Should You Buy a Bluetooth Turntable? The Pros and Cons Explained
Bluetooth turntables have become increasingly popular in recent years, so you may be wondering whether it’s a good idea to buy one. There have long been two types of turntables. The first type is the all-in-one, the turntable that comes in one unit and also includes an amplifier and speakers. And the second, much more common type is the turntable that you connect to other hi-fi hardware.
Until recently, that connection was made with a wire, but a growing number of manufacturers now offer wireless turntables that connect via Bluetooth, or adapters that allow you to convert a wired turntable into a Bluetooth turntable. Several of the best turntables offer this option.
That opens up some interesting possibilities. It’s always tempting to get rid of cables – I’ve recently moved and had been putting off setting up my audio gear for ages because I wasn’t in a hurry to spend hours stringing cables over, under and through things – but Bluetooth turntables can also stream directly to the best Bluetooth speakers or the best wireless headphones. But is that a good idea, or is cable still the conqueror of connectivity? Let’s find out.
Bluetooth vs. Wired Turntables: What’s the Difference?
All turntables work the same way: the record spins and a stylus traces the patterns in the grooves, converting those patterns into an electrical signal. But what happens to that signal is different between wired and Bluetooth turntables. With a traditional wired turntable, the signal is sent to the turntable’s audio outputs, which are connected to a phono stage to amplify the signal, and then to an amplifier. The amplifier then boosts the signal further and sends it to your speakers or headphones.
With a Bluetooth turntable, the audio signal is passed to a Bluetooth transmitter, which broadcasts the signal to another Bluetooth device. And that means the signal needs to be processed, which we’ll look at in more detail in a moment.
Bluetooth vs. Wired Turntables: Convenience
On the face of it, Bluetooth is much more convenient: no wires! Smart speakers! But for Bluetooth to work, you have to ‘pair’ your devices – where the transmitting device says hello to the receiving device. And while this should be effortless and seamless, it doesn’t always work: if you have a specific Bluetooth speaker or pair of headphones in mind, it’s worth Googling whether there are any pairing issues with your potential new turntable, as there can be annoying and often mysterious incompatibilities. Pairing can also be a nuisance if you have multiple Bluetooth devices in the same room, or a regular annoyance if you use your speakers or headphones with other audio sources, too.
Another problem with Bluetooth, which you may have also experienced with headphones or earphones, is that the signal sometimes stutters or drops out completely. This does not happen with cables, but it can happen even with quite expensive Bluetooth turntables, because there is a chance of interference.
Bluetooth vs. Wired Turntables: Cost
Although adding Bluetooth to a turntable adds more components and complexity, it doesn’t necessarily mean the turntable will be more expensive. There are very cheap Bluetooth turntables, but also terribly expensive ones.
But all other components being equal, a Bluetooth turntable will be a little more expensive – and the better the circuitry, the more expensive it is likely to be.
Bluetooth vs. Wired Turntables: Sound
I saved the biggest one for last because it is the most important to some listeners. Bluetooth cannot deliver music without losing information on the original record.
Does it matter? It depends a lot on your hardware and your priorities. If you’re not listening on high-end hardware, or if you don’t mind sacrificing a little sound quality for a lot of convenience, then it doesn’t matter at all. And the differences are small unless you have really good hearing and really good hardware.
But it’s true that there’s a trade-off between wireless convenience and sound quality. There are two reasons for this. The first is that the signal from your turntable is analog, while the signal from Bluetooth is digital. I’m not going to get into the analog versus digital debate that’s been going on for decades, but many people believe that analog sounds better—or at least better.
The second reason is more objective: Bluetooth is lossy, meaning that some of the original musical information is discarded before the audio reaches your ears. That’s because there’s a limit to how much data Bluetooth can stream, so when the original audio signal is converted, it’s also compressed to fit within the available bandwidth.
The tool that determines what to keep and what to leave out is called a codec, which stands for encoder/decoder. And the codec that your turntable and speakers or headphones support has a big impact on what you hear. That’s because while all the major codecs convert and compress audio information, some do it more efficiently and pleasantly than others.
This topic can get very technical and very boring very quickly, so here’s the lowdown: SBC is the most widely supported codec, and sounds pretty good (it’s the standard for Bluetooth headphones), but isn’t as good as more recent codecs; aptX is better, and aptX HD and aptX Adaptive are better still, but aren’t as widely supported. If you’re into Sony gear, it probably supports LDAC, Sony’s own codec, which is a nice alternative to aptX if your hardware supports it.
Bluetooth vs Wired Turntables: Which Should You Buy?
If convenience is your priority, or you want to listen on Bluetooth headphones, then Bluetooth is probably your best bet. If you’re serious about sound quality, wired is usually better. But why bother at all?
If you’re starting from scratch, you don’t necessarily have to choose one option or the other: you can buy a turntable that combines the best of both the wired and wireless worlds. There are great options in most price ranges.
For example, our current best budget buy, the Audio-Technica AT-LP60XBT (and there’s a new version, called the Audio-Technica AT-LP70XBT) – has Bluetooth with aptX, and also has wired connections for an amplifier (including its own phono stage, which you can switch off when you don’t need it). It’s a similar story with many more premium turntables (such as the Cambridge Audio Alva TT v2) where you’ll typically pay a little more for wireless connectivity, but you’ll benefit from more playback options.
