Budget-friendly Obi3 is Kanto’s first turntable and we’re intrigued
Kanto is known for its bookshelf speakers and is now making a Bluetooth turntable to match. Meet the affordable Obi3
The Canadian audio company Kanto is getting into vinyl. The company, more commonly associated with desktop and bookshelf speakers, has announced its first ever record player in hopes of joining the ranks of the best turntables.
The £179/$199 Kanto Odi3 is an affordable record player with Bluetooth capabilities, so, naturally, it’ll play nice with the company’s powered Bluetooth speakers like the Kento Ren.
The sleekly-designed, belt-driven vinyl player has pretty much everything beginners and budget-conscious music fans seek. As well as the ability to connect to listeners existing speaker set-ups, including RCA hookups, and headphones. it also has a phono pre-amp. So no need to buy an external model.
It’s compatible with 33 1/3 and 45RPM speeds for singles, EPs and LPs. There’s a reliable hand on-board in the form of the pre-installed Audio-Technical AT3600L cartridge. We’ve seen that cartridge on more expensive machines like the FiiO TT13. The support for pitch control isn’t always a given at this price point either, so on paper it seems like a good deal may be in the offing.
The first in what Kanto says is a new series of players certainly arrives talking a good game. The company says the Bluetooth 5.3-compatible Obi3 “reimagines traditional hi-fi for contemporary listeners.” That reimagining is long established by Bluetooth-enabled turntables that have been on the scene for well over a decade.
“We see the Obi3 as the foundation for what comes next” says Kanto’s marketing man Brett Smalley. “We make speakers, subs and speaker stands and have been working on a turntable as a source for our systems. There’s a new generation rediscovering vinyl not as nostalgia, but as a ritual. Obi3 is built for them and it’s about accessibility, design and the sound we all love”.
The minimalist Kanto Obi3 is available in black, white and green so it should fit a number of room aesthetics. It’s out in the UK and the US in November. We’ll look forward to giving it a try. It certainly sounds like it has the guts to take on some of the budget-friendly champions like the Audio Technicha AT-LP70XBT.
Chris Smith
