Majority Moto 2.0 review: an astoundingly cheap Bluetooth record player with USB – but that comes with compromises
Majority Moto 2.0: two-minute review
The Majority Moto 2.0 is the first record player from the budget audio company: the number isn’t a version number but a reference to the built-in 2.0-speaker setup. It is an entire music system in a single box: thanks to its built-in speakers and Bluetooth 5.3, you can stream audio from your phone or computer as well as play records, and even rip them to digital via your PC, thanks to its USB port.
The Majority Moto 2.0 is clearly aimed at someone who doesn’t have an existing sound system of any kind and it offers a lot of features for relatively little money. There are, of course, many compromises at its £79 price compared to the best turntables, but the Moto 2.0 is better than you might expect, due in part to the inclusion of a good-quality Audio-Technica cartridge. However, we did experience some quality issues with our review unit that suggest this is a record player that’ll need careful handling.
The Moto 2.0 is clearly designed to be your first turntable that covers all the bases: Bluetooth streaming to headphones or speakers and from other devices, USB output for recording, even the ability to play ancient 78s as well as the much more common 45 and 33 and 1/3 speeds.
But you shouldn’t expect room-shaking volume from those integrated speakers: they don’t go loud because if they did, their vibration would do a Taylor Swift to your tonearm and shake it off. The sub chassis is separate to isolate it from their vibrations and copes fine with the volume levels available, but if you’ve got a big space or like to listen loud you’ll want to connect an amp, or wirelessly connect it to one of the best Bluetooth speakers that you place on a different surface, or to some of the best wireless headphones.
I would encourage people to step up to the similar-but-just-overall-better Audio-Technica AT-LP60XBT if you can, which also offers Bluetooth and USB, and is fully automatic, but offers no built-in speakers… however, it’s around twice the price of the Majority, so if you want to keep it under £100, this is still a solid choice.
Majority Moto 2.0 review: Price and release date
- Released in February 2024
- Available in UK and Europe
- £79.95 / €99.95
Despite a very low price, the Moto 2.0 is packed with features including one very significant one: it comes with an Audio-Technica AT3600L cartridge, which is definitely unusual at this end of the market. That cartridge alone typically retails for around £20, or one-quarter of this entire turntable’s price.
For comparison, consider than Pro-Ject’s super-cheap (for Pro-Ject) entry-level turntable, the E1, is around £200, and doesn’t have speakers, USB, a phono stage or Bluetooth (though more expensive versions do have those things). However, it does sound a lot better as a result, as our Pro-Ject E1 review will attest.
Majority Moto 2.0 review: Features
- Bluetooth and USB
- Three turntable speeds
- Integrated speakers and phono stage
You can’t fault the feature list here: it does basically everything a turntable can do.
It has three playing speeds, and while it’s not fully automatic, it does have auto-stop. There’s an integrated phono stage if you want to connect it to an amp – though as mentioned before, it has its own speakers, so you don’t technically need to.
It also has Bluetooth, and this goes in both directions: you can beam your records out to Bluetooth speakers, or you can send music over to the Moto 2.0 and listen over its built-in speakers. There’s no aptX or anything else higher-res, though. It also has an aux-out if you prefer the best wired headphones to wireless ones.
And with a USB port on board, you can connect it to a computer and record your vinyl to a digital file – either because you want to preserve rare tracks that aren’t available elsewhere, or just to capture the song complete with crackles.
Features score: 5 / 5
Majority Moto 2.0 review: Sound quality
- Better than you might expect
- Built-in speakers aren’t great
- Speakers aren’t built for bass
There’s a limit to how much air two small speakers can push, but while the Moto isn’t very loud the sound is pleasant enough on well-recorded records at reasonable levels; it’s bass-light but does the job provided you don’t turn the volume up too much. Do that and the sound starts to get harsh, the middle frequencies taking over as the speakers struggle.
One key thing the integrated speakers don’t do is deliver a sweet spot, that perfect place where the soundstage is at its most immersive. To do that you need the sound waves to be coming towards you and the speakers some distance apart; these speakers are just an album’s width apart and send their soundwaves towards the ceiling.
Things improve considerably when you team up the turntable with external, forward facing speakers or a decent set of headphones, but the flaws are more apparent too: there’s noticeable mechanical noise in the quieter bits. If you’re listening to songs with a lot of sustained notes, such as U2’s With Or Without You, you might also notice some slight speed variation. It’s not apparent on faster, choppier songs, and vocal vibrato tends to hide it for singing. But it’s audible on very clear, sustained tones such as Edge’s trademark infinite guitar.
No matter what you listen on, the sound is slightly boxy and cluttered in the way so many budget audio products are: everything’s doing its best but the overall result lacks the spaciousness, separation and sparkle that you get with better-quality gear.
A lot depends on what you’re listening to: give it some yacht rock with some expensive-studio smoothness and it’s really rather nice, although the lush arrangements of Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours lose some of their sparkle here with an emphasis on the cookie-tin snare drums and rubber-band bass.
More electronic pop such as Sigrid’s second album is fun when it’s well separated but feels claustrophobic in the busier tracks: there’s a lack of air and low-end separation, with harshness creeping in as you turn the volume up. That harshness is particularly apparent with heavier genres of music, especially modern rock featuring brick-wall compression designed to make everything louder than everything else.
This isn’t an audiophile product. But it’s a fun one, especially if you skip the built-in speakers and hook up something more substantial either by Bluetooth or via an amp: connecting the turntable to an Ultimate Ears Wonderboom added some of the bass the built-in speakers lacked, and connecting the Moto to my Onkyo amp and Bowers & Wilkins bookshelf speakers was better still. Is it up there with turntables that cost four times the price or more? Absolutely not. But with decent speakers it doesn’t sound like it cost £80 either.
Sound quality score: 3 / 5
Majority Moto 2.0 review: Design
- Unusual platter placement
- Integrated speakers and lots of connectivity
- Feels a bit fragile
The Moto 2.0 comes in a dark wood effect with black hardware, with the wooden section overhanging the front and sides of the chassis. The two built-in speakers are behind circular black grilles facing directly upwards from the top front of the turntable and the controls are on the front and sides. On top of the dampened sprung platter there’s a slipmat to keep your records in place.
The Moto 2.0 is smaller than many turntables, at just 38cm wide compared to the much more common 43cm. And the platter is smaller than usual too, at 20cm/8 inches. The speaker placement means the platter is oddly positioned: instead of sitting centrally it’s off-centre, nearer the back than the front. That means if you’re playing 12-inch records they will extend beyond the rear border of the turntable and through a space in the back of the dust cover.
There are some issues, however. The plastics here are cheap-looking, especially at the speed switch, and the tonearm is very thin and feels eminently breakable. Between these and the upfiring speaker design that doesn’t lend itself to ideal audio quality, there are definitely flaws to how this is put together.
Design score: 3 / 5
Majority Moto 2.0 review: Usability and setup
- All you need to do is plug it in
- Switches and controls are around the edge
- Doesn’t get much easier
This turntable is all about simplicity, and because everything’s in one unit all you need to do is remove the protective cover from the stylus and the plastic wire from the tonearm, plug the power supply into the wall and turn it on. So for a user-friendly beginner turntable, you can’t get much better than that.
The two most important controls – the on/volume and the audio source – are both on the front along with the 3.5mm headphone socket. Other connection options are easily accessed along the edges, so no usability struggles there.
Frankly, it doesn’t get any easier for your first turntable than this.
Usability and setup score: 5 / 5
Majority Moto 2.0 review: Value
- You get a lot for your money…
- …but you’re paying for features you might not use
- Quality is limited, though
The sub-£100 turntable market should probably be labelled “here be monsters”, but the Majority is not one of them: you’d be hard pushed to get a better value turntable at this price. It’s less than half of the price we’d typically expect to pay for a decent budget turntable.
However, the trade-off for that low price is audio quality, especially if you’re going to be listening via the integrated speakers: they’re okay but they’re not great. If you’re serious about sound quality you might want to save a little longer for something like the Pro-Ject E1 if you want to go the hi-fi route, or the Audio-Technica AT-LP60XBT if you want to stick with something with Bluetooth and USB. Or scour the second-hand market for a bargain.
Value score: 4 / 5
Should you buy the Majority Moto 2.0?
| Attributes | Notes | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Features | You can’t fault the feature list here: it’s a one box audio system that doubles as a Bluetooth speaker. | 5/5 |
| Sound quality | Sound quality is better than you’d expect for the price, but those integrated speakers aren’t great. | 3/5 |
| Design | The Moto is smaller than most and has an offset platter; the tonearm is very thin and feels flimsy, and the upfiring speakers aren’t ideal.. | 3/5 |
| Usability and setup | Exceptionally easy to set up and use, and you can connect it to an external amp and speakers. | 5/5 |
| Value | We don’t expect much from sub-£100 turntables so this was a pleasant surprise. It’s a good option if you need an affordable all-in-one. | 4/5 |
Buy it if…
Don’t buy it if…
Majority Moto 2.0 review: Also consider
How I tested the Majority Moto 2.0
- Tested at home for two weeks with more than a dozen new and used records
- Tested solo, on headphones and through an external amp and speakers
- Streamed Apple Music from iPhone
I tested the Majority Moto 2.0 at home, focusing on its vinyl performance and listening intensely to records I know inside-out across a range of genres from the most polished productions to ragged punk rock. I also streamed Apple Music from my iPhone to test its streaming prowess.
When I connected the Moto 2.0 to other equipment I used Beyedynamic wired headphones, which are known for their relatively flat performance (so reveal the sound of the underlying player well), and an Onkyo amp with the direct setting engaged to bypass the bass and treble circuits. The amp was connected to a set of Bowers & Wilkins bookshelf speakers, giving the Moto access to some pretty sweet-sounding hardware in order to show what it’s capable of.
Source: www.techradar.com
