Victrola is one of the most popular brands on the market today, and their record players are highly functional and really beautiful as well – often a brilliant blend of striking retro style and high-tech features and capabilities.
Are Victrola Record Player good? People absolutely love these beautiful and advanced phonographs for playing their records, for transferring their LP collection to digital, and as a fantastic sounding Bluetooth streaming receiver for all of their music from other sources.
Victrola products are also surprisingly inexpensive, so much so that it’s natural to wonder if Victrola record players, for all of their apparent value and utility, are actually worth buying.
In this brand new buyer’s guide, we look at several of the best and most popular Victrola all-in-one record players to determine how well they are built, how good they sound, and how they are to use, to help you decide if a Victrola record player is right for you.
Who is Victrola?
In a world where it is common to see unestablished companies come out of nowhere and opportunistically name themselves after beloved brands or old products, Victrola is a welcome surprise. The modern Victrola takes not only the name but the values and qualities, of the company that was founded 120 years ago – the true pioneers in the design of records and one of the most popular and beloved brands in America for many, many years.
Today, while their products are filled with technological advancements and design innovations that were, of course, unthinkable a century or more ago, Victrola holds to the key value that has been at the heart of the company from the beginning – to bring music into homes and to bring families and friends together in enjoyment and sharing.
And it can easily be said that even the most high-tech features of the new Victrola products – like Bluetooth streaming, USB connectivity, and important advancements in amplification and other analog and digital audio circuitry – are also a core value held from the early days, seeing as Victrola was the most important and innovative company in both the design of the modern LP record format and the first widely available record players for home use.
Are Victrola Record Players Any Good?
The early Victrola record players, from a century or more ago, were widely considered to be superb products, with wonderful sound quality, first-rate construction, and beautiful styling. Of course, they were also fabulously expensive – an early electric Victrola record player could cost more than a brand new car!
Today Victrola record players are, in one way at least, exactly the opposite – they are almost unbelievably inexpensive considering their performance, features, and overall quality. And this is our experience again and again, with every Victrola record player we have auditioned – they are so cheap in price that we don’t really expect much, and so we are just blown away by how well Victrola phonographs are made, how well everything works, how much they offer and, most importantly, how great they sound.
And it’s not just us. Tons and tons of customers on Amazon and other sites have praised Victrola products and raved about how much they love their new Victrola record player, how the products far exceed their expectations, and how much pleasure they bring. And this is also undoubtedly why Victrola is one of the most respected companies around today, with a truly staggering list of major publications and consumer agencies lavishing positive press and major awards on Victrola and its products.
How Can You Find the Best Victrola Record Player for You?
Victrola makes a wide range of record players with many different designs, and they are all worth checking out. Most of their products offer a full slate of technological features and capabilities, and they all sound really good. So ultimately, for most of us, it comes down to a matter of style and a question of budget.
Since Victrola products range in price from very, very inexpensive to moderate – even their most expensive phonographs are not at all, in fact, expensive – there is a Victrola record player for every budget. And as far as style goes, they are all strikingly beautiful in their retro styling, and the premium level of fit and finish is extraordinary for the price.
In this buyer’s guide for the best Victrola record players in 2024, we will include several of our favorite Victrola phonographs, from the least expensive to the most, and talk about exactly what they do, how they work, and how they sound.
So, whether for yourself or as a gift for a record-loving friend or family member, you can easily find the best Victrola phonograph, which is without question one of the best photographs you can get today.
The Best Victrola Record Players in 2024: A Detailed Buyer’s Guide
Best Budget Victrola Record Player
The Victrola Vintage looks like something you would see in a black and white movie from the 40s, but it is in fact a remarkably high-tech record player. With Bluetooth streaming and wired inputs, you can easily play any of your devices through the great-sounding built-in speakers, and there is also a headphone output, and even a line output if you want to connect larger powered speakers.
And, of course, the Vintage plays records! 33s, 45s, and 78s, in fact, with great quality that really lets you enjoy that wonderful analog sound. A simple, sophisticated little portable record player, the Victrola Vintage is highly recommended.
Best Victrola 6-in-1 Entertainment Center
Considering that the Victrola Nostalgic is well under a hundred dollars, it is nearly unbelievable what it does – not only is there a great 3-speed record player, but an AM/FM radio, cassette deck, CD player, and Bluetooth receiver, all of which play with startlingly good, clear and musical sound.
In addition to wireless streaming, you can also use the wired inputs to connect other devices like music players or phones, and you can use the wired outputs to connect larger powered speakers – though the built-in speakers sound pretty darn good. And for personal listening, there is also a headphone jack.
The beautiful Victorian styling of the Victrola Nostalgic is just icing on the cake, especially with this level of premium fit and finish – indeed, the whole entertainment center offers material and build quality as good as its sound quality, and is overall the best 6-in-one entertainment center we’ve found.
Best Value Victrola Record Player
Not as full-featured as the Nostalgic, just above, the Victrola Metropolitan could easily make our list of best Victrola record players in 2024 just based on its wonderfully rich and clear sound quality
The Metropolitan is still feature-rich, though, with a 3-speed (33, 45 & 78) record player, a nice FM radio with a cool retro dial, a Bluetooth wireless receiver for playing your devices through the excellent built-in speakers, wired inputs, and outputs for other connections, and even a headphone plug.
And the Metropolitan has that great old-fashioned styling and premium fit and finish which make Victrola products so distinctive and popular. An especially great sounding, well-designed, and highly functional basic entertainment center for very little money, the Victrola Metropolitan is very highly recommended.
Best Sounding Victrola Record Player (and Coolest)
Like the Metropolitan just above, the Victrola Liberty record player is not as decked out with features as some of the brilliant Victrola entertainment centers, but it is also quite advanced in technology, with a Bluetooth wireless receiver, USB input for playing your MP3s, RCA outputs for connecting to powered speakers an auto-scan FM radio and a three-speed turntable.
Plus, the Victrola Liberty does one thing more, which for us definitely sells it – it can convert your precious record collection to digital files and store them onto a USB flash drive, without even connecting to a computer. Everything you need to digitize and archive your entire record collection is included.
Ok, actually what really sells us on the Liberty is the vibe of this super-cool record player. The long legs, the spartan-chic styling, and the great sound, along with all the tech, come together in one great package and make the Victrola Liberty an easy recommendation, and one of the best victrola record players out there.
Best Victrola 8-in-1 Entertainment Center
The Navigator, for its almost ridiculously low price, is an amazingly advanced and complete home entertainment center with remarkable sound quality. In addition to a 3-speed record player, the Victrola Navigator also includes a CD player, a cassette deck, an FM radio with a smart analog dial, a Bluetooth receiver for wirelessly streaming your phone or other devices through the speakers, a USB port for playing MP3s, a wired input, RCA outputs, and a headphone output jack, and remote control!
And if that weren’t enough, the Navigator will let you convert your LP records to digital files and store them directly onto a USB flash drive, and with the excellent stereo phono cartridge installed into the turntable, the digital files sound great. In fact, the whole unit sounds great, with surprisingly clear, accurate, and musically sweet speakers and plenty of power.
A brilliant value, with all of the functions and features you could possibly ever need or want, a great sounding stereo system, and a well-built and reliable unit (even by Victrola’s high standards), the Victrola Navigator is easily the best 8-in-one entertainment center we’ve ever used, and well worth the extraordinarily low price.
The flagship of Victrola’s ultra-affordable armada, the Jackson is by far the best-sounding Victrola product we’ve heard. And believe me, we’ve heard a lot of them, and they all sound surprisingly good for their price, but the Jackson is really at a whole new level of performance.
Large built-in stereo speakers, mounted in high-quality cabinets, are powered by an ultra-clean and ultra-clear amplifier with a full 40 watts per channel – more power than many more expensive hi-fi stereo systems have, and with comparably excellent sound.
Of course, being a Victrola, the Jackson also has all the tech you’d ever want, with Bluetooth streaming and wired connectivity, a USB port for MP3 playback and digital conversion of LPs, a CD player, an excellent FM radio, a remote control, and more.
And, being a Victrola, the Jackson has much better sound quality than you might reasonably expect for the money, much better build quality and fit and finish, and is a beautifully styled piece. Indeed, for all of these factors – sound, overall quality, style, design, and convenience – the Victrola Jackson is the best Victrola entertainment center available.
Final Thoughts: A Few Other Great Victrola Products
As you can easily see, there are plenty of reasons why Victrola entertainment centers are so famous, popular, and well-loved, but entertainment centers and record players aren’t the only things Victrola makes.
In fact, there are plenty of other cool and useful Victrola products, all of which live up to the standards of excellent quality, great sound, and beautiful, intelligent design that makes Victrola such a successful company.
Our favorite Victrola products, beyond the record players and entertainment centers, are:
A powerful and incredible sounding Bluetooth stereo speaker system as only Victrola could make, which easily competes with similarly priced Bluetooth speakers from even the major brands and is cooler than any of them.
A beautifully understated old-school design and a fantastic-sounding radio that will also allow you to stream and play any of your Bluetooth devices.
Not just a perfectly executed reminder of a simpler, somewhat stupider time (really, remember our hair?), but a wonderfully made and awesomely powerful boombox with AM/FM, cassette player, Bluetooth streaming, and a lot more. Really, really great sound, just like we remember it…
Solid and well made, this wooden stand provides a stable, convenient, and very attractive place for your Victrola record player or entertainment center as well as your favorite records.
Understandably the most popular and well-reviewed record crates on Amazon, they hold 50 or more records, are solid and sturdy, easy to assemble, and, best of all, have “Victrola” proudly emblazoned across the front!