I want to get back into turntables and am looking for a really top quality item costing less than 250/350Euros/$ . I have seen the Yamaha DP-71 and Sony PS-X6 and PS-X600 within my price range . Which should I go for? Any other recommendations would be much appreciated.

Hi - I have a Yamaha YP-D71 and it is awesome. Now, I've never heard a
Sony tt and have heard good things about them also. It would be hard to
beat one of the higher end Yamaha's IMHO. The YP-D71, YP-D8, etc. are
very, very nice heavy workhorses. I have heard of reliability troubles with
the Sony tt's but that can happen with any used gear I suppose. Good luck.
Jon

Having had both a YP-D71 and PS-X7 (same as the -X6 but with a carbon fiber TA tube) I would toss a coin. Both are excellent. The PS-X6/7 does have a known failure mode where the automatic function stops working due to a small part that wears out and is impossible to find. However, one of our clever AK members has figured out a simple and reliable fix. Should you ever need, just do search on this forum for PS-X7 and read the thread. Even has pic's and diagrams posted. That said, I'd probably go for the Sony if I was forced to pick. Glad I don't have to. Both would benefit from a new set of ICs (interconnects). And both are excellent TT/TA combinations.

I've never actually heard the Yamaha, but I have no doubt that it's excellent. But I also agree with B-2 that you can't go wrong with the Sony. I wouldn't limit yourself to the PS-X6 either. If you happen to see any of these that are within your price range, I'd go for it: PS-X50, X60, X65, X70, X75. Their sound is about the same (excellent)--where they vary is in features and degree of automation. Sony's straight arm models like the X500, X600, X45 and X55 are certainly decent, but not quite up to the caliber of the ones I mentioned.