Audio-Technica has just brought out their new flagship and affordable offering to their catalogue of turntables, but will they hold up where it counts?
Audio-Technica is known for representing excellence and innovation in the home and pro-audio worlds, bringing us iconic bits of kit used by musicians and music lovers the world over, whether they be microphones, headphones, speakers or the topic of today’s review: turntables!
Introducing Audio-Technica’s flagship offering to sound recreation, the AT-LP70x and its Bluetooth variant AT-LP70xBT. These are the newest in a long line of automatic belt-driven offerings from the audio giant, and this time they’re going down a less-is-more route to keep the average consumer and tech nerd happy, as these are still packed with features.
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Audio-Technica has always been an audio house for audiophiles, by audiophiles, committed to the belief that high-quality audio should be accessible to all and their newest offering is something to behold. With a sleek exterior that blends retro-modern stylings with a minimalist control set, a three-piece chassis and a bespoke cartridge mounting system with a removable stylus for all sorts of experimentation and upgrading, The AT-LP70x and AT-LP70xBT are quite the package.
AT-LP70x + ATLP70xBT
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Let’s get into our first impressions.
Right off the bat, the folks at Audio-Technica have made the setup process a real no-brainer – more or less plug-and-play with a design that negates the need to balance the tonearm, set the antiskid weight or install the cartridge, streamlining the process for anyone new to turntables.
After a little assembly, things are more or less straightforward, with easy connection with the provided RCA cable or Bluetooth capabilities of the AT-LP70xBT, which can be used with any wireless speaker, headset or other device at the touch of a button. There’s no need for an amplifier either, as this one boasts a built-in switchable phono pre-amp, negating the use of a separate phono stage (though the option to use one is still present).
Continuing this theme of ease of use, we have the convenience of fully automatic operation, which will be one of those quality-of-life improvements for the average home listener. Gone are the days of hovering around your stereo waiting for an LP or single to end so you could lift the tone arm in time and avoid that characteristic sound.
At the centre of the whole arrangement is Audio-Technica’s baby blue AT-VM95C cartridge, mounted in a fixed position inside a newly designed J-shaped tone arm. The simplicity really shines here, because even though you’ll never be able to replace the cartridge, the solid design theoretically provides better audio quality overall with a lack of unnecessary connection points and various joints.
If you still weren’t sold on it, the cartridge included on this model can be upgraded with any of the stylus’ from Audio-Technica’s range, with anything from an affordable improvement like the VM95E to ultra-premium holy-grail shibata-grade VMN95SH.
As for the sound itself? Couldn’t have asked for anything better in this price range. The clarity was stellar when playing through a couple of my favourite LPs, maintaining an impressively low noise floor, and retaining the dynamic range that you sometimes lose with more affordable turntables. Distortion at higher levels was pretty low as well.
The vibrations were kept to a minimum, courtesy of a low centre of mass with electronics mounted to the bottom of its three-piece chassis, which provides a little extra rigidity to emphasise resonance dampening.
The Bluetooth functionality on the slightly more premium option worked a treat, and I had no problems getting it to connect to my hi-fi and a couple of pairs of headphones.
I was concerned about the audio clarity, but for the most part, the transmission is largely lossless. It still doesn’t sound as good as it does wired through a pair of ATH-M50xBTs, but the difference is negligible, especially at this price range. Did we mention that the LP70x starts at $499 and its Bluetooth cousin at $599?
This new offering from Audio-Technica ticks all the boxes for an easily accessible and affordable introduction into the world of turntables and home audio, a welcome addition that’s sure to kick-start anyone’s new obsession or find its place among a dedicated collector’s hi-fi setup. This is the sort of thing that would make company founder Hideo Matsushita proud.
To find out more about the Audio-Technica AT-LP70x and ATLP70xBT turntables, head here.
