Audio-Technica AT-LP60X vs Sony PS-LX310BT 2026: Which Deck?

Getting into vinyl has never been easier than it is right now, and these two turntables are a big reason why. Both are fully automatic, both plug straight into powered speakers or an amp, and both have you playing a record within minutes of opening the box. So here is the short version. If you want the cheapest, simplest way in, buy the Audio-Technica AT-LP60X. If you specifically want to stream records to wireless speakers or headphones, or rip your vinyl to a computer, the Sony PS-LX310BT is the one worth paying roughly double for. The catch, and it is the whole story here, is that most first-time buyers do not need what the Sony adds. I'll show you how to work out which camp you're in.

The single most important thing to understand before you spend anything: these two decks are far more alike than the price gap suggests. Both are automatic belt-drive turntables with a fixed cartridge and a built-in switchable preamp. Neither lets you swap the cartridge for something better, and neither is an audiophile machine. So unlike stepping up to a Pro-Ject or a Rega, paying more for the Sony does not buy you meaningfully better sound. It buys you Bluetooth and USB. Get that clear and the rest of this decision falls into place quickly.

The Audio-Technica AT-LP60X

Audio-Technica AT-LP60X

Fully automatic belt-drive turntable with built-in phono preamp. Perfect entry-level choice with reliable performance and excellent value. Consistently recommended by reviewers for beginners.

Check Price on Amazon

The AT-LP60X is the turntable I recommend more than any other to people who just want to play records without learning anything first. It has been the default budget pick for years, and it earns that through sheer ease of use.

It is fully automatic, which matters more than it sounds. Press start and the platter spins up, the tonearm lifts, swings across, and lowers onto the lead-in groove by itself. At the end of the side it lifts off and returns to its rest. You never touch the needle. For a nervous first-timer, for kids, or for anyone who finds the idea of manually cueing a stylus stressful, that removes the one part of vinyl people are most worried about getting wrong.

It is a belt-drive design with a built-in switchable phono preamp, so you can run it straight into powered speakers, a soundbar with a line input, or any amplifier, with no separate phono box needed. You can switch the preamp off later if you buy an amp with its own phono input. At this price, that flexibility is a genuine strength.

Where it is limited is the cartridge, and this is the honest heart of it. The LP60X uses an integrated cartridge with a conical stylus. You can replace the stylus when it wears out, but you cannot fit a better cartridge, because the headshell and cartridge are a single fixed unit. The conical stylus tracks the groove less precisely than an elliptical, so it pulls out a little less detail and is slightly harder on your records over thousands of plays. For casual listening it is perfectly enjoyable. For anyone who later catches the upgrade bug, it is a dead end: the only way up from here is a whole new turntable.

The base LP60X has no Bluetooth and no USB. That is the entire reason this comparison exists, because the Sony has both. Audio-Technica does sell a Bluetooth version, the AT-LP60XBT, and a USB version, the AT-LP60XUSB, but each adds only one of those tricks where the Sony bundles both.

Who it is right for: absolute beginners on the tightest budget, anyone who wants true press-and-play automation, casual listeners who play a few records a week, and anyone buying a first deck for someone who would find a manual turntable intimidating. It does exactly what it promises and nothing more.

The Sony PS-LX310BT

Sony PS-LX310BT

Belt-drive turntable with Bluetooth connectivity for wireless playback. Combines traditional vinyl experience with modern convenience. Built-in preamp and reliable Sony quality.

Check Price on Amazon

The Sony PS-LX310BT is what you buy when you want the same easy, automatic vinyl experience but with modern connectivity bolted on. It is also fully automatic, with one-touch autoplay, so like the Audio-Technica it does the cueing for you. Underneath, it is the same basic recipe: belt drive, a built-in switchable phono stage, and a fixed cartridge you cannot upgrade.

Two features are the headline here. First, Bluetooth. You can pair the Sony with wireless speakers or a set of Bluetooth headphones and play records with no cables at all. If your listening setup is a wireless speaker in the kitchen, or you want to spin vinyl late at night through headphones without waking the house, that is a real, daily-life convenience the Audio-Technica simply cannot match.

Second, a USB output. The Sony ships with a USB cable, and you can connect it to a PC or Mac to record your vinyl as digital files. If you own records that were never released on streaming, or you want your collection on your phone, this is the feature that earns its keep. It is the tidiest way to digitise vinyl at this price without buying a separate converter.

The tonearm is a newer design than the one on the Audio-Technica, and Sony gives you three gain modes on the built-in preamp, which is a small but useful touch when matching it to different amps or powered speakers. In pure wired sound, the Sony has a slight edge, but slight is the honest word. Both are entry-level decks with fixed cartridges, and nobody should expect the Sony to sound dramatically better through a cable.

One honest caveat on the Bluetooth: it is the convenient, compressed kind, not audiophile wireless. It is brilliant for casual listening and background music, but if you care about wringing the last bit of quality out of a record, you will still want to listen wired. The Bluetooth is a convenience feature, not a sound upgrade.

Who it is right for: anyone who genuinely wants wireless playback or the ability to rip records to a computer, people whose speakers or headphones are Bluetooth, and anyone happy to pay roughly double the AT-LP60X for those two features. If you will actually use them, the Sony is worth it. If you won't, you are paying for capabilities you will never touch.

Head-to-Head

Look at how many rows land on a draw. That is not me hedging, it is the answer. These two turntables share a design philosophy: automatic, belt-drive, fixed-cartridge, built-in preamp. Everything the Sony wins is a connectivity feature, and the only things the Audio-Technica wins are price and simplicity. There is no hidden sound gap quietly doing the deciding here.

Which One Should You Buy?

Buy the Audio-Technica AT-LP60X if:

Your budget is tight and the lowest sensible price matters. You listen through wired powered speakers or an amp and have no interest in Bluetooth. You have no plans to rip your records to a computer. You want the simplest possible press-and-play deck with the fewest things to think about. You are buying a first turntable for a child, a parent, or anyone who would rather it just worked. For most first-time buyers, this is the one, and the money you save is better spent on records or a decent pair of speakers.

Buy the Sony PS-LX310BT if:

Wireless genuinely fits how you listen: your speakers or headphones are Bluetooth, or you want to play records around the house without running cables. You want to digitise your vinyl to a computer or phone and would rather not buy a separate converter. You are happy to pay roughly double for those two features because you know you will use them. If that is you, the Sony is not overpriced, it is the right tool.

Buy neither if:

You care most about sound quality and want a deck you can grow with. Both of these are fixed-cartridge endpoints, so if better sound is the goal, the money is better spent one tier up. The AT-LP60X vs Pro-Ject E1 comparison weighs the cheap automatic against an upgradeable audiophile deck, and the best turntable under £500 guide covers the next level for anyone ready to spend more. And if all you actually want is Bluetooth on the cheap, the Audio-Technica AT-LP60XBT adds wireless to the LP60X for far less than the Sony, though it skips the USB, and it turns up in the best record players UK guide.

The Honest Case Against Each

Against the AT-LP60X: the fixed conical cartridge is a low ceiling, and there is no way past it short of a new turntable. It has no wireless and no USB, so if your speakers are Bluetooth or you want to digitise records, it simply cannot do the job. If there is any real chance you will fall hard for vinyl, this is the deck you may be selling on within a year.

Against the Sony PS-LX310BT: you pay roughly double, and every penny of that premium goes on features, not on sound. The Bluetooth is the compressed, convenient kind rather than a quality upgrade. If you will never stream a record wirelessly and never plug into a computer, you are buying two headline features you will not use, and the cheaper Audio-Technica does the actual record-playing just as well. If Bluetooth alone is the draw, the AT-LP60XBT undercuts it.

What to Avoid

Do not buy a suitcase or all-in-one player like the Crosley Cruiser as a cheaper alternative to either of these. They look charming and cost less, but their ceramic cartridges track at several times the correct force and will permanently wear down your records. Both decks here exist to keep you out of that trap.

Do not buy the Sony expecting a big jump in sound. Through a cable it is only marginally ahead of the Audio-Technica, because both use a similar fixed cartridge. If someone tells you the Sony sounds far better, they are hearing the price tag, not the record. You are paying for Bluetooth and USB, and that is fine as long as you know it.

Do not assume you can upgrade the cartridge on either deck later. You cannot. People regularly buy a fixed-cartridge automatic expecting to drop in a better cartridge the way you can on a Pro-Ject or an Audio-Technica LP120X, then find out the cartridge is sealed in. If an upgrade path matters to you at all, that alone points you one tier up.

Finally, do not pair either turntable with a cheap mono Bluetooth speaker and expect hi-fi. Both deserve, at a minimum, a decent pair of powered bookshelf speakers. A turntable can only ever sound as good as what comes after it.

Owner Community Consensus

Across r/vinyl and the turntable forums, the steer to first-time buyers choosing between decks like these is consistent. The Audio-Technica gets recommended over and over as the painless way to find out whether vinyl is for you, and the automation earns specific praise from people who were nervous about damaging records. The recurring caveat, repeated almost as a warning, is the upgrade dead end: plenty of long-term owners say they wished they had spent a little more at the start once they realised the cartridge could not be improved.

Sony 310BT owners talk about the Bluetooth and USB as the reasons they chose it, and the people who use those features are glad they paid for them. The honest counterpoint that comes up just as often is that the sound is not the reason to buy it, and that buyers who never touch the wireless or the USB would have been just as happy with something cheaper. The summary that keeps surfacing: buy the Audio-Technica unless you specifically want what the Sony adds, in which case pay the premium and enjoy it.

FAQ

Does the Sony PS-LX310BT sound better than the AT-LP60X? Not by much. Both use a fixed cartridge with a conical stylus and a belt drive, so through a cable they land in the same ballpark. The newer tonearm on the Sony gives it a slight edge, but the reason to pay more for it is Bluetooth and USB, not a real jump in sound. If sound is your priority, the money is better spent on a Pro-Ject E1 with an upgradeable elliptical cartridge.

Can I record my vinyl to a computer with either turntable? The Sony PS-LX310BT can. It has a USB output and comes with a USB cable, so you can rip records to digital files on a PC or Mac. The AT-LP60X has no USB, so you would need the separate AT-LP60XUSB version or an external analogue-to-digital converter to do the same job.

Is there a cheaper way to get Bluetooth than the Sony? Yes. The Audio-Technica AT-LP60XBT adds Bluetooth to the LP60X for a lot less than the Sony costs, though it drops the USB output. If wireless is the only feature you want and you do not need to digitise records, the LP60XBT is worth a look before the Sony.

Do either of these need a separate phono preamp? No. Both the AT-LP60X and the PS-LX310BT have a built-in switchable phono stage, so you can plug either straight into powered speakers or any amplifier with a line input. You can switch the preamp off later if you get an amp with its own phono input.

Can I upgrade the cartridge on either turntable? No. Both have integrated cartridges, so you can replace the worn stylus but not fit a better cartridge. If an upgrade path matters to you, look at the next tier up, where a deck like the Pro-Ject E1 uses a standard-mount cartridge you can improve over time.

What I'd Buy Today

For most people, my recommendation is the Audio-Technica AT-LP60X, and I'd buy it without hesitation. It is fully automatic, it plugs into anything, and it plays records happily for the money. Just go in knowing it is a starting point you cannot upgrade, and put what you save toward better speakers.

I would only spend up on the Sony PS-LX310BT if I genuinely wanted its two tricks: streaming records to wireless speakers or headphones, and ripping vinyl to a computer over USB. If you will use those, the Sony is the right deck and the premium is fair. If you won't, you are paying double for features that will sit idle. Be honest with yourself about which one you are, and the choice makes itself.

**Get the Audio-Technica AT-LP60X on Amazon →**

**Get the Sony PS-LX310BT on Amazon →**

Find Your Perfect Setup

Answer a few quick questions and get personalised recommendations.

Ready to find your perfect setup?

Our quiz matches you with the right turntable, speakers, and accessories.

No email required