Vinyl records have been finding more and more new ears in recent years, and Mixx Audio has a novel turntable to help keep the groove moving – one that also rocks a CD player plonked right in the middle of the platter, as well as flexible connectivity.
Though there are doubtless numerous round pegs in the music-listening world that don’t neatly fit into square format-type holes, streaming appears to be the dominant force according to those who produce the stats relating to how we consume music.
Those of us who appreciate the tactile, almost ritualistic experience of removing a paper sleeve from a card skin before sliding out a grooved slab of vinyl. Folks who get snappy with a disc of shiny plastic from a jewel case. Or even the kind of people who keep a hexagonal pencil within reach at all times in case of tape tangles. We’re all a dying breed.
But there are signs of revolt. Our numbers are tiny compared to the dominant species, but sales of physical music media still cause a glitch in the purely digital Matrix. In the case of vinyl albums, sales have been steadily rising for more than a decade.
In fact, as I tap these words into my laptop the air is filled with sounds picked up and amplified by a diamond point as it navigates a chaotic yet orderly landscape of teeny tracks pressed into a 12 inches of circular gorgeousness spinning at 33.3 revolutions per minute. So excuse me if I wax lyrical.
I also have a CD transport as part of my hi-fi setup, for those times I need to feast on digital perfection. These separates are cabled into an integrated amplifier that feeds commanding floorstanders. It’s a setup that takes up a considerable chunk of my living room floor space.
Mixx Audio
But what if I wanted to downsize, or was new to physical music formats? Mixx Audio has a novel solution with the Analog+ system. This essentially puts a CD player into the same chassis as a turntable. I’ve seen this kind of thing before in combo systems from the likes of Victrola and Lenco, but I’ve certainly not come across a machine where the CD player was positioned in the center of the belt-driven platter.
Diving right in
The Mixx system powers on in CD mode. But before you can load and listen, the output path will need to be set. The Analog+ sports RCA connectors around back for cabling up to the line-in/auxiliary ports of an external hi-fi amp. The UK audio brand has also baked in Bluetooth connectivity for routing wireless audio to a portable speaker or BT headphones – which I found to be pretty straightforward. Whatever your output poison, volume is raised or lowered through the cabled amp or wireless device.
Pushing down the bottom edge of the plastic door releases the lock and the lid opens to accept a Compact Disc. After that’s locked and loaded, gently closing the door starts the mechanism and the disc spins, the player starts auto reading and then playback begins. Track control is via an IR remote or buttons to the front of the housing, where it’s possible to pause, skip, repeat and so on.
To get your vinyl groove going, you’ll need to select the vinyl record mode via the remote or front panel, and also choose 7- or 12-inch along with the appropriate playback speed. The CD door needs to be closed and the thin rubbery mat placed on the platter before lining up the center hole of the record with the short spindle and placing the vinyl on the ABS platter.
Paul Ridden/New Atlas
Out of the box, the stylus protector will need to be removed before pressing the play button on the remote or the front panel. Everything after that is automatic. The drive engages and spins the platter to the selected speed.
The built-in servo raises the tonearm – rather noisily if truth be told – and moves the business end over to a pre-calibrated position above the lead-in grooves. The stylus is then lowered for play, with the grinding sounds of the servo simultaneously silenced.
Since this action is fully automatic, the cartridge cannot be picked up and the stylus moved to a preferred track, but you can push the forward (or back) button on the remote or front panel to engage skip mode. The system can’t read specific track locations, so will raise the tonearm and move it forward or back by a pre-determined amount before lowering the stylus again to resume playback.
Long-pressing these buttons will keep the tonearm moving beyond the presets – stopping a little after button release to lower the stylus. However, I found nailing the exact spot of the short lead ins to tracks quite tricky. On the plus side, this difficulty encouraged me to listen to full sides – and appreciate the album as a whole instead of track skipping to favorites.
Of note here is baked-in electronic speed regulation “that ensures consistent, warble-free playback across every track.” When the stylus reaches the run-out grooves, the tonearm is raised and returned to the cradle – which I, as someone who is often guilty of ignoring the click and pop of finished sides for far too long, found welcome.
I couldn’t see any obvious way to adjust things like tracking force or balance and the like, and was informed that everything has been preset “to around 3.5 ± 0.5g. Because of the way the tonearm is servo controlled it’s not adjustable as a manual tonearm may be.” The company does anticipate users being able to replace the belt when needed though, with Mixx saying that its customer support “would provide guidance on how to do it with a replacement belt which we will release as a separate item for purchase.”
We’re grooving now
Paul Ridden/New Atlas
The quality of sound output over cables will depend on the amplifier the Analog+ is connected to. Given the wallet-friendly price point of this combo system, I opted to dust off an old budget Marantz integrated unit highly regarded at the time of release for punching above its hi-fi weight.
As such, dancing in the digital space via CDs proved reliable with both newer and – ahem – more weathered releases brought down from loft storage, with playback being about as crisp as you’d expect (16-bit/44.1-kHz is supported for regular CDs, though loading a disc packing WAV files could bump that to 48 kHz). My listening experience here wasn’t as engaging and inviting as when I use my Audiolab CD transport, but I wouldn’t expect it to be given the Mixx system’s price tag.
I should add that I found myself occasionally getting totally absorbed in the hypnotics offered by some of the more adventurous CD designs in my collections as I gawped through the lid as they spun at speed during testing, including Humdinger from UK blues titans The Hoax and Black Sabbath’s epic 13.
Moving to vinyl, I was surprised at the warm and pleasant listening offered via the stock AT3600L MM cartridge given its budget ranking. It didn’t touch the performance of the Ortofon resident in my living-room turntable of course – but that cost me about the same as this full system when I bought it a few years back. For casual listening the vinyl mode of the Analog+ is more than up to the task of delivering satisfying sonics.
Mixx told me that it is possible to upgrade the MM cartridge if desired, but any replacement would need to weigh about the same as the outgoing AT module, given the factory presets involved.
The built-in phono stage also did a pretty decent job of output duties, which means that most users won’t even have to think about investing in an external pre-amp or making sure that the Analog+ is hooked up to an amplifier rocking its own phono circuit.
I happened to have an old NAD phono pre-amp kicking around so added that into the setup loop to serve as a boosting bridge between the combo unit and my amp, which did yield an instant quality and volume boost – though as I said, for most listeners the Mixx stock setup should work well enough without.
To BT or not to BT, that is the question
This system also supports Bluetooth 5.3 connectivity. Die-hard analogers will probably cry foul at this inclusion, particularly for vinyl playback. But I found the convenience very much worth any perceived loss in quality.
For example, I like to listen to music while I cook. But if I wanted to fry up some vinyl I would either have to turn up the volume on my living-room setup or pack up the turntable, amp and speakers and set up in the kitchen. By contrast, I can now simply power on my BT speaker, pair with the Analog+ and play.
Purists won’t appreciate the compression of the digitized stream for vinyl playback, but this setup is unmatched for convenience. At the end of the day, I’d say that having options is a huge tick in the plus column – even if they’re not all useful or agreeable to everyone.
And for folks new to the vinyl universe, not having to immediately invest in audio separates like a pre-amp, amplifier, cables, speakers and so on is another huge bonus in my opinion.
The bottom line
Mixx Audio
If CDs and Bluetooth were around when I started my vinyl journey, then I likely would have appreciated a combo system like this for its flexibility and ease of use. The Analog+ on my review bench did exactly what it said on the box, and did it well for something rocking a budget-friendly price tag. Extra bonus points for doing it in a way we’ve not seen before.
“The Analog+ is the first system of its kind to integrate a CD player directly into the turntable,” said Mixx CEO Prash Vadgama. “We wanted to create something truly distinctive, a product that celebrates the heritage of analogue music while embracing modern convenience.” Job done I reckon.
This Mixx combo unit has already launched in Europe, and is now available in the US via Sam’s Club for US$239. It’s due to land on Amazon US from March 26.
Product page: Mixx Analog+
