Skip to main content

Sony releases wireless turntable, new soundbar amid slew of 2019 audio devices

Sony has announced pricing and availability for many of the new audio and home theater products it first revealed at this year’s CES conference in Las Vegas, with the vast majority of its new products available this month, and one straggler hitting shelves in mid-May.

Probably the most exciting for the vast majority of consumers will be its new HT-S350 soundbar (pictured above), a 2.1 channel model that comes with a wireless subwoofer, and can output a seat-rattling 350 watts of sound. It will cost $280, and will be available by the end of April.

Another cool new product from the company is the PS-LX310BT wireless turntable, an affordable, entry-level turntable that costs just $200, and that boasts the ability to stream your favorite analog audio to headphones and speakers via Bluetooth. It’s available now on the company’s website.

Sony also announced a new Blu-ray player, which is interesting given that some competitors are spinning down their disc-player production. The player, called the UBP-X800M2, will support HDR10 and Dolby Vision, and will retail for $300 starting in mid-May.

Other products the company announced include a trio of Bluetooth speakers, the SRS-XB12, SRS-XB22, and SRS-XB32, waterproof and dustproof speakers that range from small and hyper-portable to larger and more able to fuel and outdoor dance party. The speakers will retail for $60, $100, and $150, respectively, and will all be available by the end of April.

Those looking to power an even bigger party might be interested in Sony’s GTK-PG10 or GTK-XB72 models. The former is a massive outdoor boombox with built-in cupholders and a massive rechargeable battery that will let you fuel an outdoor party for 13 hours at a time. It will cost $250 and will be available in mid-April. The latter is more geared toward home dance parties, with built-in LED lighting and technology the company calls “extra bass.” Those added features will cost you $100 more than the outdoor model, retailing for $350 and available in mid-April.

Those interesting in learning more about any one of these many new audio products can check out Sony’s website. We look forward to spending time with them when they are released, and will be sure to post reviews as soon as we get some time with the latest Sony lineup.

Parker Hall
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Parker Hall is a writer and musician from Portland, OR. He is a graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Oberlin…
New leak hints at Sonos’ future: Bluetooth, spatial audio, and lots more home theater
Rendering of a reportedly unreleased Sonos speaker created by The Verge.

You have to imagine that Sonos CEO Patrick Spence is getting a little tired of leaks originating from within the company's walls. For the second time in 2022, The Verge's Chris Welch has published details of an unreleased and unconfirmed Sonos product that Welch claims is code-named Optimo 2. According to this information, which he claims was gleaned from work-in-progress images of the Optimo 2, it's a speaker that will likely take over from the current Sonos Five, a product that hasn't been meaningfully updated since it debuted as the Play:5 in 2009.

If the report is accurate -- and it's worth noting that Welch's prior reporting on the Sonos Ray ahead of that product's debut was very close to what was eventually announced -- the Optimo 2 could represent the beginning of a new era for Sonos. It reportedly contains the mics needed for Sonos Voice Control, as well as plenty of RAM for future updates. A wireframe render of the speaker created by The Verge (which is what you do when you need to protect the source material) illustrates an unusual mirror-image shape -- it looks vaguely like a VR headset -- which appears to be designed to direct sound outward in at least two directions -- forward and backward -- though Welch says that some of the Optimo 2's drivers will aim sound upward, too.

Read more
Get ready for a new generation of wireless headphones: Bluetooth LE Audio is now a done deal
A man listens to his cell phone audio via bluetooth headphones.

The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) -- the entity tasked with evolving the Bluetooth wireless standard over time -- has announced that it has completed its work on the new LE Audio specification, which officially opens the doors to a new wave of wireless headphones, earbuds, speakers, and hearing aids that work with the new standard.

Bluetooth LE Audio is fully backward-compatible with older Bluetooth versions, so you don't need to worry about buying a new set of earbuds or headphones only to discover that they don't work with your phone or computer. But it does add several new capabilities like Auracast (a broadcast-style audio sharing feature) and the LC3 codec, which promises better audio quality while reducing latency and extending battery life. To enjoy these additional features, both the transmitting device (like your phone) and the receiving device (headphones, earbuds, etc.) will need to support them.

Read more
Sony expands its X-Series with 3 new go-anywhere speakers
Sony XG300 speaker held by by hand.

The Sony consumer audio lineup can feel like a bit of a complicated space — particularly when it comes to headphones — but the Bluetooth speaker lineup has never quite been the flagship of the range. Today, Sony is announcing three new X-Series speakers that fill out the existing X-Series models with even more options for more people.

The SRS-XG300 sits just under Sony’s existing SRS-XG500 as a cylindrical, boombox-style powerhouse meant to fill your backyard parties with tons of sound. This speaker is notably smaller than the XG500, and would be ideal for those who want something that’s loud and versatile, but doesn’t take up quite as much space in a backpack.

Read more