Passionate about vinyl records and interested in the charm of vintage turntables?
In this blog, we explore the best vintage turntables that combine nostalgic aesthetics with quality sound. We discuss a range of models from renowned brands, highlighting their unique features, durability, and audio fidelity. We also include alternative options for those seeking modern features in a vintage design and tips for selecting a turntable that meets your specific audio preferences and setup requirements.
With over 25 years of experience in audio equipment and the vinyl culture, we’ve assisted countless music enthusiasts and collectors in discovering the perfect vintage turntable. Our team has personally tested and evaluated these turntables in real-world scenarios, ensuring they provide an authentic listening experience, reliability, and a touch of classic elegance.
Which Turntable to Buy in 2024?
No time to read our full comparison? For those in a hurry, here is a short summary of our favorites.
If you want to get into the world of vinyl without breaking the bank, the ION Audio Max LP turntable is an interesting model. Compared to the other products in our selection, the turntable directly integrates speakers and it is therefore not necessary to buy speakers in addition to the turntable.
Admittedly, the sound quality is far from incredible, but for less than $100, the product remains interesting in our opinion.
For users wishing to set up a more “serious” installation, the recent Audio-Technica AT-LP60XBT is one of our favorite turntables, priced at around $180. It has a solid design, remains easy to handle for beginners, and comes with a very practical Bluetooth connection.
At the top of the range, the Yamaha MusicCast Vinyl 500 is one of the few turntables that can connect to your network. Combined with the brand’s connected speakers, you can enjoy your vinyl in any room of your house. A real little revolution!
The Best Turntables In 2024
ION AUDIO MAX LP
If you want to explore the world of vinyl without necessarily spending several hundred euros for a complete installation, the ION Audio Max LP turntable should perfectly suit your needs.
Unlike the other products listed in this selection, this is an “all-in-one” product, consisting of a vinyl turntable and its own speakers. Clearly, there is no need to invest in an amp and a speaker kit to enjoy your favorite vinyl.
Obviously, one should not expect miracles in terms of sound reproduction with these integrated speakers, but it is a good basis. If you then want to invest in real speakers, the turntable has an RCA output. There is also a 3.5 mm input and output to connect other sources or enjoy your vinyl directly with your headphones.
Another strong point of the product for its price is the possibility of digitizing its vinyls by connecting the turntable to a computer via USB. For less than 100 dollars, it is hard to find more complete!
LENCO L-85
Available for around $120, the Lenco L-85 turntable is an excellent candidate if you have a tight budget.
Available in several colors, we appreciate its sober and minimalist design, which adapts perfectly to modern interiors. Able to read vinyl in 33 and 45 rpm formats, the turntable has a phono preamp for easy use with external speakers.
The training is carried out by belt and an automatic return system is included. Another interesting point of this model is the possibility of digitizing your vinyls directly on a USB key without going through a computer and specific software. Rather practical!
AUDIO-TECHNICA AT-LP60XBT
The Audio-Technica ATH-LP60XBT is the latest generation of a turntable, now famous for its reliability and ease of use.
The model follows in the footsteps of the previous LP60 unveiled in 2016 and improves its design with better-quality plastics and a better overall look. The tray is designed in aluminum, bringing a real feeling of confidence in the durability of the whole.
The LP60XBT is a turntable with a belt drive mechanism. It is compatible with vinyls in 33 and 45 rpm formats and has a line output as well as a phono output. The diamond cell can easily be replaced if necessary.
This BT version has the particularity of being able to operate via Bluetooth. It then becomes possible to enjoy your vinyls directly on a Bluetooth speaker or Bluetooth headphones via a double analog-to-digital and then digital-to-analog conversion. We lose a bit in quality in passing, but we must admit that it is very practical to use!
If you don’t necessarily need this wireless listening option, you can go for the LP60XUSB model, which in turn allows you to easily digitize your vinyls. Count 139 for this version against 179 for the LP60XBT.
AUDIO-TECHNICA AT-LP3
If you don’t necessarily need additional features like USB scanning or wireless transmission, the Audio-Technica AT-LP3 is positioned as an interesting alternative.
Also available for around $200, this turntable focuses above all on sound quality and you can feel it when you listen to it. With quality materials, the LP3 has forged an excellent reputation while remaining accessible to most users thanks to its automatic playback, which facilitates its use.
Why buy a turntable?
Hi-Res Audio, FLAC, audiophile portable players… Do turntables really have their place in 2018? While it is now possible to access millions of titles from your smartphone or to store the majority of your albums on a single microSD card, how can we explain the renewed interest in turntables?
Simply put, vinyl records’ ability to reproduce sound is one of the main reasons for this success. Far from the precision offered by lossless files, the rendering of vinyl presents a certain roundness and particularly appreciable warmth. A heat that can be accompanied by certain crackles and breaths makes all the singularity of listening on the turntable.
In addition to this unique charm, readers can once again enjoy certain vinyls unearthed in their attic or at a flea market. What to do to rediscover real nuggets. The vinyls themselves contribute to the experience, and we must admit that a box full of 45s will always have more charm than an innocuous USB key.
HOW DOES A VINYL TURNTABLE WORK?
At first glance, the operation of a vinyl turntable does not seem very complicated. A platter spins the record at a constant speed, and a stylus leans on the reliefs of the vinyl to generate an electrical signal at the level of the phonocaptrice cell. The signal is then sent to the preamplifier and then to a speaker for example.
If, on paper, the operation is fairly basic, we quickly understand that each element of the chain may have its own specificities. Cell, needle, arm, chainring, motor, or even anti-skating system—the science of vinyl turntables gets complicated quickly when you want to go into details.
Manual, semi-automatic, or automatic stage?
Here, nothing is very complicated. An automatic vinyl turntable, as its name suggests, incorporates mechanical elements meant to facilitate its use. Clearly, we will select its playback format (33 rpm or 45 rpm, for example), and then the tonearm will automatically position itself on the first song. Once the end of the disc has been reached, the arm rises and automatically returns to its initial position.
Some models also allow repeat playback X times. Note, however, that despite their practicality, automatic turntables are rather rare on the market, and both beginners and purists favor manual models.
Representing a major part of the market, manual vinyl players lack any support mechanisms. Here, it’s up to the user to come and position the tonearm, remove it, or even activate the rotation of the plate. Many users favor this system and consider it more reliable.
Finally, note the existence of so-called semi-automatic turntables. Once it arrives at the end of the disc, the head will automatically raise and the platter will stop. One way to avoid the particularly unpleasant noise generated by a tonearm at the end of its travel.
Direct or belt drive?
Turntables with direct drive are generally appreciated for their perfectly stable playback and their robustness. Here, the motor is directly linked to the axis of the plate, and we can therefore manage instantaneous starts and stops. You will probably have understood it. These models are also intended for DJs since it will be possible, in particular, to achieve certain scratch effects. Obviously, many direct-drive models also offer excellent sonic performance.
For music listening, we prefer vinyl players with a belt drive. This is all the more true when one goes upmarket, where the belt drive brings finer and more qualitative listening. The direct-drive turntables eliminate any noise pollution from the motor, making the reproduction even more accurate.
What Is A Vinyl Turntable With USB For?
USB turntables allow you to digitize your vinyl records, so you can keep a digital record of your favorite tracks and albums. Models with this feature include a phono preamplifier with USB output. All you have to do is connect the board to your computer (PC or Mac) and then use specific software to perform the encoding. The most common is called Audacity, and you can download it for free here.
Note that it is still possible to digitize your vinyl with a classic turntable. To do so, however, you will have to come and connect a phono preamplifier with a USB port.
How Do You Connect a Vinyl Turntable?
You have just found an old box overflowing with 33 rpm records and a turntable at the back of your attic. A boon! But how do you connect all this to your current hi-Fi system?
First of all, it is good to point out that the very operation of the turntables requires special treatment, different from that presented when you want to read a CD or enjoy your music from a NAS. The classic RCA inputs, positioned at the back of your HiFi system or your amplifier, cannot be directly connected to a turntable.
To enjoy the warm sound of your vinyl, it is necessary to apply a treatment called RIAA correction as well as a particular amplification; otherwise, the sound reproduction will be both very low and, above all, degraded. To overcome this problem, it will be necessary to connect your turntable to a specific RCA input, the phono input.
Here are several solutions:
Phono input: If your playback device has its own phono input, you can connect your vinyl to it in the blink of an eye.
Preamplified turntable: Some turntables incorporate their own phono preamplifier. This is generally the case with USB turntables, which can be connected directly to their amp or chain.
Phono preamplifier: The majority of turntables do not integrate a preamplifier, and it will therefore be necessary to insert it between your record player (the best crosley record player) and your amp. It can be found in most brands, and it will take between 50 and 200 dollars, depending on the model. Remember to take this additional cost into account when doing your research.
