Choosing a record player is a toughie of a task. Whether you’re new to the vinyl revival or you’re looking for a next-level upgrade to your ever-evolving hi-fi stack. Whatever your situation, you’re going to want a record player that goes the distance; records aren’t going anywhere, and neither is your steadily-growing collection.
Across the board, there are some stellar options from a wide range of brands – some of which have had decades to make their mark on the industry, and some of which have emerged more recently to meet enduring post-revival demand. Picking through the veritable smorgasbord of options is not easy, even if just for the sheer breadth of choice available to you.
Even when you drill down into your specific wants and needs, you’re faced with some hard choices. It’s easy to get lost down the rabbit-hole when looking at specs and features, particularly if you’ve got a little more in the budget. This is why we’ve elected to make things slightly easier for you, with this run-down of the better record players on sale right now.
The market is a huge one for sure, and as you reach the upper end of the budget spectrum, you start to see some wild prices thrown around. Here, we’ve kept our upper price limit relatively low, in the opinion that if you’re already looking at £/$5000+ record players, you likely aren’t reading this to begin with. For those of you with more realistic budgets, and with a little decision-paralysis over which record player suits your set-up best, let the following suggestions be a handy guide.
If you’re still not fully au fait with the ins and outs of record player set-ups, and with what you should be looking out for as a
Out top picks
This Rega turntable is an unbelievably clean and clear performer that doesn’t impart its own character on your record collection. Everything you throw at it will sound just as it should – packed with detail, punch, rhythm and impeccable tonality. If you want to hear your vinyl as it was intended, this is how you should do it. Our top pick is simply awesome.
If you're in the market for a great-sounding, beginner-friendly turntable, then I recommend the Audio-Technica LP70XBT. This two-speed, automatic record player is easy to use and, should you wish to replace the stylus in the future, you can - a feature many entry-level turntables don't offer. For the price, you get a lot for your money.
Here's a Bluetooth turntable from Team Pro-Ject that not only allows you to spin your favourite albums, but also lets you beam your wax to your favourite headphones or wireless speakers. Playback sounds great, offering a balance of dynamic space and warmth, while the mid-range price is seriously appealing. Another great option.
While the sleek-looking Rega Planar 1 doesn't sport bells and whistles such as Bluetooth or a built-in phono preamp, this is the best-sounding turntable available at this sort of price. If you want to hear your just-bought or much-cherished records just as intended, the Planar 1 is how you do it.
Fluance turntables inhabit a comfortable space between beginner-friendly players and audiophile units and are always worth serious consideration. The RT85 has a brilliant Ortofon 2M Blue cartridge, while the whole unit is rock-solid thanks to its acrylic platter. The Fluance RT85 is also available in a range of colour variations, making it a top-quality turntable.
This Technics turntable is a thoroughly modern unit with direct drive, so there's no belt to mess about with. What’s most impressive is how amazing the SL-1500C sounds. Clean, organised and dynamic, it takes a digital approach that digs up all of the detail, but it’s not cold and unfeeling in the way of a hi-res music player.
Best overall
The original Planar 3 is now more than 40 years old. Yet, amazingly, if I was to put it and this current version side-by-side, I think most people would be hard-pressed to spot any differences beyond the smarter plinth and updated tonearm.
Under the skin, almost every part had been revised since the last version – the and yet the core character remains. I found this Rega turntable to be an unbelievably clean and clear performer that doesn’t impart its own character on your records. Everything you throw at it will sound just as it should – packed with detail, punch, rhythm and impeccable tonality.
You can also buy the Rega Planar 3 with added Elys 2 moving magnet cartridge, which will add a handful of cash to the purchase, but I only think the extra outlay is worth it if you're looking for absolutely top-drawer performance and crystal clear audio.
If you want to hear your vinyl as intended, this is how you should do it. In my opinion, this is the best record player around right now, bar none.
Read our full Rega Planar 3 review
Best for beginners
Audio Technica’s latest beginner-friendly turntable is something of a winner, and in quite a few respects as well. The AT-LP70XBT is the successor model to the LP60XBT, a hugely popular automatic turntable which no doubt has served as a great many people’s first-ever turntable; the LP70XBT takes the essential format and runs with it, resulting in one of the best low-budget turntables on the market today.
Most conventional turntables have removable cartridges, enabling users to replace them with their own or as styli wear down; entry-level turntables often don’t have these, instead hardwiring an inexpensive assembly into the tonearm. The LP70XBT does the best of both worlds, by using Audio-Technica’s new(ish) VM95 series standard for its stylus. It ships with the AT-VM95C stylus, a conical stylus with solid and serviceable fidelity – but you can upgrade it to another in the series at your leisure, and with as much simplicity as operating the turntable itself.
There’s a great deal to love about the AT-LP70XBT. It does a lot of things right that other entry-level turntables don’t, from stable playback to princely treatment of the records you play on it. There are some essential sound- and build-quality trade-offs that come with the price, but as far as budget beginner record players go, this is the bee’s knees.
Best with Bluetooth
Now for something a little different – a Bluetooth turntable that not only allows you to spin your favourite albums, but also lets you stream music through it too. This is made possible on the Pro-Ject Juke Box E Bluetooth because of RCA inputs and outputs, its own amplification and a receiver. It's a neat and versatile twist on the other turntables on our list.
In my opinion, vinyl sounds great, offering a balance of dynamic space and warmth, while the mid-range price makes this a serious contender for your next purchase. To borrow a phrase from baseball, this is a multi-tool player.
Read our full Pro-Ject Juke Box E review
Best on a budget
If you are after features such as Bluetooth and USB recording, the Rega Planar 1 isn’t going to be for you. It’s one of the only turntables in its bracket that doesn’t have a built-in phono preamp, which means you’ll need an amplifier that’s got one or will need to factor in the cost of an external unit. But I think it's worth it when the core deck is this good.
This is the best-sounding turntable available at this sort of price. If you want to hear your just-bought or much-cherished records just as intended, the Rega is how you do it.
And don’t go thinking this is a cold, complicated deck. On the contrary, I found it produced a really fun sound and is pretty straightforward to set-up. If you’re prepared to be just a bit adventurous, this is the deck to buy.
Read our full Rega Planar 1 review
Best mid-priced option
If you ever go to the wider turntable community for advice on picking out a good ‘next’ turntable, you’ll hear the name Fluance a whole lot. Fluance turntables are rightfully vaunted as next-step record players for vinyl converts digging into their hi-fi journey, bridging perfectly as they do the gap between entry-level players and the audiophile hi-fi market – and the Fluance RT85 is a fab example.
The RT85 boasts an excellent Ortofon 2M Blue cartridge, which rules the roost among stock moving magnet cartridges for dynamic range; it’s fitted to a well-designed S-shaped tonearm, so-shaped to improve tracking and look good doing so. The RT85 also benefits from a big fat acrylic platter, which adds weight and stability to the whole shebang.
It helps too that the RT85 is a highly attractive object, with four possible finishes (including Piano Black and an irresistibly executive ‘Walnut’) and the shrewd flourish that is the external belt-drive system. Whether you’re looking for an on-ramp to quality hi-fi from the shonky depths of the sub-£100 suitcase turntable (shudder), or simply looking for a dependable record player you can hang on to for a while, this is an excellent choice for you.
Best for durability
This Technics turntable is a thoroughly modern unit with direct drive - so there's no belt to mess about with - a built-in cartridge and integrated phono preamp. It’s also semi-automatic, so while you have to place the stylus in the groove to begin with, the tonearm will lift from the record at the end without you needing to lift a finger.
But what I found most impressive about this next-gen turntable is how amazing the SL-1500C sounds. Clean, organised and dynamic, it takes a digital approach that digs up all of the detail on that big, black slab, but it’s not cold and unfeeling in the way of a hi-res music player.
In short, it’s as straightforward as vinyl gets and it sounds amazing. If you’ve got a grand to drop on your analogue habit, this is the best record player to spend it on.
And if you're looking for a turntable that will last you years - representing incredible value for money - the Technics is hard to beat.
Read our full Technics SL-1500C review
Also tested
The above record players are for us, the ones you should be spending your money on. That said, they aren't the only ones we've reviewed. So if you don't see what you're looking for above, here is a selection of other record players we've reviewed.
How to choose the best record player for you
So, you've decided to pull the trigger and purchase a shiny new record player, but what are the key elements to consider before laying down your hard-earned cash?
It might sound obvious but sound quality is the biggest priority by far. While no audio firm has a completely perfect record in this area, sticking to the established and well-respected brands is a great place to start.
There are certainly some flagship brands to keep an eye out for. While our pick for best record player overall is made by Rega, don't forget about Pro-Ject which also boasts an accomplished range, while Technics and Clearaudio dominate the high-end record player sector. Sony and Audio-Technica, meanwhile, are particularly good at pairing true hi-fi audio quality with modern features such as Bluetooth and USB recording. We'd also recommend you take a look at our dedicated guide to the best Audio-Technica turntables.
It's also important to put some thought into whether you’ll actually use those kinds of high-tech features. While it’s nice to have lots of options at your fingertips, don’t splash out on tech you'll never use, as you could save yourself a bit of cash. If in doubt, remember this: the techiest turntable is almost never the one that sounds the best.
Why trust us
⚡ Louder was established in 2017
⚡ Over 80,000 products reviewed on site
⚡ Products are reviewed by passionate music fans with decades of testing experience
Louder’s reviewing team consists of music fans, musicians and professional product testers, who between them have accumulated decades of product reviewing experience, writing thousands of words on music listening gear across thousands of reviews on Louder. Our tests also inform our buyer's guide - just like this one.
As lifelong music fans, we're serious about the tech we listen to our favourite artists on. We want them to sound incredible, giving us all the detail those bands intended us to hear, and deliver the perfect balance of bass, mids and highs. We're looking for pure immersion in our chosen sounds, whether it's a classic '70s rock album, or a cutting-edge noise band.
And we test turntables with albums we know inside and out, and that we've listened to on a variety of systems already, so we know exactly what we should be hearing and when we're being short-changed by lackluster audio.
FAQs
Are record players easy to set up?
It's worth bearing in mind that setting up a turntable for the first time can be a fiddly business, with components that need fitting and carefully adjusted. However, some are simpler than others. Many of the best record players on the market have automatic functionality, which means you only have to press a button for the tonearm to move into place and drop the needle into the groove at the start of the record.
Fully automatic and semi-automatic turntables lift the needle from the groove at the end, too. For many people, though, especially those who have been in the vinyl game for a while, a little initial tweaking and manual operation are keys to the charm of turntable ownership, and the simplest record players are often the best-sounding. Ultimately, only you can decide what type of vinyl listener you want to be.
We go into more detail on how to properly set up a record player in this article.
Do I need speakers for my record player?
While some record players do come with built-in speakers - mostly at the budget end of the spectrum - these can be functional at best. If you’re going down the portable record player route, then this may well be enough for mobile listening of your vinyl.
However, if you’re planning on spending a bit of cash on your turntable and want to get the best from your vinyl, then we do recommend purchasing a dedicated set of turntable speakers. You may need a separate phono preamp for that, but more on that below.
Do I need a phono preamp for my record player?
If you’re boarding the vinyl train for the first time or getting back into the hobby, start by familiarising yourself with some key components, particularly the phono stage. This is essentially a step-up amplifier – they’re often referred to as phono preamps – that increase the tiny output of a record player to a level that a standard stereo amplifier can work with.
Many turntables have a phono stage built-in, as do some stereo amplifiers. Generally speaking, though, a phono-less turntable that goes through an external phono stage before getting to the amplifier will sound best, so consider going down that route if you’re serious about good audio quality from your record player.
So, the question is, does your new record player come with one built-in? If it’s a yes, then you should be able to hook your speakers/amp up directly to your deck. If not, you’ll need to factor in additional budget for a phono pre-amp. Without one, your vinyl will sound quiet and weedy, and nobody wants that.
We have a guide covering this topic in more detail, plus our pick of the best phono preamps available today.
How much should I spend on a record player?
This all depends on whether you’re looking for a budget turntable, or something a little higher up the scale. If you’re going truly budget then you can pick something up for up to around the $/£150 mark. Drop anywhere from $/£200-400 and you’ll be comfortably into territory where the components are better, the sound starts to improve and you’ll get an extra dollop of style.
This is a hugely popular area within the record player space, so you’re spoiled for choice. Don’t forgot you’ll need to pay a little extra if you also want features such as Bluetooth and USB-connectivity.
Now, you could spend absolutely thousands on a new record player, but set a budget of $/$500+ and you’ll be in the realms of a deck that delivers a premium cartridge and needle, luxe components for the platter and tonearm, excellent vibration reduction and record isolation and an overall better quality product that’s designed to last.
How we test record players
We’re music fans first and foremost here at Louder so, while we are certainly interested in the spec sheet of any record player we test, we’re less focused on the nitty gritty detail of a deck that will deliver marginal gains. For us, we’re all about how the turntable sounds.
We listen to music around the clock - it's part of our job - so we know how albums are meant to sound. For our tests, we hook each turntable up to our home systems and spin an eclectic variety of genres, and albums from classic to modern, to really put the gear through its paces. That means we can test if the deck delivers the fullness of modern metal, the low-end of hip-hop, the richness of classical, the lo-fi grit of punk etc. We’ll often call on the ears of a colleague or family member to give us a second opinion, too.
On the whole, we are testing decks with albums we know inside out, so we know how they're supposed to sound. We want to know if a new deck can do them justice.
To cap it all off, we also test how easy the record player is to set up, operate and adjust to work exactly as we want it. Anything that makes it harder to get on with listening to our favourite albums gets marked down.
Finally, we take a look under the hood of any other features a turntable offers, such as computer-connectivity for digitising our records, an automatic tonearm or built-in preamp.
Read more about how we test and rate products at Louder.
Why trust us
⚡ Louder was established in 2017 and founded on long-running brands including Metal Hammer, Classic Rock and Prog (launched in 1986, 1998 and 2009 respectively)
⚡ Over 80,000 products reviewed on site, from music listening tech to albums and box sets
⚡ Our reviewers are all passionate music fans who draw on decades of testing experience
Louder’s reviewing team consists of music fans, musicians and professional product testers, who between them have accumulated decades of product reviewing experience, writing thousands of words on music listening gear across thousands of reviews on Louder. Our tests also inform our buyer's guide - just like this one.
As lifelong music fans, we're serious about the tech we listen to our favourite artists on. We want them to sound incredible, giving us all the detail those bands intended us to hear, and deliver the perfect balance of bass, mids and highs. We're looking for pure immersion in our chosen sounds, whether it's a classic '70s rock album, or a cutting-edge noise band.
And we test turntables with albums we know inside and out, and that we've listened to on a variety of systems already, so we know exactly what we should be hearing and when we're being short-changed by lackluster audio.
- Best vinyl records to test your turntable: The albums you need to own
- Cool vinyl record storage ideas
- How to store vinyl: Tips on keeping your collection in great condition
- Best vinyl record cleaners: Keep your vinyl collection in prime condition
- 9 cheap upgrades you can make to improve your vinyl setup
- Why your choice of stylus and turntable cartridge matters
- Does vinyl really sound better than other formats?
