Everything is stupid and bad right now; maybe this $200 portable turntable will fix it • TechCrunch

Yeah, yeah. I do know. Shopping for a document participant isn’t going to repair all the pieces that’s damaged. Nevertheless it was a pleasant thought, nonetheless fleeting. Lengthy earlier than the iPod, this unusual mutant existed. Too bizarre to stay, too unusual to die, as somebody as soon as famously put it.

The Audio-Technica Sound Burger — because it has affectionately come to be identified — has additionally felt like a glimpse into some alternate timeline, the place vinyl information didn’t need to go away solely to make a resurgence. Clearly the dimensions of a 12-inch LP instantly mitigates any pretension of portability, so within the period of the Walkman, a product like this was all the time destined to be an evolutionary lifeless finish.

That, in fact, hasn’t stopped numerous corporations from producing numerous knockoffs within the intervening a long time. Nor, fortunately, has it precluded Audio-Technica from taking one other spin with the pleasant AT-SB2022. The newly introduced tackle the shape issue is priced at $199 and is — understandably — a restricted version. The discharge was particularly timed to coincide with the corporate’s sixtieth anniversary.

In contrast to its ancestor, which was constructed with wired headphones in thoughts (and shipped with a pair for that matter), this model has built-in connectivity, so you’ll be able to pair it with a wi-fi headset or audio system. There’s additionally a built-in battery rechargeable through USB-C that may rise up to 12 hours in a single go. So, it’s not going to make all of the dangerous information go away, but it surely certain can be a whole lot of enjoyable to deliver alongside for a day of crate digging.

In case your pockets are significantly deeper, there’s all the time this absolutely clear restricted version AT-LP2022 accessible for a cool $1,200. The belt-drive-operated guide turntable sports activities a Shibata stylus and carbon-fiber tonearm, all for the value of six Sound Burgers. If that’s not sufficient, there’s all the time this $9,000 stereo cartridge with a lab-grown diamond.

Possibly that can assist drown out the information for a bit.