You get an all-metal, full-featured DJ turntable in the Stanton T.92 USB. A cut above "plastic toy" turntables. Upgrading T.92's cartridge may unlock its true sound quality potential.
Note: Stanton provided Knowzy with the turntable used in this review free.
Review Date: August 9, 2010
The Good
The Bad
The Stanton T.92 USB is the best of the five turntables I have tested. At $300, it's also the most expensive.
The previous four $100 turntables I tested felt like toys- lightweight and plastic. The Stanton is heavy, 19 pounds, and metal in its body and platter. It has all the features of a real turntable- counterweight, anti-skate and the ability to mount a different cartridge (the unit that holds the needle).
The T.92's major downfall is the cartridge keeps it from reaching its full potential. Using a blind test, I wasn't able to tell it apart from the $100 Audio-Technica AT-LP2D-USB turntable.
Upgrade the cartridge and the Stanton T.92 USB will do a much better job of bringing your vinyl into the digital age than any of its plastic cousins.
The point of diminishing returns comes a lot cheaper in the digital world than it does in the analog world. For a simple CD player, the point is around $100. For turntables, the point is around $750.
At $300, the Stanton T.92 is somewhat in the middle of that range and has clear advantages over the "plastic toy" turntables in the $100 range, including:
The Stanton 500.V3 cartridge included with the T.92 USB turntable isn't any worse than you'll find on a plastic toy USB turntable. But for a capable, $300 turntable, you shouldn't have to settle for "isn't any worse."
The music samples tell the story of 500.V3 cartridge's lackluster performance. Using a blind ABX comparison, I couldn't tell the difference between samples produced on the $100 Audio-Technica AT-LP2D-USB turntable from the same samples produced on the $300 Stanton turntable.
While the other three $100 turntables didn't sound as pleasing to me as the Stanton, the Audio-Technica was a tie.
Here are the samples I used in the blind test. Try it yourself.
One of the benefits of a more expensive turntable is the ability to set the amount of pressure the needle places on your records. Less is better and the goal for a good "hi-fi" turntable setup is between one and two grams.
The range for the 500.V3 is two to five grams. On the advice of the Hydrogen Audio community, I used the Hi-Fi News Test LP to determine the sweet spot within that range.
I came up with five grams and it still wasn't enough to prevent audible "mistracking" at a loud volume (+16dB), though it could handle +15dB. The test LP notes that +14dB "represents a typical hi-fi standard."
Stanton makes a respected hi-fi cartridge, the 681 EEE MKIII with a tracking force range of .75 to 1.5 grams. However, it's a $150 cartridge, which would certainly make the T.92 more expensive if it were part of the package. Perhaps Stanton should create a bundle or include a coupon for the 681 for its customers that want the best and are willing to pay for it.
Both the tracking issue and the closed off high-end frequencies may be attributable to the shape of the needle tip: "Spherical" (sometimes called "conical"). An "elliptical" shaped stylus tip provides better high and low frequency response tracking.
On the other hand, many people report a spherical stylus is better for worn out records and records from the 50's.
DJs also tend to prefer spherical styli over elliptical. Stanton is a DJ company and the T.92 USB is a DJ turntable. Of the 13 cartridges on Stanton's web site, all but two have spherical needle tips. Therefore, it's not surprising to find a spherical tip on the T.92's cartridge.
Here's a sampling of what the vinyl community has to say about spherical tips:
Some final thoughts on the Stanton T.92 USB turntable:
1 Tracking force range for included 500.V3 cartridge is 2 - 5 grams. In Knowzy's tests, the T.92 required 5 grams to avoid mistracking on reasonably challenging test LP tracks.
Idealized marketing photo of the Stanton T.92 USB Turntable.
Comes with a Stanton 500.V3 cartridge. Had to use 5 grams of VTF to avoid mistracking on challenging test LP tracks.
Your connection options: USB, RCA and coax S/PDIF. The PH/LINE switch bypasses the pre-amp when set to phono.
Still unassembled. The platter and cartridge are not yet installed.
Just screw the locking ring to seat the headshell to the tonearm. No mounting or alignment required.
The Black Eyed Peas - Dum Diddly
Source: Stanton T.92 USB
Michael Franti And Spearhead - A Little Bit Of Riddim
Pink Floyd - On the Run
Steely Dan - Peg
Fleetwood Mac - Rhiannon (Abused LP)
Listen to recordings from other turntables on our USB Turntable Samples page.
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Originally Published: Monday, December 12, 2011, 8:14 PM PT
Last Updated: Wednesday, December 14, 2011, 9:59 AM PT
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