FiiO made its name in digital audio: portable players, DACs and headphone amplifiers. The FiiO TT13 is the company's first turntable, unveiled at High End Munich in 2024, and it enters one of the busiest corners of the hi-fi market.

Fully automatic decks with a built-in phono stage and Bluetooth, such as Audio-Technica's AT-LP60XBT, are built for people who want records without the setup. The TT13 follows that brief and adds an aluminium alloy top panel, a brass tonearm, a replaceable Audio-Technica cartridge, aptX HD Bluetooth and a feature that all but vanished from turntables decades ago: a button that plays a side on a loop.

We have been living with the black Bluetooth version, which FiiO sent us free of charge for this review. The question to settle is whether a company best known for digital players can build a turntable worth buying for its own sake, and who it suits.

The TT13 is a low, wide deck, about 450 x 350 x 114mm and roughly 3.85kg. The top panel is aluminium alloy, and it is the first thing you notice: the finish looks and feels premium, and the craftsmanship holds up close. FiiO sells it in black, silver and white; ours is black.

The platter is die-cast aluminium under a felt mat, with the drive belt already fitted to its underside. The tonearm is brass with a sprayed finish, which is why it passes for aluminium at a glance, and the counterweight is anodised aluminium alloy. Six round buttons sit along the front edge: power, speed and Bluetooth pairing on the left, and start/stop, repeat and arm lift on the right. Round the back are the record-size switch, a balance knob, the RCA outputs with a ground terminal, and the power inputs.

Then there is the lighting. An LED ring glows around the base of the platter and the FiiO logo lights up too, with seven lighting effects, a brightness control and an off switch. There is something very appealing about a blue glow under your turntable while you play records, and it is one of the details we enjoy most.

The clear dust cover lifts off completely if you would rather run without it. It is also the source of our one physical complaint: the lid builds up static, which pulls in more dust than we would like. More on why, and what helps, below.

Here is the full specification sheet, from FiiO's own published figures:

With no predecessor to measure against, the fair comparison is the budget automatic decks the TT13 sits alongside. Two things stand out on paper: a line output of 800mV, which is plenty to drive active speakers directly, and aptX HD Bluetooth, which carries more detail than the basic SBC codec every Bluetooth device supports.

Some limitations are worth naming plainly. The phono stage cannot be switched off and there is no phono output, so you cannot run the TT13 through a better external phono stage later. It also means the deck must go into a line or AUX input, never an amplifier's phono input, or the signal gets amplified twice. Tracking force is set at the factory to suit the AT3600LA (which Audio-Technica rates at 3.5g, plus or minus 0.5g), which spares beginners a fiddly job but makes a move to a lighter-tracking cartridge harder. And Bluetooth is obviously only on the Bluetooth version, a $10 step up in the US.

The TT13 is built for anyone putting together a simple system around a pair of active speakers. The 800mV line output plugs straight into powered speakers with the supplied RCA cable, so there is no separate phono stage to buy, no amplifier to find room for, and one fewer box on the shelf.

The Bluetooth version widens that further. It transmits to wireless speakers and headphones, which is great if you do not want speaker cables trailing across the room, and it makes late-night listening on headphones easy. Add fully automatic play and the loop button, and it suits long listening sessions and parties where nobody wants to keep an eye on the run-out groove.

It also works as the vinyl source in an existing hi-fi, as long as it goes into a line input. Connect the ground lead too; it drains the small electrical noise the tonearm and chassis can pick up, which otherwise shows up as hum.

It is the wrong deck for DJs. Belt drive, no pitch control and an automatic arm make it no use for beatmatching or scratching, and anyone who wants to experiment with cartridges will run into that factory-set tracking force.

Setup takes a few minutes. The platter goes on, the pre-fitted belt slips over the motor pulley with the help of a paper tab, and the cartridge guard comes off. The cartridge arrives fitted and aligned, and the tracking force is already set, so there is no counterweight to balance.

From there it is one button. Press start and the arm lifts, travels to the lead-in groove and lowers itself; at the end of the side it lifts and returns to its rest. The 7 and 12 inch switch on the back tells the arm where to drop. The infrared remote covers start and stop, repeat, arm movement and the lighting.

Then there is the loop function, which is a cool addition. Press repeat and the TT13 replays the side until you tell it otherwise. It is rare on a modern turntable. The feature was common on fully automatic decks in the 1970s and 80s (Technics' SL-1310, built between 1975 and 1977, had a Memo-Repeat dial that replayed a side a set number of times), then it all but disappeared. Only a handful of current decks offer it, among them the Victrola Automatic, the Rekkord F110 and FiiO's own less expensive TT11.

Now the static. Clear plastic is a good insulator, so wiping it or lifting it builds up an electrical charge that has nowhere to drain, and that charge pulls airborne dust onto the lid and, when it is open, towards your records. An anti-static cloth for the lid helps, and an anti-static record brush like the one in our guide to five essential tools every vinyl owner needs keeps the records themselves clean.

The heart of the TT13 is its built-in phono stage. A moving magnet cartridge produces a tiny signal, a few thousandths of a volt, far too weak for speakers or an amplifier's line input. Records are also cut with the bass turned down and the treble turned up, a standard curve known as RIAA equalisation that lets the grooves fit and keeps surface noise down. A phono stage does two jobs: it amplifies that signal to line level and applies the reverse curve to restore the original balance. FiiO does it with two JRC5532 op-amps in series and brings the output up to 800mV.

The signal starts at the Audio-Technica AT3600LA. In a moving magnet design, the stylus carries a tiny magnet that moves between fixed coils as it traces the groove, generating the voltage the phono stage works with. It is a long-serving, widely used cartridge, and replacement styli are cheap and easy to find, which matters because a stylus wears with use.

Sound quality is fantastic, and the Audio-Technica cartridge is a nice addition. There is wonderful representation across the full frequency range, and the soundstage and spatial imaging are honest: instruments sit where the mix puts them, without the stereo picture being stretched or flattered.

The TT13 is quiet, too. With the deck grounded, there is no noticeable hum or hiss between tracks or when nothing is playing. Hum usually comes from electrical interference picked up by the arm and chassis, which is exactly what the ground lead drains away; hiss comes from the phono stage itself, and it is easiest to hear when the music stops.

Bluetooth holds up just as well. Hooked up to a pair of Bluetooth speakers, we noticed no degradation in sound quality. Bluetooth has to compress audio to send it through the air, and how much gets thrown away depends on the codec both ends agree on. aptX HD carries 24-bit audio at a higher data rate than standard aptX or SBC, so less is lost on the way, provided the speakers or headphones at the other end support it.

Speed stability plays its part too. FiiO rates wow and flutter at 0.15% or less; that figure measures how steadily the platter turns, and a high one shows up as a wavering pitch on long, sustained notes.

Then there is the drive. The TT13 is belt driven: the motor sits off to one side and turns the platter through a rubber belt, which soaks up motor vibration before it can reach the stylus. Direct drive puts the motor under the platter, driving it straight, which gives far more torque, near-instant start-up and speed that holds steady even with a hand on the record. That is why club decks are direct drive, and we do prefer one. That is probably our inner DJ speaking out loud, though. For sitting down and listening to a record, belt drive is no handicap.

Yes. The FiiO TT13 is inexpensive, yet it sounds more expensive than it is. It is well made, the built-in phono stage and Bluetooth mean it needs very little else to make music, and the loop button is a cool extra that few rivals offer.

In the UK, Audio Affair sells the Bluetooth version at £239. In the US it costs $239.99, or $249.99 with Bluetooth, and FiiO's EU store has the Bluetooth version at €240.83. The TT13 has been on sale since 2024, so stock is thinning; Audio Affair and FiiO itself are the places to look. We think the price is justified: an aluminium alloy top panel, a brass arm, a replaceable Audio-Technica cartridge, aptX HD and full automation are rare together at this level.

It suits anyone building a simple system around active or Bluetooth speakers, and anyone who wants records without fuss. It does not suit DJs, or listeners who plan to upgrade the cartridge and run an external phono stage.

The FiiO TT13 scores 8/10: a well-made, easy-going turntable that sounds better than its price suggests.

That second group should look at FiiO's own TT11, which sits below the TT13 at around $179. It is also fully automatic with a repeat button, but it adds a switchable phono output for an external phono stage and adjustable tracking force for cartridge upgrades. The trade-offs are a lower 530mV line output and a black or wood-grain finish in place of the TT13's aluminium top panel.

FiiO supplied the TT13 reviewed here free of charge. Free products are only provided to aid our testing and do not affect our honest opinion.

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