Wannabe Audiophile: My Kid is into Vinyl.
Wannabe Audiophile: My Kid is into Vinyl.
Wannabe Audiophile: My Kid is into Vinyl. My 14yr old daughter has taken an interest in vinyl. I must say, I’m pretty happy about that. I love music… but Vinyl? I don’t know the first thing about record players or records themselves. My generation was cassette tapes and CDs. My Dad, on the other hand, Mr. Techie, Mr. Audiophile, was very happy to hear that she likes vinyl. (I claim he is an audiophile). So for Christmas, they bought her a zbrqoti Record player.
OK but Not Good
The zbrqoti portable Record player is an OK record player, but not a good record player. However, it is good for kids that don’t care about sound quality or skipping, because, well… They are kids. The record player served its purpose for a couple of weeks until we noticed that some albums would skip on this player. Mainly those records that were colored or had an image on them. For example, Taylor Swift Reputation has a picture of her on the album… It skipped ALL THE TIME. So my parents were not having any of that!
Good but not Great.
So they returned the record player and got her a Crosley Voyager Portable Record player. There was an improvement with this record player. It’s a good record player, but not a great record player. The sound quality was far superior to the zbrqoti. However, the Crosley still skipped on the Taylor Swift album. We put a small bolt on the needle head, and that improved, but still skipped. Not as frequent, but it still skipped. My parents still were not having it! After trying different items to weigh it down, (washers, nuts, legos) My Dad wanted to return this one as well. He kept saying, “she can’t enjoy her music if she is waiting for it to skip”. Valid point, valid concerns.
Finally!
Having a kid that is into vinyl has turned into a hassle. For my parents that is, but they wanted to make sure the gift they gave made their granddaughter happy! Fast Forward another couple of weeks; my daughter and my Dad still were not satisfied. My daughter, Dad and Mom and I listened to the record player, and everyone wasn’t happy, so they returned yet another record player. What did they do this time? They went out and got her a full-blown turntable. They got her a 1byone belt-driven turntable. This is nothing like the other two. It has a built-in amplifier, 2 speakers and Bluetooth enabled with an adjustable counterweight. Quite impressive! So we, and by we, I mean my Dad, hooked the turntable up, and put on the Taylor Swift album, Reputation, and there you have it… NO SKIPS. The Grandparents were relieved, and happy… and my daughter was over the moon. I shouldn’t compare this turntable to the other two record players, because they are so different. So, I’m not going to compare. Just take my word for it, the turntable sounds fantastic. I really think the no skipping is due to the Adjustable counterweight and anti-skating system.
This turntable is not recommended for “kids”. I still call my oldest a Kid, but she’s actually a teenager and is really responsible. I can completely understand why my parents went the route they did with the portable record players first. Would she use it? Would she abuse it? However, it’s very apparent that she is loving vinyl, loving her music, and loves the turntable.
So many of you may be asking, record player… turntable… what’s the difference… Record players are portable, turntables are not. Turntables have amplifiers, Record players do not. Lesson Learned.
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