Denon's supereasy-to-use USB turntable

(Credit: Denon)

When it comes to turntables, I prefer them in their natural, all-analog state.

That's just me. Mixing digits and grooves is a hot topic of late. My pal Chris Chiarella over at Home Entertainment magazine seemed to really like Denon's new DP-200USB turntable ($250). I reviewed another USB turntable last year and thought it was too much work to use.

I'm no expert in this area, but this Denon seems like a better way to go. First, you don't need a computer nearby to do the analog-to-digital thing. Chiarella just connected the turntable's analog cables to his receiver's phono input, after switching the turntable's internal Phono EQ to Off (so the Denon will work even if your receiver is phono-input challenged).

The DP-200USB's best feature is its front-panel USB port. The system's internal MP3 encoder converts analog signals to digital files. A blinking red light confirms that grooves are being digitized. Denon claims 30 LPs fit on a 1GB drive.

The included Audio Waveform Recognition PC software checks the first 15 seconds of each track and searches the Gracenote Internet music database for the track's metadata (artist, title, etc.). The software also features Auto Track Divide, which automatically inserts a new track tag for each track (you also have the option of doing this manually).

I hope that at least some of the folks who buy USB turntables actually listen to vinyl in its analog state. That's where the action is.

The Home Entertainment Web site has the complete Denon DP-200USB turntable review.

[desertnuts]

I would highly doubt that playing anything on that turntable would give any real resemblance of what a high end vinyl rig would offer in terms of musical reproduction.

I grew up on vinyl and I wouldnt go back now even if you paid me. All the cleaning, careful handling, pops and clicks, not to mention the fact that the suckers wear out! Compare an LP that has been played 100 times to a new one. Also it used to be a crap shoot as to whether your copy had pops and clicks and various imperfections brand new right out of the sleeve. This was usually due to poor quality vinyl.

Nope - dont miss it at all - computer based music has fantastic sound quality (I'm not talking MP3's). With the right DAC, amp, cable and speaker synergy one can have his/her cake and eat it too! Today bits can blow away vinyl any day of the week. Its not a cheap endeavor, but much more satisfying than thinking you are listening to "vinyl" over some crappy turntable/system.

[lmhs1970]

Physically this looks like the Audio-Technica AT-PL50. A turntable design I've seen in many brands all at about the $100 price point in the last 10 years. The cartridge is an Audio-Technica AT3600 derivative, which is ok, but the tonearm is terrible, and the speed is questionable even with a good belt.

[TheTurntableFactory]

Did Denon pay you to write this up? Why did you even bother to mention this? Slow news day??? Please, stick to something you've actually used, is new worthy, or remotely interesting. I'm sure this turntable is junk, just like all the other USB and MP3 turntables I've ran into.

[coprock]

This looks far superior to the other computer turntables I have seen such as the Ion usb and its related but different branded models. Being able to save directly to a usb thumb drive is a huge convenience. This is not marketed to hardcore vinyl crowd but to those with extensive record collections collecting dust that would for sake of convenience prefer to listen to vinyl oddities and old, rare records through their computer or ipod.

[pthoresen]

Is there USB turntable that is direct drive? That would be better than a belt drive any day.

The last turntable i bought (a Pioneer in the mid 80s) was a direct drive and I was very happy with it.

[one_flat_monkey]

IMO, the 192 bitrate makes this a cruddy piece of trash. Anyone who would tout a TT that converts vinyl to mediocre mp3 format files isn't interested in hi-fi. Clearly they're interested in $$, which would be OK if that was stated out front, like "this TT is dog meat, but if you don't care about fidelity, it's only $250.

[half_n_half17]

These crap turntable-usb setup's never made any sense to me. The allure of vinyl today is the sound quality and using this TT pretty much negates this advantage. 192k mp3? Seriously? Why put in all the work to make a medium bitrate lossy file? It makes a lot more sense to rip or download a digital copy than to encode from vinyl. Now I get the point of purchasing a high quality phono preamp with a usb port so that you can pull it onto your computer and into a high bit rate/frequency (24/96) loss-less file format like FLAC.

[alegr]

You really do think that the vinil's pitiful <50 dB THD and SNR need 24 bits?

[one_flat_monkey]

THD for vinyl on good quality equipment is relatively high, but it's second order distortion, which is experienced as euphonious, just like SET amps.

I'm converting vinyl LPs to .wav files, which, in turn I convert to 320k mp3 files, which are certainly not great fidelity, but listening to them with decent earbuds and a good mp3 player is quite satisfying.

[alegr]

No. The distortion is mostly symmetrical, which means odd orders, starting with third order. You'll only get second and higher even order distortion if your skating compensation is severely misadjusted.

[alegr]

I mean, is anti-symmetrical.