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As a self-proclaimed music lover (lover actually might not be strong enough of a word – let’s say needer), I’ve surrounded every aspect of my life with music. I write for a music magazine. I listen to music at pretty much all times. I write and produce my own music. Three things are certain in my life: death, taxes, and music being listened to.
And yet, as a hardcore audiophile, vinyl has always escaped me. I’ve never found the time to get a player, learn how to use it, and start a record collection – even though I’ve always secretly wanted to.
So, when information about the MIXX Analog System 5 came across my proverbial desk, I knew I had to check it out. Not only did it come with what appeared to be a perfect starter record player, but it also included two speakers. The player also claimed to be able to stream to Bluetooth, combining the semi-lost art of vinyl with the main way most people these days get music to their headphones and speakers. It seemed approachable for a new vinyl user, yet serious enough to be considered a legit record player.
So, to the surprise of probably nobody, I got my hands on one of these systems. Here are my thoughts.
Setup & Unboxing
I pay close attention to how boxes look when they arrive. This is often the first impression someone gets of a product – if the box is riddled with spelling errors or bad graphic design, I’m likely going to have my expectations lowered. So, I was very happy when the box arrived looking like thus:
It looks great, but with one caveat: that QR code heading to a video included a dead link. No bother on my end.
The box itself was huge and fairly heavy. Granted, this isn’t a surprise: there were two speakers and an entire vinyl player in there. The top of the box also features a handy guide of what you could expect to find included in the box:
I am happy to report that everything promoted on that box was included inside of it. Nothing was missing. The speakers, vinyl player and requisite mat, cables, and user guides were all in there. The box itself was packed tightly with very little open space; also a great sign, as nothing could’ve possibly broken on the way.
After I made my way through the near-endless amounts of packaging (which, again, is not a problem considering the delicate package itself), I found the user guides and began setting things up. All things considered, it was not that difficult of a setup process. The only real gripe I had with it (that wasn’t my fault – more on that later) were the power cables being decently short – I had to move the entire thing to another table closer to a outlet.
The plug-in process is decently simple. Everything is clearly labeled and the user guides are wonderful. You can select on the back of the player if you’d rather have line (RCA) output or Bluetooth output, and then plug the requisite cables into the speakers.
The speakers also work on a pairing system, so everything is controlled from one and matched to the other thanks to an extra cable included in the package. By the way – these speakers don’t require the player to use. You could hypothetically use them as a normal pair of speakers set up to any other RCA or Bluetooth connection.
The tricky part of the speakers is making sure they’re in the right mode. A little light will shine at the front of the main speaker whenever they’re on, and the color of that light corresponds to the mode it’s in. Blue is for Bluetooth, and yellow is for line. To change the color, you have to hit the middle button at the top of the panel (next to the power button).
While a good idea in practice, I did have a bit of trouble effectively setting the speakers up. My issue with this is that the lights weren’t defining enough; I kept thinking the white light was the yellow one and wondering why there was no sound output. At the very least, the blue was obvious. Plus, if the player is in Bluetooth mode, it’ll connect almost instantly.
I’ll admit that setting everything up did take me quite a while. There are a lot of cables and parts to contend with, and while it wasn’t a difficult process, it was a time-consuming one. Nevertheless, we got there.
With everything powered and set-up, I was ready to go. I loaded up my vinyl of choice from my limited collection (specifically, Bloom by Ben Böhmer – one of my current favorite albums) and moved the tone arm over to the record, then hit the lower lever to start playing.
Nothing happened.
A panicked 20 minutes ensued as I tried to figure out what I had done wrong. Eventually, I determined the issue: the stylus at the end of the tonearm (the thing that gets the record to play music) had come off. As it turns out, I had unknowingly removed it while unboxing the vinyl player, and found it hiding in some of the packaging. While it was a very simple process to re-connect it to the tonearm, I was desperately close to not being able to use the player because of my own ineptitude. So, take this as a cautionary tale: if you get this, be careful with the tonearm!
With the crisis averted, I moved the tonearm back over, and started playing my first record.
Results
I originally forgot that I was playing the album from a record after listening to it for a little while. That’s how high quality the sound that came from the player was. No crackling, no static, nothing. Just music.
The speakers definitely helped there, too. This is a solid sound system that you can easily control with the included remote. There’s no bizarre frequency curve that I could make out; the sound was just crisp and clean. Plus, the EQ controls on the back let me adjust the highs and lows as I liked to, which is always a nice touch.
After a bit of playing in line mode, I moved over to Bluetooth. Shockingly, there was no difference in audio quality – and, considering the fact that wires are infinitely more reliable than a wireless connection, I’m pretty impressed by that, so much so that any time I use the player moving forward I can see myself ditching the RCA cables and just using Bluetooth to play my music. There’s not a strong enough difference in quality to make me want to keep using the cables, and considering how quickly the player connects to the speakers, it overall just seems like an easier way to listen to my records.
Overall, even though it took me quite a while to setup, I was pretty happy with the result.
Pros & Cons
Pros:
The Bluetooth connection.
I just spoke about it, but I’ll once again emphasize how good the connection between the speakers and player is. This is the way I’ll be using it going forwards. Who needs RCA cables, anyways?
No cracks, no pops, just sound.
It’s clear that both the player and speakers are high quality pieces of technology. You could’ve played a few songs on the player through the speakers and told me they were coming from your phone, and I’d believe you.
It’s a bargain, believe it or not.
Vinyl collection is not a cheap hobby, and really good vinyl players will usually run you a couple hundred bucks. This package retails at $300 USD. Before you get your pitchforks out, please remember that you’re not just getting a player: you’re getting great speakers that you can use with anything else you may want to as well. All things considered, this is a solid deal.
Cons:
The whole “tedious unboxing and setup” thing.
Sure, this may be a me issue, but from the tons of boxes I sifted through, to the actual setup and plugin process, to the lights on the speaker being a bit confusing to me, to the whole “I lost the stylus” kerfuffle I dealt with, this wasn’t the easiest setup process for me. There being no setup video online (which is what I’m assuming that QR code would’ve linked to) definitely didn’t help, too.
If I had known a few things beforehand from such a video, like that the Bluetooth connection was so good or that the stylus could easily be removed, I would have been able to save myself 30 minutes. But alas, here we are.
I will say that the end result was indeed worth it. It just took me a little longer than I’d have liked to get there.
Conclusion: Should you get it?
$300 is a lot of money. With that being said, if you’re a vinyl enthusiast or want to get into it, I think you’ll enjoy this and find it a worthwhile investment. Just be wary of the pitfalls that I ran into during setup, and you’ll be enjoying smooth, crisp audio from a great record player and pair of speakers in absolutely no time.
Buy the MIXX Analog System 5 here!
Ben Lepper is a music producer and journalist from Boston, Massachusetts.
