Method

How we pick

What goes into a record.store guide, where the numbers come from, and what we don’t claim.

Criteria

• A real situation first. Each pick answers one situation, like a shared room or a setup with no amplifier, rather than a single “best”.
• Fit with a vinyl setup. Can a typical receiver or phone drive it? Does the cable reach from a shelf to a chair? Open or closed for the room you listen in?
• Fit with a DJ setup. Do the cups turn for one-ear cueing? Which cables come in the box, and do they lock? Can you buy pads and cables again? How heavy is it for a long set?
• Fit with a speaker setup. Does the turntable plug straight in, or does it need a preamp or an amplifier on the way? Which inputs, how deep for the shelf, and what comes in the box?
• Fit with DJing at home. Which outputs does your controller or mixer have, which inputs do the speakers take, and which cables does that leave you to buy? A pair or two singles, front or rear bass port, and how deep for the desk?
• Fit with a phono preamp. Does anything in your chain already have one? Which cartridge type and load does it take, how much gain, and does it add USB, a headphone output or a rumble filter?
• Fit with a Bluetooth turntable. Does it send Bluetooth or only receive it, which codecs do your speakers or headphones share with it, and does its wired output have a preamp switch? Which stylus or cartridge can you replace?
• Published, checkable specs. Impedance, sensitivity with its unit, open or closed, driver, weight, cable and plug, taken from the maker’s product page or data sheet.
• Independent measurements. For headphones, we prefer products with a public frequency-response measurement, and link to it through the AutoEq project, which lists measurements by source such as oratory1990 and crinacle.

Sources and dates

Every spec is stored with the page it came from and the date we read it. In the vinyl headphones guide, specs were checked on 27 Oct 2026; in the DJ headphones guide, on 27 Oct 2026; in the vinyl speakers guide, on 27 Oct 2026; in the DJ speakers guide, on 27 Oct 2026; in the phono preamps guide, on 27 Oct 2026; in the Bluetooth turntables guide, on 27 Oct 2026. Before publishing, a script re-reads each source and checks that every value is on it, next to its label. If a maker doesn’t publish a spec, the guide says “not published”; we never fill a gap from memory or from a shop listing. When a maker’s own pages disagree, we show both.

Loudness estimates

Where a maker publishes sensitivity and impedance, we estimate the voltage needed for 100 dB (vinyl guide) or the level each pair reaches from 1 volt (DJ guide). For a passive speaker, we estimate how loud a given amplifier plays it from the published sensitivity. The formula and its assumptions are shown next to the numbers, and the result is always labelled an estimate. If the maker doesn’t say whether sensitivity is per milliwatt or per volt, we show the range.

What we don’t do

• No scores, star ratings or awards.
• No claims of lab or listening tests we didn’t run.
• No invented reviews, quotes or user counts.
• No prices: they change too often to be right on a static page. Follow the shop link for today’s price.

Power figures are shown in each maker’s own terms (total or per channel, RMS, continuous or peak), because makers measure them differently. Frequency ranges are shown with the level they are measured at (such as −3 dB or −10 dB), or marked as not stated.

Where Max has used a product himself, his notes appear under that pick, marked as his.

Photos

We only use photos whose license allows reuse, such as Creative Commons photos from Wikimedia Commons, and credit the author, license and source under each one. Where we can’t find one, we use a drawing and say so.

Affiliate disclosure

The shop links in our guides are plain links today. Later they may become affiliate links that earn us a commission when you buy, at no extra cost to you. Commission never decides which products we pick or how we describe them.