You’ll be able to belief Louder
Our skilled group has labored for a number of the largest manufacturers in music. From testing headphones to reviewing albums, our consultants intention to create evaluations you possibly can belief. Discover out extra about how we evaluate.
Audio-Technica: exterior of DJ-mainstay manufacturers like Technics, most likely probably the most reliable turntable model on this planet. If you happen to’re getting an Audio-Technica document participant, whether or not it’s a bare-bones finances spinner or a full-featured direct-drive workhorse, you’re assured to be getting one thing considerably good. It speaks to the model’s storied historical past with turntables – certainly one of custom, innovation, and… burgers?
The Audio-Technica ‘Sound Burger’ (bought within the US because the ‘Mister Disc’) was a 1983 invention, a short-lived however surprisingly good transportable document participant, doomed by coming alongside simply as different, infinitely extra transportable audio codecs began to take the centre stage. Regardless of this relative impracticality, the Sound Burger gained a cultish fandom of its personal within the intervening years – a mixture of its strikingly ‘80s design and trademark Audio-Technica smarts. And now it’s again.
Initially revived as a limited-edition anniversary celebration in 2022, the brand new and improved Sound Burger was an instantaneous hit. Sufficient in order that it discovered a everlasting place within the Audio-Technica roster in 2023, because the AT-SB727. It’s old-school and new tech in a really compelling transportable package deal – however how good is it?
Options
The Audio-Technica AT-SB727 Sound Burger is a techy rework of the unique AT-770, preserving every thing that made it nice whereas including some extraordinarily welcome quality-of-life enhancements. It seems and acts virtually the very same manner it did within the 80s – however now there’s: a greater Audio-Technica cartridge; a USB-C rechargeable battery with 12 hours of life in it; a built-in phono stage; Bluetooth connectivity; and a multi-purpose line output for wired connectivity to most issues audio-receiver-y.
The primary occasion right here is its portability, after all, one thing achieved by the very intelligent system by which it earns its fast-foody identify. The machine is one massive, lengthy clamshell, that makes a given vinyl document the meat in its proverbial sandwich. Place your document in, clamp it shut and you’ve got a remarkably sturdy transportable record-playing machine.
Such portability necessitates some good compromises. There’s no platter to talk of, that means a lot of the document is suspended in mid-air by its personal integrity. Regardless of this lack of floor space, the document receives torque aplenty from a nifty spindle meeting, assisted by a 7” adapter that doubles as a clamp-helper and a tonearm relaxation when the Sound Burger isn’t in use. As a result of mild weight and platterless design, you possibly can anticipate a bit extra needle-jumping than typical if you happen to’re banging round on the identical floor; don’t do this, and also you’ll be nice.
Transportable document gamers writ massive have a poor status, owing largely to the heavy-handed, record-damaging nature of the OEM tonearm assemblies utilized by the overwhelming majority. Trying on the Sound Burger, with its mild tonearm and spring-assisted counterweight, you’d be forgiven for pondering it may pose the identical danger to your treasured Black Sabbath discography.
Because the Sound Burger has no typical platter, I examined this, albeit imperfectly, by measuring the monitoring drive with a scale perched on a sacrificial document. For the nerds: the AT-3600L stylus with which the Sound Burger is furnished asks for two.5-3.5g of monitoring drive to carry out optimally; I measured 3.64g.
This determine is undoubtedly greater than the true measurement, owing to the additional peak of the size atop the document. With this, then, I believe I’ve loosely illustrated that the Sound Burger is most positively not going to carve up your data. In reality, it’s fairly nicely calibrated to carry out at its greatest.
Design
Actually, the design of the Audio-Technica AT-SB727 is a characteristic in and of itself. It’s a surprising piece of transportable tools, with a pleasingly retro aesthetic and a few intelligent user-friendly prospers to its identify. So far as transportable gamers go, it couldn’t be a lot simpler to make use of.
There’s an ‘off’ place for the tonearm, on the furthest extent of its sweep; you place it right here whereas placing your document in place. The 45 adapter can be a spacer for the lid, and goes over your document (or, for 45s, merely does its job as an adapter). With the Sound Burger on, shifting the tonearm into place prompts the motor – so click on the lid shut, place the stylus and also you’re away. There’s no auto-stop on the finish, however I’ve by no means been enormous on them as a characteristic anyway.
Bluetooth is one-touch and computerized; I related the Sound Burger to my Kanto Ren lively audio system with one press of every Bluetooth button for every machine; a wholesome white-flashing LED tells you when it’s pairing, and when it’s paired. Just about every thing is one-touch operation; there’s no rocket-science right here, simply good design.
Sound
Right here, the basic purpose for which the Sound Burger is, above all, a shock: it truly sounds good. Not nice, not respectable, however good. Really good.
There’s no purpose it shouldn’t spec-wise, after all; its AT-3600L cartridge is a gold-standard finances cart that outshines just about all competitors for sound-per-pound. That platterless design, as anticipated, does rob the Sound Burger of some stability, however the 7” adapter does a terrific job of placing some again.
Idles’ Brutalism sounded each bit as throaty as you’d anticipate, imbued with all its expressive, febrile, brittle angst. Queens Of The Stone Age’s Songs For The Deaf was a dense delight, each honked-out guitar riff a fulsome thrust of low-middy heft. It’s good. It’s good.
So shocked was I on the fullness of Sound Burger’s sound illustration, that I AB-ed it with my workhorse Vestax turntable, by means of a DJ mixer. The distinction was minor. Unsurprisingly, higher cartridges sound higher; surprisingly, the Sound Burger’s playback roughly saved up with a quartz-controlled direct drive, and the phono stage sounded nearly pretty much as good as my mixer’s.
I momentarily left the heft behind, in favour of my present favorite DJ-secret-weapon 7” – a repressing of Grasp Plan, Inc’s energetic shot-glass of optimist funk, Shiny Mild, Large Metropolis – to check the 7” adapter correctly. It was a reassuringly cosy match, and performed again sturdily, revealing a crystal-clear remaster with no single element lacking. It sounded higher than it sounds performed out, on knackered Technics 1210s by means of a membership sound system.
Right here, I’ll enterprise that it’s a small disgrace Audio-Technica haven’t plumped for barely higher Bluetooth transmission than the superbly cromulent SBC codec. Virtually talking, although, utilizing this with a fair-to-middling Bluetooth speaker or daring to take it to the park with you, you aren’t going to note in any respect.
Apart from, if you happen to’re going to make use of this at residence, you may as nicely simply plug it straight into to one thing. Which you are able to do simply, with the three.5mm line out, and with the helpful 3.5mm-to-RCA breakout cable Audio-Technica so kindly present. And which I did, when listening to QOTSA. It was mega. Realistically talking, the larger potential challenge – and once more, not a lot of 1 – is the amount of the Sound Burger’s needle discuss.
Needle discuss is the sound that comes straight from the needle vibrating within the groove, a tinny acoustic phenomenon that gives an thrilling glimpse on the science of analogue sound replica, however that additionally impacts your enjoyment of data performed at low volumes or in small rooms. This minor nuisance is amplified (figuratively talking) when utilizing Bluetooth, which comes with no small diploma of latency; listening to hissy, trebly moments of excessive vitality out of your document earlier than they’re genuinely reproduced in your hi-fi makes for a barely distracting expertise.
In fact, it is a operate of some issues endemic to the Sound Burger, from the platterless design to the spring-assisted tonearm. And it’s an issue simply solved by a) turning it up, and/or b) shifting the Sound Burger away out of your listening place. Small beers, actually, in one thing that’s clearly not designed to be the subsequent audiophile turntable du jour. And even then: it’s good. So good. It’s Really Good.
It’s a transportable turntable that weighs as a lot as a loaf of bread. And it’s good.
I adore it.
The alternate options
The Audio-Technica Sound Burger AT-SB727 is well the best-performing transportable document participant available on the market, and is prone to be for a while to come back. As such, I can’t actually advocate something in the best way of a direct various to the Sound Burger. Cheaper suitcase-style gamers are simply that – cheaper – but in addition convey some danger to the security of your document assortment.
The Sound Burger is roughly equal in spec to the Audio-Technica AT-LP90XBT – a full-fat document participant that additionally advantages from a full platter. So, in order for you a less expensive newbie turntable with a bit extra stability, and don’t thoughts dropping the design and aesthetics of the Sound Burger within the course of, the LP60XBT is the best way to go.
If you happen to’ve a bit extra in your finances, you may think about the Audio-Technica LP70XBT; a leg-up computerized turntable that marries plug-and-play-ability with upgrade-friendly longevity.
