Tony Ware is Managing Editor, Gear & Commerce for PopSci.com. He’s been writing about how to make and break music since the mid-'90s when his college newspaper said they already had a film critic, but maybe he wanted to look through the free promo CDs. Immediately hooked on outlining intangibles, he's covered everything audio for countless alt.
ArticleBody:The new DP-500BT is the first turntable with Bluetooth under the Denon name, but the pitch isn't novelty. It's heritage. This premium $899 deck sits below the $2,799 DP-3000NE and pulls real substance down the line: the S-shaped tonearm, platter design cues, and a general sense of mass, calm, and hi-fi seriousness.
This is an analog-first turntable for people who care about tracking, timing, the grip a good deck can have on the groove, but with Bluetooth folded in so it can also play nicely in a modern connected home. The DP-500BT is a belt-driven design, chosen for steady rotation and low mechanical intrusion at the price, with a die-cast aluminum platter, vibration-resistant chassis, and chunky isolation feet that give the 13.2 lbs., 16.7 x 14.4 x 4.65-inch package a planted, low-slung feel. The silhouette is understated rather than showy ... furniture-grade, not fussy. Under the removable dust cover, Denon’s S-shaped tonearm is there for a reason beyond nostalgia: it helps the cartridge trace the groove with a little more poise and a little less drama, translating to cleaner channel separation and less fuzz around the edges. Wow and flutter is rated at 0.08%, which is the sort of number that matters less on paper than it does in practice ... and you'll hear steadier notes, stabler pitch, less shimmer where there shouldn't be any. The included CN-6518 MM cartridge is pre-mounted and voiced to work with the built-in switchable phono stage, so out of the box, the sound should land where Denon wants it: warm, stable, and properly shaped rather than thin or splashy. It spins 33 1/3, 45, and 78 RPM, and semi-automatic lift/stop keeps the ritual intact without asking you to babysit the stylus as it idles in the runout groove. Then there's the other half of the sell. Sure, the DP-500BT can drop into a conventional system over RCA . But with the touch of a button on the front, it can also connect wirelessly to send vinyl over Bluetooth via SBC, aptX, aptX HD, and aptX Adaptive for less compromise, with volume buttons discreetly tucked under the chassis. That gives it a wider orbit than most hi-fi-minded decks. It works for someone with a proper two-channel setup, and is also convenient for the listener starting with a stack of LPs and a single wireless speaker , then growing into something fuller later. Or maybe you want a late-night listen without disturbing the rest of the household; just connect to some wireless headphones, such as the flagship Bowers & Wilkins Px8. Denon has spent more than a century talking about detail and sound-master tuning; this feels like one of the cleaner expressions of that pitch. One-box simplicity, two trajectories. The Denon DP-500BT premium belt-driven hi-fi turntable with Bluetooth comes in two-tone black and is available now.
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