Denon DP-300F Fully Automatic Analog Turntable & Vinyl Record Player

I purchased my first ever Denon product, the DP-300F automatic turntable to replace my ancient Technics SL-1600 direct drive. As much as I tried to keep the old boy alive, it was time to dump it. I am extremely happy with the Denon DP-300F. It functions exactly as promised and I can again enjoy the pure delight of vinyl ( scratches and all ! ) that MP3's can't possible offer. Crisp highs, thunderous rumbling lows and a warm mid range that I've missed listening to IPOD's. I'm SOO glad I kept all my vinyl. This requires minor assembly but the instructions are clear and so easy, a chimp can do it. You will find it comes with everything needed to start listening as soon as you hook up to your receiver. The included cartridge is as good or better than the Ortofon cartridges I've used in the past. Although this is a belt drive, I can't tell the difference. WOW and Flutter is non existent but don't place the turntable too close to your speakers if you intend to crank them up. The look of this turntable is sleek and it's very easy to operate. It won't accommodate 78's, but my 45's and the 33 LP's sound great. I'm so happy to get great sound without having to spend hundreds more. This is a great value for entry level vinyl lovers as well as more critical ears. Keep in mind that your home system is only as strong as your weakest component. I use Klipsch towers and a powerful Onkyo Receiver to drive my sound. I LOVE IT ! Thank you Denon. Delivery was extremely quick and packaging was superb for a delicate item as this.

Note: I purchased this turntable for the Black Friday sale price. This is my first turntable, which I purchased after exhaustive research, deliberation, and auditioning. The other turntables I was considering were the U-Turn Orbit, Audio Technica AT-LP120, Rega Planar 1, and Project Debut Carbon. I will explain why I chose the DP-300f over the others in a head-to-head comparison: vs. AT-LP120 - - - - - - - The Denon has marginally better advertised specs, such as 0.10% wrms wow & flutter and a 60db S/N ratio, though I doubt there’d be an audible difference between the two. The Denon is fully automatic, which is irrelevant to me, but might be a consideration for some. Between the two it’s too close to call and really comes down to price. At MSRP I’d choose the LP120, but I was able to get the Denon at 40% off. vs. U-Turn Orbit - - - - - - - I think U-Turn is a cool company and I really wanted to buy from them, but a couple things nixed it for me: the fact that they charge $40 for a que lever (putting the price above what I paid for the Denon), and that the headshell is not easily swappable. I like the idea of being able to throw on a “beater” cartridge to spin some thrifted vinyl without having to bust out the protractor. If you don’t care about swapping headshells and the LP120 isn’t on sale, this is the table I’d choose. vs. Rega Planer 1 - - - - - - - The MSRP of the new entry-level Rega is $475, but I don’t see $256 more value than a U-Turn Orbit (w/ que lever), not even close. The plinth on the Rega is particleboard, not MDF, and Rega doesn’t even publish its wow & flutter specs. Pass. vs. Project Debut Carbon DC - - - - - - - Googling “debut carbon hum” put me off buying one of these. Just being honest. I inspected one in person and it struck me as quite chintzy for the money, more so than the Rega Planar 1 (however, in person the Rega Planar 3 seemed quite nice). The carbon fiber tonearm seems to be a gimmick, and in my opinion the new Rega RB110 arm is superior in every way. You get an Ortofon red with this one; neat I guess, but could this table hold its own if it didn’t come with a $99 cart? In my opinion, no. Now, onto the DP-300f. There are a concerning number of reviews on Amazon and elsewhere complaining of motor issues / warped platters. I’m glad to report that my platter isn’t even slightly warped. It is, to my eye, actually the most perfectly flat platter I’ve seen out of all those I’ve thus far inspected. The table spins a hair fast (33.7-33.9rpm), but this is no worse than the Rega Planar 3 I tested. There are potentiometers to adjust the speed on the underside of the turntable, though I’m not sure I’ll bother. I have left the motor running for several hours of burn-in testing and all seems well. I will certainly update this review if I experience any issues, however thus far I could not be more pleased with the turntable. EDIT 13-02-17: I found the urge to mess with the turntable speed setting irresistible. There are two screws on the bottom of the turntable, clearly marked, one for 33.3 and the other for 45. Turning the 33.3 screw clockwise increases the speed, counter-clockwise decreases the speed. The *inverse is true* of the 45 screw, e.g. clockwise *decreases* the speed. There is an indeterminate reciprocal relationship between the two speed settings, i.e. one can be correct and the other can be *way* off. Tinkering with this is a laborious process, more so I'd say than even aligning a cartridge using a universal protractor. It seems that even turning either screw just a hair has a dramatic effect. The very best I could do was to get the table spinning at 33.37rpm / 45.05rpm. The speed remains consistently stable within 0.1rpm. I'm very happy with these numbers considering the price of this belt-driven turntable.

I’ve had this turntable for 8 months, replaced the needle with an upgraded elliptical for better sound. I’ve had no problems, the speed is accurate with an app. This turntable can have the needle changed or the entire cartridge so you can add a new type of stylus. The belt can be changed and upgraded as well. It will give you many years of play and use. The automatic start and stop are easy to use, the set up is also easy, just look up YouTube video to watch if you are unfamiliar with balancing an arm and setting up the antiskate. It looks good, slim black, when I was on sale it was the best turntable for the money making it a great value . The record player is reliable and plays 45 and 33 rpm with ease. I highly recommend this turntable to anyone who wants a quality record player with years of enjoyment and growth.

I've had decent turntables for many years but my old one finally died, and I decided to replace it. I don't use it enough to justify spending a fortune on it, plus I'm not sure my ears would still hear the difference of a more expensive one. I am very happy with my choice of this DP-300F. I wanted a fully automatic, belt-driven turntable for less than $600, so that narrows down the choices. This one offers the features I wanted, plus good specs, from a reputable company, at a great price. It was fairly easy to set up (includes good directions), looks good, is very easy to operate, works well and most importantly, sounds great!! While the included cartridge is probably just fine, I am planning to upgrade it to an Audio Technica AT-VM95EN - orange....it gets good reviews and should be a decent step up if you don't mind spending another $100. This turntable does have some issues I think, but I consider them to be minor: - It is a lot lighter weight (just 12 lbs) than my old one, a bit of a concern on quality and vibration resistance, but we’ll see. (So far I don't detect any vibration issues, and I'd just add a mat under it to help address any if I do at some point.) - It would also be nice if the start/stop buttons on the front were actually on the top where you could see them more easily. - The other “feature” I don’t like is that there is no power on/off button….it is always "on", although the platter is not spinning. A cost savings??? Dumb. I plugged it into a remote on/off switch/cord so I can turn the power off easily. Two other comments. I saw a review here on Amazon that complained about the output being very low and needing to add a pre-amp to the user's system to hear anything much. While the author had very lengthy and supposedly authoritative opinions, he was apparently unaware that this model includes a switchable amp in it....switch it on if your receiver doesn't have a phono input, switch it off if it does. Odd, as it is one of the very first things you see in the manual. That works just fine and is a nice feature. Also, I see some users suggesting stepping up to the newer DP-400. While that model has some modestly better specs and features, it has 2 big drawbacks for me: 1) it is only semi-automatic, not fully automatic, and 2) the cover is not hinged onto the turntable, so you have to lift it on and off, and set it somewhere while playing a record. Denon apparently thinks the hinged cover can add some vibration, but really??? To me, they are trying to fix a problem that doesn't exist. I should mention that one version of the DP-400 includes a USB output, but it only works to a thumb drive, not directly to a computer. Huh. Anyway, I am quite happy with the DP-300F.

Great sound Easily connected to my Denon mini system. I like the total automatic play. I never have to touch the record once its on the player

Just wanted to post my awful experience with this player and Denon support. I purchased this player as my entry level into vinyl. I was told by many people that Denon made a good entry player that was reasonable for the money. I purchased this player and then started receiving and purchasing vinyl from stores and friends around my area. Thie player had a total of about 1 hour play time before I experienced sporadic slow down. I knew it could not be the belt because it was a brand new player but checked it out and replaced it anyway. When I called Denon support they took me through a checklist to make sure everything on the player was set up properly. After determining that everything was configured they gave me the only option which was to send the player to an Authorized Denon Service Center. I wasn't too happy about sending it at my cost to a service center but at least I figured it would be handled properly and be a done deal. After sending it out to the service center I called 2 weeks later to check the status and there was a message they were on vacation for a few more weeks. Eventually they service center had this player for a total of 5 weeks. They eventually called me and told me that there had to be a motor replacement on the unit and they were on back order from Denon. The technician told me there must be multiple issues with the motors in these units. At this point I still didn't care as long as it worked when it was returned. When I received the turntable a few days later it looked as if someone dropped it. The top of the unit was craked, the metal turntable was loose inside the unit and must have been rattled around on delivery so there were circular scrates on the onyx finish EVERYWHERE. The side of the unit had mutiple scratches and to top it off the turntable had so much resistance that it wouldn't spin...even when powered on. The box was not damaged at all or looked like it was even dropped. Rather then contact the service center I called Denon to express my frustrations. I felt they should hold their authorized service centers to higher standards and obligations to the consumer. The customer service representative listened to my frustrations and was very sympathetic. I told him I would like to hear from a supervisor or a manager that could esculate and handle this issue. He told me a supervisor from Denon would contact me shortly. Days later I received an email saying basically there isn't a thing that Denon can do at this point. That I needed to take this up with the service center. Why? I feel this is an unacceptable answer. Even if I sent it the turntable to this awful service center how could they replace the entire unit? It's scratched beyond repair. Just wanted to give everyone something to think about before purchasing a Denon player. The customer support has been lackluster and the turntable has been nothing but problems either. I am glad to see some people have no problems at all. I just wish Denon would take corrective steps to make sure their customers are satisfied.

I couldn't be happier with this turntable. For the money I think that it is an excellent value compared with the low-end "audiophile" turntables in this price range that are generally recommended. The Denon 300f turntable looks and sounds great. My first try at re-entering the analogue realm was with a Pro-ject Xpression III ($699), which I purchased from a well-known high-end on-line retailer. It had a cheap motor that was poorly isolated, causing rumble that was very audible during quiet parts of the music. The interconnects were also loose fitting so if you didn't get them just right, there was hum as well. When I wanted to return it, the high-end snobs tried to blame everything about my setup (Marantz amp, Sennheiser 580's) except the turntable. They even blamed my Belkin power strip! I did some research and found that rumble from the motor was a common problem with the Pro-ject turntables. Not wanting to go through the same experience again, I decided to order from Amazon, which has always been great with returns. Everything is solid with the Denon - no rumble, no hum, dead quiet. I guess my setup was not to blame! I thought that the stock cartridge that came with the Denon was OK, but knew that I could improve things with a better one so after about a month I replaced it with an Ortofon 2M Blue ($199), which sounds wonderful. You could get significant improvement with something less expensive, but it still left me under what I paid for the Pro-ject and I have a much better cartridge than comes with the Pro-ject Xpression III. For me, the only other turntable in the price range of the Denon that looks like it might be competitive is the Audio Technica ATLP120, but it is manual, whereas the Denon is fully automatic. I sometimes fall asleep while listening and hate to have to jump up to lift the needle off the record. I also don't need a USB turntable. Marantz is coming out with something very soon around $320 that also might be worth looking at. Hopefully, Amazon will carry that as well. I haven't listened to my records in probably 25-30 years and I'm so glad that I didn't get rid of them!

Denon makes good audio equipment and this one is no exception. I just plugged it into my am and now I can play my old vinyl records.