I’m in the market for a new turntable, and I was wondering if anyone here has experience with either of the models listed in the title. Both come the same cartridge stock (AT VM95E) so the sound quality should be similar enough. I was mostly wondering if there’s some detail I’m not aware of that’s different between these two turntables. Currently I’m gravitating towards the Teac since it’s a tiny bit cheaper (just a 10€ difference) and I like the look of it more, although they’re so similar that they could both come from the same factory TBH

Quick edit: If anyone thinks these are overkill, do let me know! I love music but my ears aren’t extremely sensitive, I mostly chose these because cheaper models seem to do way too many things… offerings from AT that are half the price have USB, Bluetooth, pitch control etc. All things I can go without.

The Rega Planar 1 also caught my eye, but the price point is higher than the other two

  • freebee@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    1·
    7 days ago

    You could just not use the USB, Bluetooth, pitch control…? They are features that are just there and do nothing when not turned on or not used so I don’t see the issue?

    I just have a very cheap AKAI ATT01U I bought about 14 years ago I think when I was still pretty poor. Works really really well tbh, replacing the needle costs almost as much as the turntable was. If records are in near mint condition the sound quality between a 10.000 € hifi and a 150 € setup is not very noticeable imo. Or to my ears. It becomes more noticeable if you play music very loud or music with a lot of very deep bass (think dubstep, hyperdub), both I usually don’t do. My cheap-o-turntable has the USB out but I don’t use it, doesn’t matter. The only 2 reasons I would buy a fancier turntable would be 1 the tonearm balance fine-tuning which this cheap player doesn’t have and 2 something that looks beautiful which this thing doesn’t at all… One day maybe I’ll treat myself to a nice expensive turntable, but it will possibly only be after this one died :')

    Edit: fwiw: I think the LPW-40 looks a lot more beautiful than the TN-3B-SE

    • claymore@pawb.socialOPEnglish
      1·
      5 days ago

      Thanks for your input! I know I can just avoid features I don’t need, but IMO things like a turntable should do one thing (play records) and do it well. Having two choices at a similar price point, one with tons of features and one without, I’d probably choose the barebones option because to fit all that extra stuff in it at the same cost, they have to be cutting cost somewhere else. Which in this case is probably build quality, a cheaper cartridge, worse phono amp etc. Plus connecting a line out to a computer or a BT transmitter is easy, so if I need those I’ll set it up myself.

      I don’t have an insane HiFi setup yet but it’s something I’d like to with towards so investing into a better turntable now means I don’t have to upgrade in the future. I also got some Christmas money so I decided to treat myself 😂

      Thanks again and have a nice day ✌️