Audio-Technica AT-LP5X Fully Manual Direct Drive Turntable

Product Information

The arm bolts to the plinth via 3 screws, the removal of which (and the desoldering of the wires) allowing the arm to be lifted out as a complete unit. Anti-skate is applied by a spring, pushing the arm’s pivot to provide the necessary force to counteract the centripetal force acting on the stylus. The result is a consistent application of anti-skating force across the record. For those looking for a talented turntable but want the convenience of a phono stage built-in (or maybe your stereo amp or active speakers don't have one), this Rega is the perfect place to start. A rival such as Audio Technica's AT-LPW50BTRW also offers an internal phono stage and even Bluetooth streaming into the mix, but the Rega can't be beaten when it comes to sound. The only other board carries the speed knob and LED as its most notable external feature. Where the electronics in the older model were more modular, here they seem more tightly integrated though are still modular to an extent.

There’s no denying the fact that the Vertere DG-1 S is up against some mighty competition (such as the excellent Rega Planar 10), but given what we’ve heard, it can go into any such comparisons with confidence. The best just got better. Several things make Audio Technica AT-LP5x Turntableworth a spot on your wishlist . First is the winning design that audio Technica has made sure to retain. Second is the easy setup, colour, and features. Comparing the quality of this product to its price, it’s something you can’t resist. AT-LP5x is an excellent combination of convenience, performance and features. With an extensive list of useful specifications, the record player can virtually play any vinyl record, join any system and make digital copies. Audio-Technica’s original AT-LP5turntable was a winner. Launched in 2016, its combination of solid engineering, useful features (including USB output) and fine sound was enough to make it one of our go-to recommendations for anyone wanting a sensibly priced, fuss-free record player with the added bonus of a USB output. Newport Test Labs measured the voltage at the line output of the AT-LPW50PB as 157mV for a 1kHz test signal at a recorded velocity of 3.54cm per second, which is about that specified by Audio-Technica but appears lower simply because Audio-Technica uses a higher recorded velocity than Newport Test Labs (Audio-Technica’s specification is 200mV at 1 kHz at 5cm per second) when testing. It’s a good result. The What Hi-Fi?team has more than 100 years of collective experience in reviewing, testing and writing about consumer electronics – and that includes plenty of record players. We have state-of-the-art testing facilities in London, Reading and Bath, where our team of expert reviewers do all our in-house testing. This gives us complete control over the testing process, ensuring consistency across all products.We always ensure we spend plenty of time with each turntable, setting them up correctly, and trying them with different electronics, in different positions and with different music.And with USB turntables, we rip vinyl music onto our laptops to test the process and quality of this feature.The USB ripping feature remains, so you can digitise your vinyl collection to CD-quality WAV files up to 16-bit/44.1kHz and 48kHz. If you're after a well-executed design that's well-built, easy to set up and sounds great for the money, the AT-LP5x is worthy of a spot on your shortlist. The Audio Technica AT-LP5X offers a great combination of performance, convenience and facilities. It can join easily to virtually any system, can play virtually any vinyl record, makes very reasonable digital copies of LPs, too, and sounds impressive for the money. You shouldn’t buy it if… Despite the inclusion of noisy (in high frequency terms) built-in phono amp and USB port, the fact that the LP5x does not have 57 varieties of DJ furniture on its plinth reduces even more high frequency noise and vibration. The result for the LP5x is a turntable offering greater clarity and character. OK, it doesn’t root itself into a wholly bass-lead foundation but, instead, it’s lighter on its feet and more reactive. The LP5x provides a better balanced suite of sonics than the 140.

Switchable MM/MC built-in pre-amplifier and line enables connection to components with or without a dedicated phono input Similarly, make sure you read up on the sonic characteristics of all your components – even five-star products benefit from the right partnering. One of my favourite recordings was recorded by Dutch pianist Jeroen Van Veen in two different versions, both of which are on a double-LP set pressed by Brilliant Classics titled ‘Erik Satie Slow Music: Gymnopedies, Gnossiennes, And Other Works.’ Van Veen achieves a sublime perfection that eludes most pianists. I suspect his success might be because he’s not only also a composer but is also considered by many experts to be one of the leading exponents of minimalism in the world today. These traits, along with him being a great pianist, are obviously what’s required to make the music work! Plinth damping mostly comes in the form of a rubber sheet mounted in the area of the top plinth between the tonearm and main bearing. Rubber washers also cover the plastic screw lugs. Audio-Technica’s claims of “high-mass chassis inserts” includes the steel plate in the base, but also a heavy steel plate to which the motor is mounted.Gone is the 140’s DJ furniture, missing is the 140’s strobe around the edge of the platter, while the relatively complex trio of power switch, speed switch and RPM selector on the 140 has been reduced to a single control on the AT-LP5x.

Switching to an external phono stage, each aspect is evidently improved, the sound opening up even more and allowing for even more detail to be dug out of those grooves.The What Hi-Fi?team has more than 100 years of collective experience in reviewing, testing and writing about consumer electronics – and that includes plenty of record players. We have state-of-the-art testing facilities in London, Reading and Bath, where our team of expert reviewers do all our in-house testing. This gives us complete control over the testing process, ensuring consistency across all products.We always ensure we spend plenty of time with each turntable, setting them up correctly, trying them with different partnering electronics, in different positions and playing various records and music genres. It’s like spying the present shaped exactly like a pirate ship on Christmas morning, promising us the rival to Rega for which we’re so eager (and that apparently inspires us to poetry), so it is with some haste we shake Nils Frahm’s live album Spaces from its sleeve. On the Tull LP, the LP5x provided more control in the bass region and added refinement and complexity in the lower frequencies. In short, although the RT83 gave a tighter and more accurate account of the midrange, the LP5x was better balanced in terms of overall tonality providing great finesse and information. CONCLUSION

Aside from the tonearm and the aluminium platter, which is topped with an extremely hefty rubber slipmat, the plinth features a nicely weighted rotary speed selector/power switch. Everything about the AT-LP5X feels thoroughly well engineered. The materials may not be the most out-and-out luxurious, but everything that moves does so smoothly. FeaturesLikewise, a built-in phono-line preamp lets you connect up to a home stereo or powered speakers (that wouldn’t have a phono stage of their own) as soon as you plug the turntable in, letting you get to your tunes straight away. It’s also a piece that’s played by almost every amateur pianist on the planet because of all the most well-known piano pieces, it seems to be the easiest to play because if you look at the score, you’ll see it’s almost blank, with some spaced-out chords that don’t require much of a finger-stretch and then only crotchets everywhere else — there’s not a quaver to be seen, much less a hemidemisemiquaver. But when you try to play it… wow! It’s so difficult to make it flow. A/D: 16 bit 44.1 kHz or 48 kHz USB selectable; Computer interface: USB 2.0 compliant Windows 7 or above, MAC OS X or above The plinth is a two-part moulded plastic construction. The 4 feet screw into metal inserts beneath on an M6 thread. With the feet and the screws out of the way, we can lift the base away to reveal the electronics beneath.