Audio-Technica AT-LP5X Fully Manual Direct-Drive Turntable

Very Nice Turntable. Expensive, But Very Worth It. It is packaged well. Instructions could be better though.

From a HiFi guy who grew up with Technics and Dual turntables, this is a solid, new age performer. Unfortunately Dual and similar old school turntables have gone way of the dinosaur. Dual is dead. Audio Technica has been around along time and who better to make a turntable that carries their long time, industry standard cartridges than them? Since the precision mechanical gears, springs and floating chassis's that require craftsmanship have become ancient relics, one must move on to accept a paradigm change. The AT-LP5X is impressive in its own right. I'm a guy who measures most electronics in weight and this turntable is heavy & solid at about 20lbs. I was blown away by the rubber mat. I have never in all my days, seen this thick of a turntable mat! Let's talk about the double gimbal tonearm. I read many recent of turntable reviews. Hardly any talk about the precision makeup of the tonearm. This assembly with the hydraulic cue is precise and crafted well. The motor is quiet. Again, Old School Guy liking belt drive, but this direct drive offer no noise interferences at all.The AT-VM95E cartridge is great. I read many folks put it down and boast about putting more expensive cartridges on. No need. The cartridge performs excellent at all levels. OK, I have a better, new cartridge in the cabinet, but I'm in no hurry to replace the supplied one. The dust cove and hinges are exceptional. It comes extremely well packaged and assembly is simplistic. Take it from an old school guy who grew up in the mid 70's days of HiFi gold, this is the benchmark in sub $500 turntables! It's solid and won't budge a bit when opening a closing the dustcover.

Bought this to upgrade my record player. I’m glad I did it’s really easy to set up. Has a great look to it, and best of all the sound quality. Definitely don’t regret my decision. In the future I will be able to upgrade stylus to get an even better sound. If you are on the fence I would definitely purchase.

I have had this turntable for a few months and am very pleased with it. The sound quality is much improved over the less expensive turntable I was using. I have noticed it has a very precise stylus. When I listen to vinyl I hear things in the music that I missed before, even with albums I have had for decades. I was recording some of my vinyl to digital and the stylus picked up talking in the room and dogs barking, so keep that in mind if you are recording your vinyl. It has adjustments for tracking force and anti skate as well. The only drawback I found is it doesn't have an on/off switch. As a work around, I just plugged the power into the power receptacle on my receiver. It now powers on and off with the receiver, so that worked out well. The turntable is of high quality for the price. I would not hesitate to recommend it to anyone who wants a better vinyl listening experience and an affordable price.

Why did you pick this product vs others?:LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! this is a higher end record player model. I had been looking for something to complete out my entertainment area for awhile. When I came across this, I was hesitant because of the cost. However, Amazon allowed me to make monthly payments with no credit check. The Amazon financing over Uplift financing was a definite characteristic in why I chose to purchase. Came within estimated time frame, no damagebto box or product, easy set up, and impeccable sound quality when hooked up to my surround sound.

The AT-LP5X doesn't have a Bluetooth connection option contrary to what the Amazon description says. Probably best to research on the manufactures site.

The vinyl player looks, feels, and performs the quality you would expect from a purchase of this price. Balancing the needle arm takes patience but straight forward. The vinyl weight I bought paired with the record player is also worth it. Mostly bought it for the brand, it being the same as the record player. If it’s outside your budget just get cheaper ones, they’ll do the same job just as well. P.S. don’t forget to purchase record cleaners.

So The title says it all. I have, no joke, checked out every turntable under $500 on the market. Everything from the Audio Technica sound Burger to fluance to Sony and Yamaha and Denon and Rega and project and Andover, you name it I've listened to it and used it.This is far and away the Best buy on the market at its price point. You get great stability of speed and sound quality, the built-in photo stage sounds pretty good with the included cartridge. The build quality isn't necessarily super duper, but it's functional and I have nothing to complain about.Most importantly is sound quality, this thing just goes about its business and lets you enjoy music. It doesn't do anything really better than anything else but it doesn't do anything worse either. It's kind of a happy medium in that way and in my opinion that's what makes it the best.Plus you get on the fly speed switching, no having to lift the platter and move the belt. Plus as I said even the built-in Phono stage sounds pretty good, is it the best in the world no absolutely not, but for the included cartridge it creates a convincing satisfactory performance.There are some turntables on the market at its price point, Rega planar one, that do some things better. The rega does better sound staging and it creates a better sense of fun to the music. But in my opinion ultimately makes a lot of your records sound like CDs, which is fine I suppose but when I listen to records I want them to sound like records.Anyway just get it you know you want it and it'll make you happy and won't make you sad