Outgrown Your Starter Record Player? Here’s How to Shop for a Quality Turntable.

Shopping for your first higher-end, dedicated turntable can be a confusing experience, especially if all your prior music-playing experience comes from an app. On more than one occasion, I’ve seen a friend spend good money on a brand-new turntable and excitedly bring it home to spin their vinyl—only to discover they don’t know how to set it up or it doesn’t sound the way they expected. That’s when they call me and ask what they’re doing wrong.

Whether you’re buying your very first turntable or moving up from an inexpensive record player that came with everything you need in one box (including the speakers), you might not know how to begin the search. Here are the basics of purchasing a dedicated turntable system and how to ensure it has all the features and capabilities you need to enjoy the vinyl experience.

Choosing the type of motor: belt drive vs. direct drive

The first key element to consider in a turntable is what type of motor you want spinning the platter upon which the record lays. In a belt-drive system (shown above), the motor is physically separate from the platter and connected by an elastic belt that spins the platter. In a direct-drive system, the platter and spindle are directly connected to a motor located underneath them.

Both methods have pros and cons; in the price ranges we test for our guide to the best turntables and record players, most of our picks, like the Fluance RT85N, are belt-drive models. But your choice will depend on your priorities.

Belt-drive turntables are arguably more common and popular in home environments, while DJs tend to use direct-drive systems. Belt turntables are generally cheaper, and their design can isolate the record and stylus from any potential motor noise and vibration. You may even have the novelty of being able to watch the platter engage with the belt-drive motor (music with a show!).

However, belt-driven motors work with what is essentially a large rubber band, which can break or stretch over time or if your turntable is mishandled. If it does, you’ll need to replace it; while lots of third-party belts are available, the safest bet is to get a replacement directly from the manufacturer. A new belt is typically inexpensive and simple to install, but this can be annoying, and it means your turntable will be out of commission while you wait for the new belt to arrive. Belt drives tend to work best with heavy, high-quality platters because the friction required to begin rotation is greater, causing the belt drive and platter to have stronger connection.

A good direct-drive turntable, like the Audio-Technica AT-LP120XUSB, produces more consistent speed, eliminating the distortions caused by the fluctuating speed of the platter’s rotation (known as wow and flutter), which in extreme cases can ruin the experience of vinyl listening. Because direct-drive turntable systems have the motor placed directly underneath the platter, they can get to the correct speed much more quickly and maintain their speed consistently regardless of the platter’s weight.

Having the motor connected directly to the platter may allow noise and vibration from the motor to travel up into the record and the stylus, adversely affecting the quality of sound from your turntable—but a good direct-drive turntable controls the vibration well enough that it won’t produce audible noise from your speakers.

Direct-drive turntables tend to be more flexible in terms of their ability to accommodate all common record speeds (33, 45, and 78 rpm), their ability to fine-tune the playback speed, their ability to reverse the platter’s spin by hand without fear of malfunction (belts have a propensity to slip during this action), and their overall reliability over time. DJs invariably use direct-drive turntables for these reasons.

Should you get a turntable with a built-in phono preamp?

A phono preamplifier takes the analog signal (the music you are trying to enjoy) from the rotating vinyl and amplifies it to a level you’d typically expect from a CD, tape deck, or laptop. It also equalizes the signal, boosting the bass and cutting the treble to compensate for processing that is done when the record is produced. Every turntable needs a phono preamp somewhere in the signal chain, but they don’t all have one built in. That’s because many audio receivers and some powered speakers have built-in phono preamps, and you can buy standalone ones, too.

An entry-level turntable user may prefer a model with a built-in phono preamp, like the Audio-Technica AT-LPW50BT, because it’s a clean, simple solution that ensures the turntable works properly with any audio system. But if you’re stepping up to a higher-quality turntable setup, an external, standalone preamp allows for greater control—letting you mix and match phono cartridges and preamps as you upgrade your system.

It also gives you the ability to repair or replace either your preamp or turntable more easily. However, a good standalone phono preamp can range anywhere from $100 to four figures, a cost to consider when shopping for your turntable. Wirecutter’s guide to turntables offers picks both with and without preamps.

My personal preference is to keep all the electronics in my turntable system as far apart as possible to limit interference. That’s why I recommend using an external phono preamp in any serious, dedicated system.

Choosing a phono cartridge

The phono cartridge is where you’ll find the stylus, or “needle,” that makes contact with the spinning vinyl and sends analog audio signals to the phono preamp. A turntable may come with a generic phono cartridge or a well-regarded brand-name one, such as the Nagaoka MP-110, depending on how much you spend.

Many vinyl enthusiasts swear that the phono cartridge affects sound quality more than the turntable itself—so if you’re trying to decide among several turntables, you should do some research on the performance of the different phono cartridges they use (if they are named models). Try to hear demos of each one; the performance differences can be quite evident.

All good turntables have a replaceable phono cartridge, so you can upgrade down the road to improve the quality of your listening experience. High-quality cartridges like the Sumiko Rainier Phono Cartridge can cost $150 to $200, with professional and audiophile models reaching the five-figure range. We recommend some affordable upgrade cartridges in our article about turntable accessories.

A typical phono cartridge will last you between 800 and 1,200 hours of listening. Give some thought as to the model you’d like to replace your current one with when you purchase your turntable. There are two types of phono cartridges: moving coil (MC) and moving magnet (MM). Make sure that your turntable system is compatible with the type you’re considering.

Do you need Bluetooth output?

Bluetooth offers a simple (and wireless) way to connect whatever you’re spinning on vinyl to your compatible speakers, soundbars, or headphones. Additionally, Bluetooth connectivity allows for more flexible placement of your turntable—all you need to do is plug in the power cord for your turntable, and you can send the music to any Bluetooth-enabled speaker in range.

If you’re a more traditional enjoyer of vinyl’s analog virtues, the thought of sending the signal over Bluetooth may horrify you. A Bluetooth transmitter has to digitize the analog signal in order to send it wirelessly to your devices, and it cannot transmit the amount of data required without compressing the signal. How noticeable this compression is depends on the quality of your speakers. While many casual listeners will neither notice nor care, you may want the authentic experience of listening to the vaunted “warmth” of vinyl through a direct (wired) analog system.

If you prefer the flexibility of a turntable that works both wired and wirelessly, a Bluetooth-equipped model is the best of both worlds. But it should be noted that Bluetooth turntables can often be more expensive than traditional turntables with the same level of build quality.

If you want to digitize your vinyl collection

Some turntables include a USB port that exists for the singular purpose of ripping your vinyl collection into a more portable, digital form, which may be necessary for some listeners and superfluous for others. Some music content available on vinyl isn’t available to download or stream, so the ability to make your own digital copy is useful. You can also add this function later through an external phono preamp with a USB output.

Digitizing your vinyl requires the use of a computer, as well as software that may or may not be provided by the turntable manufacturer. When ripping the files, you‘ll need to decide whether to go with a compressed format, such as MP3, or an uncompressed one, such as WAV or PCM. Fans of Sony’s hi-res DSD format may want to look specifically at a Sony turntable, like the popular PS-HX500.

Ease-of-use features

Your everyday enjoyment of a dedicated turntable depends in large part on how easy it is to use, so it’s important to think about how you want to interact with your machine.

Because different records play at different speeds, playing them properly can be a little more complicated than playing an album on Spotify. The different speed options and setup methods of belt-drive versus direct-drive turntables can affect everyday use. If it's complicated to change the speed of your player, you may be less likely to buy or play certain records. Belt drives often have a predetermined set of speeds (33, 45, and, more rarely, 78 rpm), while direct drives often add manually variable speed options along with the aforementioned presets. If you find yourself adoring a 78 rpm record, there are many belt-drive systems that won’t be able to play it at all; others (like our runner-up turntable pick, the Pro-ject Debut Carbon Evo) may require you to adjust the belt manually to play that speed.

When it comes to how the stylus interacts with your vinyl, the weight or tracking force of the tonearm (the piece that holds your phono cartridge) matters. If it’s too light, the cartridge can easily bounce and skip; if it’s too heavy, the excess force can wear out your records and stylus too quickly. All quality turntables offer an adjustable counterweight on the back end of the tonearm to fine-tune the tracking force, and phono cartridge manufacturers will provide you with the preferred tracking force of their cartridges (in grams). This is a useful feature to have, but it’s easier to adjust on some turntables than it is on others, so you may want to see a demo on how it’s done before you buy.

Finally, consider whether you want features such as a cue lever (which lowers the stylus onto a record) and auto-return (to reset the stylus and tonearm to its neutral position with a push of a button). These functions are debated in the audio community because they add nonessential features to the turntable and can contribute to the aforementioned mechanical and electrical interference, but they also have pluses. A cue lever can help ease the wear and tear of your vinyl since it can provide smoother, more even pressure than the act of manually lowering and raising the stylus. Auto-return helps remove any human error from the delicate process of playing, flipping, and switching vinyl (plus, you don’t have to jump up from your chair the moment the side ends).

This article was edited by Adrienne Maxwell and Grant Clauser.