Audio-Technica Direct-Drive Turntable – LP120XUSB-BK

I just received my new AT-LP120XUSB-BK turntable, after realize a purchase I made of an Eonsix crappy bare bones device which was literally a piece of junk, in spit of the initial thought I bought it just to easily transfer some lp’s to a memory stick was all I needed, but the renewed audiophile in me, along with just some basisc standard requirements, like actually having the product I purchase, work as expected (which the Eonsix DID NOT, but this AT-LP120XUSB-BK MOST CERTAINLY DOES! !, made eating the cost of that other piece of junk a little more palatable for me.

First off, to say this turntable is a good entry level TT for beginners I would have to say, eh? maybe a beginner who has an idea of what setting up turntable up and knows how to balance a tone arm, set anti-skating & such up, if your not really familiar with those tasks, or afraid you may send your needle crashing to the platter & screwing up the stylus, then you may want to steer clear of this item.

For those who absolutely know the difference (and can hear it) between a decent TT, with better than average stylus, this is for you! The item came packaged new, and well. Took me all of about 10 minutes to unbox & set it up, & start playing some vintage 45’s and albums from my collection. Symbolically – the first 45 I chose to place on my new TT was Eric Clapton’s “Hello Old Friend”, because it’s truly nice to hear vinyl again!

The build of this turntable, everything from how it’s packaged and the accessories provided, wreaks of quality & thoughtful’ness for the end user to enjoy a quality listening experience. Years ago, I owned a Techniques SL-1200 Mark 2 TT which was the pride of my listening experience, coupled with a stanton 500EEE cartridge (considered to be pretty decent/broadcase standards at the time), so when I realized that piece of junk Eonsix TT wasn’t going to cut it for me from a feature or performance standard, I realized I’d have to up the budget & go for something that was familiar to me from a standards & performance spec, and with a heritage name that I felt I could trust, & that’s what lead me to purchase the AT-LP120XUSB.

What I have learned in life and hold true for this purchase, you get what you pay for! This unit will put a small dent in your wallet, but you’re getting a fine piece of machinery with a solid build, a very decent, reasonable stylus that sports some decent spec’s, the added bonus of being able to play records (if you needed to) at 78-rpm, which (to be honest, I’d have gladly forgone if they provided a better (read as higher quality) 45-rpm adapter, the -ONLY- downfall of this AT-LP120XUSB-BK I can find, is the plastic 45-rpm spindle that came packaged with the unit, I mean really, which when you consider all the other features packed into this unit, is almost insulting, because everything else just wreaks of quality, so I’m sure if Audio Technica ordered a couple hundred thousand quality metal 45-rpm adapters, the price they could have received to ensure every accessory that came packaged with this device would be 100% up to spec, would have had more of an impact than say, including the ability to play 78 rpm records, because seriously, in this, the 21st century, & for the demo this turntable is targeted to, who’s really going to utilize that feature.

In an earlier iteration of this device, my understanding from researching the turntable, they have a reverse play feature. Really?.. like, were they expecting devil worshiping anthrax or beatle fans to be desiring to play their platters backwards and risk screwing up their needles ? or was it an ingenious marketing ploy to get people to order new styli when the ones that came with the device broke from playing their albums backwards?

Well anyway, the reproduction of sound from the AT-LP120XUSB-BK is AMAZING!, I’m utilizing a new set of PreSonus monitor speakers, the Eris E3. 5 and they sound GREAT with this turntable, I utilize the turntables line out setting which drives the signal for the speakers wonderfully, & the audio quality is really warm, rich & wonderful.

I would highly recommend this turntable (and even those speakers for that matter) if you’re looking to dive head first into the ankle deep waters of enjoying vintage vinyl, -OR- (like me) desired to revisit your vinyl collection and utilize a worthy turntable which will spotlight the sonic excellent of your audio collection, and do justice to it.

If the AT-LP120XUSB turntable lasts as long as my old SL-1200 Mark 2 did (which easily had to be 20 years, and being heavily used at that, I think I replaced the stylus on that TT about three or four times, and only 1 cartridge change out when you couldn’t but just the 500EEE styli separately any longer, I’m hoping at my age now – this will be the last turntable I’ll wind up buying, which will bring me at least as many (and hopefully more!) years of enjoyable audible pleasure.

 this is my first Quality TT. I haven’t had a TT for about 40 years – growing up my family had an all in one Kings Point stereo system with Cassette, 8-Track, Vinyl (fully auto) – had a handful of records – but by the time i had any money to purchase music – i bought cassettes due to the popularity of the Sony Walkman and on the go music. Then CDs came along – like some/most people i ditched the vinyl – fast forward i ordered the LP120xusb – there happens to be alot of versions of the LP120 model from Audio-Technica and it can get quite confusing. This is the latest iteration of the LP120 – there are come features that A-T abandoned with this one.

i don’t know a whole lot about turntables – but the set up is fairly easy – i looked on Youtube where A-T gives instructions on how to set up the tone arm and with the counterweight and the anti-skate. There’s also prevalent old information out there that says the Anti-Skate doesn’t work on the LP120 – the internet has a way with keep some seriously old info out there – as well as Youtube. The anti-skate does work – no i didn’t perform a blank CD test or a blank test with a blank vinyl – i know the anti-skate works because when i was setting up the counter weight for the tone arm (my anti-skate was dialed in at 2 per A-T instructions) – i was supposed to dial the counter weight back to 2 grams (that is the recommended weight for the cartridge) but i forgot to do that – i was going to play a record but when i try to place the needle right above the start groove – it kept swinging right and would not lower because i had my anti-skate dialed to 2 but i neglected dial the counter weight to the 2 grams necessary for the proper set up. Once i did adjust the counter weight it was fine. The supplied pre-mounted cartridge was already aligned at the factory so all i needed to do was to insert the cartridge and tighten the mount and i was ready to go.

Alot of negative opinions on the build quality – i found it nice and pretty solid – it’s not a chintzy feel – it doesn’t feel cheap to me. feels fairly hefty given its size – as it should be for stability. body is made of plastic but the platter is aluminum and it is solid.

Sound quality is decent – of course it also depends the pressing of the vinyl as well – but i did notice some distortion at the higher frequencies – i listen mainly to movie scores and my collection is going to be just predominately movie scores – i would say that the higher frequencies are somewhat muddy – maybe my set up is wrong or i could use a upgrade in stylus and/or cartridge – Bass and midrange no issues- sounds great.

It plays 33,45,78 – for this iteration they got rid of playing reverse so i’ll never know if “Paul is Dead” since i cant hit the reverse on this one. i don’t have any 78 records but it’s there if i need it.

The TT is direct drive (no belt) and it is quiet – Zero motor noise – i turn up the volume on my receiver (Yamaha R-N803) and all i hear is the noise floor – i’m really impressed with how quiet this thing runs.

they do not include a disk for the free Audacity freeware – the site you need to go to download this freeware is audacityteam.org — in the youtube instructions A-T gives it as AudacityTeam.net – that being said it is given correctly in the instruction manual. if you to rip vinyl and use audacity please note that on the Lp120 you have to switch in the back to say “LINE” – unless of course you’re already switched to LINE (instead of PHONO) because either you are running it with active (self-powered) speakers or you are using an amp/receiver that does not have a dedicated PHONO input.

I was going to go with Sony PH-x500 (400) because of the hi-res ripping capability but decided against since you’ll also be recording the pops and clicks in hi res – figured the LP120xusb would be more than adequate. plus it left me a bit of money to actually buy some vinyl.

i love this turntable – looks good – sounds good – if you’re looking to discover or rediscover vinyl – this is a good place to start.

thanks for reading

Edit: after about a month using it. I found myself just listening to the limited amount of records I have and I haven’t touched any digital music file. I have listened to CDs though. I’m not sure what it is about it that has captured my attn.

Also on another note. Now having more experience listening to records. I feel that these new vinyl are getting pressed directly from a digital source- I have no problem with that however they really should remaster it specifically for vinyl. The medium is different each with it own subtleties. I think the last Tomb raider score by Junkie XL was not mastered correctly for vinyl so the high end sounds “crunchy” still a good score however.

You might take the above edit with a grain of salt I don’t know anything about producing music or any aspect of it. I do like to listen though!

Edit 7/6/19. I find myself not really using the usb audacity rip function. It’s like I’ll listen to the vinyl rather than ripping it and using that recording digitally. I just rather listen to the vinyl.

Edit 7/15/19 – this weekend i listened to 4 movie scores on vinyl on headphones – running the yamaha r-n803 receiver headphones (sennheiser hd650, beyerdynamic dt770 250Ohm, beyerdynamic dt880 250Ohm, – the 650 was on the warm side and so was the dt880 – it paired well with the DT770 giving it a bit more on the high end.

edit 8/12/19 – this weekend i found 3 records from 30-40 Years Old- an old stash of mine from the 80s. (don’t judge haha) 2 debbie gibson EP (1988, plays at 33.3RPM) – Foolish Beat EP and Staying Together EP — and The Empire Strikes Back LP (1980). oh boy Foolish Beat it sounded exceptional – 30 year record – some surface noise and a bit dusty but oh boy serious fidelity – this thing sounded like it was pressed yesterday i swear.. The Empire strikes back – the vinyl was warped but it tracked well and playable – a bit tinny but overall for a 40 year old record it sounded good on the Audio Technica 120XUSB – seriously ZERO regrets on going with Audio Technica 120XUSB. great bang for the buck.

Edit 8/20/19 added new “medley” video. Remember that the music has been compressed and also it was taken with the iPhone X.

Edit 10/21 last weekend by brother dropped by. He was just staring at my system – I was playing daft punk discovery and he said whats this? They record is pressed exceptionally- He couldn’t believe it was vinyl. I mean he hadn’t heard vinyl for 40 years- he was surprised but I don’t think I conveRted him to vinyl due to the insane prices.

edit 10/28 – someone mentioned a wobble on the comments section – i see what may have cause it to look like a wobble is the dots on the side of the aluminum platter that may not have been manufactured straight perhaps or the record itself may not be 100% flat. i’m 100% satisfied with this player – 250 – not alot of “investment” but a whole lot of joy – i wish they pressed the records with better precision and with less dust……

11/7 edit. I’ve been paying closer attn to the platter. There is a bit of a wobble yes – but it hasn’t affected the sonic performance

Most of the records here I used the supplied felt mat which was not 100% flat. I have since replaced with a Hudson acrylic mat.

11/26/20 – i’m listening to this right now.. still going. at some point ill have to change the needle… I releveled my turn able and while the platter is flat and level some of my records are badly pressed. Still love it tho!

5/12/21 – im still listening to it – just got an outboard phono stage for it iFi zen phono. still sounds good!

5/26/21 – I upgraded the cartridge and stylus at-vm95ml. Good stuff.

Perfeito. Soa muito bem. Excelente toca-discos para quem quer um bom som por um preço justo. Só aconselho a ter um receiver antigo, pois vai dar mais emoção a sua audição. Esses novos não tem tempero …..

O aparelho é perfeito, muito bem construído, muito lindo e de uma qualidade sonora impecável. É necessário que vc tenha um equipamento bom para ouvir o som dos LP’s (um receiver com entrada PHONO, boas caixas acústicas, ou então, caixas acústicas que já sejam amplificadas como as da EDIFIER, pois o toca-discos vem com uma chave seletora para saída de linha).
Apesar do custo alto, esse aparelho vale a pena. Se vc quer curtir um LP de vez em quando, não recomendo, Há opções mais baratas. Agora se vc quiser curtir um som decente, com equipamentos bons, tenha muitos LP’s, vale a pena cada centavo.

A fantastic turntable for the price. Easy to setup and play all of my records, even 78s and it sounds amazing. Love that the headshell is detachable and easy to swap different cartridges and stylus. The one thing I do miss is the auto return that my old BSR has. Highly recommend this turntable to anyone interested in getting into vinyl collecting.