Are Suitcase Record Players Bad? (Heed Our Warning!)

Thinking about a suitcase record player?

You may want to reconsider.

These players are fine, as long as you know what you are getting. Which is basically a toy.

Are suitcase record player bad without exception?

It depends. If you are looking for a turntable to listen to your favorite vinyl records, then yes.

But there are instances where a suitcase player can make sense, although they are few and far between. Most of the time, you are better off getting something else.

Keep reading to learn why suitcase turntables are bad and when it could make sense to get one anyway. We’ll cover everything you need to know.

 

Are Suitcase Record Players Bad?

Yes, suitcase record players are bad for your records, and they sound bad too. In fact, nobody who values their vinyl records should own or use a suitcase turntable to play records.

Suitcase players are portable and that is their one advantage. If you want to take your record player with you somewhere, a suitcase player makes sense. Just don’t play any valuable albums on it.

Of course, vinyl records do not travel well, so even if your player is portable, the risk of damage from traveling with vinyl records is too high. That said, you shouldn’t be using valuable albums with suitcase players anyway, so I suppose cheap albums and a cheap player combined make for a super portable setup.

Apart from that, these players serve no purpose other than as a child’s toy. My first record player ever was a suitcase record player. But my dad did not let me play any albums he cared about on it. And that is my recommendation, too.

So what is is about the suitcase style turntables that makes them so bad? There are actually a number of problems with them. Let’s take a look at the biggest ones.

 

Why Suitcase Record Players Are Bad

The following are the major reasons suitcase record players are bad all around.

 

Format Does Not Match The Media

Records are meant to be played on record players that sit on a sturdy surface and are designed to be stationary. Good record players usually have a dedicated space just for them.

They get a turntable stand or table, and sometimes even an entire room specifically for the purpose of listening to records.

Suitcase record players take a format that works great for CDs, tapes or other portable media and try to make it work for vinyl. But vinyl is not easily or safely portable, like those other types of media are.

 

Cheap Needles

The needles/styli that ship with these suitcase record players are the cheapest that the manufacturer can get away with. Some of them are so bad, they will actually scratch and damage your records.

You can upgrade the cartridge if you want to, but by the time you pay for a new $100 cart, you may as well have bought a real record player.

 

Cheap Parts

In addition to bad, cheap needles, this type of record player also uses the cheapest parts for the internal setup. The capacitors, motors, tonearms, and every other part is made to be lightweight and portable.

But not in a good way. They must also be very inexpensive for the manufacturer, so they can sell the final product cheap enough to match the budget of someone starting out with vinyl (usually someone young) who doesn’t know any better yet.

 

Comparatively Terrible Sound

These players have built-in speakers that are the cheapest the manufacturers can find. And they sound awful. Even the best-sounding units sound terrible compared to a normal and correctly set up record player.

Of course, many people who choose to buy and use these things don’t know what a good one sounds like, so it may not matter to them. Again, there is nothing wrong with getting a suitcase player, as long as you know exactly what you are getting.

 

Are Any Suitcase Record Players Good?

Some are better than others, but overall, no suitcase record player is going to do your records justice. This kind of record player should not be used by any serious collector for any reason. If you do want one, you can see the best suitcase record players on the market here.

 

But They Used To Be Good, Right?

Sort of. Back in the 60s, kids had these record players and they would bring 45 RPM singles to each other’s houses, and it worked fine. It still works, but records cost much more now, even if you account for inflation. Also, nobody is buying 45rpm singles anymore like they used to.

45s are small 7″ records and are much more portable than LPs, which is the format people are buying nowadays. This smaller format is more suited to suitcase-style players, but they are still not ideal due to the fragility and temperamental nature of vinyl.

LPs are 12″ vinyl discs that are easily destroyed, if you drop them or scratch them. A new record will cost $20 or more these days. Carrying around a suitcase record player and your latest LP, hoping to play it at your buddy’s house is a bad idea. It’s just too risky.

 

Are Victrola Suitcase Record Players Good?

If you are asking this question you need to add context. Yes, they are good compared to throwing your record on the ground and stomping on it, but they are not good compared to a real record player. Victrola and Crosley both make entry-level units that do not cost very much.

Victrola is a good brand when you compare it to many of the other suitcase brands. Victrola makes many models that have features that people want today, which many other brands do not include.

Bluetooth, USB, and even speakers you can use for other devices are all features you can find on many popular Victrola units. These features are convenient, since they allow you to use your device for other things besides playing your records. For example, you can play your smartphone through the speakers if you use the Bluetooth receiver function.

Overall if you have your mind made up to buy a suitcase record player, Victrola units are going to be a good choice due to features for the dollar. However, do not expect them to last long (they often start skipping) or sound good, or to be good for your records.

Victrola and Crosley turntables stop spinning or even turning on at a much higher rate than higher quality brands. It usually an easy fix, but it would be even easier if the components were better quality and dd not fail so often.

 

Do Suitcase Record Players Damage Records?

As I mentioned earlier, they are not good for your records and yes, they can damage them. The cheap needles that they have will wear out your records much faster than a quality needle will.

In addition to the needle wearing out your records faster, you will almost certainly scratch your records using one of these units. Let’s look at why they often end up scratching records.

 

Why Suitcase Players Damage Records

There are several reasons that combine to make these types of turntables dangerous to your vinyl record collection.

 

Small Platters

The small platters that come on these portable units are 7 to 9 inches in diameter. That leaves about 5 inches of the record just hanging out in space waiting to be bumped or touched. This also makes for a lack of stability during playback, which is a big reason suitcase players are prone to skipping.

 

Prone To Vibrations And Bumps

In addition to the small platter, the units themselves are portable and lightweight, which adds to the probability that they will react poorly to being bumped. It also makes them especially sensitive to vibrations.

Real record players have special feet that you can adjust. Those feet absorb some shock as well, which reduces vibrations. Ssuitcase record players do not have feet, making them very conducive to vibrations, which is bad for record stability.

As you know, when a record or the player it is on gets bumped, the needle moves across the record and creates a scratch. This immediately devalues your record to almost nothing. It is also likely to affect the sound.

We have an article on how to isolate a turntable from vibration, but honestly, it’s probably not worth it with these types of players. They’re going to vibrate no matter what.

 

Cheap Tonearms

Add the cheap plastic tonearm that weighs almost nothing to the mix and you have a recipe for disaster. One little bump and you will scratch your record.

Good tonearms are very expensive to make and have special weights and movement systems to make them resist bumps. When you compare a good tonearm to a tonearm from a portable player you can see the difference immediately.

Sadly, with a portable player, these bumps are very common and are likely to happen often when you listen to your records on one of these portable players. That’s why you should never put an album you value on one of these units.

 

Suitcase Record Players Are Bad: Final Thoughts

Suitcase record players are bad at playing vinyl records that you care about. There is simply too high a risk that they could damage your records.

But they do have their place. If you just want something to listen to cheap albums on the road somewhere, or a player for your child (that will not be used for valuable vinyl), then a suitcase turntable can make sense.

But if you have a vinyl collection you care about, if you want great (or even just good) sound quality, or if you are looking to get into vinyl, a suitcase player is the worst possible option. Yes, they are cheap, but you can find some pretty good players for not much more money.

This article on how to choose a record player goes into detail on the ideal budget range and a minimum budget, below which you will not find any good models. It also goes into the other questions you should ask yourself when choosing turntable to buy.