MIXX Analog Plus review: a 2 in 1 Vinyl and CD Player with bluetooth streaming

As I said with the previous audio hands-on, I"m no audio buff, but I do know the difference between good and bad-sounding speakers and headphones. I currently own the Logitech Z906 set on my daily PC, and also have a set of Edifier 360DB speakers paired to a PC through a Toslink, which was an upgrade from the very much older Creative MegaWorks 250D-THX after they stopped working.

Before we get underway, you might be asking yourself how MIXX positions this 2-in-1. Well, helpfully, they shared some key highlights in the presser documentation, which I"ll share below:

• Fully Automatic Turntable Playback
  Enjoy effortless vinyl listening with automatic tonearm control, skip, repeat, and stop functions –no manual adjustments required.
• Integrated CD Player with Track Display
  Play your favourite CDs with full track number and time info clearly shown on the display for easy navigation and playback control.
• Bluetooth Transmitter for Wireless Streaming
  Connect to Bluetooth-enabled speakers or headphones to enjoy records or CDs wirelessly – no cables, no hassle.
• Dual Output Options: AUX and Bluetooth
  Stream your music through AUX out for traditional setups or wirelessly via Bluetooth for a clean, modern experience.
• Complete Remote Control of All Functions
  Use the included infrared remote to control both the turntable and CD player from your sofa – including play, pause, skip, and repeat.
• Versatile Playback for 12” and 7” Vinyl Records
  Supports both 33 and 45 RPM speeds and multiple record sizes, offering flexible playback for all types of vinyl collections.

The packaging arrived in a big brown outer box. The inner box looks quite nice with all the important details stamped on the sides, along with some nice-looking pictures of the Analog Plus. I also have to give props to how well packaged it was, with everything taken into consideration about how fragile some of the components are.

What"s in the box

• 1 x Analog Plus Record Player
• 1 x Remote
• 1 x Twin male RCA to Twin male RCA cable
• 1 x Regional Power Adapter
• User Guide

With that out of the way, here are the specs:

Design

The Analog Plus comes in either Black or White, but as you can see from the pics, it is more of a dark grey/gunmetal grey color. In any case, the black variant is two-tone; if you don"t like that sort of thing, you can opt for White, which, according to the pictures I"ve seen, is completely white (not two-tone).

The front is completely smooth to the touch, even though it looks lightly textured; this is because the black colored top, sides, and rear do have a textured feel.

The controls are all located on the front right, and around the back, there are the RCA connector ports, a switch for Line Out (RCA) or Bluetooth, and the DC 12V barrel port.

On the top left side of the Analog Plus is where you will find the MIXX logo, and although it looks relatively large, thanks to the use of the grey coloring, and where you can also see the use of the two-tone colors at work, it actually looks subtle, this all results in a turntable that looks quite clean and devoid of a logo or additional text on the front of the player.

Usage

First, a disclaimer: I actually do not have a Bluetooth speaker, so I did not test that side of the Analog Plus, plus it"s an old-fashioned style switch on the back of the unit. I feel like it is awkwardly placed and could have been a button on the front of the unit instead.

Vinyl

The Analog Plus was connected to my Marantz Cinema 60 over an RCA cable to the AUX input. It must be noted here that the Analog Plus includes its own phono stage, so it isn"t possible to connect a pre-amp in between; this resulted in a somewhat lower volume over vinyl. When I use the Home Theater mode, volume is usually at around 50%, but for the same level with vinyl, it has to be on at least 60%.

I decided to listen to The Final Cut by Pink Floyd. Using the record player is fully automatic, insofar as there"s not even a handle on the stylus; this is to discourage users from placing it manually on records. When set to vinyl using the mode button (33, or 45 rpm), there"s also a size button with two circles overlapping, where you can set to 7-inch or 12-inch. Simply press play, and the Analog Plus does the rest.

Controls: (From left to right)

Quick note on the control buttons: they are rubber, not plastic, which adds to the premium feel of the device.

• Rewind (previous track)
• Repeat
• Stop
• Play/Pause
• Forward (next track)

LED Screen

• Size button (33 or 45rpm)
• FN (Mode button)
• Power

The only downside to automatic vinyl play is that the next or previous track doesn"t land at the correct place; it"s a common trait with even the more expensive turntables, though. In addition, and as outlined in the specs, the Analog Plus uses an Audio Technica AT3600L cartridge; from looking online, first and foremost, people judge it to deliver high quality for its price, and it is said to minimize pops while not being the most accurate or detailed cartridge around, but it is thought to be a very easy listen and thoroughly entertaining. I agree with that conclusion.

I filmed a YouTube Short of the (start of) vinyl playback that you can view here.

CD playback is the default

Moving onto the CD player, which is conveniently tucked under where a vinyl record normally goes, centered in the turntable, simply press on the plastic cover near the front, and the lid swings open, allowing you to place a CD. If already set to vinyl, use the "FN" mode button to switch to CD and hit play. For my testing, I used Animals by Pink Floyd, and I had no complaints about the audio.

After a certain amount of time, the CD stops spinning, but this is also because the Analog Plus includes its own memory buffer; it will only start spinning up again when the memory buffer needs to be filled with new data.

Does the Analog Plus support gapless playback?

Next, I placed Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd to test if gapless playback is supported, many classical albums are gapless, so it"s an important test scenario; unfortunately, the Analog Plus does not support gapless playback! That is definitely a major disappointment.

Normal music CDs, as well as CD-R and CD-RW, are supported so long as the format is WAV, MP3, or WMA.

Although you can safely leave a CD in the Analog Plus while using the vinyl mode, the downside to doing that is that when you power on the Analog Plus, it immediately switches to CD and resumes playback, even when you have stopped the CD before powering off. For some reason, the CD buffer seems to remember the last moment of playback, even between power cycles and physically stopping CD playback before powering off.

I filmed a YouTube Short of the (during) CD playback that you can view here.

Above you can see the LED screen in action with a CD playing, it displays the track time progress, as well as the track number.

Remote

The remote included with the Analog Plus appears to be a generic one, that"s most likely used with other models in the line up, because it has buttons on it that serve no function, such as COAX, OPT, BT (yes the Bluetooth button does nothing because it can"t physically toggle the switch on the rear of the player), LINE, USB, as well as function buttons like MOVIE, MUSIC, and DIALOG that do nothing. But overall, it looks quite stylish in comparison to some of the remotes you get with a Blu-Ray player that even has more functioning buttons.

Conclusion

All in all, I find this to be a clever solution to combine two audio products into one, and in doing so, it ends up looking quite nice too. It definitely has a premium vibe to it and doesn"t feel or look plasticky. Personally, I feel the price also reflects the target audience. Premium standalone CD players can run into the hundreds of dollars, but that higher premium usually comes with support for more formats and multi-channel sound —and that"s before we get into the wide spectrum cost of stand-alone premium turntables.

So who is it for?

If you"re just looking to bust out your vinyl collection once in a while, and still have a bunch of CDs that you can"t let go of, this all-in-one solution has you covered for a reasonable asking price relative to if you had to buy the two options separately. So what you end up with is your typical stereo CD and record player that even offers the possibility to stream that content over Bluetooth. It"s a space saver, and as I said before, the entire package looks good.

If I could speak to MIXX"s R&D directly, the first thing I"d suggest is to definitely support gapless CD playback, and I"d be asking for the second gen to support SACD, which means offering multi-channel connections over optical/COAX for the CD output, as well as the possibility to hook up a pre-amp in between for vinyl. Also, if Bluetooth is on the second gen, move it to the front control panel, or limit it to a remote control toggle.

This would obviously cost more, but you get what you pay for, and some people would happily pay more for the features I just mentioned. I have no complaints about the belt drive, which sounded accurate, and there was no audible hum or interference that you might expect if it were a direct drive turntable.

It"s a thumbs up from me for the casual vinyl and CD listening type, so long as your CDs aren"t gapless.

The MIXX Analog Plus is available to buy right now in the U.S. and U.K. at the links below.

• MIXX Analog Plus for $329 on Amazon U.S.
• MIXX Analog Plus for £304.99 on Amazon U.K.

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