We can get a little snobby when it comes to hi-fi. Whether it's a decades-long hobby or you're working in the industry, the knowledge that certain products, technologies, materials or designs can offer better sound performance than others can often turn this into a rather tired game of recommending (often expensive and cumbersome) x product over y product for pure fidelity, and snubbing our nose at anything that can seem quirky or offbeat or not 'proper hi-fi', or at anything that dares to prioritise anything other than reproducing the purest sound quality. Even as someone who doesn't mind yet another plain black box as long as the sound it delivers makes it worth it, I can sometimes feel like a spark of fun and creativity is missing from the experience.
Most products these days are competent, well-made and sound decent, and that's all fine. And then there's the . Audio-Technica's 1980s portable record player seemed like a novelty then and it still does so now in its revived form, but it brings back that element of fun into something as static and old-fashioned as vinyl.
The advent of means that the Sound Burger was quickly eclipsed by an emerging digital format that was newer, more exciting and far more convenient, but today this portable turntable is living in an era where turntables and the vinyl format are continuing to enjoy their resurgence. Not only with hi-fi enthusiasts, mind you; this revival is being propelled by a 's tactile and visually appealing format compared .