New 2022 Sound Burger Review
I’m planning on fast-tracking this video for early YouTube release so I can hopefully be one of the first video reviews worldwide. I think I’ll probably put this video out on Friday and move the Lyte video on by a week.
If you spot any massive show-stopping errors let me know. I don’t plan on making any small changes or additions to this one now. I need to try and catch the wave if possible. It’s not often I get a chance for an exclusive (or almost exclusive).
Here’s the video https://youtu.be/b48XD9P8klM
Hope you’re OK with this - it’s been a long day here and I’m just about fit to drop.
Comments (81)
The general release box pic https://i.imgur.com/bgDKo4I.jpg Noticed a bit of motor noise, is that normal?
Finally received my SB2022! #6439
https://ra.co/news/78316
I finally got my Sound Burger in! I love it!
This seems like such a nice unit that it makes me wish I collected vinyl. (I'm amused by the way it only supports digital headphones, though. Seems like kind of a tacit admission that 'analog sound' was never really the attraction.)
Only just caught up and been able to watch this - beautifully done and a fine piece of hardware. I'm not able to spend enough (any?) time with my father's old AR77XB let alone think about something like this, but beyond that I love the fact that it exists and it was so well covered, a pure joy.
FWIW: Tag the company on Twitter (@USAudioTechnica, @AudioTechnicaUK, @AudioTechnicaAU, @AudioTechniCAN) and use #SoundBurger, asking them to sell a non-limited edition version.
AT would have to be off their trolley not to make more of these. The cost of setting everything up for a new product would not make it worthwhile only producing 7,000, at least not at £200 a pop.
Great to see a company that brings back a classic product without making cheap replica plastic garbage that only resembles the original. Audio Technica gets respect from me for doing it right!
From Mat's review, it seems better than the original ... So maybe an x2 multiplier? :-)
Re: the view counts- I'm willing to wager the counts will build over the next weeks going into the Holidays. Not only that, with future availability of the item, more and more people will be curious about it - and your video will be the one with the most views. You might get linked on websites, too. Sure, the rush to release it may not be there now, but it'll be worth it in the long run IMO. 🤞Enjoy your rest and relaxation - you're ahead on your work now.
127 thousand so far not sure if that is good but think you right once word gets out people will goto youtube for review. Im currently watching a 4 day old review for the sega genesis 2 that just come out.
Giving you another "watch" point now that it's public. I really like this presenter's skill. :-) Two questions that I should have asked yesterday: Is there audio on that USB connector or is it just for charging? And 2, is there not another hole of some sort or a clip to store the transport screw when the Burger is in use?
No, yes and no - in that order. Here’s a link to the full PDF manual if you’re interested https://www.audio-technica.co.jp/document/AT-SB2022/pdf/UM/AT-SB2022-UM-EN.pdf
Thanks for this review, Mat! Too bad I couldn't order one, they were sold out by the time I found out about the new limited edition :( But I did get my hands on a Technics SL-Q6 from eBay!
Well if you don’t really need portable the Q6 is the better option.
Ahh. Now I see where the surge of sales of Petscii Robots Vinyl has come from. :-)
Oh my God, I actually laughed when I saw you put on Attack of the Petscii Robots. I was not expecting something from the 8 Bit Guy to show up in your video. Maybe me and 3 other people got where it's from. 😂
Mine arrived today - #142 of 7000 (I'm only 20 miles from Beeston, Leeds where UK HQ is so it probably helped somewhat!). Connected it via Bluetooth to a Bluetooth Speaker and it works a treat - great sound quality. Really impressed!
Very nice!! Happy to see the use of a standard 18650 cell, pity about the proprietary cable & connector. Not an issue if you're an electronic engineer, but spring contacts for the battery would've made it user-servicable forever. Did you try plugging ear-buds into the line out - a lot of vintage portable players used low-Z drivers making a single socket dual-purpose..
Nope - it’s a line out. There’s no volume control on the device any more. Presumably the line of thought was that a customer in 2022 would use the Bluetooth headphones/earphones they inevitably already own or if they were finicky about this stuff they could attach a headphone amp to the line-out…but if someone is that hung up on getting the ultimate sound quality out of a record they’d most likely be using a different record player than a portable plastic one with a tiny platter.
Hey Mat. Awesome Video. I have a quick question regarding the National Panasonic RX5500 Boombox Framed advertisement that appears in the back of your studio videos. Where did you get it from? I am able to find the ad on google images. But wondered if you had found a higher resolution image or source to order from. I ask as My father has one of these boomboxes. Which was given to him by his father and is one of the few things in the house that is of his fathers. So I thought It would make an awesome gift for xmas. And look good hung above his Meridian Hifi. Thats his passion. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Cheers Andrew
I hit the same issue - so I ended up buying it on a page cut out from National Lampoon magazine via a chap on ebay. I then scanned this in, touched it up and got it printed. I can’t find my old scan any more - so I’ve just re-scanned the picture for you at 600dpi. The page was slightly diagonally cut out, so you may want to touch up this image and edit it…but here’s a link to a PNG of the new scan I’ve just done. https://u.pcloud.link/publink/show?code=XZmWKfVZaNVyXe6UDk8qsVHLiD1Bw0WCzF5V
Fantastic!! I will keep checking Audio Technica for news of further releases. Although its great to see retro tech being remade for modern age, as i watched the video i didnt get that pangue of retro nostalgia i expected. I have a NIB origional with its origional 60 year old batteies (that havent leaked, go figure :) )Shame there was no headphone jack or manual volume controll. I wonder if the need for blue tooth speaker will limit use by record colletors for checking outpotental purchases. Great job of nailing wow and flutter, may need re checking after several hours of use. I suppose the shame of it is thatmost of them will never leave their box. Glad you mentioned scalpers,the scourge of e bay and the like. Another good one Mat. Thanks for the heads up.
You don’t have to use a Bluetooth speaker. I only used mine for a minute in the video, the rest of the audio was all via the line out.
"Mister Disc" in the US: who thought up that name, Homer Simpson?!
So then Barney would have become the industry giant with his 'Disc King' device soon afterward.😉 Which also raises the not-too-ridiculous question of: Would 'Mr. Disc' have been more popular if Joe DiMaggio was their celebrity endorser as he was for 'Mr. Coffee' back in the old days?
Lovely video! I had to restrain myself for not getting one, mostly because I just have a few vinyls. Certainly it is a very compact player, which could have been an argument... As you hinted, I am curious as wether they kept the old tooling or made new one. I guess it's new tooling because of materials and that some clever chap would have pointed out storage costs for 30 years but still, very nicely reconstructed. I hope this video will do well though!
Despite overall appearances - I don’t think any part of it would be interchangeable with the original - everything has some kind of alteration to it. A screw in a different place, a socket or port or control that’s different.
You hinted at the Coturn record player... whatever happened to that? I know you sent it back to the manufacturer to have it repaired, but they were taking a long time to return it to you. Did you ever get it back, and if so, was it repaired successfully? Any improvement to its rather terrible speed accuracy and wow & flutter?
I did eventually get it back in January 2022 - they’d put the full price on the customs label again - so I had to pay £75 in duty…which riled. I just put it to one side to take another look at on another day. Then a few days later I got an email from Coturn…saying the following: ‘ by now you should have gotten your repaired player. However, my boss just told me that our wow&flutter meter with which he checked the player was defect and therefore there still might be some issues. We will send you another player shortly. ’ So I though that was weird. Anyway I replied that I’ll hang on for the new one then before testing anything…and it never arrived. So I’ve still got my returned version sitting in the box. I should test it one day, but I’ve had other priorities.
Very happy for you! The red colour is fabulous. As someone who is still on the fence about buying a turntable in the age of the vinyl revival, this new Sound Burger does have appeal. The simplicity of it is brilliant. It seems to have improved on the original in almost every way, according to your review. That sounds good to me, as I'm wary of trying my luck with vintage equipment of any kind (I'd rather just live vicariously through your adventures in retro audio). If Audio Technica does make more Sound Burgers, I'm hoping they will be priced somewhat less than the 60th anniversary ones (without compromising the build quality, of course). For a few dollars more, I might opt for a "proper" turntable anyway, as I'm not delusional enough to think the Sound Burger could replace a dedicated full size unit. (Or can it?)
Get those views, Mr. Moan.
Wow what a quick turn around on putting this together! Great stuff
Thanks - although I'm planning on spending tomorrow in bed.
Thank you for the review. Glad I could tip you off about the release. Product arrived really quickly.
It's Zee - without you this would never have happened - so I'm extremely grateful to you. If I'd missed out on this I'd be gutted.
Thank you Mat for posting the link in your last update. Mine arrived today and it’s fantastic, wouldn’t have know about it without that link!
Happy to hear that - I'll always share anything I hear about with Patrons - I suppose it's a perk...but a random one.
I hope you're right and they do re-rerelease it as a stocked product. Great video as always Mat!
If only somebody was making new cassette decks with this level of quality. I've got a load (well, I say load, a shoe box full) of old cassettes from the 90s with some stuff I'd like to retrieve.
Yep - get it out there. Impartiality/integrity and production values for this review are far more weighty (or should that be tracking force-ly!) than anything else we might see soon. Thank you for sharing this with us so quickly.
Looks like a really good product, and a great video!
Great little review of a neat looking item. They do seem to have put thought into quality, more so even than their entry level turntable I would say.
I think it's awesome that you were able to get one of the first reviews out. Way more important for you to get that extra potential views than for us to see it a couple days early
Good work Mat. Really hope you get tons of views on this one. Higher view numbers may even provide greater incentive for AudioTechnica to resume production on the non-anniversary model, but I think you're right about them probably planning to do that anyway--it seems like a sure moneymaker for them.
Great enthusiasm! If it gets the thumbs up here, my own enthusiasm doubles! If they do a Joe bloggs version further down the line, I'd be keen to pick one up. That cart and stylus have been used on a 100 different turntables and always seem to work well.
Great video and good idea to get out it whilst hot. Love way covered tracking force and must admit i would have been tempted to buy one, love idea of bluetooth headphones for nighttime (i live in flat)
Looks good to me. I have absolutely no interest in the product but I didn’t stop watching until the eBay stuff at the end.
Just read about these being re-released yesterday, immediately wondered when I'd be seeing your review of it. Didn't have to wait long, lol! Seems like a solid effort from a solid company (I've had very good luck with A-T) and with vinyl being as popular as it is these days they'd be foolish to not produce more Sound Burgers
It's like the opposite of a Kickstarter. It's good, it's already been manufactured and it sold out before you can pre-order one.
Put it out baby.
Great entertaining and enthusiastic review. Just what the public need! I can see what a perfect product it is for today. You don't have to devote half a table top to it as with a normal size player (if you don't want to), and you can bring it out or take it to someone else's house and connect up wirelessly - and get excellent sound quality. I can see it being instrumental in converting more people to records. Very interesting to see the two side by side. I admit to being very tempted. Good luck with the video.
I'd say it's good to go.
I haven't seen the video yet - but I haven't been this excited in weeks. That speaks to how much fun I get up to in my life. I'm completely and irrationally proud of you, excited about the item, and I'm sure the video is fine to release ASAP. 🤍
I share your excitement! It's absolutely warranted!
Great overview. Touched on all my open questions - it is great to see the battery is easily replaceable. I think you're right about the possibility for an increased production run. AT has updated their page - nowhere does it state the "7,000" figure - just "limited edition" now.
The obvious thing for them to do would be to change the colour. The next 100000 customers get Yellow.
Awesome review! I forever live my minidisc and phono-oddities vicariously though you.
I presume the 2 pots are 1 each for 33/45
Yes that’s right - just like on the original.
Surprised it arrived so quickly! That’s great! Anyone know if all existing US orders are in “backordered” status?
Not sure if it's specific to US, but that makes sense. You can call them at 800-376-5318 and check on your order to get more info.
Great to see that this is a quality product and not just an expensive novelty for people who want 'the look' without ever intending to use it.
Tried to get one last night. The order went through but eventually said it was on backorder.
I think if it says backordered, that means you're in the queue for one of the 7000. That's the status email I got. I called and they said it'd be shipping in a couple of weeks. I think if you got a "sold out," then you wouldn't get one of this batch.
I lucked out and got my order in a couple of days at on AT's US site, they are sold out now. Looking forward to it even more after your positive experience.
Excellent video, ‘ok to go’ as Jodie Foster would say
Excellent. Really like your note at the end about scalpers. There will be a huge demand - your hunch about them producing more is spot on. Yes - Fast track this! Thanks for letting us know about these early on. Mine is on back order - due in a few weeks!
No show stoppers or really any nits to pick. Well done. Get it out there! Strike while the iron is hot!
Top work, all seemed good to me, no errors. Get it up to the masses. Great teardown as well :). Now I've seen your review I'm going to keep mine (instead of gifting it to my niece) as it's so cool looking and seems a acceptable quality to become my new Bluetooth device. Keep smiling.
Please take this opportunity!
Excellent review Mat - hope it's a hit
Based on the feedback so far I’ll put it out later tonight - unless you spot any major errors in the next hour or so.
Video seems good to me.
You go and drop, Pal. 😊
I'll watch when I get home. But, definitely, get it our first
PUBLISH IT! No way in hell I'll ever be mad at you for doing that, if anything I'd be more than happy if you're going to be the first one on YT to release a review on the Sound Burger, so please consider it!
Agreed
Should get this out straight away. Maximise the views.
Nooo, not while I'm at the gym! Been very excited to see this. Straight to the Elliptical to burn through some mobile data. Thanks Mat!