I agree with HH on this, and I am a very long term and continuing record buyer and user. I think that there is a fundamental point about what you are considering. You are concentrating on what is very simple and relatively cheap - buying a good basic turntable that can just be plugged in. What is nowadays complicated and expensive is obtaining records, and you have absolutely none to start with. Yes, you can buy second hand ones, but it is a minefield and they will need cleaning. I anticipate the experience would be more frustrating than fun. On the other hand, if you were to find playing records rewarding and pleasurable, you will discover that you are starting on a very expensive path.
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Ok, as a counterpoint to some of the views on here!
A TT with built in stage sounds like a good idea.
As would a used Rega or similar off eBay with a suitable phono stage.
Playing vinyl is fun and interactive. If you have like minded friends then an evening spent playing vinyl and consuming beverages isn’t mutually exclusive, and sounds like a great way to spend a few hours.
New vinyl is expensive, but second hand isn’t so much of a minefield if your expectations are appropriate. If you have a local second hand source then you can inspect before you buy, and a manual cleaning machine is £50, or just buy some brushes and distilled water and save the machine cost. I’ve found plenty of acceptable vinyl that way. Cleaning used vinyl records is rather therapeutic too!
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They will not be imported to Benelux though…
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I’ve added a “like” vote at both @CliveB and @gthack posts, as they both make sense from their own point of view.
No need to overthink it from my point of view at the moment, I would just follow the circumstances and if a cheap decent TT appears at the right place/price/time, I’ll go for it just for the fun of it. If the record experience proves to be too annoying and doesn’t get much use, so be it… Just some time and (very) little money lost in the process.
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Rega has great synergy with Naim. Playing LPs is quite different than digital but is worth the effort. I agree with HH, you can spend a lot compared to CDs and it is more difficult to build a collection at today’s prices. I have a refurbished P25 with a Hana cartridge with an active Naim system and am happy with it.
A recent thread worth a read before deciding:
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OK, I gave it some good thought over the past few hours, and the truth is there not much point in doing it. If I list down the arguments:
Benefits
- “Vanity/bragging rights” of having vinyl
- The vinyl “experience”
- Fill an available Fraimlite shelf
Disadvantages
- Cost/challenge of getting records
- Lower sound quality vs my digital source
- Time lost for all this
- Danger of entering the rabbit hole…
So the answer is pretty obvious for now! In any case vacation is coming up soon, so the best course of action is to pack and hide the Fraimlites for now and forget that they exist 
.
I need to run in my PMCs first, then figure out the speaker cable and then we see…
I do have some ideas on how to fill the shelves with black boxes in the long term of course
After adjusting for inflation, LPs are about the same today as they were in the late '60s early '70s. High end hardware, on the other hand, has increased way in excess of inflation.
Go figure!
Why do you think this is true? And does it particularly matter? I probably enjoyed the rega room with a p1 just as much as any other room at the Bristol hifi show. Entire system yours for £999
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A very sensible decision. Why not put one shelf away, and then get a nice lamp to go on top, or a houseplant. It’s good to see the twenty5i.21is, they are lovely speakers.
Well, if a Rega Planar 1 or equivalent can beat the ND5 XS2/nDAC combination, then Houston we’ve got a problem!
A Rega P1 won’t sound anything like as good as an ND5XS2 and nDac. Why spend money to get something that sounds worse? Just being able to watch a record spin round really doesn’t compensate.
A houseplant that might watering on top of the Naims? No way!
No rush to do something with the Fraimlites anyway. I got them because they appeared at the right colour and right price, so they will remain on standby until needed for whatever reason.
I still think that the Dynaudio C1 Platinum looked much much better, but well… I need to enjoy the sound as well!
That is until you hear what a good turntable setup can perform 
As you have an Nd5xs2/ Ndac, to really enjoy the sound of lps with a turntable, you need something better than a P1, in my view. A Rega P3 would be at a similar level, not counting a good phono and cart .
If not I don’t see the point. You will have some fun in the first days and then listen more and more frequently to the digital source.
But it’s me.
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@sihctr
I very much agree with this comment and with the post by HH.
New vinyl is ridiculously and prohibitively expensive.
I have a decent turntable and a reasonably large LP collection, but it rarely gets used these days.
I never (well almost never) buy new vinyl, and very rarely buy second hand vinyl these days either. When I listen to music nowadays, I reckon that 90% of the time I stream from my NAS or from Qobuz/Tidal, 5% from Radio Paradise and no more than 5% of the time from vinyl.
Still, if you already have some vinyl, and if part of the reason for wanting to get into vinyl is nostalgia, then who am I to argue against. After all, I spent a reasonable amount of money some years back purchasing a refurbished Pioneer RT-909 reel to reel deck. It’s a lovely ornament and I do use it occasionally because I just love the reel to reel format so much however impractical it might be. However, it certainly isn’t used on a daily or even weekly basis.
If you do decide to purchase a turntable, then I agree that a used Rega Planar 3 or something similar would probably be your best bet.
Thanks. What I don’t get either is the ‘retro’ appeal that Vinyl seeks to have.
Also, given the reports on here about bad, brand new pressings, I really don’t get it.
Although… my Optician would approve… As the font size on LP’s is so much easier to read than on a CD booklet… 
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Yes, I was under this impression, too.
It seems to be about the same price as ever - perhaps even a little less?
Of course this is allowing for inflation, just like with everything!
I’m taking 1970’s prices as a rough baseline.
Why are some people under the impression that vinyl has become very expensive?
I’d be interested to understand this.
(Perhaps I should have added that im looking at this from a UK perspective)
I think it’s now a foregone conclusion that there is no need to jump in the vinyl bandwagon…
So for now I took the opportunity to give some free air to the Naims… just to get a feeling of how 6 boxes would look like… 
At least now the HiLine hangs freely without touching anywhere. And strangely, the sounds seems to have changed… for the worst! More “headache-y”. But that might just be the speakers running in.
Anyway, off to enjoy a BBQ and some drinks! 
Enjoy your weekend!
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Second hand music bargain bins. Thats where my vinyl cones from. Fun and not that expensive. Just another way to discover music.
I’ve acquired a few gems like a mint, never opened pressing of Purple Rain for $10, and a few rare (and groovy as hell) discs that were only ever released on vinyl.
I wash grubby vinyl with a cheap but effective manually operated system.
If you want to go down an expensive vinyl rabbit hole you can. But it’s not mandatory.
As for sound quality, it sounds “different” to digital. Sometimes better; sometimes worse. But honestly the debate comparing the two sources doesn’t interest me and I don’t bother asking the question. Mostly I find it relaxing to put on a disc. And relaxing to get out of the house and browse bargain bins.
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