Best turntables in 2026 for vinyl lovers, audiophiles and beginners

1. Audio Technica AT-LP120XBT-USB

The world’s not short of wannabe Technics 1210s. Despite first impressions, the new Audio Technica AT-LP120XBT-USB is no lazy knock-off. It’s an extremely well-specified direct-drive turntable with a stack of functionality. And, crucially, very agreeable sound no matter how you decide to use it.

The epically long model number refers to the fact that this turntable features aptX Bluetooth 5.0. It’s for wireless streaming of your vinyl to Bluetooth speakers or headphones. Plus there’s a USB output for recording vinyl to a computer. The Audio Technica also has a switchable phono stage, meaning it can slot easily into systems of all types. But there probably wasn’t room to shoehorn a reference to that into the model number too.

On top of this, the A-T can play at 33.3, 45 or 78rpm, has a pitch control, stroboscope and target light to satisfy those Superstar DJ daydreams. And it comes supplied with a very decent own-brand cartridge to fit onto the S-shaped tonearm.

And no matter how you listen to it, the 120XBT-USB sounds the money’s-worth hard-wired into a system. Whether wirelessly to some headphones, or to the copies ripped via its USB output. It hits reasonably hard, extracts plenty of detail, and flows along naturalistically in the revered vinyl manner. It’s got a little bit of everything and is easily one of the best turntables around.

2. Audio Technica LP60-XBT

Never content to leave well enough alone, Audio Technica has taken a critical look at its popular LP60-BT wireless turntable and given it the once-over. The result is this LP60-XBT – and it’s an upgrade worth waiting for.

Audio Technica has fiddled a little with the styling, upped the Bluetooth standard to aptX 5.0 and improved both tracking and resonance rejection. The result is a turntable that feels a little lightweight and plasticky. It’s obviously built to hit a price-point. Yet it manages to include a phono stage, an aluminium platter, and auto stop/start and speed change. So there’s about as much convenience here as any record player ever delivered.

Its wireless performance is very impressive for the money: it pairs solidly and streams a balanced, even-handed sound. It’s not the punchiest turntable you ever heard. But its overall performance is better than a record player of this type, at this sort of money, has any right to be.

3. Pro-Ject Juke Box E1

Every childhood home had a music centre in it – usually one the child in question wasn’t allowed to touch.

In some ways Pro-Ject’s Juke Box E1 is an exercise in revisiting the nostalgia of the music centre and luring in the vinyl revivalists at the same time. But – Pro-Ject being Pro-Ject – there’s a little bit more to it than that. Juke Box E1 is mostly a record player. But it also has 50 watts per channel of amplification built in, as well as Bluetooth connectivity. It’s a receiver, unlike the other three transmitters in this group) and an analogue input for hard-wiring an additional source.

Just strap on some speakers and you’re good to go. All you need now are some records, and/or a music streaming app installed on your phone.

Safe to say Juke Box E sounds best when playing some vinyl. Pro-Ject has plenty of experience where these things are concerned. And Juke Box E1 has detail, dynamism and warmth to spare.

But it’s almost as adept with Bluetooth streaming too. And has enough in the way of insight and drive to make even tiny 128kbps Spotify files sound big and bold. So finally we can welcome the music centre to the 21st century.

4. Cambridge Alva TT

The words ‘audiophile’ and ‘wireless’ are seldom seen in the same sentence together, unless the words ‘cannot be’ are included too.

Audiophilia has always included a hair-shirt element, a strong suggestion of ‘no pain, no gain’. Well, Cambridge is here to demonstrate what can be achieved when you attempt to rewrite that particular rule.

The Alva TT is a sturdy, beautifully made audiophile-grade direct-drive turntable with enough going on in terms of tone-arm, moving-magnet cartridge and integrated phono stage alone to justify its price.

To make a diverting product pretty much compelling, Cambridge has added Bluetooth connectivity up to a hi-res aptX HD 24bit/48kHz quality. Which means you can wirelessly stream vinyl to your system, at a truly high-end standard, from a turntable that’s positioned somewhere you’d like it to be rather than where it insists on being.

And it’s almost a formality to report that it sounds great, with all of that lovely vinyl expertise where warmth, timing and rhythm are concerned. It looks and feels good while it’s doing it, too. Mind you, no amount of clever wireless thinking is going to stop you having to get up every 15 minutes or so to turn the record over.

5. Sony PS-LX310BT

Short of deciding on the records you listen to, the Sony PS-LX310BT does as much as it can to make your turntable experience as simple and effortless as possible.

The matte-black plinth has controls for stop/start, arm up/down, 7in/12in selection, 33.3/45rpm and Bluetooth pairing. Around the back, just to one side of the hard-wired stereo RCA cables and mains lead, there’s a switch to turn the integrated phono stage on or off. The tonearm has a cartridge and stylus attached, the tracking weight is set. The beginning and the end of manual, hands-on set-up consists of putting the drive belt on the aluminium platter around the motor pulley.

The Sony’s phono stage is pretty good but, let’s face it, you didn’t buy a 310BT to use a load of wires. Much easier to connect wirelessly via Bluetooth to an amp or powered speaker, and all the better to hear the Sony’s balanced, quite detailed and impressively dynamic sound.

Now, if you want something that you can stream to, check out Stuff’s guides to the best Bluetooth speakers.