The Best Cheap Karaoke Machines, According to Home Entertainment Experts
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For most people, karaoke is a casual, booze-fueled activity that doesn’t require a professional setup. A cheap karaoke machine that’ll mix their vocals with Journey anytime they want will suffice. And while the karaoke bars that survived COVID closures have reopened, Michael Chien of 101 Karaoke reports that prices are high, around $300 to $500 a night for a private room, and the number of Americans who live within close vicinity of one is a slim percentage. Regular bars that have karaoke nights require singing in front of strangers, a second choice activity behind an extended TSA line for most, so buying a machine for karaoke nights at home has an obvious upside.
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Even if it’s only used a few nights a year, a cheap karaoke machine provides an opportunity to unseriously sing songs not in front of strangers at a tolerable price. The average cheap karaoke machine that’ll get the job done sits between $80-$150, well below the thousands of dollars true karaoke nuts will spend to turn their spare room into a Tokyo-level karaoke bokkusu.
What the Experts Say
Sources within the karaoke industry, which is more of a subset of home entertainment than anything, say that there are plenty of cheap karaoke machines that will do the trick for less ambitious singers. For this story, SPY interviewed Chien, a karaoke fan who now sells premium machines online, and Mark Steinberg, a senior technologist at B&H Photo Video whose experience in home entertainment technology goes back to repairing TVs with salvaged cathode ray tubes. They helped sort through the best cheap karaoke machines from crappy machines that’ll conk out midway through ABBA’s Greatest Hits.
Chien, a believer in investing in karaoke technology, cautioned against trimming one’s budget too much. “If you want a cheaper machine, your experience with that machine will be what you pay. There is a difference,” Chien says.
Steinberg says the most important criterion for a cheap karaoke machine that’s worth buying is a microphone that works. After that, very few other features are worth the money. ”You plug it in, or you connect by Bluetooth, and then the machine should have a very simple mixer built into it where you can balance the streaming music from another device against the microphone input.” And that’s it. Anything else is a “waste of time.”
Built-in song interfaces, more powerful speakers, multiple microphones, and more control over the audio are what he says you can and should pay more for if it’s within your budget, but those are the bare minimum basics.
The Best Cheap Karaoke Machines for Casual Hobbyists
BEST OVERALL
Karaoke USA GQ410 Portable MP3 Karaoke Player with Bluetooth and Rechargeable Battery
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Steinberg says this machine “is the least expensive thing that I recommend. [It’s] perfect for your low-end customer that wants to buy something that comes with a microphone.” There’s a single wired microphone, rudimentary lighting, and no visual interface or on-board song storage. But given that most people want to stream music from their own device anyways, the Bluetooth, USB, and auxiliary connections more than make up for those omissions.
It’s also nice that a machine that depends on another device’s input offers a place to rest that device. We’re also fans of the second ¼-inch input for a second mic (sold separately), the internal battery that makes al fresco karaoke possible, and the basic echo and balance knobs. These are admittedly simple audio controls that are nevertheless welcome on a machine at this price point.
BEST FOR DUETS
Karaoke USA GF844 Multimedia Karaoke Machine with Bluetooth and MPS/CD+G
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Made For: Singing with a friend. After “Does it have Bluetooth?” Steinberg says “Duets are the second thing most people ask about.” Understandable, as it takes a bit less courage to step up to the mic if someone is next to you ready to embarrass themselves as well. This machine includes two wired mics which slot nicely into the top of the machine when not in use. If you’re a little bit country but your singing partner is a little bit rock ‘n roll, it’s really a great choice.
Why It Stands Out: For just $100 more, this machine includes both an onboard disc player that can handle throwback DVD, CD+G, and MP3+G discs and a seven-inch LCD display. This means no one has to sacrifice their phone or tablet to be the designated lyrics display for the evening when using a compatible format.
BEST FOR KIDS
McPioneer Kids Karaoke Machine
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Made For: Karaoke kids. This is the one Steinberg recommends for children interested in singing, not just playing. “Don’t even both with them okay?” he says.
Why It Stands Out: Everything about this machine is tiny and designed for kids. It’s just 4 ½ inches long on its longest sides, making it portable even for small hands. Its small size gives it a weak speaker and a dearth of audio controls beyond volume and echo, but that’s less important since most kids won’t notice or care.
BEST FOR TINKERERS
Pyle Pro UHF 2-Channel Wireless Handheld Microphone System
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Made For: A karaoke amateur who wants to build their system into an all-in-one solution. This more complex system allows for more fine-tuned audio mixing and echo adjustment, and it’s attached to external speakers for better volume. And don’t worry, it still has Bluetooth.
Coolest Feature: The included ultra-high frequency (UHF) wireless mics operate in the 510 to 590 megahertz (MHz) frequency range. Steinberg explains that’s a range used on “professional wireless mics, so it’s a better quality mic” that “helps eliminate a lot of the interference” that can ruin a soulful, if off-key, rendition of Boyz II Men’s “End of the Road.”
Frequently Asked Questions About Karaoke Machines
Wouldn’t it be cheaper just to plug a mic into my home stereo?
This idea is common but ill-advised. “You can destroy your speakers,” Steinberg warns, because normal speakers aren’t built to handle plosives — certain aggressive syllables like those in “pumpkin” and “baton”— when sung into a mic.
Do I have to pay for songs?
Probably. The easiest option is to use one of the bevy of karaoke streaming services — Singa, Smule, and Starmaker among them — typically available with a subscription or per-song fee. Old karaoke discs in CD+G or DVD formats can also be found for pretty cheap, but the drawbacks are obvious, namely the lack of any recently released music. Real cheapskates can try searching for “[name of song] karaoke” on YouTube, with varying, questionably legal, results.
Is there a cheap karaoke machine that can make me sound like a good singer?
There are features like pitch correction (also known as autotune) and different kinds of echos that can make a bad singer sound better when singing, but cheap karaoke machines don’t have them. Like private plane travel and quality healthcare, sounding good singing “Life Is a Highway” without musical talent is a luxury reserved for the wealthy in America.
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