Turntable Reviews

I tried a variety of reasonably priced phono preamplifiers including Nerve Audio’s PH 1.1 ($99), the Micromega Mygroov ($269) and then the i-Fi iPhono. They all produced decent results but the $399 iPhono made obvious that it almost unfair to the U-Turn to limit its potential with lesser electronics.

I began listening to a test pressing of Alison Krauss and Union Station’s New Favorite (Diverse Records DIV001LP). When I saw the date, February, 2002, I flipped out. Could it be twelve years ago that I got sent that? Yes, it can. I would have guessed, oh maybe five. Anyway, this is a pristine recording and that the U-Turn beautifully decoded within the limits of a conical stylus cartridge.

Yes, detail was limited compared to what I’m used to, but the overall tonal structure was outstanding and while the frequency extremes were also limited they too were satisfying, while the midrange was smooth and uncolored.

I would never have guessed I was listening to a $179 turntable/cartridge combination (or circa $550 including the iPhono). Amazing especially when you consider the rest of the system terminating in the $200,000 Wilson Audio Specialties Alexandria XLFs is capable of spotlighting every possible playback flaw.

The U-Turn’s rumble was inaudible and no woofer pumping was visible on any of the flat records I played. Krauss’s voice was rendered with precision and clarity, floating effortlessly in three-dimensional space. The stringed instruments were equally fine sounding, though lacking the transient sparkle that’s possible to get from the record.

I moved on to the 180 Pallas pressing reissue of Neil Young’s Everybody Knows This is Nowhere cut by Chris Bellman, imagining a kid with his first turntable getting into Neil to hear “Cinammon Girl” on vinyl. I cranked it up and I know a kid only knowing Neil from MP3s is going to dig what he hears. The kick drum was plenty forceful and well defined, the guitars shimmered and chimed and the sound was as edgy and nasty as Neil intended.

Then I pulled out my original promo copy of Nirvana’s Nevermind complete with press release that’s probably worth as much as the turntable and this ‘table can rock, producing plenty of deep bass with great definition to Chris Novoselic’s string thumps. Only Grohl’s cymbals softened due to the conical stylus but that’s not the turntable’s fault.

Let’s Try a Better Cartridge!

Here’s where I ran into a bit of trouble. First of all, U-Turn does not supply an overhang template so if you want to change cartridges and set the overhang properly you’ve got a problem. Compounding it is that the unipivot’s point is not referenced on the arm’s pivot point top plate so using the Feickert Universal Protractor produced a guessing game. I got it centered on the top of the pivot as best as I could and was surprised to find that the overhang did not jibe with Lofgren, Baerwald or Stevenson! I’m not sure what it was set for but later when I reinstalled the Audio-Technica the only overhang geometry that the stylus tip would reach was Stevenson.

That is an odd choice since Stevenson’s game plan was to minimize distortion at the inner groove area, which is most ideal for classical music. I don’t think the U-Turn folks thought that was their target demographic, which leads me to believe they didn’t consider overhang geometry much if at all. Considering how well-thought out was the rest of the design, I’m left somewhat perplexed.

Clearly, the conical stylus is the U-Turn arm’s best friend but it is a limiting factor at least theoretically because I went ahead and installed on it the Shure M97xe cartridge, though not easily. It was too heavy for the counterweight to balance, which required some Blu-tack applied to its back. I was able to get the stylus tip close enough to the Stevenson overhang line to make academic the difference. I set the tracking force to 1.75 (before lowering the damping brush) and played some tunes.

Holy shit! The U-Turn Orbit turned out to be even better than I originally thought and I originally thought it was damn good to begin with. With an elliptical stylus in play on a high performance but still inexpensive cartridge, the U-Turn’s top end opened way up and heretofore smoothed over detail rang forth. The Nirvana album was good before, now the sound was competitive with far more expensive turntables.

How good? Listen to the Lyn Stanley track digitized at 96/24 that I posted on YouTube. That’s how good. That sound speaks for itself, but of course that’s with the Shure M97xe as shown in the still photo. And be sure to take the “tour” of the U-Turn Basic also up on YouTube and embedded below.

When I replaced the original cartridge I set the overhang (as best as I could not being able to precisely locate the pivot point) for the Stevenson geometry, which put it further forward in the headshell than it was out of the box and I thought the sound had a bit more focus and snap on the Nevermind album, but maybe that’s just my “set-up vanity”.

Conclusion

I could have reviewed the $179 U-Turn Orbit turntable taking into account its low price and letting it off easy for the few small issues I had with it since most buyers will plug it in play and enjoy the hell out of it. Welcome new vinyl lovers your adventure is just beginning! But after listening for a day I thought the ‘table should be reviewed on a level playing field with any product I get my hands on. It’s that accomplished.

If it goes through a .1 revision I suggest re-designing the head shell so the arm can produce proper Lofgren and/or Baerwald geometry and perhaps U-Turn can produce a more massive counterweight so a cartridge like the M97xe can easily be accommodated. That cartridge takes the U-Turn Orbit’s performance to another galaxy.

As for competition, there is some. It’s not like some knucklehead wrote on Inc.com’s website that “Today's vinyl enthusiasts have limited turntable options. They can buy one for $1,000-plus or settle for the toylike versions that don't get close to aural Nirvana.”

No, it’s not like that at all. There are decent, serious starter ‘tables from Rega and Pro-Ject but neither company makes one as good for this little. Pro-Ject has its $199 Elemental, which is conceptually similar to the Orbit: it has an MDF platter and unipivot arm but its counterweight is fixed limiting you to the decent supplied Ortofon UM3 cartridge and nothing else.

That ‘table has its place too but for now the $179 U-Turn Orbit occupies a unique place in the turntable universe in terms of both its out of the box performance and its upgrade possibilities.

Right now kids are going to Target and buying $30 copies of Dark Side of the Moon and to play it a shitty $60 ceramic cartridge/sapphire stylus equipped Crosley grew chewer. Those kids will give up on vinyl after a few plays thinking vinyl “wears out.” They are better off saving up for the U-Turn before playing their $30 DSOTM. Your job is to convince them of that because U-Turn has done its job producing a terrific turntable just about anyone can afford.

I’m confident that kid buying DSOTM today can play it on the U-Turn now and in forty years play it on whatever super turntable is being made then, and it will sound better than any digital version then available.

Nicely done U-Turn!