Audio-Technica AT-LP120XUSB-BK Direct-Drive Turntable (Analog & USB), Fully Manual, Hi-Fi, 3 Speed, Convert Vinyl to Digital, Anti-Skate and Variable Pitch Control, Black

Why it's worth it

This is the direct-drive turntable that record store employees keep recommending, and it needs no separate receiver or phono preamp to make sound. It plays 33, 45 and 78 RPM records and can rip them to your computer over USB.

Vinyl isn't a nostalgia blip anymore. The RIAA reported that US LP sales grew for an 18th straight year, hitting 43.4 million units and outselling CDs for the fifth year running. So there's a good chance the person on your list already has records — inherited, thrifted, or bought at shows — and either no player or a cheap suitcase one that's slowly damaging them. That's the gap this fills.

The built-in phono preamp is what makes this giftable rather than a project. Most serious turntables output a signal too quiet for regular speakers, which means the recipient needs a receiver or a separate preamp before they hear anything. This one has a switch. Flip it and you can run straight into powered speakers. Flip it the other way and it feeds a proper stereo setup later, so the gift grows with them.

From our review of 8 gifts for music lovers and audiophiles

What we like

• +Vinyl isn't a nostalgia blip anymore
• +The built-in phono preamp is what makes this giftable rather than a project
• +What Hi-Fi gave it a full five stars and measured speed accuracy of ±0.2% from the direct-drive motor — steady enough that pitch…
• +Owner feedback runs unusually warm for a product this fiddly, and the recurring note is heft: this thing weighs about twenty…

What to know

• –The manual is widely described as close to useless
• –It's also fully manual, so the tonearm doesn't return at the end of a side
• –And it's a turntable, not a system