Budget but Quality Turntable with USB (must be wife-proof)?
Discussion
I have put off getting a new turntable - my (very old) one died a year or so ago. If it was up to me, I'd spend up to 2-400 quid on something decent and it wouldn't matter if it was all manual, with no features whatsoever. However, its not that straight forward.
I do still have some vinyl that I would like to copy to audio files but its my wife pushing me to get a new turntable as she misses playing her vinyl. But if I bought a turntable which needed the belt changing manually to change speed, she would never accept the quality of the turntable as the reason for purchase. Similarly, having to lower the tone arm manually with her hand, and not using a little lever (!) would also result in scorn being poured on it.
So my requirement would be for a decent quality turntable with selectable speeds and ideally a control for lowering the tone arm. And a USB connection to connect to my laptop to rip my old singles would be ideal. With a budget of up to, say £350.
Any ideas, please?
I do still have some vinyl that I would like to copy to audio files but its my wife pushing me to get a new turntable as she misses playing her vinyl. But if I bought a turntable which needed the belt changing manually to change speed, she would never accept the quality of the turntable as the reason for purchase. Similarly, having to lower the tone arm manually with her hand, and not using a little lever (!) would also result in scorn being poured on it.
So my requirement would be for a decent quality turntable with selectable speeds and ideally a control for lowering the tone arm. And a USB connection to connect to my laptop to rip my old singles would be ideal. With a budget of up to, say £350.
Any ideas, please?
TwigtheWonderkid said:
I have an LP120. It is brilliant. Basically it's a rip off of the old 1970s Technics SL1200. Updated with USB etc.
Have you used the USB output at all for ripping anything? Few mag reviewers seem to review that part of it but I've seen user comments on that and the LP5 saying the USB sound quality is pretty poor.Flip Martian said:
TwigtheWonderkid said:
I have an LP120. It is brilliant. Basically it's a rip off of the old 1970s Technics SL1200. Updated with USB etc.
Have you used the USB output at all for ripping anything? Few mag reviewers seem to review that part of it but I've seen user comments on that and the LP5 saying the USB sound quality is pretty poor.I'd be very interested to know how people find the USB output. I doubt I'll go back to playing vinyl for serious listening, but I have lots of vinyl that I'd like to rip to digital for the car - for example, a 12 inch single of The Mock Turtles "Can You Dig It" that I love love love. Anyway, if the USB output is poor, I shan't bother.
TLDR what is the best USB digital output turntable?
TLDR what is the best USB digital output turntable?
I'm using the AT LP120. I bought it to replace a cheaper deck which was completely hopeless - USB rips from it were noisy and unlistenable. Complete waste of money - although I still have it if anyone wants to buy it. 
I specifically bought the LP120 for USB ripping - and it's really not bad. Setting up is straightforward and the sound quality is okay. Not Mitchell-type fantastic, but perfectly listenable. PM me your email address if you want to hear one of the songs I ripped - though you'll have to forgive my dodgy taste in music.
The tone arm is raised and lowered with a little lever, and the speed is changed from 33 to 45 to 78 using buttons - no belt moving necessary. It also has a slider for pitch control, which is interesting but not necessarily useful - to me, anyway.
Overall sound quality for record playback I can't really comment on, because I only bought it for USB ripping so I just used a PC as a monitor so that I could hear when things started and ended. I've never hooked it up to a proper amp for straightforward record playback, but I don't see why it wouldn't be okay as long as you're not into high end-type playback precision.
I specifically bought the LP120 for USB ripping - and it's really not bad. Setting up is straightforward and the sound quality is okay. Not Mitchell-type fantastic, but perfectly listenable. PM me your email address if you want to hear one of the songs I ripped - though you'll have to forgive my dodgy taste in music.
The tone arm is raised and lowered with a little lever, and the speed is changed from 33 to 45 to 78 using buttons - no belt moving necessary. It also has a slider for pitch control, which is interesting but not necessarily useful - to me, anyway.
Overall sound quality for record playback I can't really comment on, because I only bought it for USB ripping so I just used a PC as a monitor so that I could hear when things started and ended. I've never hooked it up to a proper amp for straightforward record playback, but I don't see why it wouldn't be okay as long as you're not into high end-type playback precision.
Edited by SGirl on Sunday 31st July 18:23
Brave Fart said:
I'd be very interested to know how people find the USB output. I doubt I'll go back to playing vinyl for serious listening, but I have lots of vinyl that I'd like to rip to digital for the car - for example, a 12 inch single of The Mock Turtles "Can You Dig It" that I love love love. Anyway, if the USB output is poor, I shan't bother.
TLDR what is the best USB digital output turntable?
My research, such as it is, is indicating built in USB is a bit iffy and a compromise, on the whole.TLDR what is the best USB digital output turntable?
SGirl said:
I'm using the AT LP120. I bought it to replace a cheaper deck which was completely hopeless - USB rips from it were noisy and unlistenable. Complete waste of money - although I still have it if anyone wants to buy it.
I specifically bought the LP120 for USB ripping - and it's really not bad. Setting up is straightforward and the sound quality is okay. Not Mitchell-type fantastic, but perfectly listenable. PM me your email address if you want to hear one of the songs I ripped - though you'll have to forgive my dodgy taste in music.
The tone arm is raised and lowered with a little lever, and the speed is changed from 33 to 45 to 78 using buttons - no belt moving necessary. It also has a slider for pitch control, which is interesting but not necessarily useful - to me, anyway.
Overall sound quality for record playback I can't really comment on, because I only bought it for USB ripping so I just used a PC as a monitor so that I could hear when things started and ended. I've never hooked it up to a proper amp for straightforward record playback, but I don't see why it wouldn't be okay as long as you're not into high end-type playback precision.
Hiya, only half an hour ago I found our email conversation on this very subject from last Summer when I last looked (as you might guess, I got distracted by other priorities at that time, hence looking again now). I think I'm erring on buying a non USB turntable and a digital recorder with a memory card separately. 2 gadgets instead of one but it seems that way I can record loads one after the other and then sort it all out on the PC separately later. Thanks anyway I specifically bought the LP120 for USB ripping - and it's really not bad. Setting up is straightforward and the sound quality is okay. Not Mitchell-type fantastic, but perfectly listenable. PM me your email address if you want to hear one of the songs I ripped - though you'll have to forgive my dodgy taste in music.
The tone arm is raised and lowered with a little lever, and the speed is changed from 33 to 45 to 78 using buttons - no belt moving necessary. It also has a slider for pitch control, which is interesting but not necessarily useful - to me, anyway.
Overall sound quality for record playback I can't really comment on, because I only bought it for USB ripping so I just used a PC as a monitor so that I could hear when things started and ended. I've never hooked it up to a proper amp for straightforward record playback, but I don't see why it wouldn't be okay as long as you're not into high end-type playback precision.
Edited by SGirl on Sunday 31st July 18:23
98elise said:
I just bought my 18yo Son a Turntable as he's bought a few albums as collectibles. We set it up last night and I showed him the basic functions.
Half way through the first track he asked what button you press to skip to the next track...bless
Half way through the first track he asked what button you press to skip to the next track...bless
"lift the arm? What do you mean? LIFT THE ARM?!!"
One other alternative (as all the reviews seem to indicate USB turntables are not the best quality output for ripping to digital), could be something like this quality Analogue to USB converter in this case from Project - who do have some good quality turntables? Would then allow direct ripping to your PC/Mac.
Then gives you the free choice of any turntable rather than needing the USB functionality.
Then gives you the free choice of any turntable rather than needing the USB functionality.
[quote=C&C]One other alternative (as all the reviews seem to indicate USB turntables are not the best quality output for ripping to digital), could be something like this quality Analogue to USB converter in this case from Project - who do have some good quality turntables? Would then allow direct ripping to your PC/Mac.
Then gives you the free choice of any turntable rather than needing the USB functionality.
[/quote]
Project have some good turntables, yes. But in the price range they're manual belt changes for speed changing, which is a no no for my wife. Will have a look at those analogue to use convertors, ta. Does seem the two audio technica decks are best suited in my range, I'll just be avoiding their usb outputs, I guess.
Then gives you the free choice of any turntable rather than needing the USB functionality.
[/quote]
Project have some good turntables, yes. But in the price range they're manual belt changes for speed changing, which is a no no for my wife. Will have a look at those analogue to use convertors, ta. Does seem the two audio technica decks are best suited in my range, I'll just be avoiding their usb outputs, I guess.
Hi Flip Martian - assuming from your comments that you have a separate amp, may I suggest a slightly different route for digitising vinyl which would allow you to get a turntable of choice.
I made a flying lead which piggy-backs into the line-level tape record (output) of the amp and plugs directly into the microphone input pc. The lead is in 2 parts due to the amp and pc being in different rooms. The first section (permanently plugged into the amp) has piggy back phono plugs at the amp end and a 6.35mm female jack socket at the other. The second lead is a 6.35mm male jack plug to 3.5mm jack plug; the signal wires are each connected to the 6.35mm jack plug via a 64k Ohm resistor - this reduces the output to the pc to a 'manageable' level.
I record and clean up the audio using Audacity and store the files as wavs. These can then be exported in a variety of formats.
Hope this helps.
I made a flying lead which piggy-backs into the line-level tape record (output) of the amp and plugs directly into the microphone input pc. The lead is in 2 parts due to the amp and pc being in different rooms. The first section (permanently plugged into the amp) has piggy back phono plugs at the amp end and a 6.35mm female jack socket at the other. The second lead is a 6.35mm male jack plug to 3.5mm jack plug; the signal wires are each connected to the 6.35mm jack plug via a 64k Ohm resistor - this reduces the output to the pc to a 'manageable' level.
I record and clean up the audio using Audacity and store the files as wavs. These can then be exported in a variety of formats.
Hope this helps.
Thanks for that; I've already got a good quality connection from the separate amp to a laptop - an external terratec soundcard. I was really investigating having a simpler solution (ie a T/T outputting straight into a USB socket on the laptop without being wired up). Looks like that simple solution results in lower quality though. The irony is that those Audio Technica T/Ts are still the best requirements match in my price range.
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