Sony PS-LX3BT: Two-minute review

The Sony PS-LX3BT is one of the first new turntables to leave Sony’s R&D department in years. It comes some time after the launch of the Sony PS-LX310BT, one of what TechRadar rightfully deems to be the best turntables for beginners — and has big shoes to fill, accordingly.

And fill them it sort-of does, at least in the most literal of senses. It shares a lot of physical attributes, aims for the same sleek aesthetic, and seeks to corner the same, well, corner of the market with user-friendly interfaces and a no-nonsense approach to playing records. It’s a shame it doesn’t quite stick the landing.

Price is the major sticking point for me — its launch price far overshot similarly specced, and better-featured, turntables in the same market. This was the backdrop against which certain bugbears became serious missteps — from a stylus that Sony insists you need to replace through them, to a cheap-feeling body that feels like it’s come from a device a third of the price.

These things overshadow the PS-LX3BT’s capable performance with audio, via its decent on-board preamp and its star-of-the-show press-and-play Bluetooth connectivity. It could be good — it is good, by some metrics — but not for where it’s asking to sit.

Sony PS-LX3BT review: Price & release date

• Unveiled February 2, 2026
• Priced $399.99 / £299 / AU$469

The Sony PS-LX3BT is a fully automatic, Bluetooth-enabled plug-and-play turntable, with an eye cocked squarely at the upper limits of the entry level. At its launch price of $399 / £299 / AU$469, it’s not what I would call cheap; in fact, it’s undercut by a fair few near-equivalent competitors — most compelling of which is the Audio-Technica AT-LP70XBT.

Then, there's this turntable's own sibling (they actually launched together), the Sony PS-LX5BT which is pricier but adds a more delicate stylus pressure of 2.0g ± 0.5g, a thicker and more premium rubber mat, a tweaked circuit design engineered to suppress unwanted vibration, a dedicated gold-plated audio jack out port (something not present here) with a cable in the box, plus a slightly more high-end, all-black finish.

Most other competitors in the market, though, do not have ‘Sony’ tastefully emblazoned on the chassis. Sony is a tried-and-tested household brand for AV tech, be it TVs, games consoles, CD players or integrated hi-fi systems.

Hence, the brand is likely better-trusted by new or returning vinyl enthusiasts to deliver something intuitive, fuss-free and of a minimum quality. Is this trust well-founded? The 2019 Sony PS-LX310BT was a huge success, but it was also a lot cheaper (depending on where you lived), having launched at $199 / £200 / AU$399. So, you can see the issue…

Sony PS-LX3BT review: Specs

Sony PS-LX3BT review: Features

• Fully automatic operation
• AptX Adaptive Bluetooth output
• Built-in phono preamp and gain control

The Sony PS-LX3BT is an automatic turntable; this means it can be operated entirely by the array of buttons and switches adorning its anthracite-hued surface. Simply select the size and speed of your record, then use the buttons at the front to control the placement or removal of the tonearm. The platter’s rotation is triggered by moving the tonearm past a certain point, so even if you want to use the PS-LX3BT manually (by virtue of the silver finger-rest protruding from where the headshell would be) you literally only have to lift a finger to play a record.

Automatic turntable mechanisms are not so new, and this mechanical design doesn’t sound especially new either, with some familiar clunks and whirrs I know from my old Rotel system. What is, at least slightly newer, though, is Bluetooth connectivity, which the PS-LX3BT quite proudly has. More specifically, there’s aptX Adaptive Bluetooth transmission, for low-latency, high-resolution streaming from the turntable to your Bluetooth receiver of choice and accessed via a suavely flush button in the front-left corner of the chassis face.

On top of this Bluetooth connectivity, the LX3BT has connections the old-fashioned way, via a hard-wired stereo RCA cable out from the back. It’s an odd choice to use a permanently attached cable instead of a port – and at that, given the audience for this thing, I’m surprised there isn’t a 3.5mm Aux out either.

Still, that RCA cable feeds a built-in and switchable phono preamp, which means you can plug your turntable in most any amplifier without needing an extra gain stage. On top of that, there’s a gain switch that lets you boost or attenuate your turntable’s output by 4dB. Surprising in a different way; thoughtful, even.

The LX3BT has, like many other entry-level turntables of its ilk, a completely built-in cartridge arrangement with a replaceable stylus element. The stylus part here looks strikingly like one of Audio-Technica’s AT-3600 series, but is “designed specifically for this turntable”, according to Sony’s website FAQ. With a bit of sleuthing, the stylus does appear to be Audio-Technica’s AT3600LAX, a conical stylus with a carbon-fiber cantilever – though Sony’s specs point to a slightly heftier 3.5g tracking force. (Incidentally, my own tracking-force measurements of the tonearm put its exertion at a, for me, troublingly high 3.7g.)

Crucially, this thin layer of proprietariness creates an uneasy route to self-replacement, or indeed upgrade. Sony would prefer you go through its dealers or customer service department for a like-for-like stylus replacement, indicating that “other styluses are not supported”. Built-in cartridges and replaceable styli can be clever entry-level phenomena, and can be executed transparently well, but here, in this manner, it trends a little too close to being anti-consumer for my liking. Minus thoughtfulness points.

• Features score: 3 / 5

Sony PS-LX3BT review: Sound quality

• Warm, clear sound from stylus
• Faultless Bluetooth transmission
• Clean, clear built-in preamp

For all the grumblings I’ve leveled at the Sony PS-LX3BT thus far, I will contend that it actually does sound good. That definitely-not-an-AT-3600L-in-a-moustache cartridge presents a perfectly reasonable quality of sound — great, even, for its place in the market.

True to the marketing copy, the LX3BT sounds warm, the general color of its cartridge being a little on the soft side with some noticeable roll-off towards the upper reaches. Future Islands’ As Long As You Are sounds no less rich for this character, all big, warbly synths and croon-adjacent missives throughout. It's an enjoyable listen.

Testing the 7-inch functionality of the automatic mechanism, I chucked on early-80s groover Emergency (Dial 999) by Loose Ends (a DJ-set staple, and an undeniable bop besides — fight me). It ended up being a great conduit by which to recognize the strengths of the PS-LX3BT’s built-in phono preamp. Often in budget turntables, these can be brittle or a little saturating; this one is clear and full, rendering those snappy standout snares and breakout vocal refrains in gratifying detail.

The whole outfit seems to benefit guitars and vocals over anything, though everything sounds, to some extent, present and fulsome; Ryuichi Sakamoto’s Risky, featuring Iggy Pop, is a sparse arrangement benefited by Iggy’s game attempt at a Let’s Dance-era Bowie impression — his voice is a raspy little joy all the time, but rendered to some good effect here.

Unobtrusively good sound quality notwithstanding, the aptX Adaptive Bluetooth connectivity is arguably the star of the show. It’s fast to connect to, and, with regards to fidelity, sounds indistinguishable from its analog alternative. I had a whale of a time in the kitchen listening to Mitski’s Nothing’s About To Happen To Me, in all its full and heartbreaking glory, fuss-free.

• Sound quality score: 4 / 5

Sony PS-LX3BT review: Design

• Cheap-feeling construction
• Easy to set up
• One-touch Bluetooth

Pulling the PS-LX3BT out of the box, I found the chassis to be quite light. Surprisingly light, even. Putting it together, it became clear that almost every element was some form of plastic — besides occasional aspects, and the die-cast aluminum platter. It’s not a reassuring weight, though the turntable is undeniably stable on its feet.

I’m more disappointed by the perceivable cheapness of the construction on display here. A series of design decisions were made that preferred cost to user experience, leading to a pretty nasty-feeling finish on the chassis shell, a flimsy tonearm rest clasp that doesn’t actually clasp, and a spring-assisted tonearm that inspires little confidence.

At least the LX3BT is an easy thing to set up — as easy as seating the platter belt, plugging in a power adapter and delivering the hardwired stereo RCA cable to your amp or speaker of choice. It couldn’t be more plug-and-play, nor more foolproof to use via its clearly labeled buttons and knobs.

Again, the best bit of the Sony PS-LX3BT seems to be its Bluetooth. Where many other devices struggle unduly with one-touch connectivity, connecting this turntable to my portable speaker was the easiest time of my life; a single button press, a modicum of patient waiting with speaker held (camply) in-hand, and it was paired.

This aptX Adaptive connectivity can be utilized simultaneously to the PS-LX3BT’s analog outputs, too. This means dual-zone listening; I got to enjoy hi-res Mitski in the kitchen while my wife bopped along in the living room, too. And, again, it sounded great! A positive side-effect design decision, that pitches the Sony LX3BT well for casual home listening.

• Design score: 4 / 5

Sony PS-LX3BT review: Value

• Great-sounding entry-level turntable…
• …that’s fundamentally overpriced
• And doesn’t allow self-replacement of stylus

To be completely frank, I find it difficult to square the price of this against its own quality, let alone the standards set by other turntable brands. It’s the top end of the entry level, and yet it has the same unfriendly design principles as the cheap-and-cheerful, ten-a-penny budget turntables it’s meant to outclass.

The caveat is that it does, ultimately, deliver on its core purposes. It’s an automatic turntable, and it does indeed automate much of the turntable-playing process — for the most part successfully, too. It’s a Bluetooth-enabled turntable, and its Bluetooth just works, which is something you can’t say for some other devices. And through it all, it sounds pretty darn decent.

But these are all things that turntables a third cheaper can offer. You deserve so much more for $400 / £300 than a brand logo; if you let it, that same amount of investment could buy you a solid turntable that delivers better quality sound, and gives you the keys to the kingdom vis-a-vis calibration and repairs too.

Here, it is worth my acknowledging that, in the intervening weeks since the LX3BT’s launch, there seems to have been a post-launch price-adjustment of sorts; many outlets are offering it at $348 / £250, or even slightly less. This makes the turntable a much more palatable prospect investment-wise, but I do think my criticisms stand — and that other turntables have met the moment a little better.

• Value score: 2.5 / 5

Should I buy the Sony PS-LX3BT?

Buy it if…

Don’t buy it if…

Sony PS-LX3BT review: Also consider

How I tested the Sony PS-LX3BT

• Tested for 4 weeks
• Used as a part of a living-room hi-fi system
• Tested with a Cambridge hi-fi amplifier and Dali Sonik 1 bookshelf speakers

The Sony PS-LX3BT spent a month or so atop my living-room hi-fi stack, as my primary means of listening to records. As such, its output was treated by a Cambridge Audio A2 integrated amplifier, which itself fed a pair of Dali Sonik 1 bookshelf speakers.

Bluetooth connectivity was tested with my trusty kitchen speaker, a Soundcore Motion 300. For testing, I listened to a wide variety of favored records across genres, to get a comprehensive feel for the LX3BT’s performance.

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• First reviewed: July 2026

Fluance RT87 Turntable review: two minute review

Nothing highlights the highs and lows of vinyl like a proper turn table such as the Fluance RT87. Maybe you’ve been using the same Audio Technica LP-60 or even Crossley or Victrola that proliferates the storefront of every record store you’ve ever been to. No shame, I’ve had each at some point.

But there’s something about a fully manual turntable from assembling and calibrating (and testing one’s patience) to cleaning a record every time you put a new one on. Convenient is not necessarily a word that I would use for this process. But it is a bit meditative. More importantly, the audio quality you get a step above with that analog warmth that the best turntables are known for, while not adding unnecessary distortion that may make your vinyl also sound a bit unintentionally lo-fi.

Of course, spending the $799.99 / £666.33 / AU$1,231.70 is not enough for that immersive listening experience. You should probably get a pair of the best stereo speakers you can afford. And if those speakers don’t have a built-in phono preamp, you’ll have to get one of those too. This turntable does not come with one.

Fluance RT87 Turntable review: price and release date

• How much does it cost? $799.99 (around £666 / AU$1,230)
• When is it available? Available now (launched in June 2026)
• Where can you get it? Available now in the US; UK and Australia coming soon

Newest among Fluance’s offerings with a mid-June 2026 release, the Fluance RT87 is available in the US and will (at the time of writing) be available in the UK,and Australia very soon. And whether you get it in Natural Walnut, Piano Black, or Piano White, the price goes for an only-cheap-to-audiophile price of $799.99 (around £666 / AU$1,230). And that price stays the same regardless of cartridge, of which you can choose from the Ortofon 2M Blue or Audio Technica AT-VM95ML.

Just be aware that the Fluance RT87 does not have a built-in phono preamp, so you’ll need to invest in one. Fluance does sell the PA10 Phono Preamp for $99.99 / £82.99 / AU$154 and can be bundled (though without a discount) on its site.

Fluance RT87 Turntable review: features

• Very light on features and extra perks — the connoisseurs' choice
• No phono preamp or 45 RPM adapter
• Does come with a bubble level

If the Fluance RT87 is more for the audio purist and I think that’s who the brand is targeting, then it makes sense that this turntable is pretty light on convenience-focused features. There is no built-in phono preamp — something you can find on much cheaper decks like the Audio-Technica AT-LP70XBT. And, of course, you won’t find Bluetooth connectivity or any other unique types of connectivity.

I don’t say this as a bad thing, either. After all, the Fluance RT87 is meant for someone ready to enter more serious vinyl listening and all those extra accoutrements take away from what’s important and that’s its performance and everything involved in making sure that it performs properly.

While I’ll cover most of those choices for performance in the next couple sections, it’s worth noting that the Fluance RT87 comes with the option of either the Ortofon 2M Blue or Audio Technica AT-VM95ML cartridge, either of which cost over $150 as just as part ($166.99 and $179.00, respectively). The configuration reviewed here is the Ortofon 2M Blue.

While there are plenty of opinions out there on both cartridges and how they affect the sound and I won’t parse out that whole conversation — people’s opinions of cartridges are as varied as they are on any other piece of audio equipment — other than to say that either cartridge marks an entry point into serious audio quality from more budget cartridges… just like the Fluance RT87 itself.

It’s also worth mentioning that this turntable can play 78, 45, and 33 RPM, via a selector on the lower left corner of the turntable so no need to adjust the belt like some turntables. Unfortunately, it doesn’t come with a 45 RPM adapter. Additionally, it has an Auto-Stop toggle on the back.

Features score: 3 / 5

Fluance RT87 Turntable review: sound quality

• Has a sweet, slightly warm sound
• Soundstage is immersive
• No discernable inner groove distortion

I learned a lot about my records using the Fluance RT87 as my conduit. I learned that I didn’t like the way Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours is mixed. I learned that there’s way too much happening in Kamasi Washington’s Truth. Just to name a few.

You hear something that was there this whole time, but you noticed it on this last listen. And that’s not something that typically happens with entry-level gear. In short, I really enjoyed listening to the Fluance RT87. And while the turn table is a step or two up from entry-level gear (maybe beginner audiophile gear or first serious turntable level), the rest of the chain was more on the budget side — Fluance’s affordable PA10 phono amp and the company’s Ai41 speakers. Solid gear, but not transcendent.

One of the good things about using the Ai41 speakers is its Bluetooth connectivity. I could compare a record to a digital stream of the same music via HiFi through Deezer, which I did in a few cases. Rumours, for instance, got a play through vinyl as well as Kacey Musgrave’s Golden Hour. And the vinyl sounded just a little bit better. Maybe it’s the even-order harmonics. Maybe it’s using physical media over digital zeros and ones. To me, everything through the Fluance RT87 had this little bit of bloom to it. It just sounded a little bit sweeter.

Since I had done my best to properly set up my bookshelf speakers when I did my serious listening, I found the soundstage to be expansive and enveloping during listening sessions. I mentioned Kamasi Washington’s Truth, from his album Harmony of Difference before. When playing that song (really the whole record), not only could I hear his band to the outer reaches of where the speakers were projecting, but I could hear precise placement of various horn parts placed across the sound stage. In the same vein, Radiohead’s Pyramid Song sounded phenomenal on this setup.

As far as frequency response goes, I was pretty pleased. With the obvious caveat that the speakers are going to be the biggest bottleneck in a sound system (a bit of an oversimplification), I found the mid-range to be rich and full. Kacey Musgrave’s voice and guitar on Slow Burn, the opening track from Golden Hour, has weight to it. And the high-end has plenty of detail, while retaining some of the warmth of analog as it’s a tiny bit rolled off in a pleasing kind of way.

Now, the bass response is a bit tighter as opposed to big or woolly. It was still very present. Sure, it has a defined space on an older record like Rumours or Talking Heads’ Remain In The Light, but it’s easily placeable and doesn’t overpower the mix in something like FKA Twigs’ EP1.

Lastly, every record I played had a good amount of headroom so that the music came through clearly and without any real distortion (outside of those even order harmonics). And there wasn’t any discernable inner groove distortion either as the stylus would wind its way to the end of each side.

Sound quality: 5 / 5

Fluance RT87 Turntable review: design

• Heavy-duty plinth and platter
• Belt-driven
• Removable cartridge

If you’re just getting into turntables, you might be wondering what puts the Fluance RT87 in a more expensive price bracket compared to a lot of the popular, feature-filled turntables out there, one of which you might be upgrading from.

Obviously the sound quality is a huge part of that, which we’ve already covered, but that sound quality is affected by the build of the Fluance RT87. Of course, it’s worth mentioning that it’s a classy-looking deck with a high-gloss finish, available in Natural Walnut (reviewed here), Piano White, and Piano Black. It is made from MDF, but that’s actually a positive, as it doesn’t create any resonance.

Getting back to that build, the plinth, aka the body or chassis of the turntable, is heavy — the whole thing weighs 21 lb (9.5 kg) — giving the turntable a durable feel. Also, the acrylic platter is hefty in and of itself at 4.1 lb (1.85 kg). Incidental bumping or closing of the dust cover, which is surprisingly easy to scratch, doesn’t skip or affect the sound. And unless your record is warped, it will rotate without any up or down motion.

This is a belt-driven turntable with an adjustable and rigid carbon fiber tonearm (you even get a little hex wrench to adjust it), complete with removable counterweight and tiny anti-skate weight, and replaceable cartridge. I’ve mentioned earlier the two types of cartridges to select from and the fact that the reviewed model here came with the Ortofon 2M Blue. It’s worth noting that this is a moving magnet cartridge with a nude elliptical stylus.

The feet, of which there are three, are adjustable to help level the Fluance RT87. They are basically large, mostly silicon silicon screws.

Control-wise, there’s just the speed selector on the front, left corner of the plinth and the auto-stop toggle on the back. The ports are about as Spartan — just stereo RCA inputs and a ground outlet.

As far as extras go, the turntable comes with a RCA cable, ground cable, hex wrench for adjusting the tone arm, and bubble level, so you can adjust the turntable’s angle accordingly before you end up butchering any records. Brushes and any extras will require an individual purchase.

Design score: 4.5 / 5

Fluance RT87 Turntable review: ease of use and setup

• Putting it together takes ten minutes
• Not plug-and-play
• Fine tuning takes even longer

This should not be your first turntable. There’s ritual to setting up the Fluance RT87, as there is for a lot of turntables once you graduate beyond the three-to-four hundred dollar range. Because of that, it was equal parts frustrating and engaging. So, yes, there is some assembly required.

When first unboxing, I had to remove everything from its plastic wrapping and then spend probably five minutes just getting everything all together. I had to put the platter on the plinth, put the belt around the platter and then on the motor, put the Ortofon cartridge on one end of the tonearm followed by the counterweight on the other end, then on goes the anti-skate weight, and, lastly, I had to add the hinges to the dust cover and then attach it to the plinth.

But wait, we’re not ready to start playing any records. I had to turn the platter a few times with the belt on so that it’s evenly distributed. Since the platter doesn’t have a ridge or indentation for the belt, it has a habit of slipping off (and still does if I’m a bit clumsy removing a record after play) — something you don’t have to deal with on cheaper decks.

I also had to adjust the feet so that the turntable is completely level, making sure records lie flat during play. This takes a bit of time because you have to reach under and turn each foot clockwise to extend (counter-clockwise to shorten) until the bubble level shows its bubble directly in the center. This took me about ten minutes of adjusting initially, though to be fair, I was using a table that wasn’t very level. After moving the Fluance RT87 from the table I first had it set up on to a different, somewhat treated room where I had to put it on the floor, it required much less adjusting.

Adjusting the tonearm’s counterweight took quite a while as I had to be precise in getting it to balance flat instead of flying up and away from the turntable or digging into my records. While it’s par for the course, this probably also took me about ten minutes of adjusting, though that’s partially because I set it up according to the manual and found the tonearm to still not have enough weight from the counterweight.

Similarly, the anti-skate weight here is a bit finicky as well. It’s just a tiny ball on a thread thin enough to thread a needle with a loop on the other end to attach to the tonearm. The tonearm attachment is basically a lever with four notches on it to account for different anti-skate weight needs (for instance, the anti-skate should loop over a different rung when using the Ortofon cartridge versus the Audio-Technica one). Not only did it take some experimentation to find the right setting, but the loop kept slipping off its rung.

If you’re upgrading to your first big-boy or big-girl turntable and considering this one, just be ready to put in some time getting it right before actually using it. Also be aware that some of the required attention to detail during setup is not unique to this turntable, though anti-skate weights aren’t always a tiny ball on a tiny string.

Usability and setup score: 3.5 / 5

Fluance RT87 Turntable review: value

• Less features and automation than cheaper turntables
• Better sound quality than those cheaper turntables
• Some entry-to-premium decks may sound as good, but aren’t as sturdy

It’s interesting that the cheaper decks are the more convenient. It’s almost as if the more money you spend, the less features. Exhibit A, for instance, might be the FiiO TT13. This turntable costs a little over a quarter of the price of the Fluance RT87 ($249 / £239 / AU$249 if you need specifics), while adding in Bluetooth connectivity, a built-in phono amp, a fully automatic tonearm, and, frankly, due to its plug-n-play design requires none of the setup or fine tuning of the record player reviewed here. But I would hazard that the Fluance RT87 sounds quite a bit better since it has a bit more heft to its sound.

If you’ve been looking at upping your vinyl game, you might have already looked at the popular Rega Planar PL1, which at $595 / £299 / AU$645, is probably a more direct comparison. But, while the Rega also has a pretty spacious sound, it’s a bit more workmanlike in construction. It’s more utilitarian in looks and is much more light weight in construction. The Fluance RT87’s acrylic platter alone weighs about half of the Rega Planar PL1, making the Fluance more likely to absorb shocks and bumps without fuss.

Value score: 4 / 5

Should I buy the Fluance RT87 Turntable?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

Fluance RT87 Turntable review:: Also consider

How I tested the Fluance RT87 Turntable

• Used regularly for a few weeks
• Played through Fluance P10 Phono Preamp and Fluance Ai41
• Played at various speeds and different size records

I used the Fluance RT87 for a few weeks, listening to as wide a variety of music from Rock to Jazz to Americana that I could. In so doing, I used the different speeds as well as seeing how it did with different size records. I also used the record player in a couple different rooms and with a couple different speakers, the Fluance Ai41 mentioned above and the Klipsch The Nines II.

I’ve tested a lot of tech gear over the years from laptops to keyboards and speakers, and so have been able to use my expertise towards giving an honest and fair opinion, not to mention a critical eye, to any product I test.

• First reviewed: July 2026
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Moving home is such a pain, and that's doubly true when half of your possessions are tech gadgets. I just spent weeks moving my belongings between two flats on opposite sides of London, and it would've taken half the time if I didn't have to shift countless large boxes that were 10% gadget and 90% packaging to keep said gadget from breaking.

Eventually I finished moving to The Ladder, as the area is called (not funny, since most tenants still aren't on it), and as soon as I had my foot on the rung, as it were, my turntable and hi-fi kit was the first thing I set up. The deposit had barely gone through before my Sony PS-LX310BT was on the cabinet and some Edifier M90s were either side.

That's right, the very first thing. Before I unpacked my clothes. I still haven't unpacked my books or computer. Getting some tunes going was the most important task.

This wasn't just because I wanted to enjoy some music while I unpacked, though, or because I wanted to claim the good speaker spots in the living room before my flatmate moved his own turntable in (OK actually, that was part of it). No: it's because getting your hi-fi set up in a new flat can save you loads of faff later on down the line.

Pride of place

Speakers aren't something you can just dump anywhere in your living room and get a good experience. A lot of thought needs to go into where they're placed.

Stereo speakers like mine need to be placed so they're spread evenly across a room, to put the listener in the sweet spot betwixt the two, not hidden together in a corner. You want to make sure they're placed on a surface that won't offer unwanted resonance, aren't too close to a wall and are, ideally, at ear level.

If you set up a living room and then bring your hi-fi kit into it, the ideal placement for all of this may already be taken up by other things. Books or DVDs or fancy liqueurs can hog the shelf space on which a speaker would ideally do best.

In my old apartment, the only convenient space for a turntable was on a shelf in the corner of the room. Reaching it to swap a record was a chore, and so I didn't bother using the player as much as I otherwise would.

That's why I thought it important to give my hi-fi set-up priority space in the room. Now, everything else can be place around it.

I'll admit, it wasn't perfect. As you can see in the pictures, I put my speakers on the same cabinet as the turntable. Great for taking pictures, not so great for music, because vibration interference might affect record playback. Unfortunately, it's the only place in the room where I could equally space the speakers, so it's something I'll have to make do with.

A mess of cables

"There's nothing as fun and sexy as cable management" is what I would say if I wanted to say something totally wrong. I hate the whole process of cleaning up wires and cables, and so often ignore it, leaving trails and black snakes and wire rat kings running like veins around my house.

(I know some people find great satisfaction in cable management and maintenance, with some cables ties and so on, and that's fair enough. It's just not my cup of tea. You can try and help me with mine, if you want though).

Unfortunately, this can quickly become a problem with a hi-fi set-up, when players and speakers need cables for power, cables for music, cables for the sake of it sometimes. I've created some pretty hideous messes in the past.

Sometimes, that makes moving house quite a pain, because you're left tangling or untangling countless wires. It's why I thought it important to set up everything quickly when I moved: I could refresh my cable situation, making sure I had all my audio cables in position before any annoying extras needed to be added.

I'm glad I did, because in the week I've moved here, the behind-the-cabinet area has turned into a nest of vipers. If I had to add my turntable now, it'd give me a migraine trying to work out what goes where.

That's especially true of power plugs, which are few and far between in any rental flat. Where I've plugged in the turntable and speakers, I also have to find space for a refrigerator, internet router, separate internet box (yeah, my ISP really likes taking up power points apparently), and various other things.

Since I've yet to buy a splitter, I'm constantly playing musical chairs with the plugs, removing and replacing them to find space for my laptop charger or projector. Thankfully, since the turntable and speakers were there first, they're too embedded to remove.

Where do the records go?

When I first set up my turntable and speaker, I thought those pieces of kit getting central spots would be the end of my space issue. I was wrong. And I'm not just talking about the fact that my flatmate and I have far more UK pint glasses than our kitchen storage can cope with.

Records. I'm talking about records. They're pretty big, aren't they? A lot bigger than my Spotify collection, that's for sure, because that takes up zero space.

Partly, I'm talking about how tall and wide records are. They just don't stack on all shelves, so you need to be smart about where you place them.

But the biggest problem for my flatmate and I soon became just how many records we have between us. We must have far north of 50 collectively, which makes them hard to fit on any kind of shelf.

Unfortunately, I didn't think of this ahead of time, and we only realized the issue when we'd already settled in the living room. Where were our records going to go? We'd already filled the crevices in the cabinet with bowls and plates, and reaching the shelves required a stretch, so that was no cigar.

It took some reorganization to carve out a space for them in one of the cabinet's areas, and that's only a half measure, because I had to sacrifice about three-fifths of my collection to the black void that is my unpacked room. But our favorite records are within reach, at least.

If I'd have thought this far in advance, I'd have saved some more cabinet space for records. But it just goes to prove the point: a hi-fi system takes thought, and if you don't bring it into your home before anything else (yes, including bowls and cutlery and little ramekins of the sort I have far too many of), you end up having to totally reorganize when it's too late.

We're halfway through 2026, which means a lot of products have passed through TechRadar's testing rooms — in total, we've reviewed a colossal 639 products in January to June 2026.

That includes a load of fantastic audio tech — including new options good enough to challenge the best wireless speakers, the best turntables, the best DACs to get more from streaming music on your PC or phone, and the best stereo speakers.

Our expert reviewers have tested a lot of stuff, and some products have proven to be the cream that rises to the top. Here are the products in these areas that scored either 5 stars or 4.5 stars in our reviews, making them best-in-class or highly recommended.

Wireless & stereo speakers

Wharfedale Diamond 12.1i

• Score: 5 / 5
• Price: $499 / £249 / AU$699 (pair)

What is it? The latest bookshelf stereo speakers in Wharfedale's famous 'Diamond' line, which is over 40 years old and clearly still going strong. They're two-way speakers with a 25mm tweeter, a 130mm mid/bass driver, and deliverying a frequency range of 65Hz - 20kHz. And they're easy to drive, and flexible on positioning — a great beginner hi-fi model.

What we said: "The Wharfedale Diamond 12.1i speakers turn out to be (yet another) high-achieving-yet-affordable loudspeaker option. They sound excellent, they're very unfussy about what drives them, they look and feel good, and they're extremely well priced. They're a little large for a pair of ostensibly 'bookshelf' speakers, so be warned if you're actually looking to put them on shelves, but that's easily forgiven."

Read our full Wharfedale Diamond 12.1i review

Cambridge L/R S

What is it? Small and stylish active stereo speakers with wireless connectivity as well as wired digital and analogue connections. There's 100 watts of Class D amplification powering a 21mm tweeter and 76mm mid/bass driver combo, and the connection stretch to USB-C, line-level stereo RCA, digital optical input, a pre-out for a subwoofer, and Bluetooth (with aptX HD codec compatibility).

What we said: "The Cambridge L/R S is a good-looking, well-built wireless active stereo speaker system that has the bold sound smarts to back up the fine, multi-option visuals. Sure, it's a little too confident at the bottom of the frequency range, with too much weight given to bass information, but for the money it's a genuine contender in an already-stacked market. Requires serious consideration."

Read our full Cambridge L/R S review

Sonos Play

• Score: 4.5 / 5
• Price: $299 / £299 / AU$499

What is it? Sonos' mid-size portable speaker, with enough power and quality to work as a home speaker, but a battery and charging cradle so you can take it away instantly. With audio input as an option over its USB-C port (via an adapter) it's incredible versatile — it's also tough and waterproof.

What we said: "The Sonos Play is a triumph of usability. It has just the right design and convenience considerations to make you pick it up and use it more often than other speakers, even great portable ones. To paraphrase a notable camera quote: the best speaker is the one you choose to listen on. The Sonos Play encourages me to listen more, in more places. It doesn't hurt that it sounds better than most portable speakers, too, and can hold its own as a home speaker."

Read our full Sonos Play review

Fluance Ri91

• Score: 4.5 / 5
• Price: $799 (about £640 / AU$1,270)

What is it? Big floorstanding active speakers with the power of a full hi-fi system, but no need for a separate amp or inputs. There's 150 watts of power behind two 6.5-inch mid/bass drivers and an AMT tweeter per speaker, and connections include HDMI, two RCA inputs, a subwoofer out, and Bluetooth (including aptX HD).

What we said: "The Fluance Ri91 sound great when turned up, though they can be a bit mid-focused, especially for those looking for neutral-sounding speakers. The included HDMI ARC input (quality control issues notwithstanding) are appreciated, as is the ability to stream higher-res audio over Bluetooth aptX."

Read our full Fluance Ri91 review

Denon Home 400

• Score: 4.5 / 5
• Price: $599 / £449 (around AU$999)

What is it? A relatively hefty and powerful wireless speaker (think of it as a fair bit bigger than a toaster), that uses six-drivers to deliver expansive Dolby Atmos spatial sound. There are left and right drivers, upfiring drive units, and two 4.5-inch woofers, all with their own Class D amplification. It uses the Denon HEOS wireless system and app, which is powerful and well-specced too.

What we said: "It's a home speaker that delivers where it counts, and is probably the most compelling single-unit spatial audio offering at this price, where it goes head-to-head with some serious competition. It offers confident, engaging and immersive spatial audio performance, a thoughtful and stylish design, and a great range of connectivity options, along with an excellent HEOS app. It sounds wonderful in its default Auto mode or the slightly more balanced Pure mode, but it really rewards those of us who tinker a bit, especially if you mess around with some of the customization options for the width and height of spatial sound."

Read our full Denon Home 400 review

Klipsch The Nines II

• Score: 4.5 / 5
• Price: $2,399 / £2,249 / AU$4,999

What is it? A pair of active standmount stereo speakers (their size and weight maybe pushes them beyond being 'bookshelf' speakers, really) that deliver tons of power connectivity with any extra components needed. They can be a soundbar replacement with HDMI and Dolby Atmos/DTS:X support, plus they have Bluetooth and Wi-Fi for music, as well as optical, phono, USB, coaxial, and ethernet.

What we said: "The Klipsch The Nines II are an easy recommendation despite the weight and despite the price bump over the previous version. It's thanks to the immersive, robust sound and large set of features, not to mention broad connectivity — they're an excellent all-in-one hi-fi upgrade."

Read our full Klipsch The Nines II review

Sonos Era 100 SL

• Score: 4.5 / 5
• Price: $189 / £169 / AU$289

What is it? A cheaper version of Sonos' entry-level home speaker, delivering all the same connectivity as the regular Era 100 (including Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, plus line-in over its USB-C port using an adapter) and the same sound quality, but for cheaper. You lose voice control and Quick Trueplay on Android as a result, but it's hard to argue with the price.

What we said: "What Sonos has achieved with the Era 100 SL is impressive. It has managed to pack in the same quality sound, great connectivity and iconic design, while dropping the price to a more affordable level. But there are absolutely some compromises — voice control is absent here, while Android users will miss out Sonos' room correction. Despite this though, it's one of the strongest performers in its price range, making it an easy choice if you never invested in the original Era 100."

Read our full Sonos Era 100 SL review

Turntables

Sony PS-LX5BT 

• Score: 4.5 / 5
• Price: $499 / £399 / AU$599

What is it? Sony's successor to its previous and wildly popular affordable Bluetooth turntable, bringing fully automatic operation and Bluetooth connectivity in a sleek design. The ultimate beginner turntable? Well, there's a cheaper version that might be more tempting, but for the price, it's hard to argue with.

What we said: "The Sony PS-LX5BT picks up where the PS-LX310BT it replaces left off — as one of the best pound-for-pound Bluetooth turntables around. If you want the most painless vinyl experience possible, you’ve come to the right place."

Read our full Sony PS-LX5BT review

Goldring GR3

• Score: 4.5 / 5
• Price: $1,299 / £699 (around AU$1,599)

What is it? Goldring is one of the oldest hi-fi companies in the world, and hasn't made a turntable in several decades — and now it's back with a very well-specified and great-looking new model. A built-in phono stage and high-quality provided cartridge make it great for relative novices, though it's odd that you can't bypass that phono.

What we said: "Goldring has managed to enter a tricky area of the turntable market with a player that is distinct enough (where finish, specification and sound quality are concerned) to stand out and make quite a compelling case for itself."

Read our full Goldring GR3 review

Headphone DACs

Fiio KA15

• Score: 5 / 5
• Price: $99.99 / £99.99 / AU$189.99

What is it? This tiny DAC blends the retro with the modern. It does a better job of converting hi-res audio to analog than your device's built-in DAC will, and has a fun little cassette animation while it plays.

What we said: "If you have big audio ambitions and a very small budget, the KA15 is excellent value for money. It's a significant upgrade in sound quality for smartphones and computers, and while it's not as powerful as a desktop headphone amp it has more than enough oomph for a wide range of headphones and IEMs so it's fairly future-proof."

Read our full Fiio KA15 review

Eversolo DAC-Z10

• Score: 5 / 5
• Price: $1,980 / £1,939 / AU$3,339

What is it? A super-versatile addition to a hi-fi setup, providing a high-end DAC system, a pre-amp, and a powerful headphone amp all in one unit. It's pricey, but it's incredibly well-specified, making it kind of a bargain — at least as far as premium hi-fi goes.

What we said: "The Eversolo DAC-Z10 won’t fail to satisfy, provided your partnering equipment is up to scratch. It’s a premium DAC for a premium system, and offers all the bells and whistles you could hope for as a result, as well as immaculate sound quality that specializes in finding every possible grain of detail in your music. It's simply as capable a DAC/preamp/headphone amp as this sort of money can buy."

Read our full Eversolo DAC-Z10 review

iFi GO Link 2

• Score: 4.5 / 5
• Price: $59 / £59 (around AU$111)

What is it? A no-fuss, super-small headphone DAC to make it easy to use wired headphones and earbuds with your phone or laptop, and with an audio upgrade along the way. Oh, and it's super-cheap as a bonus.

What we said: "The iFi Go Link 2 takes everything that's great about the original and packs it into a dinky DAC that's even smaller and lighter than before. It's a fantastic audio upgrade and it's priced very keenly, too."

Read our full iFi Go Link 2 review

It's 'Global Beatles Day' today, June 25th, which is the perfect excuse to go on a magical mystery tour of the Fab Four's finest output. Consider it a gift from me to you: I've collected essential vinyl albums, great turntables to play them on, fun accessories, the ultimate version of their best movie, and some other great gifts from across the universe (well, Amazon).

There's obviously the option of getting the whole Beatles Anthology vinyl collection, but that's a lot of money to spend — though I want to tell you that it's also excellent value overall. There are also smaller collections, so you can pick up the LPs that look especially great when displayed, such as Abbey Road, Revolver and The White Album.

I've got a feeling you'll also love the special Criterion Collection Blu-ray of A Hard Day's Night, because it's easily the best way to watch the film, with a beautiful visual presentation and hours of features and documentaries from the era.

I've also highlighted a Sony turntable that's basically the best beginner option on the market right now if you're just getting into vinyl, plus some Beatles playing cards and a couple of other cool desktop gifts. Don't wait on these — because tomorrow never knows if they'll still be available.

UK Beatles picks

US Beatles picks

More Prime Day deals in the US

• Amazon Devices: Fire Sticks & Echo from $18
• Amazon Haul: viral gadgets, tech & appliances from $1.99
• Apple: MacBooks, AirPods & AirTags from $29
• Back-to-school tech: 48% off laptops, headphones & tablets
• Cheap TVs: Samsung, Sony & LG from $89.99
• Headphones: 50% off Beats, Bose & Samsung
• Laptops: Apple, HP & Dell from $199
• Smartwatches: up to $250 off Garmin & Apple
• Vacuums: Dyson, Shark & Bissell from $34

More Amazon Prime Day deals in the UK

• Amazon Prime: get a 30-day free trial
• Amazon Devices: Fire, Ring & Blink from £13.99
• Apple: up to 33% off AirPods & Apple Watch
• Appliances: up to 45% off Ninja & De'Longhi
• Fans: from £20
• Headphones: up to 50% off Beats & Sony
• Tablets: Samsung & Lenovo from £79.99
• Vacuums: up to 40% off Shark & Roborock
• Wearables: up to 30% off Garmin & Oura

Music lovers listen up, Amazon Prime Day is stacked with offers on some of our favorite audio brands, and I've just spotted a deal on our best budget turntable, making it even more affordable — what more could you ask for?

I started my vinyl record collection in my teens, but my first mistake was not doing my research beforehand, and I purchased one of those Crosley-style players that do nothing but wreck your albums. If I were to speak to my 17-year-old self again, I'd tell him to look into the Sony PS-LX5BT turntable instead.

• Browse the full Amazon Prime Day sale

When we gave the Sony PS-LX5BT a first spin, it was an immediate 4.5 stars from us and we even described it as 'one of the best pound-for-pound Bluetooth turntables around'. Now Amazon has knocked it down to $398 from $499.99, while Amazon in the UK has a similar deal for £307 (was £399).

Selecting the right vinyl player for your needs takes time. At the end of the day, they're an investment piece, so you don't want to regret your choice, but the Sony PS-LX5BT is a solid entry-level option. Our audio editor Becky Scarrott has also pieced together a collection of some of our favorite turntables — which would make great graduation gifts .

Today's best Sony PS-LX310BT deal

My JAM Audio Bluetooth turntable gave out on me a while back, and now I've become that annoying friend that's constantly begging to use other people's vinyl player to spin my favorite LPs. Well, thank goodness for Prime Day is all I can say.

As far as entry-level turntables go, the Sony PS-LX5BT turntable is simple and uncomplicated, yet doesn't compromise sound quality. If anything, its sonic characteristics are quite upfront.

It also doesn't fall flat on the features front. You're going to get plenty of connectivity options including stereo RCA connections for hooking the turntable up to speakers or an amplifier, as well as Bluetooth if you refer to opt for wireless connection. The only small setback is that it doesn't come with an adjustable counterweight, so you get what what you're given, but that's expected for a beginner-friendly record player.

Features aside, there's no denying that it's incredibly sleek in its design, right? And the dust shield is an added bonus, adding an extra layer of protection to your vinyl records as you spin them. I'd buy it on the design front alone.

More Prime Day deals in the US

• Amazon Devices: Fire Sticks & Echo from $18
• Amazon Haul: viral gadgets, tech & appliances from $1.99
• Apple: MacBooks, AirPods & AirTags from $29
• Beauty: 50% off toothbrushes & hair tools
• Cheap TVs: smart TVs from $69.99
• Garden: tools, mowers, planters from $24.99
• Headphones: 50% off Beats, Bose & Samsung
• Laptops: Apple, HP & Dell from $199
• Mattresses: Sealy, Serta & more from $186
• Patio: outdoor furniture, rugs & decor from $19.99
• Sports: 50% off fitness gear, treadmills & clothing
• Vacuums: Dyson, Shark & Bissell from $34

More Prime Day deals in the UK

• Amazon Prime: get a 30-day free trial
• Amazon Devices: Fire, Ring & Blink from £13.99
• Amazon Haul: up to 30% off
• Apple: up to 33% off AirPods & Apple Watch
• Appliances: up to 45% off Ninja & Tefal
• Beauty: up to 60% off Philips & Oral-B
• Essentials: household goods from £5
• Fans: from £20
• Fashion: up to 50% off
• Gaming: £90 off PlayStation 5
• Headphones: up to 50% off Beats & Sony
• Laptops: from £149
• Tablets: Samsung & Lenovo from £79.99
• Toys: up to 25% off Lego and Tonies
• TVs: from £129.99
• Vacuums: up to 40% off Shark & Roborock
• Wearables: up to 30% off Garmin & Oura

It's a huge day. That second you become fully aware that your studying days and nights are finally behind you is one of life's pivotal moments. You only really know it happened because someone tied a ribbon around your results, handed you a robe, and took your photo holding the scroll. But you did it; you got there!

And if the newly liberated student in your life is looking to move into their own place, or simply wanting to chill out with a bit of downtime before 'real work' begins, a turntable is the kind of important gift they might love to receive from you.

As luck would have it, Amazon Prime Day is upon us, and that means some savvy shopping deals may coincide beautifully with your gifting. However, I'm not focusing on that here, despite my obligation to place a link below this piece…

See all early Prime Day deals at Amazon

4 excellent turntables that will last long after they graduate

This mini roundup is simply the four best turntables I recommend as graduation gifts, irrespective of deals. At the time of writing, the cheapest of the lot, the Bluetooth-friendly Sony PS-LX3BT (which is the cheaper sibling of the splendid Sony PS-LX5BT and a direct replacement for the 2019-issue Sony PS-LX310BT), is already discounted by 18% too, meaning you'll now only pay $328 (was $398) on Amazon.

One up from this in terms of pricing is the excellent Pro-Ject Debut Carbon Evo, which is the top turntable we recommend for most people in our guide to the best turntables. Why do I love it? It just sounds so good for the relatively affordable price. Unlike the Sony above, this one won't ping vinyl audio to your Bluetooth headphones and is more of a traditional-style deck, requiring amplification and hard-wired connections to sing, but that's part of its beauty — they can tailor it to their future!

Want to give them something brand new, hot off the factory floor and for my money, even better-looking than the Pro-Ject? Meet the baby of the bunch, the days-old Fluance RT87. Its winsome looks come largely from what Fluance calls a 'dual plinth', but there's really only one plinth with a novel two-layer design, to eliminate vibrational nasties. It's so new, we've yet to review it, but this is Fluance, a trusted name in audio and a little birdie tells me early signs are resoundingly positive.

This is again a more traditional, analog-style amp-and-passive-speakers type turntable. You can buy it with either the super-solid Audio-Technica AT-VM95ML stylus preloaded or, for listeners seeking a highly musical presentation, the Ortofon 2M Blue, known for its tonally rich character and detail.

What if they've got a Sonos speaker they'd like to make use of (or you've got one you were planning to give them when they move out)? I've got you: the Victrola Stream Onyx works with Sonos kit, with no other connections needed. You can even get it in a stunning sage green (you'd be so surprised how many people ask me to recommend sage green turntables) and the build is effortlessly chic. Yes, it's the priciest model here, but when you consider that you may not need anything else to get vinyl that harnesses your (their!) home Wi-Fi, it may make more sense.

I hope you find a favorite among these, because I love them all. And wish your recent graduate all the very best on this mad journey we call life from me, will you?

• Technics x Fritz Hansen: every content creator's dream collab
• From Technics: its premium-class SL-40CBT turntable in oxblood red
• From Fritz Hansen: its iconic Kaizer idell 6631-T lamp, also in oxblood red

Fritz Hansen, the Danish furniture company, and Technics, the Japanese audio specialist, have teamed up to unveil a brand new... nothing, strictly speaking (and when we get down to brass tacks).

And yet the new partnership is every content creator's dream, because it has seen them both re-release old products, but in a juicy oxblood red. It's perfect for the influencer staple 'I just bought a 60ft Parisian apartment with no plan; now what?!' series. Arrange next to a well-thumbed hardback book with macrame bookmark, a French press with ceramic blue-glaze espresso cup and an old armchair bought on a lazy Sunday at the Marche aux Puces — you're away.

Anyway. Since we're a tech site, let's start with the audio option. The Technics SL-40CBT direct-drive turntable was released towards the end of 2025 and we noted its refreshingly different 'terracotta' color option as one of the biggest highlights of the deck.

Well, that's terra-gotta go, because Technics' new model is a burgundy or oxblood red version — a colorway that's definitely having a moment — of that same turntable. It offers the same specs as the original build (no word on pricing just yet), but in the new hue and with Fritz Hansen branding on the felt mat. Oh, and it's limited edition! Only 300 models are going on sale.

Coming from Fritz Hansen is, you guessed it, another older device recolored to oxblood-slash-burgundy. It's the Kaiser idell lamp which is, I'm told, an iconic 1930s table lamp. I'm no lamp journalist, but Fritz Hansen's lights straddle the $1,000 price point, so I don't doubt its credentials.

Only 200 of these red lights are going on sale (well spotted, the lamp is even more limited edition than the deck), and only in Europe or Asia — unlike the turntable, which will be on sale in the US. Both products will see the light of day in October, with pricing yet to be announced — but I imagine they won't be affordable to the majority of flea market shoppers, Parisian or otherwise…

But... why?

Companies re-releasing older successful models in new colors is nothing new. What's confounding to me about Technics and Fritz Harmon's collaboration is just how much spin has been invested, to make these devices sound truly exciting.

"Music is an art of time. Time flows without form, quietly imprinting itself on our emotions through sound" says a noted representative of Technics. "Sound and light both change how a space feels without touching its structure" reads another quote.

If you've been re-reading those press release quotes to try and understand what they mean (and wondering whether I've introduced a typo to ruin their meaning), you're not alone. But I've carefully re-read it several times and consulted with experts (other people on TechRadar's team) and we've come to the conclusion that at least we know it wasn't written by AI.

"Two objects with distinct origins that, together, form a setting that is considered and deeply human" puts me in mind of The Bard's "Two households, both alike in dignity, In fair Verona, where we lay our scene". But I think really, it's two companies with very good legacy products, tying themselves in knots, trying to wax lyrical on the interplay of light and sound (because they are light and sound companies).

Or maybe there's a lot more going on, and I'm just too confused (or dim) to understand what they're trying to say. Look, the burgundy turntable actually looks really nice. Yes, I wish I could enjoy it without requiring a PhD in philosophy to understand the announcement, but in the end, it would look great in my listening room…

• Clearaudio's going huge at High End Vienna, with seven new releases
• As well as the Rammstein, there's a Beatles turntable, plus one for gamers
• …and let's not forget the new power supply, phono stage, and cartridge
• Only 1,000 Rammstein decks will exist, for $2,600 / £1,990 (around AU$3,639)

Want to know a secret? In 2000, as a 20-year-old dancer, I joined the cast of Das Phantom der Oper — or as you probably know it, The Phantom of the Opera — in Hamburg as the soloist ballet dancer (yes, there's ballet in the musical even if nobody remembers it).

And this is how I discovered Rammstein — and why now, Mein Herz brennt for this delightful new deck. It has just been unveiled by Clearaudio, and it is about to be shown off at the huge hi-fi and audiophile show, High End Vienna.

Want one? It's due to become available in October (priced and only $2,600 / £1,990, which is around AU$3,639 where sold) and only 1,000 of them are being made, so I'd register your interest as quickly as possible, Ausländer…

Ich will kein Engel sein — I just want this turntable

Fun fact: "Angel of Music" translates to "Engel der Muse" in German (a key song in Andrew Lloyd Webber's masterwork), and listening to Till Lindemann et al's Engel is honestly how I learned to sing the language and understand it.

Rammstein fans will know this, but the sub-head above means "I don't want to be an angel". Quite.

Anyway, Clearaudio is a highly respected name in turntable production (just see the five-star Clearaudio Concept, for starters), and the firm is very keen for us to know that this is no standard turntable with a Rammstein-style glow-up. It was, says Clearaudio, "developed from the outset as a fully independent model, combining the engineering foundation of the proven Concept turntable with a design language created specifically in collaboration with Rammstein".

The chassis features "a massive block construction with an extremely rigid MDF core" and metallic lacquer finish, and the integrated dimmable LED lighting — available in red or white — is what I really love about it (or Was Ich Liebe, if you will).

The tonearm is Clearaudio’s known T1, but it has been paired here with a specially branded MM cartridge. Each deck also ships in a "premium wooden crate handcrafted in the Bavarian Forest, designed to serve afterwards as storage for vinyl, merchandise, or collectibles".

And in case I didn't stress this enough, the edition is strictly limited to 1,000 units worldwide, and expected to be available from October 2026.

And now, the Innovation Revolver Special Edition — a Beatles tribute turntable

I know what you're thinking: it's rare for the Beatles to get second billing to Rammstein. True, but this is my news coverage, and I get to make the rules.

Clearaudio's simply outdone itself for High End Vienna. I may not even get to the new turntable built for gamers, the off-grid power supply, the new "phono stage reimagined", carbon-fibre cartridge or redesign-able Elevation 45 and Elevation 55 decks, although I highly recommend you go and see them in Vienna, if you're able.

The Beatles' 1966 masterpiece Revolver needs no further fanfare or humming of Eleanor Rigby from me, but here is a fresh Clearaudio turntable and, importantly, an optional (but highly pleasing) unique monochrome stand to really celebrate it.

The deck's new plinth sandwiches aluminium with a "precision-engineered composite stone" chosen specifically for its resonance control and playback stability, and this is also featured in the optional matching monochrome stand.

Clearaudio tells me that the turntable is fully configured and ready to play, including the Clearaudio Tracer tonearm in Black Carbon, Concept MC Signature cartridge, Professional Power 24V power supply, and Innovation Clamp.

As you'd hope, completing the package is a heavyweight special edition pressing of Revolver, half-speed mastered on 180g vinyl with the newly mixed stereo album and restored artwork by Klaus Voormann.

This very special edition will be available from late Summer 2026, with a suggested retail price of $17,900 / £10,500 (around AU$19,744) for the turntable, but you'll need another $11,050 / £7,500 (about AU$14,100) for that matching stand.

Want to buy it? Good for you. Just make sure you won't have to hide from the Taxman later on — although I suppose Tomorrow Never Knows…

• New CoolGeek TS-01 launched on Kickstarter
• Automatic turntable with glowing lights within the platter
• A retail price of $299, and it's already fully funded

Like any good tech writer, RGB-tinged gadgetry has infiltrated my home, but there's one piece of kit that still doesn't glow — or didn't glow, but a new Kickstarter project looks set to fix that.

I'm talking about the new CoolGeek TS-01 turntable, which you can take a look at on the crowdfunding site here. It seems to be the first project from the CoolGeek brand, but it's already blown past its HK$100,000 (about $12,000, £9,000, AU$18,000) goal by at least 10 times.

The CoolGeek TS-01 has a retail price of $299, so it's cheaper than some of our favorite affordable spinners, such as the Sony PS-LX5BT, and in classic Kickstarter fashion it's even cheaper if you pledge sooner.

The 'gimmick' of this turntable — according to me, rather than CoolGeek — is that it comes with some lighting effects, which emanate from the platter. The Kickstarter doesn't say if these are automatic, or customizable in an app, but the latter seems possible.

That's because the speaker supports Bluetooth 5.3 output as well as RCA, so it could theoretically connect to an app.

It's all about ease of use

Judging by the Kickstarer page, CoolGeek has a different idea about the turntable's selling points.

The page points to the turntable's automatic status as a draw, with an included remote ensuring you can control the record player without having to get up and control the arm (other than, presumably, switching records every 20 minutes in time-honored tradition).

It's also a thin creation, with a 28mm profile for the body, not including the dust cover or platter.

The tone-arm is made with carbon fiber but there's no word on the cartridge, even though it seems to have an Audio-Technica logo on it in photos. The Kickstarter page's focus on ease of use, and the price, suggests to me this is designed as an entry-level turntable rather than one for audiophiles.

But given that some of the best turntables are the ones that are easiest to use, that's only a good thing. Their complex set-up can put potential record player owners off, and so a build like this could overcome some hurdles. The RGB is just a nice extra touch.

The Kickstarter campaign is running until May 10, and CoolGeek states that shipping will begin in early July, with units taking up to a month to arrive depending on where you live.

• Victrola and Third Man Records are teaming for an exclusive collaboration
• It features a redesigned Victrola Wave deck in Third Man's flagship colors
• The collection drops on Record Store Day 2026 (April 18)

Leading audio brand Victrola makes some of the best turntables on the market, and its latest collaboration with Third Man Records is about to shake up Record Store Day 2026.

Combining Victrola's analog expertise with record label and music store Third Man Records (co-founded by Jack White), the two music moguls are launching an exclusive collection that features a revamped version of the Victrola Wave turntable finished in Third Man’s flagship black and yellow colors. In addition to the turntable, the duo are also giving Victrola's Tempo bookshelf speakers the Third Man treatment, so make a complete system.

The collection launches on Record Store Day itself (April 18) retailing at $499.99/ £455 for the Victrola Wave turntable and $249.99/ £225 for the Tempo speakers, or you can save $100 and opt for the $649.99 limited-time bundle. It will be available to purchase online from Third Man Records and Victrola’s web store, or you can snag it in-store at Third Man’s Detroit, Nashville and London sites.

“What Jack and his team have built is something truly magical,” says CEO of Victrola, Scott Hagen. “They aren’t just painting things yellow and black — it’s as if they’re bringing inanimate objects to life, each one with its own character and soul. Maybe that’s why vinyl and vinyl culture fit so naturally within the Third Man world”.

Speaking on behalf of Third Man Records, co-founder Ben Blackwell is equally as thrilled for the collaboration, sharing “Third Man is stoked to be making these yellow-as-hell-o turntables and speakers with the cool cats over at Victrola”.

Victrola unveiled the original Wave turntable at CES 2025, and it caught the attention of analog enthusiasts for one particular reason. As well as offering aptX Adaptive support for higher quality listening, Victrola’s Wave turntable comes with Auracast, a Bluetooth setting that allows for multi-device connectivity, thus taking it a step beyond one-to-one device pairing. Just think about how neat it would be to spin your new RSD pressings and listen to them throughout your place? Absolute bliss.

But Victrola’s funky Wave revamp is just the beginning of the company’s partnered RSD celebrations, there's also a carefully compiled a collection of Third Man Records pressings including Jack White’s Blunderbuss and The White Stripes essential listening Elephant. There’s also a live album by Brooklyn-based band Geese thrown in there which, as a huge fan, I am now suddenly craving. The launch is also set to be followed by an RSD event at Third Man’s Detroit store — any chance you can squeeze us onto the guestlist?

If you're as excited for Record Store Day as we are, don't forget to check out our pick of the 13 of the best Record Store Day 2026 releases to get your hands on.

The thing about Record Store Day is that you can buy all the vinyl in the world but it won't be much use without a turntable to play it on. Oh, sure, you could just arrange it artfully on the walls to show off your impeccable taste, but wouldn't you rather just listen to it?

But what to buy? Or, if you already have a turntable, what to upgrade to? Below, I've picked out six of the best turntables we've tested, together with a few extras you might need to complete your setup.

The first thing I'll say is that every turntable in my list has built-in Bluetooth, so you can stream to a speaker or headphones with ease. All have a phono stage built-in too, so there's no need for a standalone amp unless you don't have powered speakers.

The House of Marley Revolution is the cheapest in my selection, but also one of the best for value and a great starter option. Stepping up, there's the excellent Audio-Technica AT-LP70XBT, which offers better sound for a slightly higher price and the Sony PS-LX5BT, which costs a fair whack more but you get what you pay for, right?

If sound quality really, really matters to you then the excellent Pro-Ject Juke Box E1 sits at the top of this audiophile tree, while the Mixx Analog Plus 2-In-1 and Victrola Stream Carbon both offer something a little different: the Mixx also has a built-in CD player, the Victrola can stream direct to a Sonos setup.

If you want more than just Bluetooth streaming then you'll need some speakers. The superb Kanto Ren speakers are powered, so there's no need for an amp there, while the Dail Kupid are some of the best passive speakers we've tested at this price. The WiiM Amp Ultra is a little pricey — you can get an amp for much less if you want to — but as a proud owner I can confirm that it is excellent as both an amp and a streamer, and your tunes deserve the best, right? And I've thrown in a couple of essential extras, too.

Sorted. Now you just need the vinyl — so head to our list of the 13 best LPs we've seen in the RSD List this year and our getting started with vinyl feature.

Turntables

Speakers

Extras

• TechDas has just unveiled its Air Force IV elite turntable
• The tech involved? It vacuum-clamps your vinyl to make it float on air
• …and it has nothing to do with Nike trainers or the US President's airplane

Some brands just know how to time a turntable release for maximum exposure alongside Record Store Day, don't they?

The TechDas Air Force IV (it's nothing to do with the US President's transport, or Nike trainers) is an exacting deck for the seriously committed audiophile — I'd even go so far as to say it takes the act of spinning plates to surgical levels of precision.

Why? Because alongside the ability to install up to three tonearms and cartridges to it at any given time (the audiophile knows that tracking weights, the arc of the arm and the thickness of that tiny diamond-tipped stylus all make a difference) this turntable harnesses the power of air to elevate sound quality.

The Air Force IV, uses a silent electric pump to float its high-mass, one-piece platter on a high-pressure "air bearing". That's right: with the Air Force IV, your vinyl is actually vacuum-clamped perfectly flat. Thought playing a record was as simple as placing it on the platter and gently lowering the needle? Think again…

So exacting it's almost scary

The Japanese turntable specialist tells me that the new Air Force IV slots in directly above the "entry-level" Air Force V Premium in the current TechDas turntable hierarchy.

Okay, but at £19,998 (it has officially landed in the UK now, having been unveiled at last year's High End Munich show), which is roughly $27,000 or AU$38,000, it's about as far from entry-level as my poor gray matter can handle.

But just for clarity on TechDas' turntable catalog, in ascending order, next would come the Air Force III Premium, Air Force III Premium S, Air Force One, Air Force One Premium and mighty Air Force Zero, the latter costing just shy of $500,000 or £400,000, depending on which tonearm you opt for.

The Air Force IV (the price of which suddenly seems relatively reasonable) incorporates key features from the company’s top-tier turntables, chief of which is TechDas' calling card air-bearing system. As well as vacuum-clamping your vinyl to ensure it stays exactingly level while spinning, this isolates the 9kg rotating platter to boast an "extraordinarily low noise floor."

Elsewhere, the Air Force IV's 21.5kg one-piece aluminum alloy chassis sits on four suspension feet with the same "specialised damping materials" used in the company's far pricier Air Force III Premium S.

Look, the idea of turntable boasting such formidable abilities (and aesthetics, honestly) sitting casually in my home without harvesting my kidneys while I sleep is a hard one for my imagination to ignore. But for this level of sonic performance, you'd better believe I'd try.

Replace this – check in here for a relevant ecomms block to include. If none, include a Hawk widget instead

Friends. You're here because even after consulting my in depth Record Store Day missive, you want more. And I applaud you.

You know you can access the Record Store Day list in the UK, the list for the US (similar but different!) or the much smaller but still important Record Store Day Australia list. And you can check out some of the RSD-adjacent merch we most like the look of, be it Majority's new deck-and-speakers colorway or this delightfully bold deck from Tinyl.

The thing is — and to quote one of my favorite musicians and writers of all time — you want a little of that human touch.

So here it is. I asked the entire TechRadar editorial team for a few sentences on the limited-edition LP or single (note: that's everything on the list) they most like the look of from this year's RSD drop, and why.

Some of the responses are genuinely touching. Music has always been the 'arms across the generations' balm we need in trying times. And, while I'm keeping it light, these particular times are pretty trying, no?

Couple of things to note when picking your poison to buy on Record Store Day: stores have to be affiliated members of RSD to participate, and they abide by a code of conduct, so your local shop is probably getting involved, but it's not a given. You can check for your nearest participating store with Record Store Day's International store locator. As you can see from the main image of this listicle, my local store (Boiler Room Records in Poole, Dorset) is fully onboard.

Also, you can't buy any RSD products online until 8pm on the Monday after Record Store Day (ie. almost 72 hours after RSD proper), because the event's vibe is much more 'Get down to a real bricks-and-mortar record shop and for goodness sake talk to people'. This means that stock can — and often does — sell out on the day, before it can be shopped virtually.

Lastly, anyone offering pre-orders of RSD products online now (on eBay or similar) is a person looking to go to their store on the day early doors, buy something and then sell it to you for a much higher price than they paid. And this is something Record Store Day frowns upon.

But enough of that. Here's your top Record Store Day vinyl, as picked by the TechRadar team. Enjoy the music and, above all, get down to your local record store this weekend if you're able. You won't regret it.

Sweet Tea, Buddy Guy (25th Anniversary)

Label: Commercial Group
Format: 2x LP

Around 20 years ago I had started university and, free from parental oversight but with a fresh student loan burning a hole in my pocket, I went into one of my local record stores (back then there seemed to be loads) and spent a small fortune on any album I liked the look of, regardless of whether or not I had heard of the artists.

And somehow I ended up with Sweet Tea by Buddy Guy — which is getting a two-LP reissue this Record Store Day for its 25th anniversary.

While I can’t quite remember the exact circumstances of getting the album, its impact on me was huge. I had dipped into blues music before, but I was mainly more of a fan of the bands that were inspired by the blues that had come later. What blew me away with Sweet Tea was that it was an album by a legendary blues performer, but it sounded so modern.

Unlike a lot of contemporary blues music that felt like it was taking the chords, the bars, but not the feeling, the music on Sweet Tea felt both authentic and current — and at the center was Buddy Guy, then in his mid 60s, singing and playing guitar with the passion of a young man and the experience of an old one.

And that guitar playing! Listening to the album two decades on, when Buddy sings “Well, I done got old, Can't do the things I used to, 'Cause I'm an old man” it certainly hits differently.

Words by Matt Hanson — Managing Editor, Core Tech

Pavement — Perfect Sound Forever EP

Label: Matador Records
Format: 10-inch

I own much of Pavement’s near-flawless back catalogue on vinyl, but not the seminal Perfect Sound Forever EP — not least because it was released 35 years ago this week, before I’d even heard of the band. My introduction instead came via the slacker-rock legends’ next release, the incredible Slanted & Enchanted album — which is an altogether more coherent work of art than this.

But though Pavement might have been the finished article when they recorded Perfect Sound Forever, it remains an important bridge between their sometimes unfocused early efforts and the era-defining output to follow. The low-fi From Now On wouldn’t be out of place on Slanted…, there’s an off-kilter indie pop classic lurking behind the walls of fuzz on Debris Slide and Home — which they performed when I saw them live for the first time in 1992 — is an early showcase for frontman Stephen Malkmus’ way with words.

It’s not perfect, by any means, but I look at it as a historical document of one of my favorite bands developing their craft in real time — and the RSD re-release finally gives me the chance to add it to my collection (and on white vinyl, too).

Words by Marc McLaren — Global Editor-in-Chief

The Cure, Greatest Hits

Label: UMR/Polydor/Fiction
Format: 2x LP

It’s funny how the soundtrack of my childhood has become the soundtrack of my adult life. I was at best indifferent about the 70s and 80s rock my Dad would proclaim to be “proper music” throughout the 2000s, but it turns out he was absolutely right about almost all of it.

The Cure are among the best British bands of all time, with a discography that flip-flops between the deeply melancholic and outright euphoric. You can dance down the street to Friday I'm in Love or get dressed up for a Halloween party while listening to Lullaby. It's a real mixture of weird and wonderful.

Greatest hits albums get a bad wrap, but with records as expensive as they are, The Cure’s Greatest Hits (2001) is a worthy one-stop shop for the band’s best work. Sure, its release was a result of contractual obligation rather than artistic desire, but lead singer Robert Smith did at least choose the tracks himself; you’ll get 17 stone cold classics from The Head on the Door, Wish, Disintegration, and more, plus two then-new songs.

The only other place you’ll find Inbetween Days, Just Like Heaven and Boys Don't Cry within nine tracks of one another is on my own personal Spotify playlist. Or on my Dad's.

Words by Axel Metz — Phones Editor

Public Service Broadcasting, The Race for Space / Remixes

Label: Test Card Recordings
Format: LP

The recent Artemis II mission around the moon consummated my love affair with Public Service Broadcasting’s superb 2015 album The Race for Space. Formed by J. Willgoose Esq. in 2010, PSB blend archival footage from old films, broadcasts and documentaries with a mixture of art rock, electronica and ambient beats to tell the story of, variously, the scaling of Mount Everest, the history of Welsh mining and pioneering American pilot Amelia Earhart’s last flight.

Yet it’s the trio’s The Race for Space that has always entranced most, setting NASA audio and contemporaneous broadcast material against their trademark synth-with-a-big-band-beat vibe to reimagine both the 1960s’ USA-USSR battle for extra-terrestrial supremacy and what rock music can be. Go! from that 2015 original, featuring shouted codenames “Retro? Go!; Fido? Go!; Guidance? Go! Control? Go!” from the flight deck, is an exhilarating electro-recounting of the final moments of the Apollo 11 landing.

The following year, PSB released The Race for Space / Remixes. Long since sold out, the LP featured reinterpretations from such contemporaries as Field Music, Vessels and Kauf to bring further life to the original. The latter’s version of Go! eschews the codenames to zone in on the electro beat, while Vessels’ redo of E.V.A. – about the Voskhod 2 mission in which Alexei Leonov became the first person to conduct a spacewalk – keeps the broadcast footage but dials up the Leeds five-piece’s techno stylings.

It’s Field Music’s Korolev, not on the original album but a B-side, that most delights on …Remixes. Based on the eponymous designer’s building of Sputnik 1 – the first rocket into space – the song’s central archival chant “higher, further, faster than anyone” complements the Wearside brothers David and Peter Brewis swooning prog-synth styling to ethereal perfection.

The only downside of the Record Store Day rerelease of this spine-tingling rare artefact? Only 1000 go on sale. Alarm clock? Go! Coffee? Go! Wait in line? Go! It’ll be out of this world.

Words by Andy Murray — Contributor

Sleep Token, Caramel

Label: RCA
Format:12-inch

I don't know if this is frowned upon, or you'll all think I'm some kind of idiot, but I don't buy any vinyl to play it. I'm just a collector at heart, who's more interested in proudly displaying the records of my favorite bands and artists, instead of giving them a spin.

That's why this release of Caramel by Sleep Token has caught my eye for Record Store Day. I love the gothic fantasy artwork, and the vinyl's liquid-filled design is unlike anything I've seen before. The track's a banger, too, with II's beautifully intricate drumming bringing me back to the song time and time again.

Words by James Pickard — Deals Editor

Suede, Coming Up at the BBC

Label: Demon Records
Format: LP

30 years since its debut in 1996, Suede's Coming Up is getting a special release for Record Store Day 2026, with Coming Up At The BBC. The band has chosen the best live versions of each of Coming Up's superb tracklist, which features hits like Beautiful Ones, Trash and Filmstar, recorded for the BBC, including a BBC-broadcasted Reading gig and various live sessions.

I saw Suede live on the Coming Up anniversary tour a few years ago and these songs sound sensational live. They're a tour-de-force of a live band with bags of energy and any live recording I've listened to is simply excellent, so I expect this to be a fantastic release. I'll be queuing up for this one!

Words by James Davidson — Staff Writer, TV Hardware

Video Game LoFi, Pokémon Lullabies

Label: Curaga Records
Format: LP

I've got two settings these days: high-energy running and workout music (be it Sabaton and Metallica for lifting weights or throbbing house like Artbat and A Little Sound to soundtrack my runs) or downbeat jazzy, lofi hip hop.

However, ironically considering the name "lofi", the easy-breezy beats to relax/study to genre is being swamped by low-effort AI-generated homogeny, especially the video-game remix sub-genre.

So it's nice to see a name like Chill Ghost, a London-based label championing indie artists and authenticity, contribute to this laid-back, sleepy twist on classic Pokémon tunes. It's sure to feel like sitting in the back seat of the car at night, playing a GameBoy by the glow of passing streetlights.

Words by Matt Evans — Senior Editor, Fitness

Ólafur Arnalds and Loreen, SAGES

Label: Mercury KX
Format: 12-inch EP

From the limited-edition releases on the RSA list, I’m going to bag Ólafur Arnalds and Loreen’s collaborative SAGES project. They’re an unlikely pairing — he’s best known for cinematic, minimalist neo-classical compositions, while she’s synonymous with Eurovision and atmospheric pop, but together they make something far more interesting: gentle, deeply immersive music that soothes rather than soars.

I can see extra tracks here that I’m not familiar with from the streaming single, which makes this version feel even more like a complete piece. It’s lights-off, headphones-on music that’s so finely wrought it almost disappears.

Words by Graham Barlow — Senior Editor, AI

Nas, God’s Son

Label: Legacy Rep
Format: LP

I don't own a record player, but I have a bag of vinyl in my parents loft just waiting patiently for the day that I do — and if I did buy one on record store day, I'd be up for getting God's Son by Nas as the first thing to spin on it.

Illmatic by Nas is my all time fave hiphop album and was the first album I thought of when I heard of Record Store Day, but sadly it's not on the UK list. However, God's Son is also great. Although the lyrics are more polished and mature on this one, I still think the raw, gravelly, vulnerable tone and old-school beats would sound great on vinyl.

I've never owned a Nas record, and this is the first time since the album's 2002 release that it will be readily available.

Words by Timothy Coleman — Cameras Editor

Adrianne Lenker, Live at Revolution Hall

Label: 4AD
Format: 3x LP

I don’t love many live albums, but this ‘sonic documentary’ from Big Thief’s lead singer manages to bottle the atmosphere of my favorite gig of 2024. It’s more of a diary than a traditional album, mashing together soundchecks, ambient noises, crowd banter and live imperfections (see indiana and sneezing). Adrianne Lenker’s solo songs are also perfect for its rough-edged production, given they’re more like sketches than polished folk-rock.

Audiophiles might hate it, but fans have been clamoring for a vinyl release of this album since it launched a year ago — and Record Store Day has obliged with a three LP edition. During one highlight on anything, you float outside the auditorium, as if buying a drink for a friend, before coming back inside to a singalong. Now we’re in the age of infinite YouTube bootlegs and AI deepfakes, it might just be where live albums are headed.

Words by Mark Wilson — Managing Editor, News

Madonna, The Confessions Tour (Live from London)

Label: Warner Records
Format: 2x LP

The wonderful thing about Record Store Day is that it’s celebrated around the world. And in Sydney Australia, where I live, a selection of record stores will have some limited-edition releases on sale.

The only problem? There just aren’t that many. I’ve checked the official Australian RSD list — only 19 releases. Compare that to the UK’s Record Store Day list which has 451(!) limited edition vinyl products available to buy on Saturday April 18, and you can understand my envy. And considering Madonna’s The Confessions Tour Live isn’t going to be available here (but it is on the list in both the US and the UK), you really should feel downright sorry for me. Because that’s the one record I’m truly Hung Up on…

I do hail from England. I used to make the trip into London with my dad to seek out RSD purchases — we wouldn’t necessarily come away with anything, but it was always a great experience, with shops packed and DJs playing. It just made for a good day out.

While a couple of albums I found on the UK list are available here in Oz — local artists King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard and Crooked Colours, in particular — given the small number of releases anywhere close to me, I’m not expecting much stock, nor much of a party in the land down under. I'll still check it out (some stores are close to home) but Antipodean vinyl fans deserve more of a buzz.

Words by Max Langridge — Senior Writer, Audio and Home Entertainment

Empire of the Sun, Walking on a Dream (Expanded Edition)

Label: UMG Australia
Format: 2x LP

Empire of the Sun’s debut album Walking on a Dream has always felt like a time capsule for me, taking me back to an Australian summer spent with friends driving up the coast and camping along the way.

It’s a whimsical burst of electronic rock that always brings a (now no longer sunburnt, thankfully) smile to my face — and with just 3,500 limited-edition copies available this Record Store Day, securing one would be a dream come true.

Words by Amelia Schwanke — Engagement Editor

Taylor Swift — Elizabeth Taylor

Label: UMG
Format: 7" 'Cry My Eyes Violet Glitter' vinyl record with collectible cover artwork

I knew I’d have to out myself as a Swiftie eventually! The megastar’s fanbase is huge, and while I've not always listened to all of her music, my wife has, so she’s always been on in our home.

I'd count myself as a fan ever since the one-two punch of Folklore and Evermore back in 2020. Those lockdown-era sister albums hooked me, thanks to her catchy songwriting, and I've loved her work since then.

Does each and every single grab me? Probably not. But Swift’s ability to cook up the most infectious melodies and blend them with sharp storytelling is undeniable. And, for this Record Store Day, the second track on 2025's Life of a Showgirl, Elizabeth Taylor, is getting a limited-edition “Cry My Eyes Violet Glitter” release. The original album version is on the A-side, with the So Glamorous Cabaret Version on the B-side.

What's special about this track? Instrumentally, it’s smooth, with delicate piano and some gorgeous strings leading into the powerful thump of the beat drop with the chorus. It’s the kind of addictive pop production that I’ll happily listen to again and again. The lyrics? All about the parallels between Swift and the titular Hollywood icon. It ends up being both a wistful and hopeful take on life in the spotlight, and it’s easily one of my favourites from the album.

The glitzy vinyl is set to be highly in-demand, and it’s a single that’ll probably be a bit of a battle to get your hands on for Record Store Day. "You're only as hot as your list hit," Swift tells us in Elizabeth Taylor. Well, this one's as hot as it gets.

Words by Simon Cocks, Contributor

Every audiophile and avid vinyl collector’s favorite day is approaching, and soon Record Store Day 2026 will hit us like a meteor on Saturday April 18 — and I for one am thrilled to embrace the chaos for another year.

I’ve been busy scouring the official RSD list for the best new presses (I’m hoping to snag a Jeff Buckley live album if I can), but it’s also a perfect time to consider upgrading to one of the best turntables. Speaking of, I’ve suddenly been distracted from curating my pre-RSD shopping list after spotting what’s probably the most funky looking vinyl player I’ve ever seen, and I need it to house my growing collection immediately.

Feast your eyes on this bad boy!

The Fisher-Price Music Box comes back to life

Blending the maximalism of the 1980s Memphis aesthetic with the nostalgia of the Fisher-Price Music Box (our Audio Editor Becky Scarrott remembers it well — and you can see what she means, because Disney re-released that with it's own twist, last year), this is the Play Pro turntable from Japanese audio company Tinyl which, thanks to the magic of the TikTok algorithm, landed on my ‘For You’ page. It’s as if we were destined to meet.

It's not the first time we've been reminded of the retro musical toys of our youth when new kit arrives, just check out Teenage Engineering's Record Factory, a device that launched a few years ago and that actually lets you record and cut your own records — limited to singles of up to four minutes in mono per side, but still…

Back to the new Play Pro, and it is the latest turntable to join Tinyl’s range of audio products, having launched in late 2025/ early 2026. So you can bet it’s gone straight into my tech wish-list. Its bold design and viral hype add to its grandeur, but don’t be fooled, it’s actually not as pricey as you’d think — how’s $199 / £165/ AU$342 for a turntable this groovy?

With its relatively humble asking fee, the Play Pro makes for a solid user-friendly vinyl player, so while it won’t be as punchy and agile as something like the Pro-ject Debut Carbon Evo (which is also more than double the price), it likely represents the kind of quality more than acceptable for first-timers and vinyl novices. And Sony's new affordable offering, the Sony PS-LX5BT is also quite a bit pricier, talented though it is.

The next best entry-level turntable?

For starters, the setup isn’t overly complicated and intricate. Its plug-and-play system means it’s simple for beginners to navigate, and the turntable is already fitted with speakers — ideal if the complete audio experience isn’t a huge matter for you. That said, users online haven’t raved about its native audio quality, but pairing it with bookshelf speakers has significantly improved the listening experience. And you don’t need to spend mega bucks on these either — allow me to point to you our roundup of the best stereo speakers.

Speaking of connectivity, you can pair the Play Pro with speakers, and even headphones, via Bluetooth, or use the AUX and RCA imports for wired connectivity. It also gives you the option to stream playlists right from your device when connected by Bluetooth, though this isn’t a huge appeal to me.

But what surprised me is that its tonearm is fitted with the Audio-Technica MM AT3600L cartridge, a trusted and reliable stylus, accompanied by an adjustable weight to not only protect the cartridge but to allow you to hear crisp detail no matter the genre. Before now, I’d been heavily eyeing up the Audio-Technica AT-LP70XBT turntable, and though it’s not totally off the table as far as options go, you can’t deny those come-buy-me primary colors. It’ll be the centerpiece of all your dinner party antics — and that’s enough to sway me.

The act of choosing the best turntable — and the best stereo speakers, and amplifiers, and cables, and so on — is all part of the pursuit of the perfect analog sound. But you might be barking up the wrong tree in the pursuit of perfection.

As part of Record Store Day 2026 on April 18, audiophiles are going to be supporting their local music store, gushing over the new exclusive releases, and likely comparing all the new Hi-Fi kit upon which to listen to their new records.

And most of the time, spending more money gets you a better sound. I liked the Sony LX310BT, but it's not going to do for your records what the Cambridge Audio Alva TT V2 can.

But sometimes, making your turntable sound great isn't about the cartridge or tonearm, nor is it about the extra kit you buy to eke out the audio. Take it from me: sometimes it's a whole lot simpler and cheaper.

• Just bought a new deck? Here's our how to set up a turntable explainer

Dishing the dirt

I've written before about how my entire record collection was inherited: a fat stack of vinyl that fell into my hands when my childhood home was being sold. The records are all decades old (and some feel like they haven't been used in that time).

Some of these are early pressings from major artists, others are recordings of music a parent contributed to. It's a really big range, and when I acquired the collection, I found plenty of the records missing or unplayable. Time takes its toll with the physical music product.

When I started listening to them, their age was evident. There was so much snapping, crackling and popping that it sounded like I was eating a bowl of Rice Crispies. Many of the records would skip like they were frolicking in a spring meadow. In short, they didn't sound great.

I know sometimes the natural solution to such a problem is to spend more. Maybe a fancier record player, amplification solution or top-end speakers would do away with such a problem? Or maybe I need to elevate my cables from nasty reverb with those little stands?

Back then I may have been a vinyl novice, unaware of just how much cleanliness affects a record's sound (or its lasting power). But it wasn't hard to put 1+1 together, and realize that a layer of dust probably wasn't helping a needle track through an ever-decreasing groove. So the natural solution to me soon presented itself: do a bit of spring cleaning.

Cleaning your records correctly

The music from a record comes from the grooves on the vinyl, and so doing anything to it might seem heinous: wiping a cloth over it, putting it on a machine, blowing it. I can understand why some people might be reticent to clean their records.

But it's actually incredibly easy. We've got a guide on how to clean your turntable and records, and it basically just comes down to using the right spray and cloth. There are options on Amazon for just $15 / £20 / AU$40 that are simple and easy.

If you've got loads of cash, you could buy a special machine for it — and the corresponding solution to feed it. I recently covered a vinyl cleaning machine with different companies offering their own versions all the time. But these options aren't as cheap as just buying your own kit.

I got a kit that has a spray and a cleaning brush. Two squirts on the brush, and it picks up all the visible fluff and dust. It takes less than a minute to clean both sides of a record. Easy.

Your $15 vs $1,500

I was surprised by just how effective cleaning my records was — the contrast possibly helped by just how dusty they were. Listening back to wiped vinyl, the amount of noise and crackling was audibly lower.

The nicest part, though, was that this process only cost me the price of three beers: spending $15 (around £11 or AU$21) on a cleaning kit instead of $1,500 on a top-end turntable will save you a lot of money for more vinyl. The only other expenditure is a minute per record of your precious time, to actually clean it.

The irony about the pricier option is that your fancy turntable still won't make vinyl sing if it's mucky, the cheaper option will have a more audible effect.

According to experts, record maintenance doesn't just make it sound better, but keeps it lasting longer, and stops your stylus wearing out as fast. So I'm keeping this collection lasting longer too, which is the real savings.

• Record Store Day is a day away — vinyl becomes available on April 18
• Many US and UK stores take part (and are bound by official RSD rules)
• The best drops? Depends on your taste, but it'll be first come, first served
• …and available in-store on the day only — until the Monday night after RSD

Dyed-in-the-wool vinyl collectors already know the date: Record Store Day (RSD) got circled in their diaries early doors. But you're not too late at all — the (arguable) beauty of RSD is that it's an in-person, in-store thing. Think of it as what Black Friday used to be, but purely for limited-edition vinyl.

So what exactly happens on Record Store Day, what's being released, and how do you get your hands on all those juicy new limited-edition records? You read this missive and above all, you clear your schedule for tomorrow (Saturday, April 18, 2026).

Well then, my fellow plate spinners, let's go.

What is Record Store Day?

Record Store Day is a day for crate rummagers and those who work to fill said crates — the artists, the labels, the store staff, and of course, the customers.

The key to it all is The List. To explain, on Record Store Day, over 365 exclusive and limited-edition releases will line the shelves of your local record store. This year, the list includes notable releases from Wolf Alice, Olivia Dean, Elton John, Black Sabbath, Bruce Springsteen, and more.

Record Store Day was conceived in 2007, when a collection of record store owners came together in the US to celebrate and publicize the unique culture of local independent vinyl shops.

The first official event took place on April 19th, 2008, and today it's marked and celebrated by thousands of record stores all over the globe. RSD's official website calls it "the biggest new music event of the past decade", and given the hundreds of limited-edition vinyl offerings that launch (and may well sell out) on the day, it's easy to see why.

In the UK and Ireland, over 300 indie record shops participate. In the US, it's, well… a lot more than that, with up to 1,500 bricks-and-mortar stores on board.

To be a Record Store Day retail store, the stores are required to sign a pledge. This means stores are bound by the Record Store Day code of conduct, which prohibits them from reserving a product for customers or allowing customers to pre-order any products — yes, it really is about being there on the day and getting in line early for the LPs you want.

When is Record Store Day?

Short answer: Saturday, April 18th, 2026. Yes, that's tomorrow.

There's only one Record Store Day a year. What if you can't make it on the day? That's a tricky one, because Record Store Day releases are only available in-store, through Record Store Day-affiliated shops on the day of Record Store Day.

That said, remaining stock can become available online after 8pm on the Monday following RSD. Only Record Store Day shops may purchase Record Store Day products legitimately, and stores are bound by the Record Store Day code of conduct, which prohibits selling online until 8pm on the Monday following RSD. So if you see the LP of your dreams listed on eBay for a very high price before the big day, that particular seller isn't an official RSD vendor but is likely planning to buy it on the day to resell on the auction site after the fact — and RSD does not support this.

You can search for participating stores near you on the official Record Store Day site but you're advised to contact the store in advance to confirm whether they will be carrying the release you're looking for. Stores are not permitted to reserve a product for customers, so you will need to visit the store early on Record Store Day to secure the release you're after!

What are the best limited-edition offerings this year?

I'm going to level with you: for me, it's always going to be The Boss. This five-LP (yes, five!) release is a live recording of Bruce Springsteen's 2024 homecoming performance in Asbury Park at the 2024 Sea.Hear.Now festival.

This release is the first time it's being made available on vinyl, and it spans more than three hours of Bruce and the E Street Band's absolute best work in front of 35,000 people. It includes hits such as Thunder Road and Dancing in the Dark, plus tracks that Springsteen wrote just down the road from this stage, including Blinded By The Light and Growin' Up.

Two of my all-time favorite Springsteen songs are For You and Spirit in the Night, from the 1973 banger Greetings from Asbury Park (considered a solo Springsteen studio album, although musicians who'd later become members of the E Street Band do feature on it), so forgive me for prioritizing this record. But that's the beauty of RSD, isn't it? You get in line for the LPs you like the look of, and no one should judge you.

Another that caught my eye are archival 1956 live sets from Miles Davis, the only recordings in history to feature both Miles Davis and Lester Young. They took place across several concerts on their European 'Birdland All Stars' tour, 70 years ago now.

And okay, there's a really glorious 7" 'Cry My Eyes Violet Glitter' sparkly purple press of Tay-Tay's Elizabeth Taylor (including the So Glamorous Cabaret version) if you're into it.

Honestly, I could go on. My genuine advice is to check it out. Search for your favorite artists (the official list has a handy search feature) because the chances are someone you like is launching a limited-edition press for RSD. Oh, and I asked the rest of the TechRadar team to pull together their favorite Record Store Day 2026 releases, so that might also provide inspiration.

Other things to note about Record Store Day

It's not just vinyl! Over the years, I've seen limited-edition versions of some of the best turntables launch ahead of RSD, turntable-shaped watches, and even RSD official beers to sip while you wait in line. Already this year, Majority has launched a special colorway turntable-and-speakers package if you need something affordable ahead of the event.

My top tip there? A Sony deck. Yes, the new Sony PS-LX5BT is in, and we like it very much, but the 2019-issue Sony PS-LX310BT is still a very viable deck — and if you see a deal ahead of the big day, it'll play very nicely with your Bluetooth speakers and headphones…

I've been looking out for turntables all week, and can point you towards Victrola’s exclusive Jack White collab, the viral record player that looks like it was made by Fisher-Price and the ridiculously expensive TechDas Air Force IV, among others.

We've also got a guide to 6 superb turntables we'd buy this RSD (and the speakers and accessories to go with them) and the 4 best wireless turntable setups. In short, something for everyone.

• Pro-Ject unveils the VC-E Mini
• It's a vacuum-based automatic vinyl record cleaner
• Designed to use few moving parts

My record collection isn't mine, but an inheritance I try to take good care of. Or I thought I took great care of, but Pro-Ject's new release has me thinking I could be doing a better at keeping them pristine.

The company behind the five-star Pro-Ject Debut Carbon and numerous more of the best turntables, has unveiled its latest vinyl cleaning device.

This is the Pro-Ject VC-E Mini, which is going on sale in April. It's set to cost £249 (about $350, AU$500), so it's not cheap — but it's more affordable than the existing VC-E2 and VC-E3.

Since dirt on a vinyl can really hurt its sound quality, machines like this make sense, but to me the VC-E Mini solves a few problems that make this kind of machine out-of-reach for most people.

A smaller cleaning machine

The Pro-Ject VC-E Mini is, as the name suggests, a more compact record cleaner, and it's designed to minimize moving parts (and cupboard space too).

It saves space by not having a suction arm to clean the vinyl. Instead it uses a brushless vacuum motor to help cleaning fluid trickle across the vinyl and off the machine.

The box also includes a cleaning brush, magnetic clamp, adhesive arm strip and said cleaning fluid, so the cleaning process sounds pretty hands-on.

This fluid is Pro-Ject's Wash it 2, which is already readily available to buy since other VC-E models use it. It doesn't use alcohol, and instead is made from "demineralised water and cleaning concentrate".

As someone who's always just cleaned their records with a microfiber cloth, I've always been put off by the size and price of bespoke upkeep machines like this.

While the VC-E doesn't fully solve the latter problem, I'll concede that it's small enough to be tempting as someone who really does want to preserve these items. Maybe I need it more than I thought…

• Majority unveils D50X bookshelf speakers...
• ... and Auto turntable
• Both affordable, colorful, and here in time for Record Store Day

If the high cost of a vinyl-ready Hi-Fi puts you off the hobby, then Majority's new release could change your mind (as can our audio editor's four-strong roundup of two-product wireless vinyl setups), and it's here right in time for Record Store Day on April 18.

The brand has unveiled two new offerings, which are on sale right now from various UK retailers (US and AU availability TBC, but unlikely).

First up, there's the Majority D50X, a pair of bookshelf speakers which come in red, green, white or black. They output at 60W with a range of connection options, and go for £69.95 (about $100 / AU$140).

Then there's the Majority Auto, an automatic Bluetooth turntable which is priced at £129.95. It has a built-in phono pre-amp, automatic tonearm and belt drive, and outputs in aux and line-out as well as Bluetooth. Sounds like perfect RSD prep to me…

As you can tell from the price, neither of these devices are aimed at the highly fussy audiophile for whom money is no obstacle, especially since Bluetooth is the name of the game. But they're an affordable way for the average buyer to get an easy-to-use vinyl set-up.

Record Store Day inbound

Record Store Day is an institution in the UK, when indie record stores around the UK and Ireland team up to offer promotions to celebrate the vinyl format.

This year, it falls on April 18, and the organizers have already shared a list of the exclusive releases being sold on the day.

Naturally, people who don't own a turntable are left out of the celebrations, and with many of the best record players costing a pretty penny (not to mention decent speakers costing more), people who don't have high budgets might feel left out.

Luckily, there are some budget turntables available, and this new Majority bundle will be a perfect way to get in on the Record Store Day fun without breaking the bank.

Seen a turntable system and want it, to play all the stacks of wax you're set to buy this Record Store Day? I applaud you; records are beautiful things — just see the joy within TechRadar's pick of the 13 best LPs we've seen in the RSD List this year — and sales of them help remunerate the bands we love much more effectively than meagre streaming royalties.

But perhaps you looked at my getting started with vinyl feature, with its explanation on the four components of any system (turntable, pre-amp, power amp and speakers) and thought 'Uh-oh, sounds a bit tricky Scarrott… I'll come back when I have more time/more cash to splash'.

And as we all know, we may never have an abundance of these things. Don't fret though, you can still get on board with vinyl. How? You simplify.

These four systems all have three things in common: they contain one of the best turntables we've tested, they do it wirelessly (either over Bluetooth or using a Sonos system, over your home's Wi-Fi network) and they only contain two products. No fiddling with RCA cables and buying hi-fi racks for your pre- and power-amp stack or receiver. Amplification here is squirrelled away into the casework of the speakers and thus, there are no wires to trip over.

I'm not dissing a passive analog hi-fi system, you'll get greater resolution that way, and you can adapt these setups over time if you want to build on them. However, in the first instance I think it's absolutely fine to simply get things up and spinning — because enjoying an entire album on vinyl is a rare joy.

Here are the products. Skip past the clicky links here for a brief summary of what I've partnered with what, and why. Don't worry, we got this. Oh, and enjoy Record Store Day!

System 1

System 2

System 3

System 4

System 1 — simple but talented plug 'n' play listening

Sony PS-LX5BT and Bose SoundLink Max: want punchy, fun-sounding vinyl with a speaker you can take outdoors if you fancy it? What you're getting here is a fuss-free 2026-issue Bluetooth turntable and big Bose speaker, for roughly the same money — and both gained a highly-commended 4.5 stars under intense review.

This system is all about plug-and-play simplicity. The deck is automatic; there's a Bose app if you wanted to stereo pair two SoundLink Max speakers to the vinyl spinner. But to be clear: if you want something you can unbox and get up and running within 10 minutes, this is the setup for you.

System 2 — the step-up system with a CD player to boot

Philips Fidelio FT1 and KEF LSX II LT: did I mention that this deck also has a CD player squirrelled into its base? Cool in a kind of retro, throw-it-all-in-one-box way, no? But make no mistake, this is an all-new early 2026-release turntable, and it wowed us for its energetic and communicative sound and wealth of partnering opportunities under our in-depth review process.

So I've gone straight to the top with the wireless speakers I'd pick to go with it. Yes, the KEFs are a little pricier than other options in this roundup, but if you've got the extra to spend, they'll reward you handsomely — as our five-star review shows.

System 3 — the Sonos option

Victrola Stream Carbon and Sonos Five: you don't have to buy a Sonos Five here; this handsome turntable will work with any existing Sonos setup you may have already — including soundbars. I've put the Five with it in this list because it's my hi-fi choice where Sonos is concerned.
I'm often asked about turntables that might work with the Sonos Arc under the TV so you needn't start buying more and more speaker boxes. Well, this is that deck. Victrola does make a cheaper Sonos-compatible spinner called the Stream Onyx, but for me the smart money stays here; if you want to get into vinyl but don't have the necessary passive speakers, cartridge knowledge, pre-amp and power amp plus all of the cabling ready to go at home — but do have a Sonos speaker, even a legacy one based on the S1 system — you just found your turntable.

System 4 — the slightly more niche, fresh buys

Audio-Technica AT-LP70XBT and Kanto Ren: honestly, this is my favorite ready-to-roll system of the lot. This Audio-Technica deck is great for fledgling owners (thanks to a serviceable preamp and lovely tactile automatic operation) but it's still the real deal; the build quality is exceptional for the remarkably humble outlay.
And just look at these bijou-but-beautiful tangerine speakers! As we said in our glowing five-star review, they're tasteful-lookin’ but with an incredible breadth of connectivity — including Bluetooth, which is important here — and huge, robust sound for their diminutive proportions. Oh, and if you wanted to hard-wire them to your TV they’d beat any and every TV soundbar into a pulp at £599 (and it’s barely even a competition).

Sony PS-LX5BT: Two-minute review

The idea of a turntable that connects wirelessly via Bluetooth is not a new one — Sony itself has had a lot of success with products like this.

Its latest wireless record player, this PS-LX5BT, is exhaustively specified and priced aggressively — which, it would seem, is the very least that’s required to succeed in this area of the market. Sony obviously knows what’s required, though. The PS-LX5BT features Bluetooth transmission via the aptX Adaptive codec, so if your receiver is similarly specified then lossy 48kHz wireless streams are available.

The company has fitted a defeatable phono stage, too, so the turntable can hard-wire in to pretty much any system you care to mention — and if you’re using its phono stage, there are a trio of gain settings available. It’s pre-fitted and pre-adjusted a moving magnet cartridge. And then Sony's made the whole thing automatic where playback is concerned.

In practice, it all works splendidly. The PS-LX5BT is a flyweight (just 3.6kg with its dust cover in place), which doesn’t bode especially well, but as well as a stable wireless connection, the Sony delivers robust, energetic and thoroughly entertaining sound. It manages to do so without losing sight of detail or flattening dynamics either, and it has a proper facility with rhythmic expression.

It’s not the most robust at the top of the frequency range, and is slightly-but-noticeably tilted towards the low end when it comes to frequency response, but on the whole it’s reasonably well balanced and most certainly gives a good account of itself where low-frequency control and variation in particular are concerned. Which means the PS-LX5BT picks up where the PS-LX310BT left off — as one of the very best pound-for-pound turntables around with Bluetooth to boot.

Sony PS-LX5BT review: Price & release date

• Unveiled January 22, 2026
• Priced $499 / £399 / AU$599

The Sony PS-LX5BT is on sale now, and in the United Kingdom it costs £399. In the United States it’s priced at $499, and in Australia it sells for AU$599.

And not only will the PS-LX5BT have to justify that premium fee over its more affordable (but equally new) PS-LX3BT sibling, it will also have to see off the challenge from brands like Audio Technica and TEAC (to name just a couple) too.

To clarify, the excellent older Sony PS-LX310BT regularly sells for $199 / £179 / AU$395 and while Sony has listed various gains over that 2019 model in this more expensive deck (of the two new models listed), cash-strapped vinyl fans might question how much better it can possibly be, to warrant the extra spend. So let's see, shall we…

Sony PS-LX5BT review: Features

• Bluetooth wireless connectivity with aptX Adaptive compatibility
• Integrated phono stage with three-stage gain control
• Pre-fitted, pre-adjusted moving magnet cartridge

There’s just no arguing with the way Sony has specified the PS-LX5BT. By prevailing turntable standards, it’s about as thoroughly tricked out as these things ever get.

For instance, you get plenty of connectivity options. There are stereo RCA connections at the rear of the plinth for connecting the player to an amplifier — and next to them there’s a switch to turn the integrated phono stage on or off.

So as well as an amplifier with or without a phono stage of its own, the Sony can also connect to a powered speaker or what-have-you — anything at all, in fact, that has a line-level analogue input. The appearance of a three-stage gain control means you’ll always get a decent level of volume when connected with the player’s phono stage switched on. Or you may prefer to connect wirelessly using the PS-LX5BT’s abilities as a Bluetooth transmitter — it’s compatible with SBC, aptX and aptX Adaptive codecs, so as long as the receiver is also compatible it’s possible to stream wirelessly at a lossy 48kHz resolution.

This is a belt-drive design that can operate at either 33.3 or 45rpm, and its straight aluminium tonearm is pre-fitted with an unbranded moving magnet cartridge. It’s also pre-adjusted, although while Sony suggests it has been calibrated to provide a tracking weight of 2.0g (+/- 0.5g) my review sample tracks at a hefty-but-not-fatal 3.13g. Sony is adamant that my sample is an outlier in this respect, and is very keen to get its hands back on it to find out what’s going on — but given that there’s no counterweight for the end user to adjust, you very much get what you’re given in this respect.

• Features score: 5 / 5

Sony PS-LX5BT review: Sound quality

• Energy and drive to spare
• Great facility with rhythmic and dynamic expression
• Slightly tilted where tonality and frequency response are concerned

It’s nice to be able to report that the Sony PS-LX5BT doesn’t alter its fundamental sonic characteristics no matter if you’re connecting wirelessly or using its integrated phono stage. In either circumstance, this turntable is a vibrant, energetic and determinedly front-foot listen, one that puts ‘entertainment’ at the centre of everything it does.

Streaming a copy of Fusa Riot by Bobby Hughes Experience via aptX Adaptive-enabled Bluetooth, the vigorous and attacking nature of the Sony’s sound is obvious. Its low-frequency response is, ultimately, slightly overstated — but it’s neither musclebound nor unsubtle at the bottom of the frequency range. Bass sounds are nicely shaped, carefully controlled (so rhythmic expression is very decent) and carry plenty of detail regarding texture and timbre — so there’s plenty of variation to go along with the overt punch.

The transition into the midrange is smooth, and here too there’s plenty of information available — you’ll never be in any doubt as to what motivates a voice, nor be unaware of its character or technique. As with the lower frequencies, the tonal balance is quite carefully natural neutral, and it makes for a convincing listen.At the top end, the Sony changes its tune just a little. There’s a slight lack of substance to treble sounds, a mild skinniness that can make the top of the frequency range sound just fractionally splashy. There’s still plenty of detail and variation made apparent, you understand — it just lacks some of the robustness the PS-LX5BT is so capable of generating elsewhere.

Soundstaging is confidently approached, and the Sony creates quite a large and well-laid-out stage that has plenty of space on it even if a recording is notably complex or involved. It also has a very respectable amount of dynamic headroom available, so if a recording really kicks off the turntable is able to make the upshift in intensity readily apparent.

Switch to the Sony’s integrated phono stage, and with the gain control in the ‘mid’ position the wired sound of the PS-LX5BT is closely related to the wireless equivalent. If anything, the lack of substance at the top of the frequency range is even more pronounced, and the low frequencies gain a little extra confidence (like they needed any) — but on the most basic levels the Sony doesn’t shift its characteristics in the slightest. Which can really only be a good thing.

• Sound quality score: 4.5 / 5

Sony PS-LX5BT review: Design

• 117 x 430 x 366mm (HxWxD)
• Diecast aluminium platter
• Supplied with a clear Perspex dust cover

For a turntable with a weighty specification, the Sony PS-LX5BT doesn’t weigh very much. With its clear Perspex dust cover fitted and diecast aluminium platter in place, it tips the scales at just 3.6kg — which, if you’re the one who lifts it from its packaging and positions it on its shelf, doesn’t inspire a huge amount of confidence. Especially where the rejection of resonance caused by its own operation is concerned.

Still, there’s no arguing with the standard of construction or finish here. It may be priced aggressively, but there have been no corners cut when it comes to the way Sony has put the PS-LX5BT together.

• Design score: 4 / 5

Sony PS-LX5BT review: Usability & setup

• Fully automatic operation
• Swift and stable wireless pairing
• Will play 7in or 12in discs at 33.3 or 45rpm

There’s really very little to it. If you want to connect wirelessly, press the ‘pairing’ button on the plinth — the Sony locates and connects to your waiting Bluetooth receiver quickly.

If you prefer a hard connection to your amp, speaker or what-have-you, plug in the supplied RCA cables and select output at either ‘line’ or ‘phono’ level — if it’s the latter, you’ll be able to decide which of the three gain settings is most appropriate as soon as you hear the turntable in action.

After that it’s just a question of using the dials on the plinth to tell the PS-LX5BT if you want to play a 7in or a 12in disc, and if it should turn at 33.3 or 45rpm. Some automatic turntables are dogmatic inasmuch as they insist ‘33.3rpm = 12in disc’ and ‘45rpm = 7in disc’, but the Sony has heard of 12-in singles and will happily play them without any intervention on your part. Then press ‘start’ and away you go — when it reaches the end of the side the PS-LX5BT will automatically return the tonearm to its rest and stop the platter turning, but there’s a ‘stop’ button if you want to take charge. A button marked ‘up/down’ lets you lift or lower the tonearm without causing the platter to stop turning.

• Usability & setup score: 5 / 5

Sony PS-LX5BT review: Value

• Doesn't feel physically weighty enough to deliver huge value
• …but put that out of your mind, let the music play and there's plenty

No, it doesn’t feel like the weightiest or most robust record player this sort of money will buy you — but in every other respect the Sony PS-LX5BT represents prodigious value for money.

Not only does it have a stack of features, but each and every one of them is beautifully realised and effective — and on top of that it has an energetic and upfront sound that doesn’t forgo detail or subtlety while it’s entertaining you.

• Value score: 4.5 / 5

Should I buy the Sony PS-LX5BT?

Buy it if…

Don’t buy it if…

Sony PS-LX5BT review: Also consider

TechRadar is a big fan of the Audio-Technica AT-LP70XBT — it’s a bit of a bargain when you consider its specification and the plus-points of its sonic performance.

The PS-LX5BT has put its shortcomings into quite sharp relief, though, even if it is a fair chunk more expensive.

Spend a little more money though and the just-add-speakers Pro-Ject Juke Box E1 can be yours — it’s slightly different to the Sony in its approach, and it’s slightly different where its sound-quality priorities are concerned, too. But it could be just the ticket…

How I tested the Sony PS-LX5BT

I connected the PS-LX5BT to an Eversolo DAC-Z10 pre-amp using its aptX Adaptive Bluetooth functionality, and also using its integrated pre-amp via the RCA cables Sony supplies. This allowed me to check the speed, solidity and effectiveness of the wireless connection, as well as the quality of the phono stage and the usefulness of its three-stage gain control.

The preamp was connected to a Cambridge Edge W power amp using QED XLR cables, and the power amp was connected to a pair of Bowers & Wilkins 705 Signature loudspeakers, using QED speaker cable.

• Read TechRadar's Reviews Guarantee
• First reviewed: March 2026

When I moved into my new apartment, I wanted my TV setup to feel a bit more deliberate than the usual rented home arrangement of a screen on a TV bench, a soundbar, and a mess of cables doing their best.

So, with help from family, I built a custom small-scale Tv, soundbar and hi-fi setup designed to fit the space properly, hiding cables and looking cleaner day-to-day.

I've always been happy with how it turned out, but living with it taught me something that product pages and showroom photos do not: the best setup is not always the one that looks the neatest on day one.

In a smaller home like mine, the choices that matter most are usually the practical ones: how easy it is to reach a cable, how many remotes you need to juggle, and so on.

Some of those lessons came from getting things right, and some came from learning the hard way. Either way, they are useful if you are trying to build a cleaner, smarter TV setup without turning your living room into a full-time AV project.

What's my setup?

My custom TV setup was not a full from-scratch build so much as an adaptation of what was already there.

We used a buyable record shelf as the base, then added a long wooden top and a new support leg to create one continuous unit for the TV, turntable, storage, and desk space.

The whole thing was shaped around the built-in white shelving already in the flat, which meant the room itself dictated a lot of the design.

All of this was accomplished on the day I moved in and the day after, so it was a tight — and very stressful — timeframe, which is an element of the project that I definitely don't recommend unless absolutely necessary.

1. Leave some cable slack and strain relief

One of the least glamorous lessons was also one of the most useful: do not make your cable runs so neat that they become a pain to live with.

In my setup, once everything was tucked away and routed through the furniture properly, even small changes became more annoying than I’d expected, albeit with the advantage of being nicer to look at.

In a smaller flat, where the TV stand is likely to sit close to the wall and every inch matters, leaving a bit of slack behind the screen and around your devices makes a real difference.

2. eARC is brilliant until it isn’t

For me, HDMI ARC was one of the best parts of the whole setup. Running a soundbar through my Samsung TV’s eARC port helped cut down the clutter straight away, because it meant simpler audio, fewer visible connections, and less dependence on a pile of remotes.

The catch is that eARC still relies on everything in the chain behaving itself. HDMI handshakes, quirks with HDMI-CEC control system it uses, and the occasional audio oddity can turn a tidy one-cable solution into something that feels strangely temperamental.

I still think it is well worth prioritizing, especially with one of the best soundbars, but it is smarter to treat it as part of the system that you might need to play with sometimes, not a magic solution you can set and forget.

3. Don’t chase 'flush to the wall'

One thing I would be more relaxed about next time is how close the TV sits to the wall, or to whatever is supporting it.

In my experience, it's easy to fixate on that super-slim, ultra-neat look – especially if you're wall-mounting — but in real life it can create more problems than it solves.

In a smaller space, a bit of extra space behind the screen makes it much easier to reach ports, route cables neatly, and make changes without turning a simple job into a frustrating one.

And if you're wall-mounting, remember that a fancy mount that keeps the TV flush to the wall will look amazing, but a thicker mount (especially that moves) will make fixing problems way easier.

4. Kill the remote pile

A home theater setup can look clean and still feel annoying to use, and remotes are a big part of that.

One thing I appreciated with my own system was how much better it felt once I was not constantly juggling controls just to switch inputs or adjust the volume.

It is worth thinking about this when you're planning what you're going to include in your setup.

A soundbar with solid eARC support, a streaming device with a good remote, or a universal remote can make a bigger difference than another spec upgrade you only notice occasionally.

5. Plan for the day you move out

The final lesson only really clicked afterwards: a setup does not just need to work while you live with it, it needs to be removable without becoming a nightmare.

In a rented flat, it is very easy to make something feel brilliantly custom in the moment, then discover later that it only really works in that one exact room.

Removable cable management rather than built-in, furniture that can be reused in a different layout, and mounts or accessories that do not leave you with loads to undo all make far more sense in the long run.

A good setup should suit your space now, but it should not punish you for eventually leaving it. I'm glad I'm staying put for the foreseeable future.

FiiO TT13 review: two minute review

The FiiO TT13 is an impressive and attractive belt-driven turntable with fully automatic operation to take the fear out of playing your records. It's made from aluminium alloy, comes in a choice of black or silver, features integrated LED lighting, and comes with an Audio-Technica AT3600LA cartridge.

What else does the TT13 offer, to recommend it as one of the best turntables we've tested? It has Bluetooth with SBC/aptX/aptX LL/aptX HD but not AAC and it has its own integrated preamp — although unlike similar turntables the preamp can't be switched off. It supports both AC and DC power supplies.

This is a distinctly modern turntable with good clarity and warmth and a bright sonic signature; to my ears it was a little light at the very low end but bass was still clear and well defined.

One thing to note: FiiO's TT13 turntable is clearly aimed at vinyl beginners and is great value for money, but if you're a turntable tinkerer this isn't one for you: the tonearm is designed specifically for Audio-Technica cartridges and lacks balance adjustment to support alternatives.

FiiO TT13 review: price and release date

• Released October 2024
• Priced $249 / £239 / AU$249

The FiiO TT13 was announced in May 2024 and released in October 2024. The turntable's list price was $249.99 / £239.99 / AU$248, and in the US there was also a non-Bluetooth model for $239.99. The version sold in the UK and most US retailers is the Bluetooth model but make sure you check the specs when buying; I haven't seen any non-Bluetooth ones in the usual retailers but it's worth confirming that you're buying the Bluetooth one.

As usual with FiiO this is a very competitively priced product: it's coming in at slightly more than the Audio-Technica AT-LP3XBTBK and slightly less than the Sony PS-LX310BT, both of which are also automatic turntables with Bluetooth.

FiiO TT13 review: features

• Fully automatic operation
• Integrated preamp delivering up to 800mV at 1kHz
• Two op-amps for warmth and low noise

The FiiO is fully automatic and electronically switchable between 33 and 1/3 and 45 RPM, and it comes with a Audio-Technica AT3600LA cartridge.

The TT13 features a built-in phono preamp that can put out up to 800mV at 1kHz, which is more than double the output of some rivals, and that enables you to connect your turntable directly to a pair of active speakers without requiring a separate phono stage. The pre-amp is built around two JRC5532 op-amps that deliver warmth and low noise.

The Bluetooth module here is more advanced than many affordable Bluetooth turntables that stick to the familiar SBC/AAC codecs. The TT13 uses Qualcomm's Bluetooth module for SBC plus aptX, aptX Low Latency and aptX HD.

While this is primarily an entry-level turntable, the TT13 can also use an external power supply for more audiophile setups. It supports both AC (100-240V) and DC (12V-1A). If both are connected, AC takes precedence.

The platter can be illuminated in a choice of 7 colors and in a nice touch the status lights and FiiO logo take the same color.

Features score: 4 / 5

FiiO TT13 review: sound quality

• Clear, warm and entertaining sound
• A little light at the very low end
• Bluetooth doesn't include AAC

The TT13 is an excellent-sounding turntable that delivers the kind of sound we've come to expect from FiiO: clear, detailed and entertaining. It's perhaps a little light at the very low end, especially with older rock and indie LPs, and if you're going to be listening over Bluetooth you'll probably want to boost the bass a little bit.

As with other turntables using the same Audio-Technica cartridge it's a good all-rounder balancing clarity with entertainment. While the AT cartridge isn't the brightest in the high frequencies the TT13 is still airy at the top end, and it's particularly entertaining on acoustic and sparsely arranged instruments: while I listened to various artists and genres I had the most fun listening to Talk Talk, mandolin-era REM and Taylor Swift's folky albums. With more rocky and electronic material I found the low end slightly lacking, although nothing a brief EQ tweak couldn't fix and definitely not a deal-breaker.

The Bluetooth module here doesn't support AAC, so you won't get the best sound quality on Apple headphones or earbuds. For other headphones, earbuds and active speakers the TT13 will try to use the best codec available, but that choice isn't controllable from the turntable itself and there's no indication of what codec you're using.

Sound quality: 4 / 5

FiiO TT13 review: design

• Solid metal construction looks particularly good in silver
• Integrated lighting is lots of fun
• Some unusual decisions round the back

As someone who grew up in a house of silver separates, I love the look of this turntable in its silver variant (black is also available). FiiO loves a bit of aluminium, and here it's used to great effect with flush-mounted buttons on the top surface and polished metal everywhere. The use of metal means it's a solid device — it weighs a hefty 4kg — and it helps reduce vibration and unwanted noise too.

The most dramatic bit of design is the integrated lighting that illuminates the platter with a choice of 7 different lighting colours. You can adjust the brightness via the supplied remote control and turn it off altogether if you wish. The FiiO logo at the top left of the unit lights up too, doubling as a status light for your Bluetooth connection and for when repeat play is enabled.

There are six buttons on the front top of the plinth: power, speed and pairing on the left, and start/stop, repeat and up/down on the right.

Round the back you'll find a switch to select between 7 and 12-inch records; RCA line outputs; a ground connector; and both DC and AC power sockets. There's also an adjustable potentiometer to adjust the left-right channel balance if it's not quite right — an odd thing to have in a turntable seemingly aimed at vinyl beginners.

Design score: 4 / 5

FiiO TT13 review: ease of use and setup

• Don't connect it to your phono inputs
• "Plug and go" design; easy to get started
• Fully automatic but don't forget the record size switch

Setting up the turntable is simple, and in a nice touch the belt is already wrapped around the platter and has a little paper pull tag that you use to drag the belt over the spindle. The only irritation I encountered was too-strong adhesive on the two "remove this before use" stickers, which required getting the Goo Gone out to remove the sticker residue.

The TT13 comes with a power cable, an RCA cable and a remote control, and the RCA cable also includes a ground wire for your amp. Unusually for a turntable with an integrated phono stage there isn't a bypass switch so you can't turn the preamp off and connect the TT13 to the phono inputs on your amplifier: you'll need to use line level inputs instead. Don't connect it to your amplifier's phono inputs, which are designed for much lower voltages.

Automatic turntables are the easiest turntables to use as they move the tonearm into position and gently lower it into place. The buttons to do that are clear, easy to identify and nicely tactile, and the remote control is simple. Bluetooth pairing is easy too: just press and hold the Pairing button, set your headphones or earbuds to pair and that's all you need to do.

Changing the lighting is simple too. You can cycle through the colours by pressing the power button, and the remote has a brightness button that steps through the three brightness stages and also turns the illumination off. In addition to the lighting under the platter there's an illuminated FiiO logo that doubles as a pairing status indicator, flashing while it seeks your headphones or active speakers.

Although there's an electronic speed toggle on the front to switch between 33 and 45 RPM, there's also a record size selector switch. That's round the back.

Usability and setup score: 5 / 5

FiiO TT13 review: value

• Competitively priced and solidly made
• Limited upgradability
• Lighting makes a nice talking point

This is a really tempting buy for vinyl beginners: it looks great, the red illumination option is a perfect match for IKEA's Kallax fabric boxes and it works nicely with Bluetooth headphones and speakers. It's not the cheapest turntable featuring this Audio-Technica cartridge by any means but it's competitively priced, solidly built and very enjoyable.

Value score: 4 / 5

Should I buy the FiiO TT13?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

FiiO TT13 review: Also consider

The $179 / £149 / AU$289 Audio-Technica AT-LP60XUSB is even more affordable than the TT13, but it doesn't look as premium or offer integrated lighting. It's fully automatic with Bluetooth 5.0, and when we reviewed the AT-LP60BT variant we liked it a lot: it's a great starter turntable.

Another key rival here is Sony's $199 / £199 / AU$399 PS-LX310BT, which is another fine starter turntable. The Bluetooth module is quite old, though, with Bluetooth 4.2 rather than the TT13's 5.2.

How I tested the FiiO TT13

• Onkyo amp with wired open and closed back headphones and B&W bookshelf speakers
• Bluetooth via iFi GO Blu Air

I tested the FiiO TT13 over three weeks across a range of genres and eras. On headphones I used an iFi GO Blu Air Bluetooth adapter and Sennheiser DT 990 Pro open-back / DT 770 closed-back headphones; on speakers I listened via my Onkyo A-9010 amplifier and Bowers & Wilkins 607 S2 speakers.

• First reviewed: March 2026
• Read TechRadar's reviews guarantee

• Android 14 with expandable storage. Wi-Fi 6 and Dolby Vision/Atmos
• Faster processor than Google's TV Streamer 4K
• $119 / £89 / about AU$169

Mecool has added a new Google TV box to its range of streaming accessories, offering excellent specifications and features, including expandable storage, at a low price.

The MEon1 4K GTV Streaming Box is $119.99 / £88.67 / about AU$169 and delivers content at up to 4K HDR with support for Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos. It can upscale HD content to "near-4K quality" and comes with 32GB of on-board storage. There's even a microSD slot supporting cards up to 128GB for easy expandable storage, and there are also dual USB 2.0 ports.

MEon1 4K GTV Streaming Box: key features

The MEon1 4K GTV Streaming Box has both Wi-Fi 6 and Ethernet networking and Bluetooth 5.2. It comes out of the box running Android 14 and is Netflix 4K-certified. As it's a Google TV box, it supports Google Assistant, Google Cast, and thousands of third-party apps.

The device supports HDR10, HDR10+, and Dolby Vision, and the supported video codecs are AV1, VP9, H.264, and H.265 (HEVC), which should cover all bases.

The processor inside the MEon1 is a quad-core Amlogic S905X5M, paired with a Mali G310 V2 GPU, and there's 2GB of RAM for apps. The ARM Cortex-A55-based processor is clocked at 2.5GHz, faster than the 1.8GHz of rival devices such as the Google TV Streamer 4K.

The HDMI output supports HDMI 2.1 and VRR and ALLM for gaming.

It's a decent specification for the money, but it's up against a very significant rival: the Google TV Streamer 4K. That has a list price of $99 / £99 / AU$159, but I'm often seeing it discounted for less.

Google's product has twice the on-board RAM, so it's likely to run more smoothly, but while it has both Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos, it's running an older Wi-Fi version: 802.11ac. That won't be a deal-breaker for everyone, however, and I don't think it's unfair to say the Google brand is a bit better known than Mecool's.

Google's product is also designed to interact with your smart home products, so that's something to consider if you have a smart home already, or think you might want one in the near future.

The Mecool MEon1 4K GTV Streaming Box is available now.

• There's a new direct drive deck in town, and I like it
• The SL-1500CS is a an update on the award-winning SL-1500C
• Technics' proprietary ΔΣ Drive tech, for £1,099 (around $1,480 or AU$2,100)

Technics is a name you'll need to know if you're into scratch DJ-ing (for the excellent SL-1210) or just for serious vinyl appreciation – see the Technics SL-1300G, emphatically one of the best turntables in recent memory.

So when Technics tells you that the new SL-1500CS Direct Drive Turntable is a "superior, upgraded model of the award-winning SL-1500C, featuring the brand’s revolutionary ΔΣ (DeltaSigma) Drive line-up," it's worth listening. I'd argue it's worth making notes, even.

This deck is, of course, built on the SL-1200GR2/1210GR2 duo, the very first Technics turntable with the ΔΣ-Drive, which was released in 2023, as well as the subsequent and aforementioned SL-1300G, where the new technology was implemented within a higher-grade direct drive motor, including twin-rotor and single stator.

The sector of Technics' turntable portfolio that has so far lacked this famed ΔΣ-Drive technology? That would be the lower end of the line-up, where belt-driven solutions are typically the norm. And now – hurrah! – this gap will be filled by the SL-1500CS.

Said ΔΣ-Drive technology is, says Frank Balzuweit, Senior Product Manager at Technics Europe, "All about eliminating motor vibrations down to the very limits of measurable… Through this, the new SL-1500CS achieves sonic performance levels far beyond the perceived standards of its class”.

You drive me crazy (I just can't sleep)

Elsewhere, the overall mechanical design has been largely inherited from the SL-1500C. The arm is a static-balance universal S-shape tonearm, another Technics calling card. Its pipe is made of lightweight, high-rigidity aluminium, and the bearing section of the gimbal suspension construction consists of a machined housing and a high-precision bearing, to boast high sensitivity.

You also get a built-in phono stage compatible with MM cartridges, so the SL-1500CS can be connected to a device without phono input terminals. A classical Phono output is also on board, if you've got your own, so it's a flexible bit of kit.

The SL-1500CS comes equipped with an MM pickup cartridge, too: the supplied universal head shell is fitted with an Ortofon 2M RED cartridge for "immediate plug and play satisfaction".

Lastly, the SL-1500CS comes with an automatic tonearm lift, so when the tonearm reaches the end of the record, the auto lifter automatically raises it. This is always a nice feature, because it helps prevent unnecessary wear and tear on your vinyl and stylus.

Oh, and who could forget the new, elegant finish? It comes in a "unique metallic gray", apparently.

The new SL-1500CS turntable is available from March 2026 via authorized Technics retailers, at an RRP of £1,099 (about $1,480 or AU$2,100, give or take).

And – stay with me now – Technics tells me that this month, the new SL-1200GME will also land, also featuring the ΔΣ-Drive technology but in a limited-edition turntable, which the company says will likely become “one of the most desirable collectibles Technics has ever produced”.

No price information on that one, sadly… still, this particular SL deck looks just fine to me.

• Analog Relax's new moving-coil turntable cartridge is called the EX700
• Made from Tyrolean spruce, boron and, of course, diamonds
• Sells for £7,288 (around $9,400, AU$13,300) – and this is 'mid-tier'

Own one of the best turntables and want to make it sound even better? Spending a small fortune on a premium cartridge might not be the cheapest option, but if money's no object, it might be fun.

Japanese audio brand Analog Relax has just lifted the lid on the EX700, possibly named after how many £10 notes you'll have to fork out to own it — it sells for £7,288 in the UK via Absolute Sounds (that coverts to about £9,400 or AU$13,300).

That price actually makes this one of Analog Relax's mid-range options, but for the rest of us, it's an outrageously premium pick. And I'll be honest, it's not a figure that makes me feel particularly relaxed.

The sound though? That's likely to be a different story. The EX700 is a moving-coil cartridge (often seen as superior to more budget-friendly moving-magnet rivals) which uses a multi-neodymium magnet system and line-contact stylus, all promising unrivalled control and clarity, and minimal distortion.

Rare materials

The high price of the Analog Relax EX700 may be justified by the build and materials. The cartridge was hand-made by Japanese artisans, using a boron cantilever and diamond stylus. Yes, diamond is the industry standard for tracking through your vinyl's delicate grooves, but this particular proposition has all the whistles and bells around it.

The wood itself was carved from spruce harvested in South Tyrol in Italy, which is one of the woods favored by famed string-instrument craftsman Stradivari.

The maker's creations often sell for millions, being famed for a sound which modern scientists and musicians haven't been able to replicate even 350 years later — although most believe it's due to the finish on the wood, not the type of wood or how it's used. Spruce was used for the top of the instruments, but willow and maple were also used too.

Because of the legacy, the Stradivarius name remains one invoked by audio makers to add gravitas to their releases. Several years ago, for example, Sonus Faber released some speakers which took inspiration from the name. It's a grand comparison to make, but if you're paying the price of a small car on a turntable stylus, you'd want that kind of assurance.

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before, but the ‘vinyl revival’ is showing no signs of slowing down. The continued interest in the retro music format has sparked an influx of new turntables from a variety of brands – some of which you’ll find in our guide to the best turntables – while major bands and artists release their albums on vinyl, with exclusive coloured versions now becoming par for the course.

I'm based in Sydney, Australia and alongside my role as the home-entertainment expert for TechRadar AU, I’m also the editor of Australian Hi-Fi magazine, which means I live and breathe hi-fi and all things audio. Naturally, then, my hi-fi system at home includes a turntable, and the JBL Spinner BT is what currently sits atop my hi-fi rack. And with its price currently slashed at Amazon in the US, UK and Australia, I can comfortably recommend you consider placing it on yours, too.

I bought JBL’s fun and funky deck for a number of reasons. Call me vain but I was immediately drawn to its looks. The vast majority of (affordable) turntables are basic black plinths with the record platter on top. With the Spinner BT, JBL has injected some colour, and it’s available in either black and orange, or black and gold. Orange is my favourite colour, so no prizes for guessing which version I have at home.

Secondly, even at its regular RRP it can comfortably be called affordable. And now it’s received a huge discount at Amazon around the world, it can be snapped up for a lot less

And then of course there’s how it sounds. Once you have it set up – it’s a simple process with a detailed, easy-to-follow set of instructions – it delivers a performance that surpasses what you might expect for the price. It’s a surprisingly revealing turntable, capable of extracting plenty of detail from a record’s grooves.

To get sound from the JBL turntable, you have a number of options. The easiest is to stream wirelessly to a Bluetooth speaker or pair of headphones. The ‘BT’ in the record player’s name indicates its Bluetooth credentials. But it’s also perfectly at home when connected directly to an amplifier and a pair of passive speakers – it has a built-in phono pre-amplifier, meaning you can connect it to virtually any amp you wish (as opposed to a model that has a dedicated phono input).

It’s an accomplished performer, then, and will easily outdo those cheap and cheerful briefcase-style turntables you see in major electronics retailers. If you want to jump onboard the vinyl revival bandwagon, then take it from me – this JBL deck is one of the best (and wallet-friendly) purchases you can make to get up and running.

For more details about this JBL turntable, be sure to check out the full What Hi-Fi? review.

Philips Fidelio FT1 turntable/CD player: two-minute review

There’s no school like the old school, right? Philips certainly seems to think so anyway, because it’s delivered a product you may not have even realised you needed: the Fidelio FT1 is a belt-drive turntable with integrated phono stage and a built-in CD player, that can act as a Bluetooth transmitter and features Auracast connectivity.

And it costs less than a stand-alone turntable or CD player that might easily be considered ‘entry level’.

Obviously the FT1 is not that last word in sturdiness or unburstable build quality. It’s perfectly well put together, though, looks quite good in its gloss-black finish (as long as you’re not the one who has to clean it) and arrives with a very decent Audio Technica cartridge pre-fitted to its aluminium tonearm. Add in a control app to complement its physical controls and you’ve got a ‘just-add-speakers (-or-wireless-headphones)’ plug-and-play device that covers several functionality bases.

In practice it’s not without charm. There’s plenty of drive and energy to the sound, no matter the source of the music you’re listening to, and the midrange communicates very freely. Dynamic headroom is significant, and the Philips controls its (solid, detailed) low frequencies well enough to express rhythms with real confidence. It’s strangely flimsy where treble response is concerned, though, and the bass does tend to sound rather estranged from the rest of the frequency range.

It’s nevertheless an enjoyable listen overall, though, and there’s a lot to be said for the amount of sonic enjoyment, as well as extended functionality, your money buys. One of the best turntables on the market? For this money, I really think it's hard to argue against it.

Philips Fidelio FT1 turntable/CD player review: price and release date

• Announced in September 2025, but released early 2026
• Priced $349 / £269 / (approx.) AU$429

The Philips Fidelio FT1 turntable/CD player/ Bluetooth transmitter is on sale now, and in the United Kingdom it sells for £269, while in the United States it’s yours for around $349. In Australia, meanwhile, the going rate is something like AU$429 – or, at least, that’s what today’s exchange rate suggests…

Philips Fidelio FT1 turntable/CD player review: features

• 33.3 and 45rpm turntable with Bluetooth transmission
• Integrated phono stage
• CD playback too

You can’t argue with the functionality that’s available here; certainly not at the asking price. In a chassis that’s actually a little narrower than your average turntable, Philips has managed to incorporate a record player with a switchable phono stage, a CD player and Bluetooth transmission. If you’re old enough to remember the whole ‘music center’ thing, you’re entitled to have a mild flashback just about now.

As far as the turntable section goes, the Fidelio FT1 is a belt-driven device that arrives with an Audio Technica AT3600L moving magnet cartridge pre-fitted to a straight aluminium tube tonearm. It has automatic speed-change via a dial on the plinth, and on the rear of the device there’s a switch to turn the integrated phono stage on or off.

The platter is of die-cast aluminium and there’s a rubber slip mat supplied too. The FT1 is a Bluetooth transmitter, and can convert an analog signal from your vinyl to a digital equivalent and then send it to a pair of wireless headphones or speakers via Bluetooth 5.4 using one of the SBC, AAC or LC3 codecs with which it’s compatible. Philips, understandably, considers its Fidelio FA3 wireless speakers to be the ideal partner for the FT1, but any Bluetooth receiver is fair game. It’s also Auracast-equipped – so it’s able to transmit whatever’s playing to as many appropriate speakers as you have access to.

There’s a compact disc drive built into the FT1 too. The tray into which CDs are loaded emerges from the front right section of the plinth – the tray door also features an LED display which gives confirmation of the selected input and the usual ‘track number, time elapsed, etc etc’ stuff when a CD is playing. The regular CD player modes (‘shuffle’, ‘repeat’, ‘random’ and so on) are available, and the drive itself is compatible with CD-R/RW and MP3-CD as well as your ordinary CDs.

• Features score: 5/5

Philips Fidelio FT1 turntable/CD player review: Sound quality

• Quite direct and energetic character
• Insubstantial treble response and slightly dislocated low end…
• …which can make the midrange seem rather exposed

There are, of course, perceived differences in the fundamental sonic signatures of vinyl and compact disc – but initially, one of the most most striking things about the Fidelio FT1 is just how consistent and itself it sounds no matter the source of the music it’s playing.

For better or for worse, its own sonic character seems to override those of the format it’s dealing with. So a CD of Barry Adamson’s Oedipus Schmoedipus is presented in much the same way as a vinyl copy of Doechii’s Alligator Bites Never Heal. The FT1 is an up-front, positive and quite energetic listen. It keeps a firm grip on the lower frequencies where attack and decay are concerned, so rhythms are expressed with confidence. There’s appreciable drive to its presentation, and a facility with dynamics that makes the up- and down-shifts in volume or intensity in a recording perfectly apparent.

Detail levels are respectable, even where the most minor and/or transient information is concerned. And the Philips discloses quite freely through the midrange, giving Doechii’s idiosyncratic delivery abundant character and attitude as well as revealing the goings-on of her technique and tone. This is further facilitated by the way the FT1 organises a soundstage – the midrange is nudged forwards, which further adds to both the intelligibility of voices and the overall sensation of direct communication.

Where tonality and frequency response are concerned, though, we’re on less solid ground. At the top of the frequency range the FT1 can quite readily become splashy and insubstantial, even at quite low volume levels – there’s a lack of body to treble sounds that never quite becomes edginess or hardness, but certainly serves to make the top end sound a little flimsy.

At the opposite end there’s no shortage of low-frequency substance, and a fair amount of tonal and textural variation – but there’s a sense of remoteness to the bass, a lack of unity with the frequency information above it that makes it sound a little distant.

The ability to stream wirelessly to headphones or speakers, or to physically connect to a system of some sort, is of course very welcome. But if you’re switching between the two you’ll need to be prepared to ride the volume control (either in the app, on your wireless speakers/headphones, or your amplifier), because the FT1 is noticeably quieter through its line-level output than it is through its Bluetooth equivalent.

• Sound quality score: 3.5/5

Philips Fidelio FT1 turntable/CD player review: Design

• 130 x 420 x 370mm (HxWxD, without dust cover)
• Plastic shell contains 20% recycled materials
• Detachable clear plastic dust cover

You can’t expect the Earth when ‘design’ is concerned when it’s obvious Philips has devoted the bulk of its budget to piling on the features – and sure enough, the FT1 is as pragmatic a piece of design as you’re likely to encounter.

The main box, on which the turntable platter sits (and in which the CD-related stuff lives) is built of hard, extremely glossy black plastic that features a fair amount of recycled post-consumer material. It’s shiny and reflective, as is all too obvious from my photographs – and even though the detachable dust cover is clear, rather than black, it’s just as keen to pick up fingerprints as the rest of the device.

Although the dust cover of my review sample doesn’t sit absolutely centrally on the plinth (it’s offset to the right just about enough to trigger my latent OCD), there’s no arguing with the standard of construction and finish here. Nothing feels vulnerable, even though the entire unit weighs less than 4kg, and the CD tray opens and closes smoothly.

The FT1 isn’t absolutely silent when it’s loading a disc or the turntable’s ‘auto start’ feature kicks in as the tonearm is taken from its rest and moved over the vinyl – but keep the asking price uppermost in your mind and there’s really not that much to take meaningful issue with here.

• Design score: 4/5

Philips Fidelio FT1 turntable/CD player review: usability and set-up

• Control app and physical buttons
• Auto-start and -stop
• Rapid Bluetooth pairing

Setting up the Fidelio FT1 is neither complex nor taxing. The die-cast aluminium platter needs to be put on its spindle, and the belt that’s attached needs to be put over the drive pulley. The tonearm needs its counterweight to be fitted and adjusted – Philips recommends a tracking weight of 1.5g or so. There’s a guard on the cartridge which needs to be removed. That’s your turntable section ready to go – for CD playback, just remove the transport tape holding the drawer closed and that’s all you need to do.

The FT1 can be hard-wired to an amplifier using stereo RCA connections – make sure the integrated phono stage is switched either on or off, depending on the input you’re connecting to. There’s a 3.5mm analog output on the rear panel too (not the most convenient location, but let’s not get bogged down in that), in case you’d like to connect a pair of wired headphones. Otherwise, the Philips can be quickly and easily paired with wireless speakers, wireless headphones or any other kind of Bluetooth receiver.

Control of the system is available via some physical buttons on the plinth. There’s a relatively big ‘power on/off’ button and a speed-control dial (choose between 33.3 and 45rpm). In addition, there are buttons handling Bluetooth pairing, source selection, Auracast, play/pause, and the opening and closing of the CD drawer.

The FT1 can be integrated into the Philips ‘Entertainment’ app, too. Here you’re able to duplicate the functions of the physical controls (apart from ‘power on/off’, weirdly), adjust volume, programme the CD player, adjust the clock or set a timer, check for software updates and plenty more besides. It’s not the most intuitive app around, in all honesty, but stick with it and it proves very useful indeed.

• Usability and setup score: 5/5

Philips Fidelio FT1 turntable/CD player review: Value

• Three separates in one, plus Bluetooth transmission
• If you can deal with a few sonic shortfalls, it's a lot of kit for the money

On the face of it, it’s hard to argue with the value represented by swapping $349 / £269 for an automatic turntable with integrated phono stage and CD player, especially not one that’s a Bluetooth transmitter and Auracast device too.

But of course, you didn’t buy the Fidelio FT1 just to admire its specification (or to constantly be dusting its high-gloss finish), did you? If you can live with its insubstantial treble response and, to a lesser extent, with its rather remote way with the low frequencies though, the Philips has plenty going for it.

• Value score: 4/5

Should I buy the Philips Fidelio FT1 turntable/CD player?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

Philips Fidelio FT1 turntable/CD player review: also consider

The beauty of the Fidelio FT1 is that it’s currently Number One in a field of very, very few - and certainly the ‘Philips’ badge is more credible that that worn by any of its nominal competitors. So unless you want to trust your vinyl collection to a brand you’ve either never heard of or that has a less-than-stellar reputation, the FT1 is probably the way to go.

That's unless you can stomach the idea of a Bluetooth-equipped turntable – the Sony PS-LX310BT is a particularly impressive example, the Majority Folio is also worthy of a look – and an affordable CD player as a separate purchase. But then, of course, you can’t stream your CDs wirelessly…

How I tested the Philips Fidelio FT1 turntable/CD player

• Tested over the course of three weeks
• Tested its vinyl and CD performance, wired and wirelessly

Naturally I listened to both vinyl and compact discs during the course of my testing. I connected the FT1 wirelessly to a pair of matching Philips Fidelio FA3 wireless speakers (review incoming!), and I also connected it to my reference system using RCA cables and with its integrated phono stage switched on.

I used it with wired and wireless headphones. That’s the thing about products with as much functionality as this – it takes ages to investigate every aspect of their performance…

• First reviewed: February 2025
• Read more about how we test

Setting up a new turntable and getting it spinning is one of life's great pleasures. Maybe you found an old stash of vinyl in the attic over the festive period, which feels roughly 229 days ago. Or maybe you just want to embrace the analog revival after swathes of bands (such as Massive Attack and King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard) left Spotify in protest last year – either over continued low streaming rates (even as Spotify hikes its prices), or the prevalence of AI-generated songs vying for recommendations in the space.

Then again, maybe you just always wanted a turntable, and I love that for you. I personally think embracing the physical music format in a 2026 digital detox is a great way to enjoy music and support the bands we love.

And the good news keeps on coming, because I'm here to tell you that it's really not as tricky as you might think to set a turntable up. Whether you've just treated yourself to one of the best turntables your budget can stretch to in the January sales, or you want to breathe some life into an older plate-spinner that needs a little love, you got this. Just stick with me.

Some new turntables (and here I might mention the all-new Sony Bluetooth decks) come with Bluetooth connectivity for listening using the best noise-cancelling headphones and best Bluetooth speakers. And some also come with USB outs for ripping your vinyl to your laptop – because those records are precious, hard-to-replace physical presses, and a backup plan is good.

Yes, turntables do feature a few intricate, moving parts – and I get that it can be a little daunting if you're new to them. Don't worry though – luckily, you came here!

Some budget-friendly turntables come with much of what I'm about to run through pre-fitted and pre-assembled (or calibrated), so it'll become clear depending on the deck you have whether or not you even need to run through all these steps. That said, the further up the food chain you go, the more likely it is that you'll be setting a lot of things up to your own specific tastes. And this, friend, is peak hi-fi… you're gonna love it.

The main thing is: don't stress. It's easier than it looks at first, promise. Okay, let's get stuck in!

Turntable terminology – what's that bit?

Whether you need to assemble your turntable or not (and whether or not it's an automatic deck – which simply means the tonearm lifts and places itself before a record, rather than you doing it), it’s a good idea to become familiar with the components of your deck.

Belt drive / direct drive

Turntables typically fall into two categories: belt-driven and direct-driven. Belt-drive decks, as the name suggests, involve an independent motor offset from the platter, connected by a belt to spin your records. This thin belt is almost always made from rubber.

Direct-drive turntables simply have the motor located directly beneath the platter, rotating it, well, directly. So no belt. Make sense?

Which is best? Oh, that's a whole different piece, but direct-drive decks are often favored by scratch DJs (although the pricey Technics SL-1300G sits very much in the audiophile camp), while most budget decks I've tested are belt-driven.

Cartridge

The cartridge is that bit that lowers onto a record. It attaches to the end of the tonearm and houses the stylus (or needle), which tracks delicately through the physical grooves in your record.

There are two types of cartridge: moving magnet (MM) or moving coil (MC), but both are electro-mechanical devices that use magnets and coils of wire to generate a signal as the platter spins the record. The most obvious difference between the two types of cartridges is that moving magnets usually have a higher electrical output. This is because MM cartridges have a magnet on a cantilever moving within fixed coils, producing a strong signal (higher voltage) suitable for standard phono stages, while MC cartridges flip this, with lighter coils moving around a fixed magnet, resulting in lower output but often superior detail, dynamics, and frequency response.

What you need to know is this: more wallet-friendly decks usually come pre-fitted with a cheaper MM cartridge – and this is just fine. If your deck comes with a pre-amplifier inbuilt (more on this later) said pre-amp will be able to amplify the signal created by MM cartridges, but often not those low-output MC options, so you'll need a separate pre-amp for those.

Either way, the stylus is usually made from a tiny piece of diamond attached to a flexible metal strip, although materials like ruby, sapphire, boron, and even cotton fiber can be used as well.

Platter

You probably guessed this one, but the platter is the circular part of the turntable that spins. It's where where you place your record – and there's a spindle at the center, to match the hole in your vinyl. Most platters come with a mat made of rubber or felt to reduce vibration and protect your record.

Plinth

The plinth or ‘support’ is the base of the turntable. As well as providing something relatively weighty for everything to sit on (and sometimes housing amps and speakers, if it's a plug-and-play record player), the plinth is designed to dampen or absorb vibrations that might negatively affect sound quality.

Some turntables come with adjustable feet, which can help you set it up level (again, more on this later).

Tonearm

The tonearm is the part of the turntable that wakes up and gracefully glides across the grooves on the vinyl, either when handled by you, or like magic when you push a button. It needs to be carefully balanced with correct 'tracking weight' to ensure the stylus sits correctly in the groove without veering towards either side (or pressing too hard), but often with budget or beginner decks this is already taken care of.

Stay on the level

Lingo lesson over, let's get to it. First things first: work out where you're setting up your turntable. You want a flat, stable, low-resonance surface – a decent piece of furniture is ideal. For extra marks, use a spirit level to make sure your turntable's future home is perfectly level. Sometimes, turntables come with adjustable feet – because life isn't perfect and sometimes the floors upon which our hi-fi systems must live and operate are a tad uneven.

A key mistake I see a lot of people make (because manufacturers often photograph their turntable-and-speakers propositions thus) is putting your speakers right next to the turntable. You'll hear people talk about decoupling or 'not coupling up', but all they're really saying is 'isolate your hi-fi separates'. If you place your speakers away from your deck, on a different surface, you've done your best to avoid vibrations and feedback.

While I'm on the subject of bad vibrations: traffic – try to avoid it. Putting your turntable close to a window that looks out onto a busy road means adding ambient vibrations to the mix, which can negatively alter your turntable's performance. Also, if your other half regularly practices kick-boxing in the spare room, maybe avoid putting your turntable up against that particular wall.

Setting things up

Okay, relax. We don't need to rush this. Most decks come with a comprehensive manual, and while I don't know which turntable you have, almost all of them will need to be set up in this way. That said, when I set up the Sony PS-LX310BT it took me all of three minutes before I was listening to Prince on my Bluetooth cans – it just depends on how much has been done by the manufacturer before you get there.

Attaching the belt

Belt-driven turntable? You'll probably need to attach the belt to the platter and the motor pulley. To do this, lift up the dust cover (if there is one), take off the protective mat and remove the platter; turn it upside down and slip the belt around its underside.

Then place the platter back onto the spindle (the bit that sticks through the hole in your vinyl), and pull the belt through the little square opening in the platter.

You will need to hook the belt around the motor pulley. This can be a bit fiddly, because it's important that the belt is as level as possible, and definitely doesn't have any twists in it. But most belts will come with a small piece of ribbon attached, to help you pull it through the hole and attach it securely. It sounds daunting I know, but with the Sony deck I mentioned above I did it in around 60 seconds, Scout's honor.

Balancing the tonearm

Some turntables require you to do this, some don't. If you've already plugged your deck into power to make sure it fires up okay, make sure you unplug it before doing this step, so that your platter doesn't start spinning unexpectedly.

You'll need to use that small numbered wheel next to the tonearm for this. First, gently lift the tonearm from its rest, taking care not to drop it, because that could cause damage to the stylus. Once it's somewhere between the tonearm rest and the platter, lower it – there might be a lever to do this. Notice it lowers all the way down – because it's not yet balanced!

Now, the tonearm's 'level' height needs to be set in such a way that it's parallel to the surface of your vinyl when the stylus sits in the groove. You can do this by moving the counterweight at the back of the tonearm backwards and forwards until the tonearm sits level without your support. It'll look like it's floating – hurrah! Now, set the indicator at the front of this counterweight to '0', keeping the weight where it is and just moving the numeric dial part.

Setting the tracking weight and anti-skate

Your tracking weight (the amount of downward force the stylus places on the record) is now at 0g. So let's adjust the tracking weight so you can play records. The manual that comes with your turntable will list a recommended tracking force (usually this is between between 1.5g and 2.5g).

It's important to get this bit right; you might think that lighter tracking is better, but actually the opposite is true. You want the stylus or needle to stay in the record groove, because if it bounces around too much, it can a) wear out and b) damage your lovely LPs.

So, now you move both parts of this counterweight down the tonearm – the whole thing – so that the tracking weight gauge at the front and the counterweight itself sit at the recommended tracking force. On most tonearms you rotate the whole unit to set this, and line up the required number with the indicator line on the tonearm. Now, you'll see the tonearm lower gently; that's what it's going to do with your vinyl, because you care.

Once you're happy, place the tonearm back on its rest and set the anti-skate control dial – usually a little numbered knob on the outside of the tonearm, but it varies – to the same number you've just set the tracking weight to. This will stop the tonearm pulling slightly towards the center of the platter as it does its job. Further down the line, you might finesse this dial just slightly (some audiophiles say that simply setting the anti-skate to the same figure as the tracking force isn't always successful), but on most decks, I find it works just fine.

Balancing the tonearm is perhaps the most difficult part of this whole process to get right, so if you're in any way unsure, I'd also recommend watching this quick video, from Analog for Life.

Making connections ('Do I need a pre-amp?')

At this point, you're going to need to plug things in. Your analog turntable system essentially has four components. So far, we've been dealing with the first piece of the jigsaw and emphatically the star – your turntable. The second component is your pre-amplifier.

Got a new turntable? Chances are it'll have a pre-amp built in (often called a phono stage; look for a USB port or a switch labelled 'Phono/Line' – if you set the switch to 'Line' the audio signal from the deck will be amplified in-house to 'line level', aka 'ready for an amp'; set it to 'Phono' and you can use your own dedicated pre-amplification hi-fi separate). So, if you don't have an onboard preamplifier and you don't just want a Bluetooth turntable to listen via your Bluetooth speaker (or a works-with-Sonos deck for your Sonos speakers – yes, the Victrola Stream Carbon works with Sonos) you'll need to get one.

Third part of the puzzle? An amplifier (often called a power-amp or receiver). This powers your speakers and sends the audio over to them. And lastly, your stereo speakers. These babies use drive units to take the audio signal and push it out – into the air and into your ears.

Now, a lot of hi-fi products will bundle one, two, three or even all four of these components together to save you the hassle of acquiring them. Active and powered speakers – let me guide you happily to the excellent KEF LSX II LT here – already contain power amplification, so if your deck has a phono stage, you can wire it to your speakers using RCA to RCA (connect the red/white cables from the turntable output to the RCA input on the powered speaker) or RCA to 3.5mm (connect the RCA end to the turntable, and the 3.5mm jack to the AUX or 'Line In' port on the speaker). Both the turntable and the powered speakers need to be plugged into the wall for this system to work, and many new turntables come with bundled RCA cables.

Some power amps also have a built-in preamp. The easiest way to find it is to look for a dedicated 'Phono' input on the back. If you see that, your amp's got an inbuilt phono stage – hurrah!

And of course, record players are so called because they're a one-stop shop, with all amplification and speakers built in – one very decent example is the Majority Folio. Simply plug it into the mains, fire it up and get to spinning!

Just know this: you do need all four components in some guise for your analog turntable system to work, and for you to listen to vinyl. Got it? You're doing great.

Get to steppin'

You're ready to do this! Simply switch the turntable on, place a record on the platter and select the correct speed setting. There should be a button or switch on the plinth that allows you to do this – if you're playing a standard 12-inch you should select 33 RPM (revolutions per minute). For a seven-inch single, select 45 RPM.

Automatic deck? You may not need to do any of these steps other than press 'play'. The rest of us may need to raise the tonearm's cueing lever – the tonearm should now lift up. Then, align the tonearm with the outside edge of your record's grooves and lower the cueing lever until the tonearm gently drops and the stylus settles into the microgrooves of your vinyl.

And that's it – you should now be able to sit back and enjoy. Well done you!

Building your vinyl collection

My favorite part! This is why you got into this: you love music.

My advice here is always the same: while thrift stores are a great place to crate-rummage for hard-to-find and rare presses, our beloved bands usually aren't making a cent on the re-sale of that physical music product. So, I strongly encourage you to head out to your local record store. Yes, they still exist – they're like online stores but made of bricks, and you can take your purchases with you when you leave.

Another thing to get involved with? Record Store Day, an annual event that started in 2007 and now sees a range of special-edition record pressings go on sale at record stores on multiple formats, not just vinyl.

Oh, and why not consider a vinyl subscription service while we're at it? I used to help update this list of the best vinyl subscription services for our sister publication, What Hi-Fi?, but you can also buy new vinyl on Bandcamp.

The simple fact is that vinyl sales help the acts we love to keep making music. Why? The significantly higher profit margins per unit. Vinyl sales (especially when bought directly at gigs or through platforms such as Bandcamp), offer a sustainable income source that streaming, which pays fractions of a penny, cannot match.

Keeping things neat and pretty

I've written a dedicated separate guide to cleaning your turntable, stylus and vinyl that's got a lot of information on keeping things neat and pretty, but I wanted to use this section to make a big admission: I hate turntable dust covers.

You're meant to use them to keep pesky dust away from your turntable's delicate components, but for me this extra bulk – involving hinges and a big chunk of clear plastic – can also create vibrations and other nasty interferences. So I keep a microfiber cloth near my turntable at all times. Yes, but that is how I choose to live.

Also a word on your vinyl: try not to touch your records too much (always handle them by the very edges if you can), and do not stack them one on top of the other – always vertically, like books in a bookcase. Also, consider buying some decent inner sleeves to preserve them for the longest time possible.

And that's it, I'm done. I'm off to sit in my comfy chair with my cans on. I'm going to listen to Prince. Then, I might listen to Harry Styles. Whatever you're doing tonight, enjoy the music.

• Sony has unveiled two new Bluetooth turntables: PS-LX3BT and PS-LX5BT
• The new PS-LX3BT is a direct replacement for the fan-favorite PS-LX310BT
• …although the pricing might make you think otherwise

Regular readers – and anyone on the hunt for one of the best turntables – will know of Sony's form in the budget vinyl spinning arena. Simply put, the Sony PS-LX310BT is one of the best Bluetooth turntables in its lowly price category, and has been since its 2019 release.

And after a long old wait, Sony has released a model to update it, plus a step-up option for anyone looking to level up – or replace a heritage deck, perhaps.

The names to jot down are the PS-LX3BT and PS-LX5BT, and both models are belt-drive decks offering one-button full auto playback (there's "start", "stop" and "up/down" buttons on each, so you never really need to touch the delicate tonearm).

You also get Bluetooth with aptX and aptX Adaptive if you'd like to listen through your Bluetooth speaker or wireless headphones, rather than to your wired speakers. Sony also lists a pre-fitted "high-quality moving-magnet cartridge", three-level gain control, aluminum platter and transparent dust cover. Each also supports 33⅓ and 45 RPM records (7" and 12").

Sony PS-LX3BT and PS-LX5BT: the key specs (…and surprising pricing)

The PS-LX3BT (the model on the right of the main image, above) is billed as a direct replacement for the older PS-LX310BT. It has an attached audio cable and built-in phono equalizer, so you can plug it into an amp or powered speakers, if you'd like to stick to a more traditional setup.

Cartridge pressure here is listed as 3.5g ± 0.5g, and the solid die-cast aluminum platter should make it a dependable, solid deck for newbies to record collecting.

The PS-LX5BT introduces a few more premium refinements to enhance the audio performance, including a more delicate stylus pressure of 2.0g ± 0.5g, a thicker and more premium rubber mat and a slightly tweaked circuit design that, says Sony, has been carefully engineered to suppress unwanted vibration.

It also adds a dedicated, gold-plated audio jack out port (something not present on the older PS-LX310BT) with a cable in the box, plus a slightly more high-end all-black finish.

Sounds good, no? So why am I a little reticent to show my pleasure? Well, the PS-LX3BT is available from today (January 22; mid-February in Australia) for a suggested retail price of £299 / €299 / AU$469 (so around $401), and the PS-LX5BT will be available for £399 / €399 / AU$599 (so around $536) – or just a little cheaper than the excellent Pro-Ject Debut Carbon Evo, which initially launched for $499 / £499 but can ofter be found for closer to $449 / £439.

And that turntable is the deck we recommend as the best for most people – not vinyl newbies; not those who want a cheap Bluetooth option to kick off their vinyl hobby. Just the best, generally.

To clarify, the older Sony PS-LX310BT regularly sells for $199 / £179 / AU$395 and while I understand the incremental gains Sony has listed, I'm not sure a cult-favorite budget deck can be successfully superseded by a "direct replacement" that costs so much more – and a step-up model that's even pricier and thus vying against long-term class-leaders.

I adored the original PS-LX310BT when I helped test it (for TechRadar's sister site, What Hi-Fi? back in 2019, not long after its release), but the key selling point then was its relative uniqueness at that budget level.

How unique and affordable are these new iterations in 2026 – and will fledgling vinyl collectors pay the surcharge, rather than fight over any remaining stock of the older model? That remains to be seen. What I can tell you is that I still can't wait to try them out. Watch this space.

• Pro-Ject's first Artist Collection turntable release of 2026 is in
• The Scorpions deck features artwork from the band’s 1982 album, Blackout
• Based on the Pro-Ject T2, priced £629 / AU$1,399 (around $846 where sold)

Pro-Ject's decks are blowing with the wind of change, aren't they? Not content with a delightfully thunderstruck AC/DC-themed turntable and a light-up Elvis-themed deck (which I got to see recently at the Paris Audio Show), the Austrian turntable specialist has unveiled the Pro-Ject Scorpions Turntable, featuring the striking artwork from the German band’s 1982 album, Blackout.

And just in case you're not fully versed on the significance of the band (or the album), since forming in Hanover in 1965, Rudolf Schenker and co. have sold over 100 million albums worldwide. Blackout was the band’s eighth studio album, and in 2017, Rolling Stone ranked it 73rd on their list of the 100 greatest metal albums of all time.

The album cover isn't – how to put this? – for the faint of heart. It's based on a self-portrait by Vienna-born artist Gottfried Helnwein and shows Helnwein with a bandaged head, a mouth frozen in mid-scream, and twisted forks pointing in towards his eyes.

The artwork wasn’t created especially for the album either; it dates from around 1981–82. Schenker and fellow band member Klaus Meine reportedly discovered the image in Stern magazine and got Helnwein’s permission to use it. For the cover, Helnwein apparently made only minor adjustments to colors and background to suit the LP format, leaving the central image intact.

Pro-Ject's Scorpions turntable: hungry to play

And the story behind the album’s title track? It's just as rock 'n' roll. As Schenker previously said to the Las Vegas Review-Journal: "Blackout was a song that actually came out of a situation when I was partying with the Judas Priest guys, Glenn and K.K., and with Def Leppard. It was a hard party – no question – and I had a blackout, which I didn’t even know existed. I told Herman the story. He said, 'You know what you had? You had a blackout.' Then he added, 'Oh, by the way, that’s a great title for an album.'"

The Pro-Ject Artist Collection celebrates bands, acts, musicians, and artwork that has shaped music and popular culture. The Scorpions Turntable is handmade in Europe, designed and built by Pro-Ject. It's based on the Pro-Ject T2 turntable and uses a belt-drive design. The CNC-machined plinth has been enlarged here for greater stability, and its non-plastic construction should reduce unwanted vibrations. A heavy glass platter should also minimise resonanc,e and Pro-Ject tells me the turntable's feet will help isolate the unit from any external vibration.

The deck includes a straight 9-inch aluminium tonearm with integrated headshell and spring-based anti-skating mechanism. It also comes equipped with a pre-adjusted Pick it 25A Moving Magnet Ortofon cartridge, ready to rock you like a hurricane straight from the box.

Pricing? Of course. The Pro-Ject Scorpions Turntable is available now by special order in the UK, priced £629. European pricing is €649.00, while Australian pricing is set at AU$1,399 with details for further regions coming soon – but those figures roughly equate to $846 if you can get your hands on one.

China White? No, it only comes with the album artwork printed on the plinth, silly. And thanks again, Pro-Ject. You give me all I need…

When Victrola announced its space-saving new Soundstage speaker for turntables, I had obvious concerns. It's effectively a soundbase, for people who remember when those were popular for TVs – a slab of a speaker that sits underneath something else, and uses the good internal volume you get from a low-profile but large footprint to deliver deep and impactful sound.

The obvious problem with this plan is: speakers vibrate, and turntables need to be kept steady. Putting the latter on top of the former seems like asking for trouble.

So at CES 2026, I tracked down Victrola to get not only a first listen to the Soundstage, but also to get my hands on it and feel whether the vibrations are a concern.

As you'll have seen, it's a nice-looking bit of gear, available in walnut or black finishes. The styling, size, and finishes are an exact match for Victrola's Wave turntable, though you can use it with anything that fits on its 42.95 x 38.37 x 8.95cm frame.

There's an RCA connection for your turntable, plus a 3.5mm jack, USB-C audio, and Bluetooth – making it a nice modern music center as well as a vinyl addition.

Let's start with the bass rumble. The Soundstage has a system Victrola calls the 'Symmetric Drive Woofer' to deliver bass, and it's a force-opposed dual-diaphragm bass system, firing up and down simultaneously from a single driver.

It's very much like the Sonos Sound Motion bass driver used in the Sonos Arc Ultra soundbar (you can read all about the development of that speaker here), in that it's designed to provide big bass in a small space, but with a force-opposing configuration to avoid vibrations.

Force-opposing speaker systems mean that you have two identical diaphragms facing opposite directions. When speakers play, they push air forward, which means there's an equal force pushed the other way, into the speaker enclosure, in the form of vibrations. But in a force-opposed system, those vibrations then meet the exact same vibrations coming the other way from the other diaphragm, so they cancel each other out, and you end up with no major shaking at all (or close to it, and the rest can be absorbed by a well-built enclosure).

The double bass driver has the effect of giving this speaker a surprising amount of thump for something not very tall, but placing my hand on the sides, back, and top of the unit, I could barely feel any vibration in it. There is some, but nothing different from what you'd expect if you had your turntable on top of a piece of furniture with two speakers on either side of it.

You can feel a lot more vibration on the front of the unit, where the forward drivers are, but since I couldn't feel the effect of this heavily on the sides and back, it seems like the bracing and build of the speaker can absorb this well enough without it passing it through to the turntable (which will have some protection against vibration of its own, of course).

Victrola says of the front speakers that a "Balanced Mode Radiator (BMR) technology delivers exceptionally wide, even dispersion, creating a spacious, natural stereo image that stays clear and detailed anywhere in the room" and my experience with this is that there's very little stereo on offer here, despite these promises – if that's your priority, you've got to go with separate speakers.

But Victrola told me that even dispersion around the room was a big focus for the speaker system, and it absolutely nails this – I moved around to really off-center positions to see if the sound balance would alter drastically and weaken, and actually, it barely changed compared to being right in front of it.

That's impressive, and makes it super-flexible for listening positions, which again, makes sense for something designed for people with little spare space.

As for the overall sound itself, I would say that it's quite warm – leaning into vinyl's tendency that way, perhaps – and trends somewhat bass-ward. Mid-range and treble seemed present and correct enough, but I didn't get the sense of there being a ton of fine detail and expression from my demo.

Naturally, we'll reserve judgment until we can test in a proper environment, but my initial impression is that you may get finer hi-fi results from a pair of active stereo speakers matching the $349 price of the Soundstage, but probably less deep bass. It may be a question of choosing the fullness and impact of the sound versus the resolution and imaging.

But in some ways, that dilemma also misses the point: this compactness. This speaker sits under the turntable, with no extra space and no extra components needed. In that way alone, it might be exactly what you've been looking for.

Goldring GR3 turntable: two-minute review

Just two decades or so since it last had a turntable in its product line-up, Goldring is back. The GR3 has been developed in collaboration with acknowledged experts and it really looks the part in a ‘black high-gloss lacquer’ sort of way.

It’s got plenty going for it where specification is concerned, too. This is a belt-drive turntable with manual speed-change, and it arrives with a very capable Goldring E3 pre-fitted and pre-adjusted moving magnet cartridge at the end of the aluminium tube tonearm. It’s supplied with a couple of pairs of QED cables to make plugging it into a system as painless as can be. And it’s fitted with an internal phono stage to ensure it is compatible with as wide a range of systems as possible – if the phono stage had an ‘off’ switch it could be fair to say the GR3 has everything you could possibly expect or require.

Connected to an appropriate system, the Goldring GR3 is an articulate, informative and confident listen with just enough drive and attack to stop it sounding leisurely. Dynamic headroom, soundstaging and timing all impress, and the amount of detail the GR3 can extract from the groove is also noteworthy.

In a slightly less appropriate system, though, the latent high-frequency stridency the Goldring hints at becomes a little more evident – a minor lack of treble substance can become apparent. When weighed against all the things that are enjoyable about the GR3 sound, though, ‘minor’ is the word to bear in mind and it bears serious consideration to sit among the best turntables available.

Goldring GR3 turntable review: price and release date

• $1,299 / £699 / AU$1,599 (approx.)
• Launched in October 2025

The Goldring GR3 launched towards the end of October 2025, and in the United States it's priced at $1,299. In the United Kingdom it goes for £699, while in Australia it will set you back around AU$1,599.

Goldring GR3 turntable review: features

• Low-vibration belt drive motor
• Integrated phono stage
• Pre-fitted Goldring E3 moving magnet cartridge

The plain fact is that the Goldring GR3 has a few more features than is the norm where a record player costing this sort of money is concerned. So where has that half-a-star gone from the ‘features’ score below? I’ll get to that, but for now let’s establish what’s what.

The motor that moves the belt that spins the platter is a low-noise, low-vibration design. The tonearm is a 237mm one-piece aluminum tube with a three-point arm mounting system - and it’s pre-fitted with an extremely well-regarded Goldring E3 moving magnet cartridge, a design that’s well on the way to becoming a classic.

The GR3 is also supplied with two pairs of relatively high-quality interconnects, manufactured by Goldring’s sister company QED. One is a 1.5mm stereo RCA design, the other a 3.5mm / stereo RCA alternative, so connecting the GR3 to a full-size system or a pair of powered speakers should be no problem.

The Goldring’s stereo RCA outputs are fed by an integrated phono stage, and it’s here that the GR3’s final half-a-star goes astray. I’m absolutely in favor of record players with integrated phono stages, don’t get me wrong; it makes for ultimate flexibility, and it means the deck can slot into pretty much any system you care to mention. But the phono stage here is always on and cannot be switched off, so if you own a system with a phono stage of its own (and surely any number of people ready to spend $1,299 on a record player must do), you must avoid your own phono stage for the one fitted here. You don’t even get to compare and contrast.

Just a simple ‘on/off’ switch is all that’s required, Goldring. Is it too much to ask?

• Features score: 4.5/5

Goldring GR3 turntable review: Sound quality

• Tremendous rhythmic positivity
• Extracts plenty of fine detail
• Lacks a little top-end substance

There are some aspects of audio reproduction at which well-sorted turntables seem to excel. And the Goldring GR3 is almost a caricature of a record player in this respect; the areas where it’s at its most convincing and most enjoyable are all textbook turntable strengths.

Take rhythmic expression, for instance. The GR3 manages the low frequencies during a listen to Patti Smith’s Horses with absolute confidence, closely observing the attack and decay of individual bass sounds so that rhythms and tempos are described in the most naturalistic, fluent and convincing manner. There’s plenty of variation in the low end here, ample detail regarding tone and texture is available, but it’s the effortlessness with which the Goldring describes even quite tricky, off-kilter rhythms that lets you know you’re in safe hands.

The unity and togetherness with which the GR3 presents the whole recording is another one from the Big Book of Turntable Cliches. Detail levels are high throughout the frequency range, and (with the slight exception of the very top end) tonality is very consistent too – and there’s a real sense of singularity and performance about the way the Goldring handles the entirety of the music. As with rhythmic expression, there’s a complete lack of stress or apparent effort in the way this turntable handles the timing of a recording.

There’s decent dynamic headroom available for when the going gets especially hectic or intense. The GR3 is able to create a large and quite persuasive soundstage and there’s more than enough room available for each strand of a recording to make itself heard. The Goldring communicates eloquently through the midrange, and has just enough positivity to its overall presentation to prevent the words ‘laid back’ seeming like something that might come in useful at some point.

It’s only at the top of the frequency range that the GR3 seems anything less than nicely balanced and assured. Unlike the rest of the frequency range, which is described with quite carefully neutral tonality and a fair amount of substance, the very high end sounds a little thin and malnourished. It stops well short of hardness or edginess, don’t get me wrong, but its relative lack of body puts it at odds with pretty much everything that’s going on beneath it.

In a sympathetically matched system it will hardly be an issue but with carelessly chosen or similarly inclined partners the GR3 could conceivably bare its teeth a little more readily than is ideal.

• Sound quality score: 4.5/5

Goldring GR3 turntable review: Design

• Belt drive with manual speed change
• Phenolic resin platter
• High-gloss black plinth

Goldring, up to a point, is being quite open about the fact the GR3 was developed in collaboration with a third party. This is the Goldring’s first turntable in over two decades, after all, so the idea of getting some outside help is probably sensible. “A renowned British hi-fi manufacturer” is how Goldring rather coyly describes its associate.

If you’re in any way au fait with the work of any renowned British turntable brands, the design of the GR3 is going to look pretty familiar – heck, if you’re in a similar line of work to me you’re probably likely to recognize the arrangement of the packaging the GR3 arrives in. But if you’re going to collaborate, then why not collaborate with the best around?

Anyhow, the GR3 is a belt-drive design, and is fitted with a phenolic resin platter. The platter is designed to increase inertia and maximize the flywheel effect (thus maintaining consistent rotational speed) by having the bulk of its considerable mass at the outside.

The plinth is built of anti-resonant composite fiber, and is finished in the sort of high-gloss black that collects fingerprints like a particularly zealous scene-of-crime investigator. It stands on three pliant, resonance-suppressing feet, and can be fitted with a supplied clear Perpsex dust cover. With the lid closed, the GR3 is 120 x 450 x 360mm (HxWxD), and weighs around 5.5kg.

• Design score: 5/5

Goldring GR3 turntable review: usability and set-up

• Cartridge is pre-adjusted for all but downforce
• Can easily be connected to many types of system
• Manual speed change

The Goldring E3 moving magnet cartridge is fitted to the tonearm before the GR3 leaves the factory, and it’s pre-adjusted for all but downforce. Dial in the recommended 2g and you’re ready to play.

Connecting to a system is very simple, too. Use one of the supplied cables to take line-level left-and-right channel information away from the turntable and into an ‘aux’ or other line-level input on your set-up – anything from a powered speaker to a full-on hi-fi system is fair game.

After that, make sure the belt is around the correct part of the pulley in order to get the rpm you need. The power switch is on the underside of the plinth, almost directly beneath the legend ‘Goldring - established 1906’ on the surface. Take the guard off the cartridge and lower the needle onto the vinyl… then sit back and enjoy.

• Usability and setup score: 5/5

Goldring GR3 review: Value

• Great build and finish
• Articulate sound
• Very acceptable cartridge

A good standard of build and finish, a very acceptable cartridge thrown in, and specification that makes system-matching the work of a moment all go towards suggesting there’s value for money available here. Add in the confident, articulate way the Goldring GR3 sounds and its case is approaching ‘watertight’.

• Value score: 5/5

Should I buy the Goldring GR3?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

Goldring GR3 review: also consider

How I tested the Goldring GR3

• Tested over the course of two weeks
• Connected to a Naim Uniti Star network streamer/amplifier and Bowers & Wilkins 705 S3 Signature speakers
• Listening to various types of music

I connected the Goldring GR3 to the line-level analog input of my Naim Uniti Star network streamer/amplifier using the supplied QED RCA/RCA cables.

The Naim was connected to a pair of Bowers & Wilkins 705 S3 Signature speakers on FS-700 S3 stands using QED XT50 speaker cable.

And then I listened to a lot of records for quite a long time, which was not the hardship it sounds like, I have to admit. I used a Rega Planar 2 with Carbon MM cartridge and a Technics SL-1300G with Goldring 1042 cartridge as reference devices.

• First reviewed: January 2026
• Read more about how we test

CES 2026 is well underway now, and the TechRadar team has been on the show floor – and in the many private briefing rooms dotted all over Las Vegas – to see what the most important, most innovative, and most fun gadgets coming your way in 2026 will be.

We've had our experts all over the big launches as well as the smaller stuff tucked away at the back of the halls, and we've chosen our 25 favorite products of the show. We're covering a wide gamut of consumer tech here, so make yourself a coffee and dig into what we loved, and why it stood out to us.

Want to watch along and see more of the tech we loved at CES? Check out the video below!

Best phone

Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold

• A phone that really turns into a tablet
• Impressive camera system, too
• Read more: I finally tried the Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold and couldn't believe my eyes

We finally got to try Samsung's first double-folding phone (it may be called the TriFold, but there are two hinges…), and we called it a "remarkable feat of engineering that offers the potential of truly pocketable big-screen tablet productivity". When folded, it isn’t meaningfully thicker than regular phones, and it has a 6.5-inch screen… but then it becomes 10-inch tablet – so truly tablet-sized – in an instant when you fold its two sides out.

It's not just a one-trick pony, though – the TriFold has five cameras in total, to make sure it can deliver all the flexibility you want from a modern phone. There's Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy customized powerful processor, and a generous 5,600mAh battery. It's the clear stand-out among CES's phones this year.

Best earbuds

Shokz OpenFit Pro

• Shokz' first open earbuds with active 'noise reduction'
• Great fit and sound quality
• Read more: I’ve worn the all-new Shokz open earbuds for 4 days and the ‘noise reduction’ is so good, I forget they’re open-ear

The best open earbuds have become incredibly popular, but Shokz has making them for longer than most, and the new OpenFit Pro proves that it's good to be the veteran. Crucially, these are the company's first with active noise cancellation – even though Shokz doesn't want to call it that, because not having an in-ear seal means it's not quite as effective as what people think of for ANC. No, this is 'noise reduction'.

Well, we've tested them, and actually the noise reduction is as good as a lot of ANC earbuds. It's really effective, and paired with impressive sound and high levels of comfort, these are really impressive.

Best stereo speakers

Cambridge L/R Series

• 3 sizes of wireless stereo bookshelf speakers with huge power
• Dedicated bass drivers with passive radiators
• Read more: Cambridge has unveiled three active bookshelf speakers at CES and it’s not hard to see the KEF resemblance

British hi-fi company Cambridge launched its first wireless stereo speakers, and despite being modest in size, they are huge in sound. There are three sizes – the L/R X is the biggest, the L/R M is the medium, and the L/R S is the small – and it's amazing how much oomph they provide.

We heard the L/R X going hard, and the bass is enough to shake the room, despite not being that big. A big down-firing woofer and dual passive bass radiators get it to this point, delivering an amazingly full sound, with tons of detail and finesse to it as well. And they're great-looking, too.

Best Bluetooth speaker

Fender Audio Elie 6

• 3-way speaker system in a small body produces great sound
• Connections for guitars and mics, and great wireless options
• Read more: Fender just released new wireless headphones and Bluetooth speakers

Fender Audio launched two speakers and a pair of headphones at CES, and all are interesting in various ways, but during our ears-on time it was the Elie 6 that really impressed us. It's a pretty small unit, but it packs in a tweeter, full-range speaker and down-firing bass driver, meaning the sound is amazingly full and impactful – especially in stereo mode, with two units connected wirelessly.

They have interesting features, too – a combined XLR and 1/4-inch port for connecting a mic or guitar directly, and even two wireless buttons for a specific connectivity feature Fender is planning to work with wireless mics. We like the design too, with a solid carry handle.

Best headphones

TDM Neo

• Headphones that 'twist' to become a portable speaker
• 200-hour battery life in headphones mode

We love seeing something totally new at CES. The TDM Neo work like a regular pair of on-ear wireless headphones. You put them on, you enjoy some nice bassy music. But when you take them off, you can twist the flexible headband and connect the earcups together magnetically, to form a small round device. As soon as you do this, they start playing music out loud, as a Bluetooth speaker.

They have two sets of audio drivers to make this happen: one for headphones mode, and a more powerful set for speaker mode. And they're really thoughtfully designed – the headband hinges attach to each other when you twist, so you know you've done it correctly, but then they become a flat surface you can stand the speaker on.

If you prefer, you can also change the behavior so that when you twist, they pause instead of auto-switching to speaker mode. And because the speaker mode requires more power, they have huge batteries, and can deliver a colossal 200 hours of life in headphones mode.

Best toy

Lego Smart Play

• A classic Lego brick, now with sound and light magic
• All the tech is under the hood – no screens required

At first glance, Lego’s Smart Brick looks like a regular 2x4 Lego brick. Aside from a transparent top, you’d never know it’s any different. But bring a Smart Minifigure close, and that's where the magic starts to happen. If Darth Vader approaches, the Imperial March starts up. Move R2-D2 nearby and you’re greeted with frantic boops and flashes of blue light. Same goes for a Smart Tag to identify what the Lego build is – say, an X-Wing or Tie Fighter.

All of this is powered by a custom chip hidden inside the brick, along with sensors, a gyroscope, non-invasive microphones, and a sound synthesizer. Together, they let the Smart Brick understand what’s around it and respond with the right sounds and lighting effects, without adding a screen or changing the core Lego experience. For now, it’s limited to a handful of Star Wars sets, but it’s a smart, confident foundation – one that enhances play rather than distracting from it.

Best OLED TV

LG W6 Wallpaper TV

• LG's best OLED panel, in a super-thin 9.9mm body
• Uses a wireless connections box to keep it aesthetically pure
• Read more: LG announces new OLED TVs at CES

The LG W6 is a stunner in more ways than one. It uses LG's most advanced OLED panel – the new Primary RGB Tandem 2.0 also used in the LG G6 – but in a design that's just 9.9mm thick. It's also totally uniform, meaning it can be as invisible on the wall as pretty much any TV can be these days. In the image above, you can see how well it blends in using a photo of the wall behind it. To help this minimalism, it uses a wireless connections box that's capable of full-quality 4K HDR pictures, but without the tangle of cables running to the TV.

It looks like it'll be a fantastic TV, thanks to the panel and LG's latest-gen image processing, and should only cost a little more than the G6 does. That means you'll be getting something super-impressive and premium at a still-realistic price.

Best RGB TV

Samsung R95H

• Stunningly rich color and fantastic contrast
• Available in realistic sizes, and shown in an amazing 130-inch model
• Read more: Samsung's enormous micro-RGB TV is coming to smaller screen sizes, and it borrows one great feature from Samsung OLED TVs

CES has been dominated by RGB TVs this year. These are basically mini-LED TVs with a new more colorful backlight behind the pixels, meaning they offer a greater range of colors, and can be even brighter. Having seen them in action, our pick of the bunch is the Samsung R95H. It looks so lush and colorful, with impressively inky black tones, and Samsung's anti-reflective screen ensuring you can see everything, without distractions.

More than that, this is a TV available in realistic sizes – Samsung showed off 75-inch and 85-inch versions, but overall its RGB TVs will come in sizes starting from 55 inches – while still feeling cutting edge. However, for good measure, Samsung also showed an amazing 130-inch version of this TV.

Best Mini-LED TV

TCL X11L SQD MiniLED

• A twist on traditional QLED mini-LED TV tech
• Astoundingly bright, with 20,000 dimming zones
• Read more: TCL launches next-gen SQD mini-LED TV at CES – the ‘best TV in the market’ for 2026

TCL has put a fascinating twist on its flagship TV here. It uses more traditional mini-LED tech rather than RGB mini-LED – but only sort of. TCL is employing a single-color mini-LED backlight, but has applied a layer of 'Super Quantum Dots' (the SQD part) directly over the top, which filter the color before – rather than after – it reaches the LCD layer.

This means it kind of works like an RGB TV, but TCL says this approach means it can pack in way more LEDs. It can produce 10,000 nits of brightness and 20,000 dimming zones for probably the best contrast we've ever seen from a mini-LED TV. Based on early impressions, this is the closest we've seen to mini-LED beating the blooming problem completely.

Best projector

Hisense PX4-Pro

• Ultra short throw laser 4K projector with amazing brightness and color
• Up to 200 inches projected with the device just inches from the wall
• Read more: Hisense unveils two 4K laser projectors — a 300-inch beast with huge brightness, plus the sequel to the best ultra short throw projector

The PX4-Pro is the follow-up to the projector we rate as the best ultra short throw projector overall right now, so we were excited to take a look, and it lived up to our expectations. Its picture looks beautifully bright with a good light-rejecting screen – closer than ever to TV brightness – and eye-grabbingly rich color.

But it can now project up to 200 inches in size still from right near the wall, while maintaining immersive brightness and color depth, and all still in the same size of projector package. CES is full of projectors this year, but this one popped for us.

Best soundbar

LG Sound Suite H7

• The world's first Dolby Atmos FlexConnect soundbar
• A powerful all-in-one, and you can add more speakers in any position
• Read more: LG’s 2026 TVs and soundbars get the Dolby Atmos FlexConnect treatment

Dolby Atmos FlexConnect is a really interesting technology that means you can place home theater speakers wherever is convenient for your room, and the system will configure their sound to create immersive spatial audio, even if they're not in the 'ideal' spot.

LG's Sound Suite H7 is the first soundbar to include the tech, delivering 9.1.6 channels of Dolby Atmos sound on its own. However, you can add a sub and satellite speakers that are positioned anywhere in the room, and the soundbar will automatically optimize them and create the ideal immersive system. It sounds amazing, and the freedom of placement is a game-changer.

Best smartwatch

Pebble Round 2

• The original smartwatch returns!
• E-paper screen means a week of battery life
• Read more: Pebble unveils Pebble Round 2 — and fixes all the original's major pitfalls

Pebble holds a strong place in the heart of tech lovers – it was the first smartwatch that really took, and now it's back with its coolest model yet. Pebble Round 2 is a sleeker, rounder watch, and using a color e-paper helps it deliver a week of battery life per charge.

Naturally, it does some fitness and sleep tracking, and there's a big range of apps and watch faces, thanks to the ongoing commitment to having open source software on the Pebble range.

Best fitness tracker

Noise Luna Band

• A screenless health-tracking band
• No subscription needed – a rarity these days

We've enjoyed the Luna Ring models, and now the brand has the Luna Band. It's a Whoop-like fitness tracker, meaning there's no distracting screen. It doesn't really feel like tech, and that's a good thing – you just live your life, and the Luna Band will offer helpful updates on your diet, workouts, sleep, mood and more. You can use your voice to tell it what meal you ate, to log your workouts, or how you're feeling – and then you can review them later on the app. The one downside is that this function uses Apple's Siri, which means it's iPhone-only for now.

Perhaps the best part is that it doesn't require a subscription on top of the device cost to do all this – people are tired of being nickel-and-dimed, and so the Luna Band looks like it'll help you stay zen in more ways than one.

Best exercise tech

Merach W60 Walking Pad

• "Treadmill-grade engineering" for a low price
• Auto-incline or manual incline options

Walking pads are getting more and more popular, especially for people who work from home and want to get some exercise in during the work day. Merach's new model promises to help you do this more easily and reliably than ever. We love the promise of "treadmill-grade engineering" for a super-sturdy feel, and Merach says it will have a 2,000km warranty.

It's available in two options: one with an auto-incline feature, and one where you'll have to manually set an incline. There's also RGB lighting and Bluetooth speakers built in, if you want to set a mood. Starting from just $299 for the manual version and $329 for the auto-incline version, this really looks like it could be the new standout walking pad on the market.

Best wellness innovation

Nuralogix Longevity Mirror

• A smart mirror that can detect blood flow in your face to give health insights
• Everything from physiological age to mental health

This smart mirror has cameras built in that combine with an AI algorithm to work out a surprising amount of health data just from your face. It's not looking at your features – it's detecting blood-flow patterns, which it can make a variety of sophisticated estimations from.

These include your heart-rate, your physiological age (as in, is your body working as well as it should for your 'real' age?) and your mental health. It appears to be pretty accurate based on early testing – it seems like an incredibly clever system.

Best laptop

Dell XPS 14

• Smart new design with usability improvements
• Intel's new Core Ultra 3 chips inside
• Read more: Hands on: Dell XPS 14 2026 and XPS 16 2026

Without question, the most exciting laptop of CES 2026 was the Dell XPS 14. While many a reviewer and tech journalist is praising the return of the XPS brand itself, what matters most – in our opinion – is the redesign of the laptop. The last Dell XPS 14 and 2025's Dell 14 Premium (the short-lived successor to the XPS 14) were both fantastic laptops that were hamstrung by some major design flaws; namely, the virtual function keys and ‘invisible’ trackpad that turned out to be an accessibility nightmare.

Those have now been fixed with a new design that is also thinner and more modern-looking than its predecessors. And with the new Intel Core Ultra series 3 chips, it’s even more powerful and better equipped to take on the Apple MacBook Air for the 'thin and light' laptop crown.

Best gaming laptop

Lenovo Legion Pro Rollable

• A 16-inch display that expands to a 24-inch display
• The flexible OLED screen literally rolls out like a scroll
• Read more: Lenovo officially unveils the rumored Legion Pro Rollable gaming laptop with expanding screen

The Lenovo Legion Pro Rollable, previously rumored but officially unveiled at CES 2026, is easily one of the most intriguing gaming laptops we’ve ever seen. Its screen expands horizontally from a 16-inch display to 21.5 inches, then once more to a 23.8-inch panel at max extension – all from a quick keyboard shortcut.

The Legion Pro Rollable is an exciting prospect for PC gamers who travel often and want desk-like levels of screen space without attempting to cram a massive laptop into their bag. Gaming aside, it also brings benefits to everyday browsing and productivity, giving you more space to organize windows at the click of a button. It’s only a proof of concept at the moment, but we'll be following it closely to see if the Legion Pro Rollable hits mainstream production.

Best computing innovation

Core Ultra series 3

• Excellent performance in thin-and-light laptops
• Particularly impressive GPU means great gaming on ultrabooks
• Read more: The Intel Core Ultra series 3 processors look impressive enough, but the Arc B390 iGPU is the real game-changer here

We’ve been waiting for the Intel Core Ultra series 3 for several months now, having seen pre-launch builds of Intel Panther Lake last year. Now the Core Ultra series 3 has launched, every laptop we’ve tried with the new chips just reinforces how well Intel has stuck the landing on this release.

This is especially true when it comes to the graphics performance of the higher-end 12 Xe core Arc B390 iGPU, which delivers high-quality 1080p PC gaming on an ultrabook – no other chipmaker even comes close in 2026. If you’re looking to upgrade to a premium thin and light Windows laptop, there’s little reason to buy anything other than a laptop with an Intel Core Ultra series 3.

Best action camera

Dreame Leaptic Cube

• Tiny modular 8K action camera
• Clip to a screen module, or just a battery

Dreame is best known for its vacuum and cleaning tech, but it used CES 2026 to announce its entry into a ton of other product categories. And one of the coolest things we saw at the show was this tiny action camera. The core here is a really small action cam with up to 8K recording, or 4K in HDR if you prefer.

But the clever part is its modular design. It has a little docking system, and Dreame showed it running into two modes: one with a clip-on battery, keeping the whole thing at a small size; and one with a touchscreen module that's larger. You can imagine all the possibilities for accessories from here, all enabling smart extra functions, not just attaching dumbly.

Best gaming accessory

Razer Project Madison

• The ultimate immersive gaming chair
• Surround speakers, haptic feedback and RGB lights all react to games

Razer has decided to throw every kind of immersive gaming chair tech into one product here. This chair uses sight, sound and touch to create something totally enveloping, taking features from Razer's products including the Freyja haptic gaming cushion and Clio headrest speakers.

This chair has speakers behind your head, which combine with front speakers to create a true 5.1 or 7.1 surround system. It has lights that react to compatible games, creating the feeling that events are happening around you, not just on the screen. And the built-in haptics deliver sensations and impacts during play. It looks like the best way to get truly lost in a game.

Best gaming innovation

Neurable / HyperX headset concept and priming software

• A brain-reading gaming headset to improve your performance
• Helps you lower reaction times and improve accuracy
• Read more: I tried a prototype brain-scanning headset designed to make you better at Valorant — and it actually works

Brain-scanning company Neurable has worked on headphones that can scan your brain activity using EEGs to help you focus and prevent burnout in the past. Now it's bringing these ideas to gaming headsets, in a collaboration with HyperX – but the focus is on improving your focus and performance in games.

We tried it out, and it really makes a difference. Using a 'priming' exercise before playing, where you have to focus your mind to shrink a cloud of dots down to nothing, we improved accuracy by a few percentage points, and the company's research has shown it can reduce reaction time by around 40 milliseconds. For esports players, this is a big deal, and the software can track your focus and cognitive load levels while playing, to potentially help with coaching and to prevent tilting.

Best robot mower

Mammotion LUBA 3 AWD

• Offers ±1 cm positioning precision via an upgraded LiDAR, RTK and Vision navigation system
• Can make decisions almost instantly with a 10 TOPS AI chip
• Read more: I just watched Mammotion's new flagship lawnbot scale an astroturf mountain, and it was mesmerizing

There were a lot of incredible robot lawn mowers on show at CES this year, but the one that really stood out to us was the Mammotion LUBA 3 AWD. It builds on the success of the excellent LUBA 2 AWD that precedes it, and is one of the most all-round capable lawnbots we've seen.

At the heart of the design is an upgraded 'Tri-Fusion' navigation system, where the bot will switch between LiDAR, RTK GPS and AI Vision depending on what's most appropriate for the situation. That means it's unlikely ever to get itself lost – the brand promises positioning accuracy to ±1 cm. Mammotion has also upgraded the processing system with a powerful AI chip that can handle 10 trillion operations per second, meaning it can make smart mowing decisions almost instantly.

Best robot vacuum

Roborock Saros Rover

• It's a robovac with actual, proper legs
• It can climb stairs, duck and dive, and even hop
• Read more: I saw Roborock's new robot vacuum with legs, and it promises to make no-go zones a thing of the past

This one is still in the middle of development, but is so cool already – and, admittedly, a little weird. This robot vacuum uses two extended legs that make it look like a Star Wars droid to get around your house more easily. Having articulated legs means it can climb stairs – including spiral staircases – cleaning them as it goes.

In fact, stairs are just the start. Roborock says the Rover is designed to be able to tackle any kind of terrain or home layout, no matter how awkward. Think of it like a 4x4 for cleaning.

It has some fancy object avoidance tech that means it can duck and dive, weave and jump, remaining completely stable throughout. We're not sure exactly what this is for, but it sure is impressive to watch. This maybe the most that a robovac has looked like a pet – it's got personality, it's useful, and we love it.

Best haircare tech

L'Oréal Light Straight +

• A straightener that uses infrared light tech to straighten effectively at lower temperatures
• Avoids the high temperatures that damage hair
• Read more: L'Oréal exec on why its new glass, infrared-powered hair straightener is so exciting

This innovative hair straightener promises to be three times faster at straightening hair, and yet will leave hair twice as smooth as regular plate straighteners do. And at the same time, it can do this at a lower temperature – always under 320°F / 160°C, compared to 365°F / 185°C for typical models. High temperatures break down hair, so reduction is a long-term good for your hair's health.

We got to try them out on – and this has been the first time we've ever used this phrase – human demo hair, and they certainly seemed to work incredibly well. This could be a huge change for a long-running industry, and that's what CES is all about.

Best smart light

IKEA Varmblixt LED Lamp

• It's a glowing, color-changing donut
• Works with IKEA's smart hub, or a Matter home system
• Read more: IKEA just revealed a new donut-shaped smart light – and it'll look sweet on your tables or walls

Sometimes, you've just got acknowledge when something is charming as hell, and that's what we're talking about with the new IKEA Varmblixt. It's a revamp of an ultra-popular lamp IKEA launched in 2022, but this new version is all about the color options, using an array of LEDs to create a beautiful soft toroidal glow.

It can be controlled with a remote, or you can connect it to IKEA's Dirigea home hub, but it also works with any Matter-ready smart home control option.

If you read TechRadar regularly or have even a casual interest in tech, CES 2026 will not be passing you by. And because audio and hi-fi are my beats, what you're getting here is my pick of the new kit in the realms of speakers, turntables and all things hi-fi – although if you want the best headphones and earbuds I saw at CES, I've got that too.

CES is the grand stage many brands have used to unveil some of the best turntables and best stereo speakers ever to grace our testing process. Now, it's a bit early for us to be issuing our collective verdicts whether these are about to join those buying guides as the best options on the market, but with our expert team on the ground at CES in Las Vegas, we can certainly tell you a bit more about them…

1. Audio-Technica AT-LP7X turntable

• An update to A-T's excellent 2019 AT-LP7
• Belt drive, heavy plinth, acrylic platter, built-in phono preamp

Audio-Technica's 2019 AT-LP7 turntable is a modern classic – I helped review it for our sister title What Hi-Fi? in 2019, calling it "very likely the best turntable any manufacturer has ever built that sells at the price Audio-Technica is currently asking for it".

And now there's a new version being shown at CES, called the AT-LP7X. This new deck looks a lot like the existing AT-LP7, but that's no bad thing – it's a chic matt black minimalist design, and if you just want a turntable to look like a turntable, that's what you get here. It's also a fully manual belt-driven deck that comes with a J-shaped aluminum tonearm inspired by classic A-T models from the sixties and seventies.

The turntable contains a built-in switchable phono preamplifier for both MM and MC cartridges, and the vertical tracking angle adjustment, anti-skate and sub-counterweight enable the turntable to work with a wide range of cartridges and headshells.

The Audio-Technica AT-LP7X is available now, worldwide. The recommended retail price is £679 / €799 (about $920 / AU$1,369) and I for one can't wait to try it.

2. Fender ELIE Bluetooth speaker

• ELIE stands for 'Extremely Loud, Infinitely Expressive'
• …and apparently, they really do sound that good

Fender is of course a legendary guitar brand, known for its Stratocasters, Telecasters and Jazzmasters, plus various amplifiers and pedals. But the company is using CES 2026 to unveil speakers and even a set of headphones bearing the name.

Headlining the collection are two Bluetooth speakers – the $299 ELIE E6, with a 60W power output and 15-hour battery life, and the $399 E12, which doubles the output and adds three hours of power. Exact release dates and international availability aren't yet known

Both apparently have built-in subwoofers for extra bass. You can also pair two speakers in a stereo mode or up to hundred in a multi mode, plus there's a 3.5mm AUX jack and a handle for slightly retro-feel portability.

Interestingly, both ELIE speakers have an XLR plug, so in theory you could plug in your guitar to use them as portable amplifiers – something my colleague Tom Bedford is dubious of, but I would be curious to check out with my own Strat.

And if I felt that Fender might have missed a trick with the basic-box type aesthetic (see the Orange Box and Marshall Middleton II for that retro amp DNA look I'd expected) my mind was swayed enough to include them in this roundup by my colleage Matt Bolton, who heard them at CES and tells me they sound "really great". So that's me told.

3. Cambridge L/R active bookshelf speakers

• Cambridge isn't known for active bookshelf speakers
• This three-strong lineup takes aim at KEF's share of the market

The lineup in the photo above isn't something Cambridge is famous for. It's a trio of premium active speakers available in some pretty punchy finishes – including my favorite, a groovy orange. There is a UK audio outfit I am used to seeing this kind of thing from: KEF (see the excellent five-star KEF LSX II LT, or newer KEF Coda W) and clearly, Cambridge wants a slice of that pie at CES 2026.

And why not? There's no rule against it. The L/R Series comprises the L/R X, L/R M and L/R S. The largest two options (L/R X and L/R M) both feature Cambridge’s StreamMagic Gen 4 platform for hi-res Wi-Fi streaming, multi-room functionality and direct access to leading music services, including Tidal Connect, Spotify Connect, Qobuz Connect, Amazon Music, Deezer, ROON Ready, UPnP and Internet Radio, as well as multi-room use through Google Cast or Apple AirPlay 2.

These two also introduce Cambridge's new and innovative 28mm Torus tweeter, plus a novel 2.5-way acoustic design. The smaller (and much cheaper) L/R S offers similar looks in a Bluetooth-focused design that Cambridge suggests would be perfect for desks, bedrooms, or kitchen counters.

Prices? Of course: fees start at $549/£399/€499 for the L/R S, up to $2,299/£1,799/€1999 for the L/R X. So, high-end territory for this kind of speaker – but having heard the flagship model briefly before CES, I didn't mind the price tag whatsoever because in my opinion, they sounded easily as meaty as the asking fee.

4. Victrola Soundstage soundbase

• You can now literally put your Victrola up high
• …on its very own elevation platform, with speakers inbuilt

Do not adjust your screens, this isn't 2018 and the Victrola Soundstage is not a soundbase looking to rival the likes of the Sonos Playbase – TV soundbases have basically gone extinct while soundbars persist, no?

The Victrola Soundstage is in fact a speaker-filled solution to slip under your turntable – ideally one also made by Victrola, so you can sing "On the Victrola up high" along with Allanah Myles and really mean it…

As you can imagine, putting a turntable directly on top of something that might shake, rattle and roll with music could negatively impact the audio quality, but Victrola has two key technologies which the firm says will eradicate this.

The first is what it calls the Symmetric Drive Woofer, a downward-firing dual-diaphragm woofer which it says delivers well-tuned and hefty bass while avoiding any vibrations. The other is a Balanced Mode Radiator, which is designed to disperse music evenly across a wide area, while retaining the original sound profile of your music.

And it's certainly a good-looking, space saving and fuss-free option for $349.99.

5. Edifier M90 active speakers

• The first Edifier desktop speakers to feature an eARC port
• …and that means much better quality audio

Having tested the Edifier QR65, I tend to associate desktop speakers from Edifier with... well, desktop use. But a new release from the company wants to go a little further.

The new M90 speakers are not just aiming to be the best computer speakers; the addition of an HDMI eARC port (Edifier's first on a set of active speakers) adds a whole new layer of functionality. You see, eARC unlocks a connection your TV can use to output much better audio. It stands for Enhanced Audio Return Channel, and it lets the speaker play uncompressed audio.

To be clear, you can plug the Edifier M90 straight into your TV and get levelled up audio from movies, shows and games. The brand's product listing page shows them used with a TV, consoles, PCs and even a turntable, although of course these won't all be from eARC connectivity. M90 also supports Optical, AUX, USB-C and Bluetooth connections, with support for Hi-Res Audio and Hi-Res Audio Wireless and the LDAC and SBC codecs.

Each of the M90's two speakers features a 4-inch long-throw mid-bass driver and a 1-inch silk dome tweeter, for a total power output of 100W – so, pretty loud actually.

They weigh 6kg in total, and even come with a remote control that you can use as well as, or instead of, the Edifier app or the M90's on-device buttons.

Edifier hasn't announced a price or release date for the M90, but I'll be keeping an ear to the ground when that happens – because I really want to hear them.

6. IKEA Kallsup Bluetooth speaker

• The first speaker IKEA has released since its split with Sonos
• It's fun, funky and only $10

Do I expect detailed, nuanced, expansive and layered audio from this fun little IKEA cube? I do not. But I added it to this little roundup – yes, I know it's a hi-fi roundup – because it's January. And if you're tightening the purse strings (I know I am), you can still find a product at CES that'll set you back 10 bucks and will probably make you smile.

IKEA and Sonos went their separate ways (very amicably, we're told) back in May 2025 and this is the first speaker that the Swedish flatpack furniture giant has released since the split. Kallsup is a very small speaker, but you can daisy-chain them to beef up the audio if you want more volume and for this money, there's a lot to like.

I've yet to hear one, but I'll definitely be trying to organize that…

TechRadar will be extensively covering this year's CES, and will bring you all of the big announcements as they happen. Head over to our CES 2026 live news page for the latest stories and our hands-on verdicts on everything from 8K TVs and foldable displays to new phones, laptops, smart home gadgets, and the latest in AI.

You can also ask us a question about the show in our CES 2026 live Q&A and we’ll do our best to answer it.

And don’t forget to follow us on TikTok and WhatsApp for the latest from the CES show floor!

• Fully manual belt drive with heavy plinth and acrylic platter
• Built-in phono preamp and wide cartridge compatibility
• £679 / €799 (about $920)

Audio-Technica's 2019 AT-LP7 turntable is very highly rated: our sister title What Hi-Fi? said that it was "very likely the best turntable any manufacturer has ever built that sells at the price Audio-Technica is currently asking for it", and it's often recommended on audio forums.

And now, there's a new version, the AT-LP7X.

The new turntable looks very like the existing AT-LP7, and that's no bad thing: it's a gorgeous thing in matte black with a minimalist design. It's a fully manual belt-driven model that promises to focus on the fundamentals without unnecessary fuss or features you won't use.

Audio-Technica AT-LP7X: key features and pricing

The AT-LP7X comes with a J-shaped aluminium tonearm that Audio-Technica says is inspired by classic AT models from the sixties and seventies. It has a dual-axis gimbal and precision bearings for low-friction tracking and stability, and it comes with an AT-VM95E cartridge on an AT-LT10 headshell that promises excellent channel separation with low distortion. The stylus can be replaced with any VM95 series model.

The turntable contains a built-in switchable phono preamplifier for both MM and MC cartridges, and the vertical tracking angle adjustment, anti-skate and sub-counterweight enable the turntable to work with a wide range of cartridges and headshells. The supplied sub-counterweight is 16g but a 32g one is available to support cartridge/headshell combinations of up to 28.5g.

The AT-LP7X plays 33 and 45 but not 78, and its optical speed sensor and vibration-dampening motor mount promise "unwavering" accuracy. There are also spring-based isolation feet and an external power supply to reduce unwanted noise. The plinth is a heavy 40mm MDF and the resonance-reducing acrylic platter is 20mm.

The Audio-Technica AT-LP7X is available from today, January 6, worldwide. The recommended retail price is £679 / €799 (about $920 / AU$1,369).

TechRadar will be extensively covering this year's CES, and will bring you all of the big announcements as they happen. Head over to our CES 2026 news page for the latest stories and our hands-on verdicts on everything from wireless TVs and foldable displays to new phones, laptops, smart home gadgets, and the latest in AI.

And don’t forget to follow us on TikTok and WhatsApp for the latest from the CES show floor!

One of the scariest considerations for new vinyl listeners is that the best turntables are only the first of many expensive purchases you're probably going to have to make. Unless you buy a deck with a built-in speaker, you're going to have to shell out for a pretty costly and space-hogging hi-fi set-up, involving amps and speakers, to hear your tunes.

These are two problems which audio company Victrola has set its sights on fixing, with a new speaker, released at CES 2026. This is the Victrola Soundstage, a soundbase which is due to go on sale in summer 2026 for $349.99 (roughly £260, AU$500, regional availability TBC).

A soundbase is a speaker which you can place under your record player, and they're generally used by people who don't feel the need to buy a multi-piece hi-fi setup just to hear their vinyl, whether it's for space-saving, financial or technical reasons. Soundbases also remove the need to pick up an amplifier.

On the Victrola up high

If you're buying for that first reason, then pick up a tape measure. The Soundstage measures 42.95 x 38.37 x 8.95cm, and as the image at the top of the article shows, it's roughly the same size as a turntable. Perfect for elevating your vinyl player – or, ahem, putting the Victrola up hiiiigh (sorry).

As you can imagine, offering a single speaker instead of a complex set-up can potentially impact the audio quality, but Victrola has two technologies which go some way to offsetting this.

One of these is what it calls the Symmetric Drive Woofer, a downward-firing dual-diaphragm woofer which it says delivers well-tuned and hefty bass while avoiding any vibrations. As you can imagine, shaky bass on a turntable will have you scratching tracks faster than a DJ.

The other tech Victrola has added is a Balanced Mode Radiator, which is designed to disperse music evenly around a wide area while retaining the original sound profile of your music. This will hopefully counteract the lack of stereo speaker spacing and the breadth of sound it creates, something virtually impossible to achieve when you've only got one speaker.

The Soundstage was designed specifically to work alongside the Victrola Wave and Victrola Automatic, but the company says that it'll be compatible with plenty of other turntables too. It'll connect via Bluetooth, 3.5mm AUX, RCA or USB-C and, in a first for a soundbase, Auracast – and as that list suggests you'll also be able to use the Soundstage with other inputs as a wireless speaker. A soundbase is for life, not just for vinyl.

Alongside announcing the Soundstage, Victrola also revealed a new color model for the Wave record player and Tempo bookshelf speakers. You can now get them in a walnut hue, which the Soundstage also comes in if you don't want its black option.

TechRadar will be extensively covering this year's CES, and will bring you all of the big announcements as they happen. Head over to our CES 2026 news page for the latest stories and our hands-on verdicts on everything from wireless TVs and foldable displays to new phones, laptops, smart home gadgets, and the latest in AI.

And don’t forget to follow us on TikTok and WhatsApp for the latest from the CES show floor!

• The Pro-Ject's Debut Reference 10 costs €1,199 (about $1,410 / £1,047)
• Newly developed hybrid aluminium/carbon tonearm
• New bearing block design and clean power

Pro-Ject's Debut line of turntables launched in 1999 with the goal of bringing high-quality vinyl playback to a wider audience, and since then the Debut line has been a constant presence in our best turntables rankings: the Debut Carbon Evo is our current number one. And now there's a more advanced, more premium model: the Pro-Ject Debut Reference 10.

It's a typically gorgeous and minimalist design with some important new features, including Pro-Ject's first hybrid carbon/aluminum tonearm. That's matched with a Pick it PRO Balanced cartridge, a revised version of the original Pick it PRO that promises a "true balanced" signal transmission.

Pro-Ject Debut Reference 10: key features and pricing

The Debut Reference 10 features a resonance-free acrylic platter, a diamond-cut aluminum sub-platter and a power generator that Pro-Ject says delivers a "completely new clean sine wave" for the motor, which in turn delivers enhanced speed stability. There's a new bearing block design too, with a TPE damped aluminium counterweight and adaptive anti-skating mechanism at the rear.

The tonearm is fully adjustable for both azimuth and vertical tracking angle, and height adjustment for different cartridges or turntable mat heights is just a matter of loosening two grub screws. The three feet are height adjustable too; there are three rather than four feet because the former configuration is less likely to wobble on an imperfectly flat surface.

The turntable is manual, but there is a switch here to change between 33 and 45rpm without having to do it manually. And the package includes the familiar Connect it Phono RCA phono-optimized cable for its gold-plated RCA outs.

The chassis is MDF underneath eight layers of hand-applied lacquer, with MDF chosen for its ability to reduce vibration, and all the visible metal bits are diamond-cut.

Price-wise, the Debut Reference 10 is positioned between the affordable Debut EVO 2 and the premium high-end turntables that Pro-Ject also makes: it's €1,199 (about £1,047 / $1,410).

Four figures might seem a bit much for something in Pro-Ject's beginner-friendly line-up, but just look at this thing – it's a beautiful bit of gear, so who am I to nitpick?

• It's music disc Inception
• Vinyl, CD, CD-R and CD-RW playback
• £299 (about $400 / AU$605)

If you're feeling fancy this Christmas you could treat your guests to a turducken, a Cajun creation where a chicken is stuffed into a duck and the duck is then stuffed into a turkey*. Mixx Audio appears to have created the audio equivalent: its new Analog+ all-in-one music system features an integrated CD player built into a turntable, in the center of the platter so they're concentric circles.

"We wanted to create something truly distinctive," Mixx Audio CEO Prash Vadgama says, and I would say it's mission accomplished. It's very weird, but it makes sense for people who are short of space and want a single do-everything device.

MIXX Analog+: Key features and specifications

Inspired by the look of 1980s hi-fi components and available in black or white finishes, the Analog+ is a fully automatic record player with an Audio-Technica AT3600L cartridge and the ability to play both 7-inch and 12-inch records at 33 or 45rpm.

There's both Bluetooth 5.3 and aux output. Everything is controllable via the included remote.

It's a simple design with little visual clutter; all the controls are mounted on the front where there's also a small display to show you track progress and mode selection. But while it's simple, it's also very unusual, due to that top-loading CD mechanism in the center of the turntable.

The CD player works with normal CDs, of course, but it also plays audio and data CD-R and CD-RW discs. It'll play WAV, MP3 and WMA files at up to 16-bit/44.1kHz, as well as 48kHz for WAV files.

It's very odd, and to the best of my knowledge it's the first of its kind (Mixx certainly claims as much): there have been plenty of combined LP/CD players from all kinds of firms, but they have the CD transport as a more obviously separate mechanism to the turntable.

Whether this is inspired or insanity will emerge when the reviews come in, but you can't deny Mixx's ability to think differently here.

The Analog+ is available now for £299 (about $400 / AU$605).

* I do wonder: what combinations were tried before they ended up with that one?

So you're here for TechRadar's picks of the Cyber Monday deals and maybe you're looking for a cheap vinyl spinner that's, how to put this… kind of a trade secret. I get it; you want to avoid anything too pricey or hugely involved – maybe you just discovered a bunch of LPs in the attic and want to give them a spin via the Bluetooth speakers you've got lying around the house.

I love that for you! Meet the Sony PS-LX310BT, now just $294 at Amazon (was $449) – or if you're in the UK, it's only £189 (was £249) and with built-in phono stage plus Bluetooth for a fuss-free plug and play setup. So, it'll play nice with powered (or active) speakers (basically anything with power amplification inbuilt), wireless headphones or Bluetooth speakers – and it'll work a charm with them.

• Shop Amazon's full Cyber Monday sale

Full disclosure: this is one of my all-time fave Bluetooth turntables. It's solid: it works. It's strong and serious; there are no fripperies. It looks like the rakishly handsome real deal – because it is. I commissioned our all-new Sony PS-LX310BT review recently, because I wanted to know how it stacks up today.

Today's best Cyber Monday Sony PS-LX310BT deal

This deck and I have previous. I initially helped to review it (and fought to award it five sweet stars out of five – although that had more to do with my relative inexperience and inability to make my voice heard in hi-fi circles than its considerable talents) back in 2019 as a lowly staff writer for TechRadar's sister site, What Hi-Fi?.

It was my first turntable review back in 2019 – and you never forget your first. Anyway, it turns out the answer to my question of "Is it still good in today's landscape though?" is "Still top of the pile Scarrott, cheers for the opportunity". And so you'll find it sitting pretty as the budget pick in my best turntables guide – didn't take me long!

Not after vinyl-spinners? Are you sure? Oh, OK then: I've got a roundup of the best Bose Cyber Monday headphones deals, still live, or there's my guide to the top Sony headphone Cyber Monday deals. Oh, or maybe you want a different turntable? I've got a roundup of the best Cyber Monday turntables!

As mentioned, it'll send the analog(ue, for my UK readers) audio from your vinyl to your Bluetooth speakers or headphones, if you like. And if you've ever tried it (think of sending vinyl to your cans while cleaning the bathroom, ie. nowhere near the turntable), I'm convinced you'll love it.

To buy this deck is to be someone in the know. It's cheap, yes, but it's certainly not junk – I wouldn't still write about it six years on if it were.

Anyway, if you wanted an inexpensive beginner vinyl setup for a fledgling record collector (aka crate rummager, aka dreamer of dreams, aka stacks of wax curator), how about the also-on-sale Sonos Era 100 speaker? It's still down to just $169 in the US (was $249), or £168 in the UK (was £249), bagging you a competent, fuss-free, reliable setup from two huge names in hi-fi, all for under $349 / £347.

And the Sonos works over wi-fi, so you could ping hi-resolution music to it from your phone (or other source device) too. Wouldn't look bad at home ahead of the Holiday Season, would it?

But certain turntables can also 'work with Sonos' (read: they'll talk to your legacy Sonos speakers over wi-fi) and the Victrola Stream Carbon – yes, Victrola of "Victrola up hiiiiigh" Black Velvet fame – is by far my pick there. The deal is below and I have to say, I adore this turntable for the new low price. Yes, it is a lot pricier than the Sony – but the saving is also even bigger and if you've already got a Sonos multi-room speaker setup, it does what you want it to and fits right in.

Life's full of tough decisions, isn't it?

…Or maybe a sexy Sonos plate spinner?

How about a Sonos Era 100 Cyber Monday deal to go with your new turntable?

Or how about powered desktop speakers?

Not into wireless only systems? You could also make a double saving – and have a lovely little RCA-connected system – for just $448 (usually $819) or £408 (normally £579) – by picking up the Edifier QR65 speakers.

This Cyber Monday saving – still live from Black Friday – sees $100 slashed from their price in the US, making them just $269.99 (was $369.99), or a massive £100 off in the UK, making them now just £229.99 (was £329.99), both at Amazon.

Doesn't sound half bad either, no?

Today's best Sony PS-LX310BT prices across all retailers

Today's best Sonos Era 100 prices across all retailers

Today's best Edifier QR65 deals across all retailers

More Cyber Monday deals in the US

• Amazon: 45% off TVs, AirPods, air fryers & vacuums
• Apple: iPads, AirPods & MacBooks from $119
• Best Buy: $1,000 off TVs, laptops & headphones
• Dell: laptop deals from $249.99
• Home Depot: 40% off appliances, furniture, grills & tools
• Lenovo: 45% off laptops & tablets
• Lowe's: up to 30% off appliances, holiday decor & tools
• Samsung: up to $2,000 off appliances, TVs & phones
• Target: 40% off Christmas decor, clothing & furniture
• T-Mobile: up to $1,100 off latest iPhone 17
• Walmart: furniture, cheap TVs & vacs from $69
• Wayfair: 54% off Christmas, furniture & decor

More Cyber Monday deals in the UK

• Amazon: up to 66% off tech & essentials
• AO: up to £500 off Dyson, Bosch & Hisense
• Argos: up to 50% off appliances, tech & toys
• Boots: save on 1,000s of beauty products
• Currys: deals on Ninja, Shark & Lenovo
• Dell: laptops from £279
• Dyson: up to £550 off vacuums
• EE: Switch 2 bundles from £20/month
• John Lewis: up to 50% off tech & fashion
• Lego: sets & accessories from £2.99
• Samsung: deals on appliances & phones
• Very: up to 40% off tech, toys & fashion

OK, so the big day(s) came and went, and as you'd expect, a fair few Cyber Monday deals have now been lost to the sands of time.

But vinyl is often a little slower to change (and I love it for this very reason) so certain deals on turntables do last into the day I'm now calling 'Hangover Tuesday'. And that's why we're here, so let's get to it.

Excellent deals still live in the US? I'd go with the budget Victrola Journey+ for just $75.99 at Best Buy (was $119) to the impressive, entry-level Bluetooth-enabled Sony PS-LX310BT for $249 at Best Buy (was $449). If you're an owner of Sonos speakers, you might want to also check out the Sonos-compatible Victrola Stream Carbon for $799 at Amazon (was $999).

House of Marley deals still abound in the UK, with the House of Marley Revolution for £99 at Amazon (was £149) for starters. And for step-up vinyl fans there's the Sony PS-LX310BT for £178 at Amazon (was £249).

• Shop Amazon's full post-Cyber Monday sales

Turntables don't easily become obsolete, so you can count on these vinyl spinners to provide years of musical joy. Many of the turntables here feature Bluetooth for wireless headphones and speaker hookups too. If you're looking for a no-fuss first system, you'll find models with integrated speakers or bundled wireless speakers among the deals here.

Today's best post-Cyber Monday turntable deals in the US

Today's best post-Cyber Monday turntable deals in the UK

You can read about more of our picks of the best turntables in our complete buying guide.

More post-Cyber Monday deals in the US

• Amazon: 45% off TVs, AirPods, air fryers & vacuums
• Apple: iPads, AirPods & MacBooks from $119
• Best Buy: $1,000 off TVs, laptops & headphones
• Dell: laptop deals from $249.99
• Home Depot: 40% off appliances, furniture, grills & tools
• Lenovo: 45% off laptops & tablets
• Lowe's: up to 30% off appliances, holiday decor & tools
• Samsung: up to $2,000 off appliances, TVs & phones
• Target: 40% off Christmas decor, clothing & furniture
• T-Mobile: up to $1,100 off latest iPhone 17
• Walmart: furniture, cheap TVs & vacs from $69
• Wayfair: 54% off Christmas, furniture & decor

More post-Cyber Monday deals in the UK

• Amazon: up to 66% off tech & essentials
• AO: up to £500 off Dyson, Bosch & Hisense
• Argos: up to 50% off appliances, tech & toys
• Boots: save on 1,000s of beauty products
• Currys: deals on Ninja, Shark & Lenovo
• Dell: laptops from £279
• Dyson: up to £550 off vacuums
• EE: Switch 2 bundles from £20/month
• John Lewis: up to 50% off tech & fashion
• Lego: sets & accessories from £2.99
• Samsung: deals on appliances & phones
• Very: up to 40% off tech, toys & fashion

Hello! I'm going to recommend you take advantage of a Black Friday Audio-Technica turntable deal, because I did exactly that two years ago to get exactly the same turntable. The Audio-Technica AT-LP120XBT-USB is a great buy when it's discounted, and if you're not bothered about Bluetooth you can get yours for even less. The Bluetooth version is currently £299 at John Lewis (was £329), and the non-Bluetooth version is £239 at John Lewis (was £249) in silver.

• Check out the full John Lewis Black Friday sale

I didn't just take advantage of one Black Friday deal to improve my audio. I bought from two Black Friday deals simultaneously, and picked up a very nice set of Bowers & Wilkins 607 S2 speakers to go with my existing Onkyo amp.

Sadly I haven't seen any good Black Friday deals on my speakers' successors, the five-star Bowers & Wilkins 607 S3 speakers, but I can attest that speakers of similar quality will make an incredible difference to your home audio – so I'd definitely recommend scouring some of the retailers below to see if you can get a good deal on a premium pair.

(Not in the UK? See today's best deals in your region below)

Today's best Audio-Technica AT-LP120XBT Black Friday deal

To BT or not to BT, that is the question

Is the Bluetooth version worth spending extra money on? That very much depends on how you're going to be listening to your vinyl.

For me, vinyl is a me-time medium for luxury listening: a vinyl album is not something I have on in the background when I'm doing something else, but something I put on when I want to put my feet up and really get lost in music.

So during that me-time I want to be listening through my wired Bowers & Wilkins speakers because the soundstage they create is wider and more immersive than anything even my best headphones can deliver. And to my ears the difference between lossless wired audio and lossy Bluetooth is quite apparent.

But, and it's a but so big Sir Mix-A-Lot could write a song about it, Bluetooth is incredibly convenient – and it means you don't necessarily need an amp to enjoy your vinyl on headphones or powered speakers. Is it marginally less sparkly? Absolutely. Will that matter to most people? Probably not.

If you've already got an amp I'd say go for the non-Bluetooth option and put the extra saving towards a nice set of speakers. Otherwise, go for the full-fat version. That way you're covered for headphones and wireless speakers now, with the option to go wired later. Here's our list of the best noise cancelling headphones if you want to be able to close out the world to listen to your wax.

Shop more of today's best Black Friday sales

• Amazon: up to 66% off tech & essentials
• AO: up to £500 off Dyson, Bosch & Hisense
• Argos: up to 50% off appliances, tech & toys
• Boots: save on 1,000s of beauty products
• Currys: deals on Ninja, Shark & Lenovo
• Dell: laptops from £279
• Dyson: up to £550 off vacuums
• EE: Switch 2 bundles from £20/month
• John Lewis: up to 50% off tech & fashion
• Lego: sets & accessories from £2.99
• Samsung: deals on appliances & phones
• Very: up to 40% off tech, toys & fashion

“What on earth do you see in the best turntables and vinyl?!” is a question I’ve been asked too many times to count. It’s the feel of the record in your fingers, the act of dropping the stylus. There’s something a little pretentious about it, of course, but it's the antithesis to streaming and the ever-present proliferation of screens in our daily lives. And, as we all work to become more connected to the music we listen to both emotionally and physically, the return of record players makes perfect sense.

But which model should you be buying, and why? We’ve tested hundreds of turntables over the years so that we can find the model to suit your specific needs, whether that’s an all-in-one system or a beginner turntable to get you started on your vinyl journey. Our top pick right now is the Rega Planar PL1. It’s perfect for beginners and seasoned listeners alike, with great sound and loads of customization features.

To help me find the best turntable, I’ve spoken to our sister site, What Hi-Fi?. That gives you a second expert opinion on each entry in the guide — and then you’ll find some helpful advice at the end, where we answer your burning questions about turntables. Let’s go!

Best turntables of 2026

Best overall turntable

Look, there’s no denying that the Rega PL1 is on the slightly older side compared to what’s been released recently. It’s a 2021 model, and there have been some excellent models released since then. But the PL1 has proved its staying power with a great price and an extensive range of features that should make a tinkerer's ears prick up. Oh, and it happens to sound really, really good. Which is kind of important.

There are more expensive and more impressive decks in the Planar range, but the PL1 offers incredible value for money. Whilst it looks simple and the finishes lack the “pizazz” of some of the competition, Rega has focused on the important bits; top-notch engineering in the pursuit of the best sound possible. And at the end of the day, that’s far more important than glossy paint and fancy-looking feet.

A combination of Rega’s home-grown Carbon cartridge and RB110 tonearm and a range of other technologies that have been brought from more expensive models means you’ve a turntable that sounds triple the cost of the PL1. There’s even a cryogenically frozen belt drive that goes through a lengthy process to ensure it’s as perfectly round as possible. That’s cool.

And it sounds sublime, as you might expect. The soundstage is light and airy, with our reviewer calling it “well-defined and easy to understand” in their five-star review. Bass is “robust,” treble is “detailed,” and the sound is “smooth and convincing.” There’s a tendency to focus on warmer sounds, but that’s hardly a critique in the long run, even considering the price. The value here simply cannot be overstated — and that’s why it's our pick for the best turntable.

• Read the full Rega PL1 review

Setting up the Rega PL1

As with most turntables, there’s some setup required with the Planar PL1. You’ll be putting the belt onto the spindle pulley, and you’ll need to move that belt when you want to change from 33 to 45 rpm. You’ll be balancing the tonearm and putting the platter onto the spindle. You’ll also need to put the dust cover on and make sure it's properly in place.

Does the PL1 need a phono pre-amp?

The standard model of the PL1 will need a pre-amp, as there isn’t one in the box or built into the turntable itself. You’ll have to buy one of the best pre-amps separately. You can buy a version with a built-in pre-amp, the Rega Planar 1 Plus, though the pre-amp can’t be turned off. For our money, you’d be better off buying the standard model and getting a separate unit so that you can upgrade in the future should you want even better sound.

Can I upgrade the Rega PL1?

Yes, you can — almost everything is replaceable in some way or another. If you want a better cartridge, you can replace the Carbon model at the end of the tonearm. Similarly, you could use a different platter, perhaps one made of acrylic or glass. You can even replace the feet, should you want some extra vibration dampening. You can Ship of Theseus your Planar PL1 to your heart's content.

What other devices will my PL1 need?

This turntable doesn’t come with an amplifier or speakers, and there is no Bluetooth connection on board to connect to a wireless speaker. You’ll need either an amplifier and speakers or powered speakers to use the turntable.

Best budget turntable

Sony has been in the turntable game for a long time, and its current lineup are as smart-looking as they are forward facing. The entry-level model, the PS-LX310BT, offers a whole range of cool features for a price that undercuts just about everything else. There’s Bluetooth on board, for example, so you can wirelessly listen to your vinyl.

Even better for beginners is the totally automatic operation. Instead of raising the tone arm and lowering it over the record with a cueing lever, the Sony does everything for you. Press play, and the tonearm moves over the record and lowers it into place. Press stop and the tonearm moves back to its rest position, and stops the platter spinning. It’s all very hands off.

Sound quality is energetic and fairly precise, with our reviewer noting that it “reveals the singer’s vocal range and zest well,” with more elements than if you were to head to Spotify. There are better-sounding turntables, but those cost more — and that’s to be expected. For the price, the Sony sounds very solid indeed.

The Bluetooth connection is a nice extra, but it’s not going to do the sound any favors. It has a habit of clipping, we found, something we’ve not experienced with other more expensive Bluetooth speakers. Still, it's a nice way to get listening without spending extra money on some speakers and an amplifier. The PS-X310BT is a fantastic turntable for the price, and our pick for the best budget turntable.

• Read the full Sony PS-LX310BT review

Setting up the Sony PS-LX310BT

This turntable is one of the simplest on the list to set up, mostly because it’s got fewer user-changeable parts. You do have to put in some work, however. You have to fit the belt, drop the platter onto the spindle, and attach the dust cover. You also won’t have to adjust anything once it's all set up either, because it has handily got electronic speed control.

Does the Sony PS-LX310BT need a phono pre-amp?

No, the turntable does not need a phono pre-amp; you can just plug it into an amplifier and use the “line out” setting. You can use your own phono pre-amp too, if you attach one with the RCA connector and then turn it to the “phono” setting. This is a nice way to make sure you can keep using the turntable. Don’t forget the Bluetooth function as well, which lets you play your records with a Bluetooth speaker.

Can I upgrade the Sony PS-LX310BT?

There’s not much here you can upgrade, apart from the stylus. The cartridge is built into the tonearm, the counterweight is permanently pre-adjusted and the platter is specific to this model. Thankfully, you can swap the pre-amp for a more high-quality model if you’d like. Otherwise, this is a set-and-forget turntable that’s great if you don’t want any extra fiddling.

What other devices will my PS-LX310BT need?

There’s very little your turntable will need — a pair of speakers with Bluetooth or even one of the best Bluetooth speakers will suffice. You’re going to get much better sound using a separate HiFi system plugged in with RCA connectors, of course, and note there’s no way to plug your headphones in without some form of adapter. I wouldn’t do this anyway, as there’s no volume control on the turntable.

Best sounding turntable

Just have a gander at this sonic monster. The Technics SL-1300G is an absolute stunner of a deck, featuring some of the best hardware that money can buy. That does come with a price-based caveat: This is not for the faint of wallet, with a price tag that tickles the toes of a £3,000 purchase. That’s a price worth paying if you’ve got it, and you can justify it. You’ll want some very special gear to pair it with.

We say that because it’s actually quite picky about the kind of system you plug it into. Our reviewer said that “the top end here is provokable — inserted into a system that’s similarly uninhibited where treble sounds are concerned, it’s possible that high frequencies could become a little edgy or strident.” So you’re going to need to be very careful what components you share with it; no treble-happy speakers for you, potential Technics buyer.

Thankfully, the rest of the sound is almost faultless. There’s energetic and dynamic bass, hitting hard at the bottom of the frequency range. It demonstrates control and never feels overstressed — this is an audio experience that sounds as good as it costs. We didn’t find any real problems to complain about throughout the entirety of our testing.

Of course, if you’re spending this much, you’ll want it to look and work well, too. And boy, does it look and feel the part. It feels like it's made out of granite, and weighs about as much. It looks very nice as well, with a retro style that never feels like it's trying too hard. Yes, it’s very expensive, but when it sounds this good, you’re unlikely to care.

• Read the full Technics SL-1300G review

Setting up the Technics SL-1300G

You’re going to need to do some work when your SL-1300G arrives in the post. There’s no belt because it’s direct drive, but you will find that you need to place the platter and adjust the tonearm suitably. Once you’re all done, though, you won’t have to worry about changing belts or adjusting tonearms — it’s an automatic turntable that does all the hard work for you.

Does the Technics SL-1300G need a phono pre-amp?

Yes, the SL-1300G does not have a built-in pre-amp, which means you need to add a separate one if you want to listen to your records. You’ll want something more premium for this model that really makes the most of the incredible signal that your turntable is providing. You can also use pre-amps built into some HiFi amplifiers.

Can I upgrade the Technics SL-1300G?

There are some key upgrade points in the SL-1300G for even better performance. You can buy a new cartridge, for example, to up the sound quality further, and you can get attachments for the feet. The main tonearm assembly cannot be removed, however, so you’re stuck with the (excellent) model that comes in the box. You can choose a premium pre-amp as well.

What other devices will my Technics SL-1300G need?

First things first — a HiFi system. Then you’ll need to be careful pairing your turntable with the components that live in your system. Thanks to its treble-forward presentation, you’ll want speakers that don’t bring similarly exacting high-end sound. You’ll also want an amplifier that complements this sound profile. Don’t forget that crucial phono pre-amp as well.

Best system in a box

Don’t want to worry about finding an entire system, working out what component pairs best with what? Worry not — veteran turntable makers Pro-Ject sell everything all in one box so that you don’t have to worry about any of that. The Juke Box E1 is a masterstroke of turntable design, packing a fairly powerful amplifier into one of Pro-Ject’s excellent turntables. Even better, you can buy the whole thing in a bundle straight from Pro-Ject.

Why don’t we recommend one of those all-in-one units like you’ll find from… certain brands? They’re inherently flawed — introduce bass to a turntable chassis with speakers, and you’ll soon find too many vibrations. That generally means the speakers sound bad, and, as a result, so does your vinyl. Queue sadness and pain, and an itching feeling that things could be better.

The package deal you get with Pro-Ject’s Juke Box E1 nets you a very solid turntable that sounds great already, and pairs it with the Speaker Box 5E. There’s a built-in Bluetooth receiver as well, so you can even listen to tunes wirelessly. It really does do just about everything. It won’t clean your dishes, though. Believe me, I’ve asked.

The turntable sounds great and offers some great features alongside the amplifier. The speed control is electronic, so you don’t have to keep swapping the belt on the pulley. If you want to get something that just works out of the box and love the idea of HiFi but not the extra work you might have to put in, this is a great option.

• Read the full Pro-Ject Juke Box E1 review

Setting up the Pro-Ject Juke Box E1

There’s actually a fair amount of work that you’re going to need to do to get everything working here, although thanks to electronic speed control you’ll only need to do it once. First, you’ll need to attach the drive belt, balance the tone arm, and attach the anti-skate weight. Then you need to put the platter on. That’s the turntable done. Now you need to fix the speaker cables into the binding posts on the back of the turntable and the speakers. This all comes in the box, so you don’t have to add anything.

Does the Pro-Ject Juke Box E1 need a phono pre-amp?

The Juke Box E1 has a pre-amp built into the amplifier section that cannot be bypassed if you want to use the speakers in the box. Because it's an all-in-one unit, the only flexibility here is the speakers that you can plug in. You can use a separate pre-amp if you tire of the amplification quality, although then you’re missing out on the main draw of the turntable. If you want to use a different pre-amp, save some money and buy the standard Pro-Ject E1, which lacks the amplifier.

Can I upgrade the Pro-Ject Juke Box E1?

You can upgrade certain parts of the Juke Box E1. You can swap the platter out for one made of a different material, for example, and change the cartridge and stylus. You can also use different speakers if you want another boost in sound quality. You can even skip out the amplifier portion of the amp and go straight into a separate unit further down the line, which is always a nice extra.

What other devices will my Pro-Ject Juke Box E1 need?

Nothing! Everything you need comes included in the box, including an amplifier, speakers, and even a Bluetooth receiver. There’s even an input in the back if you want to attach a separate music streamer, or something like a CD player. Otherwise, though, you won’t need to pick anything else up to use the turntable.

Your turntable questions: Answered

Not sure what you should be looking for in a turntable? Working out a budget? Wondering what an amplifier is, or why you shouldn’t buy a turntable with built-in speakers? I'm going to answer your questions below and give you a better picture of what you should be looking for when shopping for a new turntable.

What’s a stylus, and why does it need replacing?

The stylus is the bit that actually makes contact with the record, reading the grooves and sending them down the arm to be amplified into sweet, sweet music. As the stylus (sometimes wrongly called a needle — but we won’t tell) is dragged through grooves, it is worn out over time. That causes your turntable to not sound as good as it does with a fresh stylus — so you’ll need to buy a new one.

Make sure you match your stylus to the cartridge. If you’re not sure what you need to buy, take a quick snap of your cartridge, or bring the old stylus to your local HiFi shop to find out.

Should I upgrade my turntable?

If you’re happy out of the box, there’s no need to! You’re better off buying a new amplifier or new speakers if you’re not pleased with the overall sound of your system. If you’re looking for more subtle changes, then you can look at fitting a new cartridge, or replacing your tonearm amongst other things. It can give new life to an old turntable, or change the sound just enough so that you’ve got your dream listening experience.

Should I upgrade my turntable?

This entirely depends on where you see your vinyl obsession going in the future. If you want something that’s plug-and-play, look for something that has a built-in model. That leaves you with little to worry about when getting set up, and fewer things that you have to spend money on.

If you want some personalisation in the future, think about a model that either has a built-in pre-amp that can be turned off, or no pre-amp at all. That leaves you with a better upgrade path down the line, so you can up your sound game as you save up more moolah. If you’ve not spent it all on new vinyl.

How much should you spend on your first turntable?

This is a slightly tricky question, and it will slightly depend on what you’re looking for. If you’re looking for something you’re going to use forever, the world is your oyster. There are great options for beginners out there at a range of different prices.

If you’re not sure if vinyl is for you yet, I’d say budget about £100 - £200. If you buy a bad one from the off, then you might never understand why people rant and rave about it. Equally, you don’t want to spend loads of money on something that’s not going to last very long if you decide you don’t like the format after all.

How much should you spend on your first turntable?

Suitcase players. Straight in the bin. Those built in speakers are going to cause to many vibrations while listening, and they generall don’t sound very good. Some say that can cause record damage as well, although there’s very little (if any) evidence backing that statement up. Still, they’re best off not on your list.

So you're here for TechRadar's Black Friday deals and you're looking for a cheap vinyl spinner that's, how to put this… a Very Big Deal. But you want to avoid anything too pricey or hugely involved. I've got just the thing: meet the Sony PS-LX310BT, now just $178 at Amazon (was $449) – or if you reside in the UK, it's only £189 (was £249) and with built-in phono stage for a fuss-free plug and play setup.

This is one of my all-time favorite Bluetooth turntables. There are no fripperies here; it looks like the real deal – because it is. I commissioned our all-new Sony PS-LX310BT review because I wanted to know how it stacks up today. You see, I initially helped review it (and awarded it five sweet stars out of five) back in 2019 as a staff writer for TechRadar's sister site, What Hi-Fi?. Anyway, it turns out the answer to my question is "Still top of the pile Scarrott, cheers".

• Shop Amazon's full Black Friday sale

Not after vinyl-spinners? TechRadar's Black Friday deals hub can guide you towards whatever piece of tech your heart desires, or there's my roundup of the best Sennheiser headphones and earbuds deals, my collection of the best Bose Black Friday headphones deals, my guide to the only 5 Black Friday headphones and earbuds deals you need, or our dedicated Black Friday headphones deals live blog, if any of these things is what you're after.

Today's best Black Friday Sony PS-LX310BT deal, US

Today's best Sony PS-LX310BT deal, UK

As mentioned, it'll send the analog audio from your vinyl to your Bluetooth speakers or headphones, if you like – and if you've ever tried it, I'm convinced you'll like it.

So if you wanted an inexpensive beginner vinyl setup for a fledgling collector, how about the also-on-sale Sonos Era 100 speaker? It's down to just $169 in the US (was $249), or £168 in the UK (was £249), bagging you a competent, fuss-free, reliable setup from two huge names in hi-fi, all for under $349 / £347.

And the Sonos works over wi-fi, so you could ping hi-resolution music to it from your phone (or other source device) too. Wouldn't look bad at home ahead of the Holiday Season, would it?

The Sonos Era 100 deal to go with your new turntable?

Or how about powered desktop speakers?

Not into wireless only systems? You could also make a double saving – and have a lovely little RCA-connected system – for just $448 (usually $819) or £408 (normally £579) – by picking up the Edifier QR65 speakers.

This top Black Friday saving sees $100 slashed from their price in the US, making them just $269.99 (was $369.99), or a massive £100 off in the UK, making them now just £229.99 (was £329.99), both at Amazon.

Doesn't sound bad either, does it?

Today's best Sony PS-LX310BT prices across all retailers

Today's best Sonos Era 100 prices across all retailers

Today's best Edifier QR65 deals across all retailers

More Black Friday deals in the US

• Amazon: 45% off TVs, AirPods, air fryers & vacuums
• Apple: iPads, AirPods & MacBooks from $119
• Best Buy: $1,000 off TVs, laptops & headphones
• Dell: laptop deals from $249.99
• Home Depot: 40% off appliances, furniture, grills & tools
• Lenovo: 45% off laptops & tablets
• Lowe's: up to 30% off appliances, holiday decor & tools
• Samsung: up to $2,000 off appliances, TVs & phones
• Target: 40% off Christmas decor, clothing & furniture
• T-Mobile: up to $1,100 off latest iPhone 17
• Walmart: furniture, cheap TVs & vacs from $69
• Wayfair: 54% off Christmas, furniture & decor

More Black Friday deals in the UK

• Amazon: up to 66% off tech & essentials
• AO: up to £500 off Dyson, Bosch & Hisense
• Argos: up to 50% off appliances, tech & toys
• Boots: save on 1,000s of beauty products
• Currys: deals on Ninja, Shark & Lenovo
• Dell: laptops from £279
• Dyson: up to £550 off vacuums
• EE: Switch 2 bundles from £20/month
• John Lewis: up to 50% off tech & fashion
• Lego: sets & accessories from £2.99
• Samsung: deals on appliances & phones
• Very: up to 40% off tech, toys & fashion

Sony PS-LX310BT: Two-minute review

I'd heard of the Sony PS-LX310BT by reputation, before I'd heard it with my own ears: TechRadar’s own esteemed audio editor, consider it one of the best turntables for entry-level vinyl fans. And that’s how it ended up in the living room currently being lived in by me, a person who thought a ‘B-Side’ was just a track designed for insects.

Let's get something abundantly clear: the big selling point of the Sony PS-LX310BT is chiefly its price; this is an affordable turntable that may not offer the same sonic dexterity as pricier options, but also doesn’t cost you the same as a mid-level car to purchase it. And it's got a great rep – not just at TechRadar but among those who know about these things.

For me, the price isn’t the only factor that makes this a great entry-level position. Once you’ve set the thing up – which may take one or two missteps compared to the easiest options I’ve tested, but is still fairly simple – it’s a dream to use.

Press button to play. Press button to stop. If you love vinyl audio for its hands-on approach, you might feel redundant when it comes to this Sony deck, but turntable newbies will find it a lot less scary to operate because you'll never actually need to touch the tonearm, or lower a headshell and needle onto a delicate sliver of vinyl and potentially hear it scratch.

It’s easy to like the look of the PS-LX310BT too. Sure, it’s understated in the exact same way that almost every other turntable is, but a design like that screams ‘sonic excellence’ irrespective of price.

It goes without saying that deep-pocketed audiophiles should skip over this option; it doesn’t offer the audio nuance (or the five-figure price point) that top-end vinyl aficionados will be looking for. And some novice buyers will find that it doesn’t offer the connectivity options required for them, with Bluetooth and RCA but no simple 3.5mm out. But for most newbies, it’s a dream.

Sony PS-LX310BT review: Price and release date

• Released in April 2019
• Typically sells for $449 / £179 / AU$399
• Now available for around $199 / £179 / AU$395

The Sony PS-LX310BT was released in April 2019, so it’s not exactly one of the newest turntables on the market – although six years in analog audio isn't a long time at all. And perhaps because of this, it’s still officially ranged by Sony, as one of only two turntables on its store.

The recommended retail price of the deck is $449 / £179 / AU$399 – that’s not a typo, it’s a lot pricier in the US – although at the time of writing, it’s hard to find it for full price. Instead, I’ve found the PX-LX310BT going for roughly $199 / £179 / AU$395 in sales, which seem to happen very frequently.

It goes without saying that you should try to pick this turntable up in said sales if you can. But either way, the price marks this as a fairly entry-level turntable; it’s not the cheapest I’ve ever seen, but it’s still a more affordable option for people who don’t need audiophile-grade kit, and it still looks the business.

Sony PS-LX310BT review: Specs

Sony PS-LX310BT review: Features

• Not the easiest set-up (but also not the hardest)
• Simple and easy to operate, though a tiny bit slow
• Some connection options, but not 3.5mm

Newbies setting up the Sony PS-LX310BT might find it a little fiddly during the set-up process; you only have to attach the platter and mat and set the pulley belt, but I somehow managed to unknowingly twist the belt during placement which took a tiny amount of deconstruction to fix. I also religiously forget to remove the stylus cover every time I want to listen, but I can’t mark Sony down for that.

At least Sony doesn’t require you to do anything to the cartridge or counterweight or anything like that, and the entire set-up process took me under 15 minutes. And once you’ve done the initial set-up, it’s really easy to listen thanks to Sony's use of an automatic system in the PS-LX310BT. Press ‘play’ to play, or ‘stop’ to stop, and the tone arm will move all on its own.

I do find the turntable a little slow to react to these button presses, and if I wanted music on quickly I’d place the arm myself – because I'm experienced in such things. Thankfully this is a valid option too, with the platter spinning automatically if the tonearm is raised.

Connections wise, there are wired or wireless options. Wirelessly, you can connect devices such as headphones via Bluetooth, and I found it a quick and reliable connection. You can connect up to eight devices this way, but I don’t know anyone who isn’t a tech journalist who owns this many wireless gadgets. Wired, you can use the built-in RCA cable which plugs into the left and right jacks of an amplifier or stereo speaker. There’s no 3.5mm jack in the turntable for you to plug in your wired headphones. In this way, it slightly limits who can use the wired connection – you need compatible tech, or at least an adaptor.

• Features score: 4/5

Sony PS-LX310BT review: Sound quality

• Energetic audio
• Some detail missing
• Avoid Bluetooth if you can

Not wanting to upset audiophiles (and being indecisive), I tested the Sony PS-LX310BT alongside multiple devices, including wired and Bluetooth.

There’s a lot of energy in music played through the turntable; evidently the understated design contrasts the music played out. The Police’s Zenyatta Mondatta felt playful and fun, and Al Stevens’ ode to the feline annum reveals the singer’s vocal range and zest well, with glissandos and harmonies far more audible than if you just listened on Spotify.

You’re sadly not getting quite the level of clarity that you would on a… well, a non entry-level setup, with some detail lost, especially in the mids. But it’s still decent for the money, and there’s a reason that cut-price music-lovers have been turning to the PS-LX310BT for over half a decade.

Note to Bluetooth users: I did find that the speaker peaked Bluetooth-connected devices on occasion, which isn’t something I’ve found as much from other Bluetooth turntables I’ve tested.

• Sound quality score: 4/5

Sony PS-LX310BT review: Design

• Minimal, understated look
• Buttons hidden on front edge
• Dust cover could open further

The Sony PS-LX310BT has a minimalist look, going for the black on black (on silver) look, small unadorned dials and buttons and a businesslike tonearm. I like ornamentation as much as the next guy, but this product hits that ‘audio equipment’ serious aesthetic pretty square-on.

The turntable measures 43 x 36.7 x 10.8cm, and weighs 3.5kg; it wasn’t too heavy to stop me toting it around my apartment when I wanted to connect it to various speakers and devices dotted in different rooms. That height includes the dust cover, which you don’t have to use (TechRadar's audio editor never fits them, and removes them if they're pre-fitted), but I’d recommend. My ‘tiniest-violin-in-the-world’ opinion is that it would have been nice if the dust cover would open a little wider, to make getting vinyl records onto the mat a little easier.

The almost-straight, no-nonsense tonearm was light and easy to manipulate, though some audio purists might take chagrin at the lack of a counterweight.

Sony has hidden most of the PS-LX310BT’s buttons on the front edge. This is where you’ll find the buttons to play, to stop and to move the tone arm up and down. On the top there’s only the Bluetooth pairing button,, a dial to set the vinyl speed and the speed rotary knob. There is also a little hidey-hole on the right edge for the 45RPM adaptor, something I only noticed after 10 days of the adaptor being plonked awkwardly on the turntable’s body.

• Design score: 4.5/5

Sony PS-LX310BT review: Value

While the Sony PS-LX310BT is priced as an entry-level device, and has a feature set to match, there are a few areas in which it stands out from the budget crowd.

The ease of use and svelte design are two such departments, but these are hardly small perks, with the aluminum platter, bespoke (though un-removable) cartridge and lightweight tonearm keeping better care of your records than some super-cheap options might.

My only small value concern is this: you either need to connect it to a Bluetooth device, or something which accepts RCA-in, so your wired headphones will need an adaptor to work. But that's hardly a deal-breaker.

• Value score: 4/5

Should I buy the Sony PS-LX310BT?

Buy it if…

Don’t buy it if…

Sony PS-LX310BT review: Also consider

How I tested the Sony PS-LX310BT

• Tested for ten days
• Inputs included a series of vinyl records
• Outputs include headphones and a speaker via Bluetooth, and speakers via cable

The Sony PS-LX310BT review process covered ten days, not including the time it took to write the review itself. I have a decent-sized collection of vinyl which I used for this testing.

As mentioned, after running it in for 48 hours, I listened on multiple devices including a pair of speakers via the RCA connection, a smaller speaker via Bluetooth and a pair of headphones, also via Bluetooth.

I've been tested tech for TechRadar for nearly seven years, which has included many audio players and another turntable; I've also used turntables and other Hi-Fi kit outside of reviewing.

• First reviewed November 2025

If you're looking to join the vinyl revival on a budget, you don't need to wait for Black Friday to arrive – the turntable we rate as the best super-cheap spinner for beginners has a great deal already, and you can get it with or without stereo speakers bundled. Right now, the House of Marley Revolution is £99 (was £149) at Amazon UK – or the House of Marley Revolution bundle with speakers is £189 (was £249) at Amazon.

• Shop Amazon's full early Black Friday deals

Those aren't the only juicy turntable deals right now, though! If you'd like a budget player with built-in speakers to save space, the House of Marley Rise Up turntable is £139 (was £179) at Amazon. Or if you want something more classic from a Japanese hi-fi great, the Denon DP29FE2 is now £109 (was £179) at Amazon.

(Not in the UK? See today's best deals in your region below)

Today's best turntable Black Friday deals

In our full House of Marley Revolution review, we said that it's "one of the best-value turntables we’ve tested", so getting an extra 33% discount just compounds that.

We liked the ease of use and the convincing analogue sound quality. It's not fully automatic, but it does help you out – "Lift the tonearm over a record and the platter will start spinning automatically. Lower it and you’ll be rewarded with audio that’s surprisingly rich for a budget deck," we said in the review. It's nice that it's not just a button to start playing – you have to take part in the ritual.

We said that it's "the definition of a plug-and-play turntable" – and Bluetooth was seamless to use as well, so it's easy to connect to headphones or a Bluetooth speaker if you don't use House of Marley's own from its bundle.

We also said that it doesn't feel cheap – and House of Marley uses materials from sustainable sources, which we're always happy to see. All of this combines to mean we include it in our list of the best turntables of all kinds, as the top option for a really cheap beginner-friendly deck, so we're heartily recommending it for this price if you're looking to buy in this budget range!

Shop more of today's best Black Friday sales

• Amazon: up to 66% off tech & essentials
• AO: up to £500 off Dyson, Bosch & Hisense
• Argos: up to 50% off appliances, tech & toys
• Boots: save on 1,000s of beauty products
• Currys: deals on Ninja, Shark & Lenovo
• Dell: laptops from £279
• Dyson: up to £550 off vacuums
• EE: Switch 2 bundles from £20/month
• John Lewis: up to 50% off tech & fashion
• Lego: sets & accessories from £2.99
• Samsung: deals on appliances & phones
• Very: up to 40% off tech, toys & fashion

Technics SL-1300G turntable: two-minute review

Technics has a new direct-drive turntable, and because it’s part of the company’s upmarket ‘Grand Class’, it’s engineered to within an inch of its life and has a price-tag that will make you swallow hard.

Mind you, it’s not as if the company doesn’t feel like it’s offering value for money with the Technics SL-1300G. Between the twin-rotor ‘cogless’ motor, transformerless power supply, elaborate tonearm arrangement and overall sensation of bank-vault build quality (the platter alone weighs almost 4kg), the SL-1300G is a substantial proposition in every respect. Apart from the small matter of a cartridge, that is – Technics doesn’t provide one and you should probably budget another $500 or so on one of the many reputable brands who will sell you something appropriate.

Once you’ve swallowed this particular pill, there’s a great deal to enjoy about the SL-1300G. It sounds an absolute treat in the right system – its ability to analyze, contextualize and generally peer deep into the grooves of your records in a hunt for information is remarkable. And it balances this attitude with a sort of thrillingly musical, thoroughly absorbing and effortless naturalistic stance that makes every listen as entertaining and engrossing as can be.

In fact, as long as you take a moment to ensure your system isn’t going to goad the Technics into overdoing the high frequencies – it’s right on the edge where treble sounds are concerned, and won’t take much of a push to tip it over – there’s really nothing of any significance to complain about.

One of the best turntables on the market? It's definitely in the conversation.

Technics SL-1300G turntable review: price and release date

• $3,299 / £2,799 / AU$4,999
• Launched in September 2024

The Technics SL-1300G direct-drive turntable is on sale now, and in the United States it's priced at $3,299. In the United Kingdom it’s more like £2,799, while in Australia it costs AU$4,999.

Not cheap, is it? And it’s not the end of your spending, either – Technics doesn’t supply a cartridge. So what is it offering for what is quite a lot of money (with the need to spend a fair bit more)?

After all, it’s not as if you’re short of high-quality alternatives…

Technics SL-1300G turntable review: features

• 230mm S-shaped aluminum tonearm
• Twin-rotor ‘coreless’ direct drive motor
• Low-noise, high-speed switching power supply

For the feature-set of the SL-1300G, Technics has allowed itself to be influenced by a couple of the more widely acclaimed turntables of the last couple of years: its own SL-1200G and SL-1200GR2. After all, if it ain’t broke etc and so on…

The motor that turns the SL-1300G’s platter is a variation on the one fitted to the SL-1200G, a model that launched in 2018 with a $4,000-plus price-tag attached. It’s based on the ‘coreless’ direct drive principles Technics first introduced in 2016: by removing the motor’s iron core, rotational instability (‘cogging’, as it’s colloquially known) can be reduced to vanishing point. In this implementation, a twin-rotor design reduces rotational vibration and minimizes the load on the bearings too.

The SL-1300G uses the Delta Sigma (ΔΣ) motor control software and drive system from last year’s SL-1200GR2, finessed and optimized for this application. The company’s prowess where PWM (pulse width modulation) is brought to bear in an effort to minimize even minor rotational inaccuracies along with errors in the drive signal. Because if you can deliver smooth, consistent rotation, argues Technics, you deliver smooth, consistent sound.

Further measures have been taken to ensure mechanical and, by extension, sonic accuracy. The SL-1300G uses a low-noise switching circuit that makes the more common transformer power supply redundant, which in turns makes the requirement for vibration-suppressing technologies that transformers tend to require redundant, too. Any residual noise in this transformerless power supply is identified by ‘current injection’ technology that applies inverse phase current to eliminate it. This, suggests Technics, is more effective than the common or garden ‘regulator’ alternative.

On the outside, the SL-1300G uses a rigid and lightweight aluminum pipe tonearm – it’s your classic static-balance S-shape and is 230mm long before the headshell is fitted. Technics supplies a headshell, of course, but what is conspicuous by its absence is a cartridge. The company is prepared to go on, at length, about how this omission allows you to select your preferred cartridge free from its interference, but it seems to me that a sum of money like this spent on a turntable ought to buy you the cartridge the manufacturer thinks is most appropriate. And, what’s more, to find it pre-fitted to the headshell.

The tonearm is connected to the surface of the turntable via gimbal suspension with a high-precision bearing. There’s anti-skate adjustment, a multi-part counterweight, tonearm lock and tonearm lift all incorporated. Getting the signal from the tonearm and out to an amplifier occurs via a pair of gold-plated stereo RCA outputs recessed deep beneath the main body of the SL-1300G. Technics supplies a pair of absolutely bog-standard RCA cables more commonly associated with turntables costing about 10 per cent of the price of this one.

• Features score: 5/5

Technics SL-1300G turntable review: Sound quality

• Notable clarity, detail and low-frequency presence
• Energetic and dynamic attitude
• As confident at the top end as it dares to be

Some record players have a very specific character or attitude, or a comfort zone out of which they are unwilling to tread. The Technics SL-1300G, it’s safe to say, is not one of those record players. There isn’t a style of music it sounds uncomfortable with – as far as attitude is concerned, “it’s all good” seems to cover it.

During the course of this review I listen to everything from a heavyweight reissue of Ladies and Gentlemen We are Floating in Space by Spiritualized to a ‘pre-loved’ (for which read ‘second-hand’) copy of The Strip Goes On by Orchester Werner Müller and many points in between, and at every turn the Technics covers every base. It’s a vibrant, energetic and engrossing performer, but it’s capable of forensic levels of analysis and insight at the same time.

Its frequency response, from the top of the range to the bottom, is smooth and even. Its overall tonality (with the mild exception of the top of the frequency range, which I’ll come to shortly) is neutral and natural. And its ability to allow music to just flow in the most confident and convincing manner is, even by the vaunted standards of the vinyl format, impressive in the extreme.

It digs deep and hits hard at the bottom of the frequency range, but both where control and insight are concerned it’s a spectacular performer. Bass sounds are solid and varied, with ample detail regarding tone and texture made available, while the SL-1300G controls the attack or decay of individual notes or hits with such purpose that rhythms are expressed in compelling fashion. It’s similarly accomplished in the midrange; there’s no fleeting detail that evades it, no secret of a singer’s technique or emotional state to which it’s not party. It communicates in absolute torrents, and in the most unforced and vivid manner – the balance it strikes between ‘analysis’ and ‘entertainment’ is outstanding.

Despite the significant levels of drive and attack it can summon, it never sounds stressed or uncontrolled. Though it can create a large and spacious soundstage, it presents music as a tightly unified whole, a singular event – the impression of performers operating in symphony, as opposed to a collection of individuals, is palpable.

Really, it’s only at the top of the frequency range that there are any noteworthy issues, and they can be mitigated without too much difficulty. The SL-1300G is a forthright and assertive performer where treble response is concerned, demonstrating as much confidence as is practical. Unlike the rest of the frequency range, though, the top end here is provokable – inserted into a system that’s similarly uninhibited where treble sounds are concerned, it’s possible that high frequencies could become a little edgy or strident.

So, a degree of system-matching is in order. The Technics won’t thank you for pairing it with speakers and/or amplification that share its high-end enthusiasm. Once you get over that particular hurdle, though, there’s nothing much else you need to do except sit back and revel in the sound this turntable produces.

• Sound quality score: 4.5/5

Technics SL-1300G turntable review: Design

• Black or silver finish
• 173 x 453 x 372mm (HxWxD)
• 13kg

Broadly speaking, the SL-1300G looks like a record player. More specifically, it looks like a Technics turntable. Whether or not you think that’s a good thing is a matter of taste, but there’s no denying that the company’s turntables have a reasonably strong visual identity.

From top to bottom, there’s no mistaking the SL-1300G as the product of any other company. Its 173 x 453 x 372mm (HxWxD) includes a sturdy Perspex dust cover, and its two-part chassis stands on four equally sturdy, extremely pliant and frankly over-engineered silicone rubber insulators – because Technics deals in nothing as straightforward as ‘feet’, of course.

The chassis itself is a rigid and profoundly vibration-resistant construction. The base is made of bulk molding compound and is topped by a die-cast aluminum plate, and further vibration damping is achieved by reinforcing ribs deployed between the tonearm assembly and the motor.

As is usual with Technics turntables, the SL-1300G features a ‘power on/off’ button above a ‘start/stop’ button on the bottom left of the top plate. There are also a pair of speed-selection buttons for ‘33.3’ or ‘45’ – press them at the same time and your turntable will be able to turn at 78rpm.

All in, the SL-1300G weighs a chunky 13kg - and a full 3.6kg of this is accounted for by the platter. It’s a three-layer item, with an aluminum main body, a 2mm layer of brass across the top and a hefty quantity of deadening rubber covering the whole of the rear surface. It offers considerable vibration damping, impressive resonance rejection, smooth rotational stability and significant inertial mass. In essence, it’s the same as the platter fitted to the (appreciably more expensive) SL-1200G.

Every SL-1300G is balanced after it’s assembled – because if the weight distribution of the turntable is uneven, the rotation of the platter can cause noise and vibration. How do you know your SL-1300G has been balanced in the Technics factory before it’s packaged up? By the little ‘BALANCED’ sticker on the underside of the platter.

• Design score: 5/5

Technics SL-1300G turntable review: usability and set-up

• Source and fit a cartridge
• Bin the supplied RCA cables in favor of something more appropriate
• Do the usual stuff regarding counterweight, anti-skate and so on

Unusually for the ‘usability and setup’ section, I’m going to have to talk about the need for you to spend yet more money. Because if you don’t, the SL-1300G is nothing more than an elaborate (and good-looking) doorstop.

If you want to get a sound out of your SL-1300G, you’ll need to research, source, purchase and fit an appropriate cartridge. I’d suggest something in the region of $500 will buy you something that will do this record player some justice. Cartridge fitting and setup are among the most fiddly things you can do (in life, let alone in the context of your audio system), so try to be patient. And then when you’ve done that, you really should consider binning the freebie RCA interconnects Technics so graciously supplies in favor of something that’s actually up to the job.

Once that’s done, though, usability is a doddle. The direct drive motor gets the platter up to speed in well under a second, and the tonearm lift operates with precision. ‘Putting a record on’ has never been any less painful than it is here.

• Usability and setup score: 4/5

Technics SL-1300G review: Value

• Superb build quality and materials
• Real longevity
• But you have to spend even more money to get it working

It depends how you look at it, I suppose. In terms of engineering prowess, the quality of materials and the way they’re put together, in terms of longevity and simple pride of ownership, the Technics SL-1300G represents very good value indeed. And that’s before you factor in the many admirable aspects of the way it sounds.

But given that this record player doesn’t actually function until you’ve spent quite a lot more money on a cartridge, plus a fair few bucks upgrading the cables connecting it to your amplifier, it’s perhaps not the cast-iron value for money it at first appears…

• Value score: 4/5

Should I buy the Technics SL-1300G?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

Technics SL-1300G review: also consider

How I tested the Technics SL-1300G

• Tested over the course of one week
• Listening to various types of music

I connected the Technics SL-1300G up to my home system using the supplied RGA cables. Then, I spent well over a working week listening to as many different types of music as I could, of many different genres, and varying qualities of pressing to give the SL-1300G as much of a workout as I could. And, to be honest, I enjoyed doing it.

• First reviewed: November 2025
• Read more about how we test

Majority Folio: Two-minute review

Given that vinyl records often feel like they belong in the Smithsonian, actually using them for music can seem like a scary proposition, and what doesn't help is how fiddly and delicate some of the best turntables can seem. Newbies to the vinyl game can find many reasons to stay away, but I'm here to offer one good reason to come over: the Majority Folio.

This record player – for amplification and speaker are both onboard, squirrelled away into the base – is here to downplay those reasons, and make listening to your collection (relatively) simple.

This is the joint-third turntable from British audio company Majority, following the Majority Moto 2.0 and releasing simultaneously with the pricier Stylo.

Like its predecessor, the Folio is an inexpensive turntable, and it also totes a built-in speaker, which means you don't need to buy a separate one (or indeed any phono stage or pre/power amplifiers) to hear your music. These facts alone make the device really easy to buy for people scared to take the plunge.

But beyond that it's easy to set up and use, and won't be scary for new users to experiment with. And once you decide to flesh out your hi-fi setup, the Majority Folio's support for many outputs and inputs means that unlike many cheap vinyl players, it actually can remain a central part of your kit and won't need to be replaced any time soon.

You may want to upgrade things though, because the Folio's speaker doesn't actually sound that great; it's fine as a starting-off point, or for people who aren't already too used to the fantastic audio that high-end kit can put out, but it retains all the issues of its predecessor in that it lacks a solid, weighty and impactful low-end and doesn't provide quality audio overall.

Another gripe I have with the Folio is that a few design choices show a lack of precision. The dust cover doesn't fit perfectly, and the turntable's wooden surface showed up bumps and scratches really easy. These didn't affect playback, but it's still not ideal.

One novel feature I need to bring up in the introduction is that you can plug a USB stick into the Folio and rip/record your vinyl record onto it. This can be great for digitizing your record collection, but you could also use it to create your own mix-tapes (you can split the recording and break it up by track, changing vinyl while you do) or re-record your favorites at a shifted pitch... for some reason. It's a feature with admittedly limited appeal, but I can see it being a game-changer for some music creators.

Majority Folio review: Price and release date

• Announced on April 12, 2025
• Sells for £169.95 (roughly $220, AU$340)
• No US or AUS availability

The Majority Folio was announced on Record Store Day, which was April 12, 2025. It went on sale shortly afterward.

You can buy the turntable for £169.95 (roughly $220 / AU$340), although it’s only available in certain regions, including the UK. Majority’s turntables don’t tend to go on sale in the US, and while they do in Australia, the Folio isn’t currently offered in the region.

That price puts the Folio as one of the more affordable turntables on the market, a great budget buy for people who don’t have the big bucks to invest in a fancy home hi-fi system but want something solid to play vinyl.

Majority Folio review: Specs

Majority Folio review: Features

• Easy to set-up and use
• Range of connection options
• USB recording feature

The Majority Folio seems designed as a plug-and-play dream; thanks to having its own speaker you don’t need to fuss over connecting other devices or extras, and simply plugging it into a power point is your first and last act to get it running. Well, you’ve got to add the record too, and it’s not an automatic turntable so you'll need to place the needle yourself; the record begins to spin as soon as you lift the arm.

Despite having its own speaker, and therefore being less reliant on external speakers to work, the Majority Folio offers quite a few connection options. You can pair to nearby Bluetooth speakers or wireless headphones with Bluetooth 5.3 (to transmit your vinyl wirelessly for playback, thus bypassing the Folio's inbuilt speaker), play via an AUX cord, output music from a USB stick or plug in other devices with RCA, and so the Folio can stand alone or be the nexus of a hi-fi set-up. Most of these options let you output the vinyl music, but also use the device’s speaker for other inputs.

In somewhat of a novelty, you can plug a USB stick into the Folio and record your vinyl recording onto it. It’s a neat way of digitizing your music, especially with the ability to split a recording (ie, break it up by song), although the quality isn’t exactly stellar. If you change the playback speed of a record, this is reflected in your recording, but tweaking the volume isn't.

• Features score: 4/5

Majority Folio review: Sound quality

• AT3600L cartridge in play
• Build-in speaker lacks quality
• Output sounds a lot better

At the end of the arm is an AT3600L Moving Magnetic Cartridge, a piece of kit Majority has used before. And there’s no shame in that, especially not when the first two letters stand for Audio-Technica; this is a fine-tuned piece of kit. We've seen it grace plenty of other budget options and it provides fun audio, if lacking some high-fidelity flair of higher-end options.

One of the unique selling points of the Majority Folio is that it comes with its own speaker as part of the package; if you’re at the first step of your home audio journey and don’t have a hi-fi set-up, you can use the Folio out of the box…

… although I’d recommend against it, if you can avoid it. Music from the built-in speaker sounds a bit tinny, lacking deep bass or crisp treble, and that's not just true of phono playback but for Bluetooth playing too. I couldn’t help but feel that lots of the depth, detail and nuance that the vinyl format provided, was lost when played through the main speaker. As I write this, I’m listening to Bowie’s Space Oddity, and it’s hard to make out much of the song besides the vocals, strings and cymbals.

Thankfully, as I’ve mentioned, the Folio has a range of connectivity options, and I’m pleased to report that music sounds better from headphones or other speakers. The low end has a lot more weight (even accounting for the toning of other devices), high-end is crisper and there’s a full-bodied midrange which adds to the sense of detail on a song. It’s not going to wow audiophiles who’ve tested top-end equipment, but I’d question how many such buyers have made it this far into the review anyway!

There’s nothing strictly wrong with the built-in speaker if you’re at the beginning of your home hi-fi journey, but it’s not something I’d rely on in the long run.

It’s worth noting that, according to the website and user manual, the Folio doesn’t support high-quality or low latency Bluetooth codecs. So I’d recommend buying wired speakers (see TechRadar's guide to the best stereo speakers here) if you want to appreciate your music to the best standards.

• Sound quality score: 3.5/5

Majority Folio review: Design

• Chunky, thanks to built-in speaker
• Lots of dials, ports, switches
• Easily gains knicks

As you can probably expect from a turntable with a speaker built in, the Majority Folio is a little bit bigger than some rivals on the market, and it adds this heft in the height department. It’s 14.2cm tall, 41.2cm wide and 32.3cm length-wise. And if we’re going through dimensions, it weighs 3.7kg.

The device has a classy look, with a nice wooden finish, although this material quickly showed some marks and splintering on my review unit. An S-shaped tonearm is light and nimble, though looks a little too much like a Mechano set towards the needle, which blocked my sight of the needle from certain angles (and I'm bad at placing it at the best of times). The party is at the back though with an easily-manipulated counterweight and RPM toggle hidden away from the plate.

The table begins to spin automatically, as soon as you lift the needle, but the arm cradle wasn’t totally reliable at holding the limb in place; a few times I accidentally bumped the arm and the record began to spin of its own accord. A cradle with a slight edge would fix this problem.

Elsewhere on the body you’re getting an RPM adapter plonked to the side, and then on the right edge a headphone jack as well as dials for the volume, pitch and input method. It’s a little more cluttered than some other turntables I’ve seen, but I prefer ease of use with your many functions, toggles and switches in plain view.

That’s only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the Majority Folio’s buttons and dials. On the right edge there’s a USB slot as well as buttons for recording, splitting and Bluetooth pairing, while on the back there’s the range of connection inputs we’ve already discussed. Perhaps one of the benefits of a big body, is lots of room for ports and buttons.

Like most (but not all) alternatives, the Folio has a dust cover. It does its job but it’s a little wobbly, often not sitting straight on the turntable, and it quickly got quite scuffed up during my testing.

• Design score: 4/5

Majority Folio review: Value

Based on the price, specs and feature set, the Majority is a great entry-level turntable for people at the beginning of their hi-fi journey.

It’s a purchase comparable to those guitar starter-packs you can buy, which get you a budget amp, carry case and cables alongside a cheapie six-string; none of the kit is stellar, but you’re getting a nice easy package to get you started. The further you get into your hi-fi journey, the more you can augment your setup with extra speakers.

There are a few turntables on the market that are cheaper than the Majority, but most don’t have the speaker built in, giving this an easy value win.

• Value score: 4.5/5

Should I buy the Majority Folio?

Buy it if…

Don’t buy it if…

Majority Folio review: Also consider

How I tested the Majority Folio

• Tested for three weeks
• Inputs include vinyl records, Bluetooth and USB
• Outputs include built-in speaker and wired headphones and speakers

I used the Majority Folio for three weeks in order to write this review, and through the whole process it was set up in my living room (which is also my dining room and kitchen; it's not a big apartment).

I primarily listened to music from my large vinyl record library, though also used the speaker's Bluetooth playback function and also listened to recordings I'd made with the USB recording function.

For most of the testing period, I listened through the build-in speaker, but for additional listening I plugged in some over-ear headphones and some wireless speakers to get a sense for the sound.

• First reviewed November 2025

• Audio-Technica's Bluetooth turntables are solid buys
• Pro-Ject's Juke Box costs more but does everything
• House of Marley bundles may be worth seeking out

It's that time of year: the weather's changing, there's finally good stuff on TV, and my email inbox is already full of firms talking about Black Friday deals.

The event is still a few weeks away (although these days Black Friday isn't limited to the Friday after Thanksgiving; it's now Super Mega Black Friday Deals Month And A Bit) but if you're thinking of investing in new audio or entertainment gear, this is a good time to be making plans and looking at spec sheets, because you don't want to get caught up in sales madness.

If you know what you want, what it normally costs and what you want to spend, you can massively increase your chances of bagging a genuine Black Friday bargain rather than just paying the same price you'd have paid three or four weeks previously.

Turntables are frequently discounted during Black Friday and similar events, but not all turntables are equal – and if you're new to vinyl it can be hard to identify which Black Friday turntable deal is actually worth getting. I've reviewed a lot of turntables, and I'm a working musician, so I have some strong opinions on what makes a beginner turntable that really does your music justice. Here are three quite different buys for first-timers that I think you should look out for.

The all-in-wonder: Pro-Ject Juke Box E1

This is a lot more expensive than the other turntables I'm recommending here, but if you want an excellent all-in-one where all you need to add is a pair of passive speakers, then the Pro-Ject E1 is a great option. As I said in my Pro-Ject Juke Box E1 review, "This isn't a cheap-o system, and it doesn't look, feel or sound like one either."

The benefit of an all-in-one is that you don't also need to invest in a pre-amplifier or even an amplifier. And in addition to the built-in amplification, the Pro-Ject Juke Box E1 has a good Bluetooth module that enables you to stream from your phone or laptop as well as streaming out to Bluetooth headphones. It's exceptionally simple to set up and delivers an impressive performance.

The launch price of this all-in-one was £599 / $799 / AU$999. But I think we'll see it for less during Black Friday – and if you don't need the integrated amplification the standard Pro-Ject E1 is a great turntable in its own right, and less than half the price of the Juke Box – here are the latest prices for that.

A great budget buy: Audio-Technica AT-LP70XBT

This excellent Audio-Technica is the baby sibling of the turntable I use at home, and it's excellent value for money. As we said in our AT-LP70XBT review, it's a plug-and-play device that's ideal for anyone getting started with vinyl, designed for both wired and wireless listening thanks to its built-in Bluetooth.

This is the successor to a long-term favorite of ours, the AT-LP60XBT, which is still available from retailers and which is also likely to feature in the Black Friday deals: at the time of writing it's going for about 10% to 20% less than its newer sibling, and that means it could be one of the best sub-$200 / £200 turntables to pick up this year – again, the best prices on that model are just below.

The one for students / small spaces: House of Marley Revolution

With an official price of just $169.99 / £149.99 / A$199 the Revolution is already aggressively priced, and I'd particularly keep an eye out for Black Friday deals that bundle it with House of Marley's wired Uplift bookshelf speakers or if you're in the UK, the Together Duo wireless speakers. Adding the wired speakers roughly doubles the price and the wireless ones cost a bit more on top, but bundles are often favored by retailers doing discounts during big sales events.

This is a super-cheap system so don't expect to impress your local audiophile. But as we said in our House of Marley Revolution review, "If you’re looking for a straightforward turntable at a palatable price, we think the House of Marley Revolution gets close to the value sweet spot. There are some cheaper Bluetooth turntables out there, but none with the same style and build quality as the Revolution." It's a particularly good option for smaller spaces such as student accommodation.

Here are the latest prices for the bundle with speakers:

• Technics SL-1200G/1210G upgraded with Delta Sigma Drive
• Gold-colored elements including the tonearm
• 1,200 + 1,210 units worldwide, from February 2026

Technics' SL-1200 turntable is quite probably the world's most famous record deck, especially if you're into dance music and hip-hop: it's been filling floors and entertaining audiophiles since 1972, and (r)evolving all the time. And now it's evolved again, with an impressive upgrade in a strictly limited edition.

The good news is that there are new Master Editions of both the SL-1200G and the SL-1210G turntables. But there's a little bit of bad news too. This edition will be the final version of the SL-1200G, although other SL-1200 models such as the GR2 and MK7 will continue to be produced.

The new Master Edition turntables will be limited to just 2,410 units worldwide: 1,200 of the silver SL-1200GME, and 1,210 of the black SL-1210GME.

What's new in the SL-1200 Master Editions?

The big upgrade here is in the drive system. Technics has brought its ΔΣ-Drive (Delta Sigma Drive) motor control system to both turntables, and according to Technics it delivers "exceptional" rotational stability and smoothness.

The drive system has previously appeared in models such as the SL-1200GR2 and SL-1300G, but this is its first time in the SL-1200G and SL-1210G.

As Technics explains, "The ΔΣ-Drive motor control technology is capable of delivering the perfect driving sine wave signal for the iron-coreless direct drive motor. By using PWM signal generation with ΔΣ (Delta Sigma) Modulation, as employed in Technics’ full-digital amplifiers, motor vibrations are reduced to the minimum, resulting in a super smooth rotational accuracy."

The motor delivers very high torque and has been completely reworked for the Master Edition to reduce minute variations and smoothen the tracking process. And its hybrid encoder features a Hall sensor, which constantly monitors and adjusts the rotational speed. This compensates for issues such as vinyl warping. And there's a new multi-stage silent power supply, similar to the one in the reference SL-1000R.

In order to make the Master Editions look distinct, Technics has incorporated gold-coloured elements including the tonearm, the headshell logo, the top panel logo, the logo badge, the dust cover logo sheet and the strobe off control.

The new Master Edition turntables will be available from authorized North American retailers from February 2026. Pricing will be announced nearer the time.