Best Bluetooth turntables 2023: wireless record players for streaming vinyl

Best Bluetooth turntables Buying Guide: Welcome to What Hi-Fi?'s round-up of the best Bluetooth turntables you can buy in 2023.

The popularity of vinyl continues and that means more and more people buying turntables for the first time or upgrading their existing record players. And one turntable feature that's proving increasingly popular is Bluetooth.

The best Bluetooth turntables deliver great vinyl sound from your deck to a pair of compatible Bluetooth speakers or headphones, making listening to records – and building your vinyl system – easier than ever.

How to choose the best Bluetooth turntable for you

Why you can trust What Hi-Fi? Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about how we test.

As with any new purchase, you need to decide on your budget. We'd suggest limiting it to around a quarter of your system's cost if it's being added to an existing hi-fi set-up. With that in mind, make sure you read up on the sonic characteristics of all your components – even five-star products benefit from the right partnering.

If you're only planning on using the Bluetooth turntable with a wireless speaker or pair of wireless headphones, then you don't need to spend a fortune. You won't be needing any extra cables, either, and can be flexible with placing them anywhere in the room. And there are a couple of affordable options to choose from below.

Once you've decided on your budget, decide on the features you require besides Bluetooth. Belt drive or direct drive? Do you need a phono stage built in? What about the cartridge? USB? Make sure you have a checklist based on your needs to help you narrow the search.

In this list are talented turntables ranging from affordable to expensive, and there's even an Award-winning just-add-speakers system fully loaded with onboard amplification that makes streaming to wireless speakers and headphones dead easy. There's also scope to listen to your vinyl in 24-bit hi-res streams, with the right partnering kit. The Elipson at the bottom of this list can even rip records to digital files courtesy of its USB output.

The landscape of vinyl is changing with the times, and with our pick of the best Bluetooth record players, you can come along for the ride too.

Best bluetooth turntables: Sony PS-LX310BT

Sony's plug-and-play deck is affordable and sounds plenty fun, too.
A fully automatic deck with oodles of character.

Specifications

Dimensions (hwd): 11 x 43 x 37cm
Motor: Belt drive
Cartridge: MM
Phono preamp: Yes
USB: No
Bluetooth: Yes
Speeds: 33 ⅓, 45
Finish: Black

Reasons to buy

+
Entertaining sound
+
Easy to use
+
Plug-and-play

Reasons to avoid

-
Purist alternatives sound better

Not only does this Sony leave you with little to do during set-up – just attach the belt to the platter – it does pretty much everything but shaking the vinyl from its sleeve, too.

You can pair the PS-LX310BT with up to eight Bluetooth devices and, in our tests using headphones, the connection was strong enough to walk into another room, close the door and even go outside.

Sony has given us a ‘plug and play’ fully automatic deck, included a phono stage, thrown in Bluetooth and priced it at the low end of the market. It could only score more highly for usability if it somehow took the LPs from their covers. 

What's more, it sounds ridiculously fun. More traditional decks, such as the Award-winning Rega Planar 1 can be more mature in their performance, but when you consider this fully-automatic deck's list of features, it's hard to believe it can sound this good with such a price tag.

Read the full review: Sony PS-LX310BT

Best Bluetooth turntables: Pro-Ject Juke Box E

An excellent all-in-one turntable from Pro-Ject that marries convenience with great sound quality.
What Hi-Fi? Awards 2019 winner. An Award-winning turntable system.

Specifications

Dimensions (hwd): 11.8 x 41.5 x 33.5cm
Motor: Belt drive
Cartridge: MM
Phono preamp: Yes
USB: No
Bluetooth: Yes
Speeds: 33 ⅓, 45
Finish: Red, white, black

Reasons to buy

+
True just-add-speakers convenience
+
Capable, even-handed sound
+
Good range of features

Reasons to avoid

-
Some will hanker after more power
-
Baffling remote control

The Pro-Ject Juke Box E is based on Pro-Ject’s well-regarded Primary turntable and is tricked out with an Ortofon OM 5E cartridge, built-in amplification (25W per channel into 8 ohms) and a Bluetooth receiver. It's an all-in-one turntable package – all you need to do is add a pair of speakers or headphones and you're good to go.

Right from the off, this is recognisably a Pro-Ject turntable. It carries the brand’s sonic signature as surely as some sports brands carry three stripes. In essence, that sonic signature is one of easy-going fidelity – the Juke Box E establishes a decently spacious soundstage and positions instruments upon it securely in their own space even as they integrate and interact together. It’s untroubled by even tricky tempos or gimpy rhythms; it has reasonable shine and brilliance at the top end; its midrange reproduction is detailed. 

It’s an all-in-one turntable system that demands very few compromises, given its price. It’s also an all-in-one system that we can’t easily argue against in favour of separates. The Juke Box E delivers convenience and backs it up with Award-winning sound quality. You can't really ask for more than that.

Read the full review: Pro-Ject Juke Box E

Best Bluetooth turntables: Cambridge Audio Alva TT

With hi-res 24-bit wireless streaming, Cambridge Audio's stylish direct-drive turntable is a neat, premium option.
An interesting spin on premium turntable design.

Specifications

Dimensions (hwd): 13.9 x 43.5 x 36.8cm
Motor: Direct drive
Cartridge: MM
Phono preamp: Yes
USB: No
Bluetooth: Yes
Speeds: 33 ⅓, 45
Finish: Lunar Grey

Reasons to buy

+
Solid build
+
Clear, detailed presentation
+
Impressive midrange

Reasons to avoid

-
Sound lacks a little dynamics and drive

This is no ordinary premium turntable. Cambridge Audio has added a twist or two of its own by fitting it with a built-in phono stage, direct drive motor and Bluetooth connectivity. 

The fact it's aptX HD Bluetooth means the Alva TT can stream your vinyl wirelessly to compatible Bluetooth headphones or a wireless speaker in hi-res audio quality, at 24-bit/48kHz.

The Alva TT is a direct drive design – unusual at this price point but it does promise a number of improvements over belt-driven designs, including speed stability and accuracy. Sound quality is good, too, with vinyl records given an open and airy soundstage and vocals a particular highlight. 

Here, Cambridge Audio has managed to put an interesting spin on a premium turntable. It’s a brave and bold move that, on the whole, has paid off. If you want a simple home hi-fi system with a premium turntable as your source, the Alva TT could be just the ticket.

Read the full review: Cambridge Audio Alva TT

Note: There is a new Alva TT V2 version of this turntable, with a new tonearm, switchable phono stage and Bluetooth at £1700 / $1999 – we will be putting it through the review process very soon.

How we test Bluetooth turntables

The What Hi-Fi? team has more than 100 years of collective experience in reviewing, testing and writing about consumer electronics – and that includes Bluetooth turntables. We have state-of-the-art testing facilities in London, Reading and Bath, where our team of expert reviewers do all our in-house testing.

We test Bluetooth turntables just as we would any normal turntable – taking the time to set them up correctly on a level surface. We ensure we spend plenty of time using and listening to each turntable, noting how easy or difficult it is to use as well as testing any extra features they have. We'll try them with different partnering electronics and various genres of music, too. With Bluetooth turntables, we also test them with some of our favourite compatible wireless speakers and Bluetooth headphones at relevant price points, to gauge how they sound when streaming vinyl.

All new turntables are tested in comparison with rival turntables at the same price (and often cheaper and more expensive alternatives, too), and all review verdicts are agreed upon by the team as a whole rather than a single reviewer, helping to ensure consistency and avoid individual subjectivity. That's why our reviews are trusted by retailers and manufacturers, as well as consumers, the world over.

From all of our reviews, we choose the top Bluetooth turntables to feature in this Best Buy. That's why if you take the plunge and buy one of the products recommended here, or on any other Best Buy page, you can rest assured you're getting a What Hi-Fi?-approved product.

You can read more about how we test and review products on What Hi-Fi? here.

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Kashfia Kabir
Hi-Fi and Audio Editor

Kashfia is the Hi-Fi and Audio Editor of What Hi-Fi? and first joined the brand over 10 years ago. During her time in the consumer tech industry, she has reviewed hundreds of products, been to countless trade shows across the world and fallen in love with hi-fi kit much bigger than her. In her spare time, Kash can be found catching up with TV shows, tending to an ever-growing houseplant collection and hanging out with her cat Jolene.

  • Millersville
    What Hi-Fi? said:
    Whether you're after a budget Bluetooth record player or a just-add-speakers system, we have you covered.

    Best Bluetooth record players: budget to premium plate spinners : Read more
    Which Bluetooth turntables do you recommend for playing 78 rpm records?
    Reply
  • ukray2022
    Absolutely right! I have a sizeable collection of classical orchestral, opera box sets and choral works on 78's. Some of the greatest performers in classical music and opera and many live performances
    I wonder who is pushing all this new tech?
    It seems that every time a research lab brings out a new method of broadcast/reception and the selling of music, it's claimed the public go mad to buy the new system.
    Well if the pie chart published at the start of this article is even fairly accurate it seems those claims are rubbish.
    I buy a lot of music on Presto and some of the great recordings are now unavailable on CD. For me to convert to a new system would cost me a bomb, and with Amazon raising prices steeply the warning is clear, become a customer of such a system may leave you their prisoner having to pay increases whenever it suits these tax dodging corporations.
    Reply
  • nopiano
    ukray2022 said:
    Absolutely right! I have a sizeable collection of classical orchestral, opera box sets and choral works on 78's. Some of the greatest performers in classical music and opera and many live performances
    I wonder who is pushing all this new tech?
    It seems that every time a research lab brings out a new method of broadcast/reception and the selling of music, it's claimed the public go mad to buy the new system.
    Well if the pie chart published at the start of this article is even fairly accurate it seems those claims are rubbish.
    I buy a lot of music on Presto and some of the great recordings are now unavailable on CD. For me to convert to a new system would cost me a bomb, and with Amazon raising prices steeply the warning is clear, become a customer of such a system may leave you their prisoner having to pay increases whenever it suits these tax dodging corporations.
    I’m not sure why you’d want Bluetooth if you’re a 78 collector. You need a hefty turntable with a special 78 large radius stylus.

    Bluetooth is for the iPhone generation, handy in cars, and for playing from your phone to a speaker. But you knew that, didn’t you?
    Reply