Toshiba’s unveiled a new portable vinyl record player set to be shipped this month, but while it looks like a lot of fun, serious vinyl collectors may be a little wary.
Category: Turntables
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- Audio-Technica’s new glowing, floating turntable is as cool as it is strictly limited editionThe Hotaru uses magnets to float its illuminated turntable away from unwanted vibrations
Audio-Technica’s floating Hotaru turntable is $10,000 worth of glowing coolness
If you’ve got a spare $10,000 lying around and just have to have the coolest-looking, glowy-est, gravity-defying centrepiece for your stereo hi-fi system, then Audio-Technica just announced the turntable for you.
Unveiled recently at Milan Design Week, the Audio-Technica Hotaru is a limited edition all-in-one record player that features a glowing, magnetically-levitating platter that hovers above a built-in speaker base. Limited to 1,000 units worldwide, the visually-striking player is as much an art piece as it is a high-end turntable.
Screenshot / Audio-Technica “Hotaru” is the Japanese word for “firefly,” which is an apt description. Audio-Technica says that the Hotaru’s platter and floating base is made with precision-crafted acrylic that it says “enhances the beauty of the lighting,” with stunning effect. The lighting system features a palette of 20 color shades and offers three lighting modes — Basic, in which you choose a single static color; Gradation, where the Hotaru fades through its cycle of colors; and Link mode that moves with the character of the music, “utilizing the music itself as a design element while simultaneously converting sound into light to create a unique ambiance,” Audio-Technica says in a press release. “This multi-sensory design allows listeners to engage with the music — and the space — more deeply to form lasting memories of the entire environment.”
Audio-Technica Specs-wise we have no idea if the price of the Hotaru justifies its $10k price tag, but here’s a rundown at any rate. The casing that the floating base sits on houses a speaker system that consists of two 2.5-inch full-range speakers and two 0.75-inch tweeters and features a frequency range of 60Hz to 20kHz. The speaker casing, by way of its floating characteristics, is kept separate from the platter base with the aim of eliminating any resonance. The casing itself is made with high-quality aluminum and it sits on solid brass feet, further adding to its anti-resonant capabilities. “This system exudes a rich and refined feel while also rending sound with unparalleled clarity and dynamic expression,” says Audio-Technica.
The platter is driven by a DC servo motor that drives the sub-platter by way of a concealed belt, with the whole structure floating due to, as A-T explains it, via “magnets in both the upper turntable and lower speaker sections [that] repel one another, causing the turntable section to float, thus isolating it from sound-degrading vibrations.”
screengrab / Audio-Technica The static balanced carbon straight tonearm is mounted on the sub-platter and features a specially-designed VM cartridge (A-T’s VM cartridges are among its most expensive) and headshell. Additionally, the Hotaru features an RCA line output should you prefer to run it through your own hi-fi system like an integrated amplifier, as well as a subwoofer out to add some deep bass to the proceedings.
Reservations for the Hotaru will be open from until May 30, 2025, with deliveries happening in October, and can be made through its website. More information on the Hotaru can also be found through Audio-Technica’s Japan website.
Got vinyl, will travel: Toshiba’s new Bluetooth record player lets you do just that
With Record Store Day just a day away, you might be thinking about a new turntable to spin all your excellent new wax. But if you’re an on-the-go type, you might also be wondering if there’s a portable record player that you can tote around so you can show them off anywhere. Well, road-trippers, you’re in luck because Toshiba just announced the Aurex AX-RP10, a compact Bluetooth turntable that will help you do just that.
OK, so you’re not slipping it into your jeans pocket like an old Walkman — it measures 11 x 6 x 3 inches and 2.6 pounds — but Toshiba’s thrown in a shoulder bag so you can bring that sweet sound of analog to the park, picnic, or your next rooftop party.
Toshiba Very similar to Audio-Technica’s famous Sound Burger, the Aurex AX-RP10 is a belt-driven turntable with a MM (Moving Magnet) style cartridge that spins both 33 1/3 and 45 RPM records, and features a 2,000mAh battery that’ll keep things spinning for up to 10 hours. There are no built-in speakers, though, so you’ll need to plug in your headphones or connect to your sound system via the 3.5mm input. Or, as advertised, you can pair it with a Bluetooth speaker or Bluetooth headphones. Audiophiles, need not apply as the SBC codec support sadly means no hi-res playback — this will mainly just be for fun and portability, which is OK too.
You’ll obviously have to throw a handful of records into a tote or throw a milk crate or twin into your trunk if you want he party to go longer, but whatever it is you’re playing will get top billing with what I think it the funnest feature of the AX-RP10 — its “jacket holder” that props your record’s sleeve for all to see.
Toshiba Toshiba’s playing coy with the pricing (the Sound Burger runs for $200), but the AX-RP10 is expected to be available sometime this month. Now make sure to head out for Record Store Day and support your local indie record stores.
Audio-Technica’s limited-edition $199 gold turntable is the reason I’ll be waiting in line at 8am on Record Store Day
Audio-Technica’s limited AT-LP60XBT turntable in gold is an independent in-store exclusive, and if I don’t manage to get one, my Record Store Day will be ruined.What is Record Store Day? All you need to know for vinyl’s big event
For many collectors of those spinning plastic discs of joy known as vinyl records, Record Store Day is better than Christmas. Every April (and Black Friday), music lovers emerge from their winter hibernation to line up at record stores around the world in hopes of getting their hands on exclusive and limited-release records pressed especially for the big day. It’s also a day to get out and bump elbows at the record bins with like-minded vinyl nerds and support independent, local brick-and mortar-stores. It can be a blast and it can be a bust, but it’s a vinyl community event that must be experienced.
But what is RSD, as it’s colloquially know, where’d it come from, when is it, and what can you expect from it? I’m gonna break it down for you.
When is Record Store Day?
The very first RSD took place on Saturday, April 19, 2008. Amid the uprising of digital music and streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music no one other than serious vinyl collectors was thinking about records, and the format was on life support. The 1,400 indie record stores in the U.S. were dying and needed a little love, so they banded together and Record Store Day was born.
Now, twice a year, music lovers and vinyl collectors get a day just for them. With the spring weather, the flagship RSD event happens every April, with the 2025 edition coming on Saturday, April 12. Record Store Day brings exclusive, limited-edition vinyl releases to indie record shops in more than 14 countries around the world, including the U.S., Canada, Australia, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, and the U.K.
In 2010, the first RSD Black Friday event happened — because who says only big-box stores get to have all the fun? Instead of battling crowds for budget TVs, why not score a rare record or two instead? The list of releases might be smaller than April’s RSD, but the thrill and comraderie is the same.
Derek Malcolm / Digital Trends What’s available on RSD?
A month or two before every Record Store Day event, a list of up to several hundreds of release titles is distributed through the official Record Store Day websites of each country. When the lists are released, they’re not hard to find — they’re shared all over social media and you’ll often find them posted to the websites of your local record stores as well.
The U.S. RSD list includes all the titles that will be distributed to American record stores. Titles include everything from rare releases and exclusives, colored pressings, and box sets to 7-inch singles, live concerts, various artist complications, soundtracks, and even CDs (gasp!).
It’s a great opportunity to add something unique to your record collection, and as someone who’s stood in the rain in line for hours to get my hands on many cool pressings, when you’re successful, it’s like winning the lottery.
How do I get the most out of RSD?
Once the RSD list goes out, there’s some work to be done to help ensure you find and secure the records you’re looking for. The list can be big, so take some time and go through it, jotting down the records you want. Make note of the quantity of copies pressed — limited run pressings can number in the low hundreds to several thousands. This will help you gauge the likelihood of you getting a copy, but it goes without saying that so will the artist and title — you’re not going to be the only one standing in line for Taylor Swift’s 7-inch white vinyl Fortnite remix that’s on this year’s list.
Once you have your want list, as the weeks leading up to RSD approach, your local record stores will likely start reaching out on social media asking their customers to let them know what RSD records they want them to order. Don’t be shy, let them know, either through their socials (if they’re friendly like that, and most of them are), drop by in person or give them a call. If you’re not sure what record stores near you are participating, each RSD website for your country will have a handy locator or list of stores.
While you cannot pre-order RSD records, your local stores will try their best to get in the ones their customers want. But there are no guarantees: it’s been my experience that the stores get what they get.
Derek Malcolm / Digital Trends As the day approaches, many record stores will post the RSD titles and quantities they’ve gotten in on their socials or on their websites, and many will do this up to the day itself. Armed with this info, you can now decide what store or stores will give you the best chance of securing that Limited Run Top Secret! soundtrack featuring Val Kilmer (rest in peace). Now all you have to do is get up bright and early and get in line before everyone else and hope it doesn’t rain.
Cover your bases
Lastly, and this might be hard to hear: after all that prep, there’s still a good chance you might not even get the record you want.
So, here’s what you do. Have the phone numbers of the other potential record stores handy in a note on your phone, piece of paper or something, and call them to see if they have the records you’re looking for. Some will post live stock on their sites or socials, but that’s such a moving target it’s best to just call. They may or may not hold it for you once the rush dies down, but at lest you’ll know where to go next.
Another good idea is to divide and conquer. You surely have other vinyl enthusiast friends, so work together, spread out to the other stores if you can to get the titles you each want.
RSD aftermath and hope
I’ll leave you with a ray of hope. When Record Store Day is over and done, record stores will likely allocate all their leftover titles to a RSD bin or crate in the store. I’ve gotten lucky several times in the weeks and even months after the day and stumbled upon records I missed out on in, for example, a Sunrise Records in a shopping mall or something — keep your eyes peeled!
All this is to say that all is not lost, even if you don’t get the record you wanted — you got a pretty great shared community experience out of the day, regardless. And while you wait six months for the next RSD, keep your crate fingers sharp and you never know what you’ll find.
Happy Record Store Day hunting!
- Pro-Ject’s new fully-automatic turntable could be the buy of Record Store Day 2025Pro-Ject adds to its Record Store Day 2025 releases with a new fully-automatic turntable, to update its enjoyable A1.
- Vertere’s elite DG X turntable is modular, expensive,and hugely desirableUK-based turntable specialist Vertere’s new and easy-to-set-up turntable is for audiophiles and fledgling vinyl lovers alike –if they can afford it.