U-Turn Orbit Review – Is this turntable worth it?

Many audiophiles around the world find it easy to grow fond of the U-Turn Orbit turntable. This happens because of the turntable’s nice features and engineering that have made it famous for its good performance and sound clarity. Of course, the U Turn Orbit is also a mid-range turntable, so people also like it because it has quite a lot to offer when it comes to the quality of sound for a turntable at a more affordable price. If you want to find out more about the properties of this turntable, find a comfortable spot and read about them in this U-Turn Orbit Review.

Pros

• It sounds very clear
• Offers you the chance to upgrade it
• Has a good-quality cartridge mounted on its tonearm

Cons

• You’ll have to manually change the speeds

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Design

One thing we need to bring up in our U-Turn Orbit review is how elegant-looking it is. With its minimalistic design the Orbit turntable doesn’t come with a lot of ornaments. There are many buttons located on its plinth, but is very plain and simple. The reason behind the idea of simplicity was improving the quality of sound. It also helps with the turntable’s performance, and the idea was successful. More about that later.

However, the Orbit U-Turn does look very attractive and its slim, sleek plinth is available in multiple colours to best match everyone’s preferences. The plinth itself rests on three, damped feet that support the turntable at just the right height.

Beneath the surface

If you are to take a glance at the surface of a put together U-Turn Orbit, you would notice a silver, rectangular tile-like piece sitting right at its front left corner. Right there is where you’ll find your on/off switch, easily accessible and colored in black. In fact, this is the only switch that happens to be on this minimalistic, but good-quality turntable.

The rest of the components that you’ll spot on the UTurn Audio Orbit are the standard ones that every turntable out there comes equipped with. You have a nice, big platter with a felt slip mat on its top right in the middle of the plinth. Then, there’s the stylish-looking tonearm fixed in the back right corner of the turntable. Last, you can spot the AC synchronous motor positioned at the back left corner of the U-Turn turntable. All the elements come in black finish and support the turntable’s simple design.

Once you take a look at the back of the U Turn Orbit, you will see the turntable’s RCA ports that you can use to connect it to a phono or headphone amplifier, computer or wi-fi speakers, sound bar, or radio.  The turntable also comes with a dust cover that is attached to its back.

Features

The U-Turn Orbit is a belt-driven turntable that is designed primarily for audiophiles. The reason for this is obvious: DJ often use the direct-drive motor turntables because they better fit their needs. That is, in terms of the high torque and scratching options. Belt drive motor turntables, like our U-Turn, are best known for their ability to offer you a clear sound with less motor vibrations getting mixed with it. This is possible due to the motor is separated from the platter.

Aside from being belt-driven, the U-Turn Orbit is also a very damped turntable. This means that its components are made and positioned in such way that they are resonance-resistant which is the case with its feet, motor, plinth, and tonearm.

Let’s get into details

This U-Turn Orbit review wouldn’t be complete if we didn’t mention this turntable’s tonearm. It is specially designed to better track the grooves of your record. It sits fixated with a unipivot bearing, and there is the good-quality Audio Technica AT91B cartridge pre-attached to its front. The tonearm is all balanced and ready to for tracking. There’s not a cue lever that comes with it, but you can get one since the turntable offers you the opportunity to upgrade it.

The Audio Technica AT91B cartridge, as I already said, is of very nice quality, and it converts the kinetic motion of the needle on your record into electric signal. The tonearm, furthermore, does its best to correctly send this signal to the device that will later amplify your turntable’s sound.

I’ve already said something about the turntable being customizable. You can choose what you want your turntable equipped with. One option is to get the Pluto preamp, which you can later also upgrade.

I honestly believe that this is one of the best things that the U Turn Orbit has to offer. It being an upgradable model means that you can improve the quality of sound and its overall performance when you feel like it in the future. That being said, the U Turn Orbit is a very flexible turntable, even though it is a good-quality one with the parts that it initially comes packed with.

Performance

When it comes to the performance of the U-Turn Orbit, I must say that it definitely doesn’t fail to deliver. The turntable’s components all function well, and together, they allow for a very neat overall performance.

The tonearm really is good at tracking and it doesn’t slide off the record. There is little to no vibration buzz that you can hear when the record is playing, and physical vibrations coming from the surrounding environment are also isolated with good precision.

The sound is pretty clear, warm, and crisp. There is also a lot of detail to it, but it comes out wrapped in the characteristic tone of the analogue signal.

Wrapping up the U-Turn Orbit review

The U-Turn orbit will not fail you when it comes to its quality of sound and the nice overall performance. The turntable delivers what it promises to deliver. You will probably get to like it as soon as you put you record on its platter for the first time.

In terms of its price, I would say that there is a the balance is good. Meaning, between the amount of money that you have to pay for the U Turn Orbit and what it offers, the price tag is justified. I hope that the features of this turntable are the ones that you’ve been looking for. If so, you’ll certainly enjoy playing your records on the nice U-Turn Orbit. If not, take a look at more options.