros: Can't give an opinion because I haven't used it yet.

Cons: Do not install the software on a 64 bit system. I tried it anyways even though the manual says that it does not support a 64 bit system. It totally messed up my Vista 64 bit computer and now I have to reload everything. System restore doesn't even work.

Other Thoughts: I thought that what's the big deal. If it doesn't work then I'll just uninstall the software. Big mistake! I did do the update for the software that came with it. I cannot stress it enough. Do not install the software on a 64 bit system!

Pros: I was setting it up by reading the "Operating Instructions" and everything was going good until I got to page 9. Continued in "Cons".

Cons: On page 9 where it has the system requirements it says in small print, "64 bit operating systems are not supported."

Other Thoughts: If I had been forwarned I would not have purchased this product. The system requirements to use the USB feature should be made extremely clear.

Pros: Plays records. Makes MP3s.

Cons: Audio cable is a little short.

Other Thoughts: The unit actually came with a USB cable AND the RCA cable is built in. This is great as it saves me a trip to Wal-mart. They even shipped a 45rpm adaptor. Love it!

Pros: Hifi needle, phono/line out, comes with soundforge, 96khz 32-bit goodnees, plug and play for both windows, mac, and linux (I was using ubuntu 9.10).

Cons: Soundforge only runs on windows. This was a gift for my dad, and he had a hard time setting up audacity on mac os. (works better on windows/linux anyway) The labels on the play/stop/speed buttons are hard for the old man to read.

Other Thoughts: Can actually be used as regular turntable. The phono out can be switched to a normal line out easily to make it compatible with modern sound systems. Can also use line out for monitoring while you record on the usb interface.

It's too bad your records will never live up to the quality that this hardware supports. :(

Pros: Good fidelity and low noise both with and without the preamp. I have not tried connecting to my computer yet. Just to different amps.

Cons: None that I have found.

Other Thoughts: Might not equal the late seventies really good stuff but works for me now