“Test Your Turntable’s Speed with Just Your Phone: A Review of this App”

‘RPM – Turntable Speed Accuracy’ is an app that allows users to test their turntable’s revolutions per minute (RPM) speed with nothing more than their phone to ensure the best audio quality possible for record listening.

And if you love listening to vinyl records like I do, this app is a must.

Nothing beats the experience of getting a turntable set up just right, tinkering with speaker settings for the perfect sound, and of course, getting to own physical copies of your favourite artists’ work without renting or streaming. It all comes together in perfect harmony once the needle drops and the warm crackle of the record fills the room.

However, there’s a reason music streaming has come to dominate today’s music market, and it’s not just portability.

Countless elements go towards ensuring the best possible audio quality for vinyl records. Whether it’s making sure the records themselves are dust and scratch-free, adjusting external amplifiers, or even splurging on a better tonearm; at-home listening is never as easy as popping on a track through Spotify or Apple Music.

Before I made the switch to my current AT-LP60X Belt-Drive turntable, I found that my old turntable wasn’t spinning at the correct speed. More often than not, I would have everything set up perfectly, only to be met with haunting Axl Rose vocals that were slowed, distorted and frankly demonic. When I would blindly adjust the rotation speed, I would instead get Eddie Van Halen shredding solos at speeds that aren’t humanly possible, even for him. Turns out, this is a problem that plagues many turntable owners.

That was until I found RPM – Turntable Speed Accuracy on the App Store. This app allows users to see how many rotations per minute their turntable is spinning at, allowing for easy adjustments if it’s spinning too slow or too fast.

Companies design records to spin at varying speeds, and this app allows for various speeds to be verified, whether it be 16, 33.3, 45, or 78 RPM.

It works by using the built-in gyroscope in your iPhone to determine the rotation speed of the turntable. Simply start up the app and place your phone on the center of the turntables platter. Once flipped on, the app will automatically display the rotation speed, the speed setting the turntable is using, and how accurate it is.

There’s an option for the RPM speed display to be locked into place as the turntable rotates, which is helpful for reading speeds in real-time (it’s also incredibly mesmerizing to watch). The display on the app will hold green once it’s spinning at the correct speed, allowing for on-the-fly adjustments if your turntable allows for it.

Additionally, the app shows a scrolling graph of the RPM accuracy variation over time, so you can see how changes are affecting the turntable’s speed and adjust accordingly. Users can also save these changes to view later, giving them a history of their speeds over time.

A recent update to the app brought in the Worldwide RPM Turntable Accuracy Database, letting users research what other RPM users are finding out about their turntable’s accuracy, which is a welcomed touch to an already loaded app.

The app, made by Philip Broder, is available for free in the App Store. RPM – Turntable Speed Accuracy is not available for Android, although similar apps do exist in the Google Play Store. Users can also choose to upgrade to enable unlimited measurements, continuous display, and ad removal for $20.99.

Image credit: App Store