This is the Audio-Technica Sound Burger, it’s a turntable that’s able to play all of your favorite records, but it looks a whole lot different to the kind of classic record players you might have grown up with.
The Sound Burger was originally released in the early 1980s, allowing people to take their records out to the park or beach and listen to them there – perhaps as a way to compete with the rapidly exploding popularity of the cassette tape and the associated portable stereos that went along with it.
This is the Audio-Technica Sound Burger, it’s a turntable that’s able to play all of your favorite records, but it looks a whole lot different to the kind of classic record players you might have grown up with.
History Speedrun: Audio-Technica Sound Burger
When Audio-Technica released the Sound Burger in 1983, it was one of the most distinctive portable turntables of its time, maybe even of all time. Officially known as the AT-727 (and the AT-770 “Mister Disc” in some regions, like the USA), the Sound Burger was designed for a generation that wanted to listen to their records when out and about, not just at home.
The Sound Burger’s compact, clamshell design looked more like a sandwich press than a turntable – inside that colorful plastic shell, however, was a well-engineered belt-drive mechanism capable of playing both 33⅓ and 45 RPM records with surprisingly decent fidelity.
The original Sound Burger used a DC servo motor and a belt-drive platter, powered by three C-cell batteries or an external adapter. It had a twin-pivot tonearm system with a factory-fitted dual-magnet cartridge, and a spring-loaded record clamp to hold record in place during playback.
The player used a standard center spindle, and while its clamshell design made it convenient for travel, it wasn’t intended for handheld or vertical use – steady placement on a flat surface was still required for proper tracking.
Audio output came through two 3.5 mm headphone jacks and line-level stereo outputs, this allowed it to connect to amplifiers, powered speakers, or headphones. This versatility, along with its easy-to-carry size ands weight, made it popular with students, travelers, and radio professionals who used it for quick reference playback in record stores.
The Sound Burger was originally released in the early 1980s, allowing people to take their records out to the park or beach and listen to them there – perhaps as a way to compete with the rapidly exploding popularity of the cassette tape and the associated portable stereo.
After the model’s production run ended in the mid-1980s, the Sound Burger developed a cult following around the world. Its unconventional looks and sound quality made it a collector’s favorite, with prices climbing steadily on the used market for good examples.
Recognizing its appeal Audio-Technica brought it back in 2022 for the company’s 60th anniversary, under the new model designation AT-SB2022. The reissue kept the retro design but modernized the internals for today’s listeners with improved tech.
The new Sound Burger uses a DC motor with an improved belt-drive system and adds Bluetooth wireless connectivity, enabling playback through modern speakers or headphones. It’s powered by a USB-C rechargeable lithium-ion battery offering around 12 hours of playback, replacing the disposable cells of the original.
The tonearm remains dynamically balanced, fitted with an AT3600L cartridge and ATN3600L stylus, a dependable moving magnet design shared with many of Audio-Technica’s entry-level decks. For wired listening, it keeps a 3.5 mm line-out and includes a 3.5 mm-to-RCA cable, maintaining compatibility with classic stereo systems.
Initially limited to 7,000 units, the demand for the 2022 reissue was so strong that Audio-Technica announced a full-production version in 2023, officially reviving the model as the AT-SB727. What began as a quirky portable turntable in the 1980s has now gone on to become one of the best selling portable turntables in history.
The Sound Burgers you see in this article are the new versions first released in 2023, this means they benefit from all that new technology, as well as offering wireless Bluetooth compatibility and a lithium battery with 12+ hours of playback.
The Sound Burgers you see in this article are the new versions first released in 2023, this means they benefit from all that new technology, as well as offering wireless Bluetooth compatibility and a lithium battery with 12+ hours of playback.
If you’d like to read more or get one for yourself you can visit the official Audio-Technica Amazon store here. They are selling for $199 USD, and they come in Black, White, and Yellow colorways.
Images courtesy of Audio-Technica
Articles that Ben Branch has written have been covered on CNN, Popular Mechanics, Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, Autoweek Magazine, Wired Magazine, Autoblog, Gear Patrol, Jalopnik, The Verge, and many more.
Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with well over a million monthly readers from around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
