10-03-2025
Best record players, tried and tested vinyl decks for every budget
With a history stretching back to 1877, recorded music on vinyl harks back to a less disposable age of entertainment and as any aficionado will tell you, can offer warmer, more life-like sounds than digital files. While vinyl has never reclaimed the heights of its 70s heyday, with 530 million discs purchased worldwide, a revival has seen sales growing steadily in Britain, hitting 6.7 million units last year after 17 years of growth, according to Music Week.
Today's decks now come with extras such as the option to 'record' old discs to digital, built-in speakers or even the ability to stream wirelessly to Bluetooth speakers. With a vast and bewildering assortment of vinyl-playing gear on offer, from high-quality record decks that cost hundreds of thousands down to a number of non-brand, Chinese-made record players with strange brand names, it can be tricky to choose the best for your requirements and budget.
Which are the best record players? At a glance
Do I need an amplifier for my turntable?
'Unlike more 'modern' music systems, which tend to be wireless and essentially just plug and play, buying high-fidelity turntables can be more complex', explains industry veteran and vinyl aficionado Simon Powell, Operations Director at Henley Audio. 'Record players come in all shapes and sizes, for lots of different types of systems and lots of different budgets.'
Powell says that before you buy, it's key to understand how much space you have available and whether you want a standalone or a machine that requires 'proper' hi-fi separates, i.e. an amplifier and speakers. Hi-fi purists will always say that separates sound better but if you're looking for convenience, newer models can stream to nearby speakers via Bluetooth, meaning you don't need to invest as much upfront.
Powell says, 'It's key to know that a record player is made up of a turntable (the spinning platter), a tonearm and a cartridge (the 'needle' that reads the musical information). Once the signal leaves the record player, the output signal needs a phono stage, an amplifier and speakers to eventually turn into music you can hear and enjoy. This sounds complicated, but products on the market often take care of a lot of these steps for you.'
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How we tested the best record players
