What makes a turntable great

It easily pairs with our favorite Bluetooth speakers , which makes it great for setups where wires might be an issue. You can plug it into an actual stereo it has a built-in phono preamp to get the best analog audio, as anything sent over Bluetooth has been digitally converted and may not sound its best. But even running wirelessly, the LP60 does the job for most people who are just ahem scratching the surface. The wood-grain body and shiny metal components absolutely ooze class even though it sells for a still-manageable price.

The last place I saw one? In a lawyer's house. Like the two turntables above, this one also comes with a built-in phono preamp, making plug-and-play listening very easy no matter what type of stereo you've got. It might seem backward that the turntable offering the best sound for the money is also one of the priciest on this list, but bear with me.

It may not have the bells and whistles of our other picks, but Pro-Ject instead opts for high-quality components arranged in the simplest configuration possible. The platter doesn't automatically stop spinning when the needle reaches the end of a record's side, so you'll have to stand up, walk over, and return the tonearm to its cradle a few times every hour.

You'll also have to buy an external phono preamp I like this one or connect it to a stereo equipped with a phono input since it doesn't come with a built-in preamp.

The Planar 1 is similar to the Debut Carbon Evo in its simplicity but offers even more premium components. There's a special motor that reduces music-muddying vibrations, and a high-mass spinning platter to keep your record stable and rumble-free throughout your listening.

It will definitely last you decades if you treat it properly. Like the other higher-end models on this list, the Planar 1 doesn't have a built-in phono preamp, so you'll need to provide your own.

The clear, acrylic platters and bright colors of U-Turn's Orbit Plus may not appeal to everyone's taste, but the unit does showcase many of the biggest trends in turntables: great sound, sleek design, and a relatively affordable price. I like the way the Orbit Plus has you change speeds between 33 and 45 revolutions per minute, something you do when switching between larger, long-playing records and smaller, single-song records: you physically move the belt that spins the platter, lifting it from one rung of the motor to the other.

It's like switching from the larger gear to the smaller gear on your bicycle's front chainring. Plus, it looks really cool to have an exposed belt spinning your tunes. There's no phono preamp on this one, so hook it up to a vintage stereo or buy an external preamp. This Bluetooth- and USB-enabled turntable features fully automatic playback. That means the stylus will lift and return itself to a resting position when it detects one side of a record is done.

This makes it an awesome choice for ripping music from vinyl records to digital files you can play on your computer. The other main factor is that the tonearm moves freely in all directions. To achieve this, good sounding turntables use high-quality bearings with tight tolerances and very little friction. It is the device that transforms the physical grooves in the records to an electrical music signal. That is, needless to say, an extremely critical task for good sound.

I high-quality cartridge will reproduce sound with higher fidelity, more details, better channel separations and better dynamics than a not so high-quality cartridge. One critical factor that determines the quality of the cartridge is the amount of moving mass. Moving Coil cartridges have less moving mass than Moving Magnet cartridges and are therefore considered better sounding and most suitable for very high-end turntable applications. Expensive turntables use expensive materials, expensive parts and sophisticated design methodologies.

Because of this, expensive turntables score higher on all four essential criteria compared to cheaper turntables. And therefore, sound better. There are usually many times more hours spent on research and design on expensive turntables compared to inexpensive ones. This to tweak the design for optimal sound. As an example, Rega has spent 35 years tweeting their highest performing and most expensive tonearms.

And also, 35 years of costly engineering hours that they have to charge their customers for. Expensive turntables use parts motor, bearings, tonearm, etc. These parts are expensive to source from suppliers and expensive to manufacture in-house. So when you pay premium money for a high-end turntable made by an acknowledged manufacturer, you definitely get a higher-quality product that is more expensive to develop and build in return.

If paying the extra money is worth it is, of course, up to each individual vinyl spinner to decide. Buying vintage might be the way to go if you are an expert, but if you are new to turntables, you are much better off buying new. My second tip is to place the turntable on a stable foundation. Reduce vibration. Herman breaks down the factors of what makes a turntable deliver great sound into four basic parts.

The overarching goal of turntable engineers, when they tackle each of these aspects, is to reduce vibration as much as possible. The reason that the better and more expensive turntables sound better is because the engineers have gone much further to reduce and control vibrations.

The only vibration that you want is the vibration of the record groove going to the stylus. Get the plinth perfect. The plinth is the actual body of the turntable, and they come in many shapes and materials — including the double plinth which is considered one of the best at isolating vibrations.

The feet that the plinth is sitting on also plays a factor. The feet can help control resonance and can also dampen the vibrations from the cabinet that the record player is sitting on.