Turntable of the Year under $1000

Audio-Technica delivers another brilliant ‘budget’ turntable in the AT-LP120XUSB, a well-designed, full-featured, robustly-built, highperformance ‘work-horse’ turntable that will be ideal for anyone seeking a way to discover or rediscover the joys of vinyl replay in a fuss-free package. Its basic design follows that of Technics’ classic SL-1200 DJ turntable, right down to the arm-shape, speed slider and buttontry, along with lights to illuminate the strobe lines on the side of the platter. And that means direct drive, rather than the more common belt drive in hi-fi turntables, with speed here controlled via d.c. servo, constantly monitored and variations compensated for in real time, which gives very exact control combined with tremendous torque. The platter of a direct-drive turntable can move from stationary to 33⅓rpm in under a second, while the pitch slider (labelled ‘Tempo’) offers up to ±16% speed variation over two different ranges for DJ beat-matching.

Audio-Technica developed the AT-LP120 during the period that Panasonic shuttered the now-revived Technics brand, and its version has evolved to feature a USB-A socket which allows connection to a computer so you can record your vinyl playback. A pre-requisite to digital output is the inclusion of a phono stage, so as well as the raw phono-level output from the included and pre-installed AT-VM95E phono cartridge direct, the AT-LP120XUSB also offers a line-level output which will plug into any standard amplifier socket.

Its sound was solid and fluid at a quality which surprised us at the price; we had some small reservations about the bass of the AT-VM95E cartridge, but everything upwards was highly enjoyable. Of course as our other turntable awards reveal, you can get more if you pay more, but not at this price.

This version of the turntable is priced at $649; for an additional $100 there is a version which adds a fourth type of output — wireless Bluetooth, able to stream to a Bluetooth speaker or to wireless headphones. Noting that the cables will deliver the best quality, we’d extend our highest recommendation to this version of this turntable also, as we’ve become rather enamoured of the joys of strolling around with wireless headphones connected directly to vinyl — as with the turntable itself, it’s a thrilling combo of classic and modern.

More info: www.audio-technica.com.au