Audio-TechnicaLP120XUSBSV Manual Direct-Drive Turntable (Analogue & USB) Silver

Superb, I love everything about this turntable, looks, performance, build quality, and for the price compared to a Technics equivalent it’s amazing value for money as well. I had the LP60 before this for 4 years which did a great job as a budget entry level turntable but now the collection of vinyl is growing this is a great way to show it all off.

What a turntable, I owned the original Technics 1200 many years ago ( sold it for a pittance ,ouch) but this is close enough in every way .The sound is spot on and perfect construction. Worth every penny.Love getting back into vinyl after two decades absence.

I’m a procrastinator so I procrastinated long and hard before purchasing this turntable; I’m glad I did (buy it, that is… I’m gutted I procrastinated for so long).BACKGROUND – I collected a bit of vinyl in the early 2000; mostly 45s because I’m a bit of a completionist and some releases on my favourite labels were only available as vinyl. In order to facilitate playing said vinyl I had to have a turntable and I was given a lovers gift by Our Gert – an ION Audio Profile LP Turntable with USB Conversion. It served me well on the odd occasion I got it out but didn’t get much use.More recently I started putting my meagre vinyl collection to good use, DJing 30 minute slots at local Vinyl Soul / Funk nights. I caught the bug and with my scant DJ earnings decided to start buying vinyl on a more ‘serious’ level. My nomadic USB turntable (which was previously used in random locations, connected to a laptop) was given a permanent home in my Mancave, hooked up to a desktop PC. I soon realised that the sound quality of the turntable was pretty poor – songs sounded much better streamed on YouTube than they did played on my turntable. This wasn’t right.My first priority was coming up with sufficient reason to appease Our Gert when I spent on a new Turntable rather than saving for new windows / repaving the driveway / a holiday to Cuba… with a reason firmly tucked away in my back pocket I researched and found the Audio Technica AT-LP120XUSB to be at the sweetspot of what I wanted to spend, maintaining USB recording functionality and adding the ability to play independent of the PC through dedicated speakers. I bought it.FIRST IMPRESSIONS - Amazon delivery was spot on and upon receipt my first thought was this is a serious piece of kit. It comes in a big box. A heavy box… not too heavy, except for the fact I had it delivered to work and had to lug it home on the train. The weight of the turntable is reassuring – my old turntable must have weighed less than a tenth of this badboy. All component parts are kept separate in the packaging, taped into little cubbyholes in the polystyrene so there is very little chance of any damage in transit.SETUP – The turntable comes with a ‘quickstart’ instruction sheet which is pretty much all you need to get it setup. Installing the platter was as simple as dropping it over the central spindle, then just pop the attractively understated Audio Technica slipmat on top.Cartridge installation was equally easy, there’s only really one way it can fit and whilst its relatively intuitive anyway the instructions make it pretty obvious how its done.The only bit of installation that was a little bit more difficult was the balancing of the tonearm… again the instructions certainly help but if you need the extra reassurance you can also look up a video of the installation online, which is what I did.Whilst I would probably recommend setting up at the turntables final resting place, if that is a relatively small cubbyhole in a mancave (as it was for me) you can just as easily set up elsewhere – just make sure you plug all the wires into the back first as the connections are recessed on the back of the player and therefore not the easiest to access (though equally, they’re very easy to locate provided you afford yourself the necessary room).USE – The sound is exceptional. I caveat this with the fact I’m coming from an incredibly budget system but it’s chalk and cheese compared to the older, cheaper system. I have experience of professional systems and of course it doesn’t match up to a deck ten times the price, attached to an amp and speakers that cost more than my house, but it does a great job in a mancave setting.The highs are high and the lows are low, I can certainly pick out the horns and the bass on records much more than I could previously and they sound far better played through my TV than their YouTube equivalent… completes with the satisfying cracks and pops you get from vinyl.The direct drive motor does a good job of maintaining the correct speed (which my old belt-driven turntable sometimes struggled with) and switching speeds is easy. The stop/start button functions well… it’s not instant stop / start but reverse the record a quarter turn and you’re good to go.There is other functionality (such as 78rpm, pitch shift) which I have yet to test, and most likely won’t ever… but it’s there if you need it and if judging by the quality of the core components / functionality I’ve no doubt these would be more than up to the job.The turntable comes with a built in amp so you can hook it up to passive speakers if you so wish… but in the interest of getting the most out of the turntable I also purchased a pair of Edifier R1280DB Active Remote Control Bookshelf Studio Speakers which pair up with and complement the turntable remarkably well… certainly takes the experience to a whole new level compared with hooking the turntable up to the PC and playing through the relatively tinny internal TV speakers.TL;DR SUMMARY – If you’re after a ‘premium’ ‘budget’ turntable (one person’s idea of premium is another’s idea of budget and vice-versa) you’ll not regret buying this… I’ve had it a matter of 20 hours but it does everything I want it to… at a good price point… it looks and feels quality, and most importantly gives me a warm fuzzy feeling in my loins.UPDATE: I was so impressed I bought a second one, now got two hooked up to a Numark mixer and I can now dial up the volume to 100 (when Our Gert isn't in) and lose myself in the music

The media could not be loaded. Wanted a decent upgrade and this is perfect.Brought recommend speakers as well.lovely sound easy set up but be warned if you are not use to modern recording players the arm balance set up was frustrating. But saying that plenty of videos on you tube to help you.

Revisited vinyl collection earlier this year by picking up a 'new' amp to go with ancient Technics SL-DD33 and some speakers I'd had stored away for years. Perfectly adequate set up. One of hinges snapped on Technics lid recently so when looking at cost of replacement parts (also due new stylus) I decided it was time to 'treat myself' to a shiny new turntable instead. Lots of research and reviews later I ended up going for the LP120xBTUSBOrdered Thursday evening, delivered Saturday morning.Quite simple to set up, check Audio Technica vid on You Tube if you need some guidance.Have only found one little niggle so far. Personal preference would be to bypass the on board pre-amp and use the Phono stage on my Denon amp. There is a little 'Line/Phono' toggle switch on rear of turntable. Select 'Phono' mode and the USB & Bluetooth features are disabled. Will occasionally connect BT headphones so having to get round to this fiddly little switch would be a pain, so have set it up in 'Line' mode. Sounds great but will have to try 'Phono' at some point to see if there's much difference.Overall it is quite simply staggering the difference in sound quality this replacement turntable has made.If your research & budget has led you to consider this deck, go for it! It's superb.