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Once we finished testing the Jensen JTA-230, we concluded that shopping in the bargain basement for turntables isn't really worth it. Sure, the Jensen looks kind of nice, but the music it produces sounds quite bad. We've listened to Pandora through cheap Bluetooth speakers and had a better listening experience than we did using the Jensen with a set of nice speakers. If you happen to have some old records lying around and just what to see what's on them, the Jensen is an inexpensive way to do that. However, spending just a bit more can often get you much better performance.
Our Analysis and Test Results
The Jensen JTA-230 was quite underwhelming in our testing as it was difficult to use and didn't sound very good. We would strongly suggest spending a bit more if you're looking for a budget record player, as even a slight increase in price can bring a huge increase in quality.
Credit: Jenna Ammerman
Performance Comparison
The Jensen JTA-230 was one of the worst overall performers in our testing. Below we detail all of the testing results that led to that low score.
Sound Quality
The Jensen JTA-230 was close to the bottom of our sound quality scoreboard, earning a 3 out of 10. This bested only the other sub $100 model we tested, the Victrola Vintage 3-Speed. Almost everything we listened to on this turntable sounded somewhat muffled. It also had a very narrow dynamic range, making the music sound thin, weak, and tinny. Overall we much preferred listening to mp3's than listening to records played on this machine.
The Jensen displayed very poor sound quality in our testing.
Credit: Jenna Ammerman
Component Quality
The Jensen JTA-230 only lists for $50, and it shows. It received the lowest component quality score of any of the models we tested, a 2 out of 10. It uses a flimsy plastic platter with no soft material to insulate the record from vibrations. The tonearm is also flimsy plastic, as is the majority of the player body.
The Jensen is somewhat flimsily constructed.
Credit: Jenna Ammerman
User Friendliness
The Jensen also fared poorly in our user friendliness testing, sharing the bottom score of 3 out of 10. It does automatically identify what type of record you're playing and adjusts its speed to 33, 45, or 78 rpm as needed, but unfortunately that is where the convenience stops. It has no tracking force adjustment and no cue lever. This means you have to move the tonearm and set the needle to the record yourself. In general, this isn't a difficult skill to master, but in the case of the Jensen the tonearm is a bit sticky when it moves around, making things a bit difficult. It also means you can't adjust the tracking force if things aren't sounding right. It does offer digital conversion, which is nice. Unfortunately, the resulting mp3 files sound like the Jensen does, which isn't so good.
You must hand cue the Jensen, which may take a bit of getting used to for beginners.
Credit: Jenna Ammerman
Vibration Resistance
The Jensen was again at the bottom of the leaderboard in our vibration resistance testing, earning a score of 3 out of 10. In our testing, it skipped if we even grazed against the table that it was sitting on, while all the other models were able to withstand at least moderate bumps without skipping,
Value
Although the Jensen's list price is very low, its performance is correspondingly poor. This makes it a bad value. If you want a budget record player and can handle spending a bit more there are far better values to be found.
Credit: Jenna Ammerman
Conclusion
The Jensen JTA-230 offers a shoestring price point but fails to provide solid enough performance to be worth even that low price.
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GearLab is founded on the principle of honest, objective, reviews. Our experts test thousands of products each year using thoughtful test plans that bring out key performance differences between competing products. And, to assure complete independence, we buy all the products we test ourselves. No cherry-picked units sent by manufacturers. No sponsored content. No ads. Just real, honest, side-by-side testing and comparison.
