What is the best non-DJ turntable?
I love music and with the recent rebirth of vinyl (right?), I think its time I should get myself a turntable. I want something that's practicable for someone new in the field, but also something that will give me high quality rips to my computer.
There are a lot of record players that can do this, with varying quality. If you are going to take the time to transfer your LP's to digital, do it at the highest quality you can afford. A great entry level table is the Numark TTUSB which can be found for under $200. For the best USB Turntable, its the "Pro-Ject DebutIII:http://www.project-audio.com/main.php?prod=debutphusb&cat=turntables&lang=en for $499. This sacrifices a little ease of use for the best audio quality possible. This is the table that every audiophile wants or has at this price point.
Also, the Pro-Ject table is available without the USB link for $349 if anyone is looking for a wonderful table with tons of bang for buck.
9 Answers
Just an fyi... the new Crosley's look cool, but are getting terrible reviews on Amazon. I've been researching turntables myself.
The Audio-Technica AT-LP2D USB Turntable
Click here to read and purchase. http://www.turntablelab.com/dj_equipment/1/1992/32983.html
buy a regular technics turntable, a good solid state amp, and two full range speakers (or high end headphones).
you will be unable to capture the warmth of the analog sound by ripping to mp3. if it's mp3's you ulitmately want, you are better off downloading from itunes or ripping from cd. records are meant for listening.
I would NOT recommend buying a USB turntable. I would recommend buying the non-USB Project turntable already mentioned, if that is your budget. If you can stretch it further, you will get a better turntable with REGA's, or used VPI's.
I would then buy a phono amp so the signal from your turntable can go to your stereo system (I'm assuming you have one) I would recommend the Bellari VP130 (~$250), which if you don't have a stereo can be used as a headphone amp, or even feed a soundcard in your computer if you want to digitize things. It gets pretty damn good reviews for the price.
Speaking from a lot of experience, a good turntable used to rip vinyl to CD and then converted to Apple Lossless using iTunes, makes SPECTACTULAR sounding portable music on an iPod. Better than most cd versions of the same albums when I have compared.
Do NOT rip to some crappy mp3 format unless you really up the bitrate well past the usual mentioned 128kbits (apple's standard in itunes). Use lossless compression.
From the above, I would say, take your time building a system if you want to really enjoy vinyl. No need for everything at once. Spend maybe $60 for some "lowly" yet amazing Gradio SR60 headphones with a "cheapy" Rega and the Bellari mentioned above and you will have a good taste of audio bliss. As you learn more you can discover good ways to convert music to digital if you want.
If your looking just for a turntable to play vinyl and don't care about ripping to a digital format there are many great turntables around
check out
www.acousticsounds.com
www.needledoctor.com
www.musicdirect.com
www.audioadvisor.com
Lots of great turntables,needles, phone amps and vinyl.
Once you have a decent turntable to listen to your vinyl and want to get it into a digital format. Look at a CD recorder. Works just like the old tape drives and creates a CD or mix-cd that can be ripped to your PC.
It's more expensive than just using a USB turntable, but then again it's about the sound.
There are a lot of record players that can do this, with varying quality. If you are going to take the time to transfer your LP's to digital, do it at the highest quality you can afford. A great entry level table is the Numark TTUSB which can be found for under $200. For the best USB Turntable, its the "Pro-Ject DebutIII:http://www.project-audio.com/main.php?prod=debutphusb&cat=turntables&lang=en for $499. This sacrifices a little ease of use for the best audio quality possible. This is the table that every audiophile wants or has at this price point.
Also, the Pro-Ject table is available without the USB link for $349 if anyone is looking for a wonderful table with tons of bang for buck.