Vinyl’s popularity in the 21st century shows no signs of slowing down, not least due to the versatility of devices for listening to records. One brand that offers a vinyl player for every taste and budget is Alive Audio.
We have already assumed that there are a variety of possibilities, some of which allow you to spend money with the help of an explosion, joining the world of warm, bright sound, others are capable of causing a sharp feeling of nostalgia for the past 50s, and others generally fit into a compact suitcase.
In this review I will show a new product – the Alive Audio Twister vinyl player, which is an entry-level Hi-Fi device. This means that in addition to an interesting design and affordable price, this “turntable” has a number of characteristics that are found in much more expensive conditions for players.
Briefly
Appearance, body
Possibilities and nuances
Sound
Pros and cons, price
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Appearance, body
The design uses elements of professional DJ turntables.
The Alive Audio Twister’s body is made of pressed wood, with a slightly rough, textured aluminum top plate.
There are several plastic physical buttons with backlighting, there is also a plastic speed control for the platter and an S-shaped tonearm on a gimbal support with an SME standard headshell.
Tonearm adjustment involves adjusting the anti-skating and installing a calibrated counterweight to increase or decrease the stylus tracking force.
The player has four Anti-vibration feet with rubber pads. The legs do not hang down in height, but this is not critical: the stability is excellent, vibration during the player’s operation does not bother.
The body is wooden, with aluminum inserts.
To protect against dust, there is a transparent plastic cover that can be closed by the Alive Audio Twister even while listening to a record, or even removed if you find this option more aesthetically appealing.
The support disk is quite heavy, Made of aluminum and comes with a silicone slipmat. Also included is an adapter for vintage records with a dial hole 7.2 mm.
The backlight allows you to observe the stroboscopic notches.
The platter has strobe notches that light up and allow you to visually control the increase or decrease in rotation speed. The second backlight was directed at the pickup needle. Such elements are usually the hallmarks of professional DJ turntables; I see them for the first time in a home player.
Yes, regarding the needle: the Alive Audio Twister comes complete with MM-head Audio-Technica AT-3600L with replaceable insert, carbon needle holder and crown needle with conical sharpening.
If you wish, you can replace it with a more expensive option, but you don’t have to spend extra money, because The head sensitivity is 2.5 mV and the sound is pretty good.
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Possibilities and nuances
Impressive feet to prevent vibrations.
The support disk is driven by a belt drive. A DC motor is installed inside the case, powered by a 12 V network adapter included. It can select between two speeds of rotation – 33.3 and 45 rpm. Switching between them is done using the buttons on the case in the lower right part of the panel.
The Alive Audio Twister does not have built-in speakers, so to listen to music you will need to connect external speakers, headphones, or use Bluetooth to stream music wirelessly over your audio system.
The speakers are connected via wire or Bluetooth.
On the back of the player you can find RCA outputs for connecting an external amplifier, phono preamplifier or active acoustics. There is also a player power button, a switch for turning on and off the built-in phono preamplifier and a ground terminal.
When editing the Start/Stop button, the player does not start spinning the record. This button is used to pause and resume work, and to start listening, you need to move the tonearm to the side of the disc.
When the record reaches its target, the tonearm must be lifted manually; there is no auto-lift function.
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Sound
Stylish and pleasant player.
The sound quality of any vinyl player is affected by both the pickup and the built-in phono preamp. The Audio-Technica AT-3600L in the Alive Audio Twister, although considered a budget-level cartridge, conveys the nuances of music very well with a moderate attack at low and high frequencies.
The player is suitable for listening to a variety of music, from driving rock to jazz compositions with many echoes and different instruments. The musical panorama does not blur, there are no extraneous spikes or clicks.
When listening to records via Bluetooth, the “tube-like” quality is slightly lost, but the sound nevertheless retains its originality. In any case, the kit includes an RCA cable for connecting speakers in the classic, wired way.
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Pros and cons, price
Will fit perfectly into any interior.
Alive Audio Twister is perfect for a beginner music lover who is not ready to seriously invest in his passion for vinyl, but at the same time does not want to buy Chinese turntables of dubious quality in a case made of cheap chipboard.
For its price, the Twister sounds very good, has a stylish appearance with elements of expensive DJ players, allows you to upgrade the headshell of the pickup to a more advanced model and connect the speakers in several ways, with wires, or without them at all.
For the sake of brevity, I will list them Features of this player:
● belt drive and excellent bearings
● aluminum support disc
● lightweight tonearm with adjustable tracking force and anti-skating
● removable cartridge
● built-in phono preamplifier
● precise control of disk rotation speed
● ability to connect speakers via Bluetooth
Among the disadvantages, I can point out the not entirely logical engine start without using the Start/Stop button and the impossibility of changing the height of the base, which slightly narrows the choice of additional removable cartridges.
Otherwise, I liked the Alive Audio Twister for its appearance, backlighting, and ease of setup. The price for this player today is 22,990 rubles, which fully corresponds to the price-quality ratio.
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📸 All photos in the article:
Source: Iphones RU
I am a professional journalist and content creator with extensive experience writing for news websites. I currently work as an author at Gadget Onus, where I specialize in covering hot news topics. My written pieces have been published on some of the biggest media outlets around the world, including The Guardian and BBC News.
