Which? Don't Buy record players and turntables

Choosing the wrong record player will leave you with worse sound than playing your music through smartphone speakers. Our expert listening panel separate those you should avoid from the cream of the crop that we recommend as our Best Buy record players and turntables.

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What makes a Don't Buy record player?

A Don't Buy record player is often confusing to set up, produces a horrible noise that will leave you with a headache and won't digitise your records well. What's more, if it's difficult to gently lift the needle onto the record you might even end up scratching your treasured vinyl after just a couple of plays. 

We’ve reviewed the most popular record players from big brands such as Ion and Crosley to make sure you find the best record player for you. That's why we'll only recommend record players that produce a crystal-clear sound, are easy to use and can do a good job of digitising your record collection.

Our tests go further

We test all the most popular record player models in front of our panel of industry experts, rather than just going on the opinions of one reviewer. Between them our panel have decades of experience designing and listening to audio products, making them uniquely qualified to help you get the best possible sound. 

• Our testing goes further than anyone else to make sure we bring you the most trustworthy and rigorous reviews.
• We give every record player a Which? test score so you can see at a glance which are the best and worst.
• Our reviews cover both classic record players and ones that can digitise your record collection, to give you the lowdown on everything you need to know to choose the right record player for you.

Join Which? to find out which record players are Don’t Buys and which are Best Buys.