Ion TTUSB10 USB Turntable Video

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Created: 12/07/2007

Video description: If you're looking for an attractive, affordable way to digitize your collection of vinyl recordings, the Ion TTUSB10 is the best-looking budget USB turntable we've seen. Serious audio archivists should invest in a turntable with a beefier construction and

Ion TTUSB10 USB Turntable Video Transcript

>> Hey I'm Donald Bell senior editor for digital audio and MP3 and today we're taking a first look at the Ion TTUSB 10 turntable. You connect it up to a MAC or a PC and digitize your vinyl directly from the turntable without having to buy a phono preamp, a sound card, a turntable, a receiver, you can get all of that into one solution. It's great for people who don't want to have to repurchase their music in a digital format from iTunes that wanna just take the music they already have and get onto their MP3 player or get onto their computer. So there's a lot of solutions out there like this, the TTUSB 10 in particular is valuable because it looks so nice, includes a cover, and has a turn arm with replaceable parts and it just has a kind of impressive look to it. The TTUSB 10 costs two hundred dollars; it has a less expensive sibling called the TTUSB 5 which retails for a hundred dollars. The main difference is that the 10 looks way cooler, is a little bit taller and beefier, and includes a mini jack input for recording other sources aside from vinyls. It's got 33 and 45 rpm speeds. It doesn't have a 78 rpm speed but you can, after you've made the recording, jack up 78 rpm records in the software. We like that it has a nice big start stop button. It's got a built in 45 rpm little do hickey. What we didn't like about the TTUSB 10 is that it's good for the price but it doesn't include any kind of fine pitch control or pitch adjustment aside from the 33 and 45 rpm modes. Another thing to that same point, there's no speed calibration marks on the turntable platter itself. The plastic platter itself is gonna be a bummer because over time it might warp from heat and create an unlevel playing surface for your records. So I'm Donald Bell and that was a first look at the Ion TTUSB 10 USB Turntable. [ music ]

Ion TTUSB10 USB Turntable Review

Editors' rating

6.3

out of 10

Price range

$125.70-$199.00

See all 2 stores

The good: The Ion TTUSB10 is a Mac/PC-compatible USB turntable that looks great and works well. The TTUSB10 includes a selectable phono/line RCA output, bundled recording software, and an auxiliary input for recording audio sources beyond the turntable.

The bad: If you're serious about capturing the highest quality digital recording from your vinyl, the Ion TTUSB10's mostly lightweight plastic construction and lack of pitch adjustment just won't cut it. The included software covers basic and advanced recording but leaves out users who fall somewhere in the middle.

The bottom line: If you're looking for an attractive, affordable way to digitize your collection of vinyl recordings, the Ion TTUSB10 is the best-looking budget USB turntable we've seen. Serious audio archivists should invest in a turntable with a beefier construction and more features, however.

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