Brand: COM
Brand: COM
Brand: Audio-Technica
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Stereo’s Academy — Beginner level — Reading time: about 10 minutes
Vinyl has made a convincing return. Records are back on shelves, old turntables are leaving cupboards, and a younger audience is discovering that an album can have two sides and no “skip intro” button.
The rest of the traditional hi-fi stack has not necessarily returned with it. Plenty of listeners want to use the Bluetooth speaker already in the room or put on wireless headphones after everyone else has gone to bed. They do not always want a large amplifier, two passive loudspeakers and a trail of cable crossing the floor.
The Arylic BP50 is designed for that gap. It accepts the delicate signal from a compatible turntable, provides phono preamplification, and sends the music to Bluetooth headphones or a wireless speaker.
The turntable still does what it has always done. The small black box beside it handles the introduction to the twenty-first century.
See the Arylic BP50 at Stereo’s Store
A classic record-playing system usually consists of a turntable, a phono stage, an amplifier and two loudspeakers. It remains an excellent arrangement. It also occupies more space than a record sleeve might lead you to believe.
Modern listening habits are different. A Bluetooth speaker may already provide music in the living room. Wireless headphones are often the most practical option in a flat, late at night or when two people do not share the same enthusiasm for a twelve-minute drum solo.
The problem is that an older turntable cannot normally pair with those devices. Its cartridge produces a very small analogue signal that requires both gain and a specific phono equalisation curve. A Bluetooth receiver expects a signal that has already been prepared for transmission.
Putting a random Bluetooth adapter on the turntable output will therefore not solve the whole problem. The missing link must understand phono as well as wireless audio.
That is where the BP50 earns its place on the shelf.
For this particular job, the signal path is easy to understand:
Turntable → Arylic BP50 → Bluetooth headphones or wireless speaker
Inside that compact case are several useful functions:
Its real dimensions are only 185 × 155 × 50 mm. It is much narrower than a normal turntable and low enough to sit beside one without looking like another full-size hi-fi component.
Plug the turntable’s left and right RCA leads into the BP50 PHONO IN sockets. Red is the right channel; white or black is normally the left.
If the turntable has a separate earth lead, secure it to the GND terminal. That little wire is not decorative. It often prevents mains hum from joining the record as an uninvited backing musician.
Attach both supplied antennas, connect the 12 V power adapter and switch the BP50 on.
Select PHONO as the input, then activate wireless transmission. The GO CONTROL app provides device discovery and pairing. The front control and supplied remote handle everyday commands.
Put the headphones or Bluetooth speaker into pairing mode, select the device, and wait for the connection to complete. Lower the stylus and the record should now be heard wirelessly.
No power amplifier is required when the receiving product is a Bluetooth speaker or headphones, because those devices contain their own amplification.
This decision matters more than the colour of the RCA plugs.
Use the BP50 PHONO IN sockets and connect the earth lead when one is provided. This is the usual arrangement for vintage decks and many current hi-fi turntables.
Two connections are possible:
Absolute rule: a PHONO input must never receive a line-level signal. If the turntable is set to LINE, connect it to the BP50’s LINE IN. If it is set to PHONO — or has no built-in preamplifier — connect it to PHONO IN.
Why? A phono cartridge produces only a few millivolts. The PHONO input must therefore:
A LINE output already delivers several hundred millivolts and may exceed 1 V. Feeding it into a PHONO input massively overloads it. The result would be extreme clipping, bass as bulky as a 1970s sideboard and treble sent up to the attic — plus the risk of damaging the phono stage.
Vintage style is welcome; vintage guesswork with the cables is not.
Remember: PHONO to PHONO, LINE to LINE — never LINE to PHONO.
Some recent turntables already include a Bluetooth transmitter. If yours pairs directly with your headphones or speaker, you do not need the BP50 to listen to your records that way. You may still buy one as a gift — or simply to make us happy, which would show impeccable taste — but thank you for reading this far. Do not lower the dust cover just yet: the next section may still interest you, because the BP50 is not only for vinyl.
Some record players and radiograms use ceramic cartridges with different electrical requirements from MM and MC designs. If the turntable is unusual, send us its make, model and a clear photograph before connecting it. Vintage equipment occasionally keeps its most important information in places no modern manual would consider reasonable.
Headphones may be the most useful reason to add a BP50 to an existing deck.
They allow late-night listening without waking the household, remove the need for a long headphone cable, and let the listener choose the comfortable chair rather than the chair closest to the socket.
Arylic specifies a wireless range of up to roughly 15 metres under favourable conditions. Walls, furniture, neighbouring radio networks and the receiving device will affect the real figure. A clear path across one room is always kinder to Bluetooth than two concrete walls and a refrigerator.
The BP50 uses a Qualcomm QCC3040 Bluetooth chipset. Depending on transmission direction, it understands aptX Adaptive, SBC, aptX Low Latency, AAC, aptX HD and standard aptX.
The names sound more complicated than the basic rule: the BP50 and the receiving device must support the same codec. They negotiate a common option automatically.
A pair of SBC-only headphones will not suddenly become aptX HD headphones when connected to the BP50. The transmitter may know several languages; the conversation still has to use one understood by both participants.
The stylus still follows a physical groove. The cartridge still converts movement into an electrical signal. The record has not secretly become a streaming subscription.
For Bluetooth transmission, however, that analogue signal must be converted and encoded. A listener pursuing a completely analogue path will prefer a conventional phono stage, amplifier and wired loudspeakers. Someone who wants to hear a family turntable through the speaker already on the bookshelf may consider the trade perfectly sensible.
The most useful system is often the one that encourages another record to be played.
The BP50 can address two Bluetooth receivers at once. Two people can therefore hear the same album on separate headphones without sharing a cable or debating whose head is closer to the amplifier.
Arylic quotes approximately 10 metres of range when two receiving devices are connected. Conditions and receiver quality still matter.
This is not Wi-Fi multiroom audio. Both receivers are sent the same programme, and two different speaker models may introduce slightly different delays. With separate headphones, each listener hears only their own receiver, so a tiny difference between the devices is usually irrelevant.
The phono input may be the reason to buy the BP50, but it is not the only reason to keep it connected.
The HDMI ARC input can take stereo television audio. CEC support allows compatible televisions to coordinate power and volume commands with the BP50.
Set the television’s digital sound format to stereo PCM. The BP50 is not a surround-sound decoder and should not be fed a multichannel cinema bitstream.
The optical input accepts stereo PCM at up to 24-bit / 192 kHz. A CD player with analogue outputs can instead use LINE IN.
The USB-C connection allows the BP50 to operate as a 48 kHz USB DAC for a computer. Sound quality will generally be better than using the computer’s mini-jack output into an analogue input: the signal remains digital until it reaches the BP50, where the ESS Sabre ES9023P performs the conversion instead of the computer’s usually more modest built-in DAC and headphone stage.
The USB-A host connection supports drives up to 128 GB formatted as FAT16, FAT32 or exFAT. Supported file types include FLAC up to 24/96, APE, MP3, AAC, M4A, WMA, MP4 and MOV.
Stereo RCA outputs can feed active speakers or an amplifier. There is also a subwoofer output, plus optical and coaxial digital outputs.
The BP50 can therefore begin as a link to one Bluetooth speaker and later become the control point for a more elaborate wired arrangement. Unlike some 1970s furniture systems, it will not require help from three neighbours when the time comes to move it.
Its rear panel is busy, but the BP50 still has clear limits.
A younger listener may have records, a Bluetooth speaker and a turntable inherited from the family, but no conventional amplifier. The BP50 lets those items work together without replacing the turntable with a lower-grade all-in-one model simply because the newer deck has Bluetooth printed on the box.
An experienced collector may want the freedom of wireless headphones without dismantling a familiar record-playing setup. Active speakers can also be added later through the RCA output.
This makes the BP50 useful as a first step rather than a final commitment. Start with the equipment already available, then develop the system if listening habits and space allow.
Vinyl collections have always grown one record at a time. There is no rule saying the equipment must all arrive on the same Saturday.
The BP50 places two slim antennas and a modern Bluetooth chipset between a mechanical record player and wireless headphones. It does so without asking the turntable to install an app, create an account or remember a password.
The analogue purist can keep the amplifier and wired speakers. That remains the right answer for that listener. The person who wants to hear an excellent old deck through a Bluetooth speaker can choose convenience and enjoy the record rather than leave the turntable unused.
The BP50 is not here to declare one generation correct. It simply gives their equipment a shared language.
Connect the deck, pair the headphones or speaker, and give the record something better to do than collect dust.
Discover the Arylic BP50 at Stereo’s Store
Yes. Connect a compatible MM or MC turntable to PHONO IN, then pair the BP50 with the speaker in wireless transmitter mode. If the turntable already provides a line-level signal, use LINE IN instead.
Not when listening through Bluetooth headphones, a Bluetooth speaker or active powered speakers. Passive speakers require a separate power amplifier.
Yes. One source can be sent to two Bluetooth receiving devices. Arylic specifies a range of about 10 metres in this configuration.
Arylic specifies support for both MM and MC cartridges. Ask for advice before connecting an unusual vintage or ceramic cartridge.
No. Both the BP50 and the headphones must support aptX HD. Otherwise they select another codec available at both ends.
Not according to Arylic’s product information. When wireless transmission is active, audio is directed to the Bluetooth channel.
Yes, through HDMI ARC or the optical input. Configure the television for stereo PCM output.
It is the easiest way to manage pairing, source selection and EQ. A remote control and front-panel control are also supplied for normal operation.
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