TEAC TN-420 is a £330 tie-dye turntable

Along with the likes of festival t-shirts and tea towels, you can now thank (or scorn) TEAC for adding turntables to the list of tie-dyed things.

In a market as saturated as affordable record players, TEAC has decided that a flamboyantly colourful finish is the way to make the TN-420 stand out.

Underneath the tie-dye finish (achieved by a "hydro-graphics printing process") is an MDF chassis, with an aluminium platter above it.

More typically for a turntable at this price, the TN-420 operates at 33.3 and 45rpm speeds and has a moving magnet cartridge – in this case, the Audio Technica AT95E.

The belt-drive deck not only has switchable phono and line level outputs, but also a USB output (fed by an analogue-to-digital converter) for recording vinyl to digital files on a computer or laptop – much like the Audio Technica AT-LP5.

With the similarly-priced Audio Technica being one of its main rivals, the TEAC TN-420 will have to do more than just catch the eye to make a lasting impression. For now, we'll file it under 'interesting'.

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Becky Roberts

Becky is the managing editor of What Hi-Fi? and, since her recent move to Melbourne, also the editor of Australian Hi-Fi magazine. During her 10 years in the hi-fi industry, she has been fortunate enough to travel the world to report on the biggest and most exciting brands in hi-fi and consumer tech (and has had the jetlag and hangovers to remember them by). In her spare time, Becky can often be found running, watching Liverpool FC and horror movies, and hunting for gluten-free cake.