The Numark TT250 USB is a great-looking direct drive turntable. The dark matte gray tabletop sitting on the black bottom half looks sleek. The turntable is sturdy as well. Nothing feels flimsy or made out of cheap plastic. The tone arm and counterweight are all metal. The platter is metal. All of the components are built to last.
The square, gray start/stop button is located in the front-left corner of the tabletop with two playback settings – 33 and 45. There is also a pop-up target light that helps you place the needle on the right spot on the record. These features add extra convenience to this turntable.
The USB turntable has many of the features that you’d want in a quality vinyl to digital turntable. The anti-skating mechanism keeps the tone arm from being pulled toward the center of the record by creating force in the opposite direction. This helps maintain good sound quality. The counterweight keeps the right amount of pressure on the record so the stylus (needle) doesn’t jump off or dig too heavily on the vinyl. Both mechanisms are featured on the TT250 and when used together help provide the best sound quality possible.
Using the turntable, USB and computer, we were able to take a handful of records and convert them to MP3. One of the first records we used was “The Beatles” by The Beatles. The record was fairly scratched and warn. Two unfortunate things occurred during the conversion process. First, the conversion sounded exactly the same as the vinyl record – with scratches and all. The best turntables improve the recording in the digital conversion, removing pops and crackles. Second, the conversion software combined “Birthday” and “Yer Blues” as one song, messing up the track order. It mistook scratches for the actual song and combined the two songs together in a single track.
The Numark turntable comes with a digital download card for EZ/Vinyl/Tape Converter. This software is easy to use because it turns conversion into three easy steps and walks you through the whole process, but the automatic track detection can turn into a real mess if the record is too scratched or worn. That's what happened with the Beatles record.
Another record we converted was “Off The Wall” by Michael Jackson. Unlike “The Beatles,” “Off The Wall” was in great shape with minimal scratches. Our conversion sounded identical to the record – nearly flawless. Basically, the converter will capture exactly what you hear from the vinyl, with no improvement or degradation.
This vinyl to digital converter comes with a hard plastic dust cover that can be attached. If you want to listen to your turntable aloud, you’ll need to have a separate pair of speakers. Unlike the Ion Air LP, this turntable does not have a headphone jack.
The turntable is covered by a one-year warranty. If you need assistance, you can contact Numark through phone or email. The support team gladly answered our questions about the turntable.
The best USB turntables we reviewed could convert extremely worn-out records and alleviate some of the scratching and hissing. With the Numark TT250USB turntable, the condition of the record is exactly what you’ll hear in the conversion. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. If the records being converted are in good shape, it’s safe to expect quality digital conversions.
