Sony PS-LX310BT

A fully automatic, Bluetooth turntable with a surprisingly musical sound

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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 setup 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 setup. Some even come in at under ₹35k*, such as Sony's cheapest turntable, the PS-LX310BT.

No-nonsense design

The PS-LX310BT is a no-nonsense design. It feels lightweight, considering 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.