REASONS TO BUY
Inexpensive
REASONS TO AVOID
Poor sound quality
Difficult to use
Low quality construction
Victrola Vintage 3-Speed Review
A very inexpensive model that sounds like a very inexpensive model
RELATED: Best Turntables of 2023
Our Verdict
The Victrola Vintage 3-Speed is a suitcase-style record player that is easy to move from place to place, but that is really where the good points end. It was the worst sounding model we tested, isn't particularly easy to use, and is built from low-quality components. If you're looking for a low budget turntable and can afford to spend a bit more, we would recommend doing so. Even models that are just slightly more expensive can offer vastly better experiences than this machine.
Compare to Similar Products
 This Product
Victrola Vintage 3-Speed | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Awards |  | |  |  | |
| Price | $60 List $54.99 at Amazon | $400 List | $349 List $349.00 at Amazon | $250 List $249.99 at Amazon | $169 List |
Overall Score  |
|||||
| Star Rating | |||||
| Pros | Inexpensive | Exceptional sound quality, high quality construction, easy to use | Great sound, high quality construction, easy to use | Good sound, fully automatic cueing, great vibration resistance | Inexpensive, good sound, fully automatic operation |
| Cons | Poor sound quality, difficult to use, low quality construction | Susceptible to skipping if bumped, expensive | Expensive | Expensive | Dynamic range is a bit stunted, little adjustability |
| Bottom Line | A very inexpensive model that sounds like a very inexpensive model | Great for audiophiles that want the best possible listening experience | Great sound quality and user-friendly features will please vinyl veterans and newcomers alike | Automatic cueing and good resistance to skipping offers greater peace of mind when listening to treasured old records | A great and budget-friendly entry point to listening to music on vinyl |
| Rating Categories | Victrola Vintage 3-... | Pro-Ject Debut Carbon | Audio-Technica AT-L... | Fluance RT81 | Audio-Technica AT-L... |
| Sound Quality (40%) | |||||
| Component Quality (25%) | |||||
| User Friendliness (25%) | |||||
| Vibration Resistance (10%) | |||||
| Specs | Victrola Vintage 3-... | Pro-Ject Debut Carbon | Audio-Technica AT-L... | Fluance RT81 | Audio-Technica AT-L... |
| Cartridge | Innovative Technology ITRRS300 | Ortofon 2M Red | Audio Technica AT95E | Audio Technica AT95E | Audio Technica ATN3600L |
| Drive Method | Direct | Belt | Direct | Belt | Belt |
| USB Compatibility | No | No | Yes | No | Yes |
| Operation | Manual | Manual | Manual | Fully Automatic | Fully Automatic |
| Platter Material | Plastic | Aluminum | Aluminum | Aluminum | Aluminum |
| Mat Material | Plastic | Felt | Felt | Rubber | Felt |
Show full specification detailsHide full specification details
Our Analysis and Test Results
The Victrola Vintage 3-Speed was the least melodious of all the turntables we tested, and also our least favorite overall.
Credit: Jenna Ammerman
Performance Comparison
The Victrola Vintage 3-Speed earned the lowest overall score of all the turntables we tested. Below we discuss all of the tests we used to determine those scores, and how the Victrola performed in each.
Sound Quality
The Victrola was the worst scorer in this metric, earning just a 2 out of 10. No matter what we did it created a lot of distortion, which in turn made everything sound very muddled. The dynamic range was also the narrowest of any of the models we tested, giving the music a very thin and lifeless quality. Overall we would much rather listen to a low quality Pandora stream on a cheap Bluetooth speaker than listen to the Victrola. The other model that we tested in this price range, the Jensen JTA-230, sounded slightly better, but not much.
We found the Victrola's sound quality to be quite disappointing.
Credit: Jenna Ammerman
Component Quality
The Victrola's construction quality directly corresponds with its low price, earning it a low score of 3 out of 10 in this metric. It uses a flimsy plastic platter with no sort of soft mat material to reduce vibration and protect your records. The tonearm is metal, but is thin and quite flimsy. Its outer suitcase is fairly sturdy, but all the parts actually used to make music are not.
The Victrola packs down into a nice suitcase, but the components that actually produce music are of a relatively low quality.
Credit: Jenna Ammerman
User Friendliness
The Victrola was again a low scorer in this metric, earning a 3 out of 10. It can automatically detect what type of record you're playing and adjust the speed of the platter to 33, 45, or 78 rpm as needed. Beyond that, nothing is particularly easy. It has almost no adjustability, no tracking force adjustment, no pitch control, no nothing. This makes it hard to tinker with the sound, and its sound could use some tinkering. It does have a cue lever, however it didn't seem to work too well, so we had to resort to hand cueing most of the time, which took a very steady hand because of the flimsy tonearm.
The Victrola requires hand cueing, which may be intimidating to some newcomers.
Credit: Jenna Ammerman
Vibration Resistance
This is the one area where the Victrola was at least average, earning a score of 6 out of 10. It was able to withstand some fairly solid bumps to the table it was resting on without skipping, but we were able to get it to skip with a very strong bump.
Value
Though the Victrola is quite inexpensive, its performance is so poor that we wouldn't consider it a good value.
Credit: Jenna Ammerman
Conclusion
The Victrola Vintage 3-Speed is a very inexpensive record player, but unfortunately its performance very much reflects that low price.
—
Max Mutter and Steven Tata
You Might Also Like
Ad-free. Influence-free. Powered by Testing.
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.
Learn More