A DJ preamp is only around $40 over here, and laugh as some may be want to do about such a cheap little thing, theyre just fine. The weak end in the chain is usually the cartridge, then deck itself, with motor noise and/or wow/flutter caused by too light of a platter on the top of annoyances. A preamps quality starts to matter when you get on the high end of the other stuff first, and the DJ ones are still better than what you find built into much mid to high end componentry from the 70s-80s.
The Project with proper line out is a nice clean option, Id say its perfect for somebody that gets the bug after starting out cheaper: for about a third of that, you can equip that decent vintage TT that somebody in the family always has with aShure/Grado/Stanton/Orotofon (the order of cheap carts I like) and either use a preamp or old receiver. It does seem that DJ preamps are more spendy in the UK for some dumb reason.
I just posted the original as Id never seen a usb out before. Surely its a fun toy/tool for the 14 y/o comp whiz that was born ten years after LPs dropped out of common production--and doesnt know better.
