Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

There are lot of these small, cheap record players on the market but the Jensen JTA-230 is the only one with a pitch adjustment and tone control. It is quite a bit smaller than it looks in the photo -- an LP sticks out of the sides when playing because the disc is bigger than the player itself! The built-in speakers sound OK considering how tiny they are, but it doesn't get very loud, even when turned all the way up. It's loud enough for personal listening, but not for a party or dance lessons. A 3 mil stylus for playing 78 RPM records is not included, but can be purchased separately (look for part number 793-D3). But the stylus is rather difficult to remove from the cartridge, so if you play them often, you might as well dedicate it to only playing 78s, and get a better turntable for your LPs and 45s, rather than swapping back and forth beween the regular and 3 mil styli. The USB output, RCA line level output, and headphone jack all work fine, but sounds tinny and lacking in bass, so playing it through larger speakers really doesn't improve the sound quality that much compared to the small built-in speakers. Even if you try to boost the bass using an equalizer, it still won't sound hi-fi. So the JTA-230 is best used as a tiny, inexpensive, self-contained record player. It's a good beginner turntable for kids or for "crate digging" but won't be good enough to be your primary turntable for serious listening.