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3 New UBER Decks - Is this Turntable's SwanSong? šŸ¦¢

Michael Fremer has recently reviewed three new turntables designed to be the 'Last Word', 'Cost no Object' STATEMENTS!!!!........Do I recall hearing this claim before??
I love Mikey and have followed (and trusted) him for decades.
He has been the longest and foremost published 'champion' of the superiority of vinyl (uber alles) in the world.
I am thus ecstatic that he has been able to listen and compare these decks in his own room, with his own equipment virtually side-by-side
It's almost a 'given' that he will be the ONLY person on earth given that privilege....

So what Mikey HEARS.....is indisputable

Given his 'character' and desire for accuracy and honesty.....years ago, Mikey started including some 'objective' measurements in his turntable reviews.
These measurements were done utilising the Dr Feikert PlatterSpeed App which has since been discontinued.
As the App only worked with the Mac iOS of many variations ago.....Mikey has kept an old iPhone which can still operate the App.
The PlatterSpeed App had a few technical limitations.....
Foremost amongst these, was its dependence on a 7" record with an embedded 3150 Hz Frequency track to produce a test-tone which the App could process through its algorithm to produce the graphs and all the corresponding numbers.
To stamp hundreds of 7" discs with perfectly 'centred' HOLES is a nigh impossibility.
It's almost impossible to do it with a 12" disc!!!

This means that ALL the figures produced in their Chart Info are dubious and mostly UNREPEATABLE!!!!
I have Chart Infos for the same turntable/arm combination but with the 7" disc moved slightly producing different figures.
I even have Chart Infos produced with the same turntable but different arms ALL with different figures (the arms are in different positions surrounding my TURNTABLE).

So what is my point......?
The GRAPH produced with the PlatterSpeed App is accurate and USEABLE when looking at the 'Green' Lowpass-Filtered Frequency.
If the hole was PERFECTLY centred.....this 'Green' line would be perfectly STRAIGHT......but only if the turntable was maintaining its speed PERFECTLY.
The wobbles in the 'Green' line are due to the hole's eccentricity as well as any speed aberrations.
So the best performing turntables are those with the most constant and even wobbles approaching as closely as possible a STRAIGHT LINE.

Now the SAT Direct Drive Motor is actually the same as Technics developed for their latest SL-1000R except with some bespoke modifications.
It appears that SAT have corrupted what is a very good DD Motor unit....šŸ„“

Mikey says that the OMA-K3 produced the best PlatterApp figures of any turntable he has tested šŸ‘
Does this mean that the OMA-K3 is the most accurate turntable of these three decks.....or maybe of ALL turntables?

Mikey can't (and won't) test and review products from the past which are no longer produced because that's not his job!
But wouldn't it be great if someone WOULD review products from the past against the modern equivalent?
Classic turntables with reputations....gravitas...like the legendary EMT 927 and Micro Seiki SX-5000 and SX-8000.
And what about the NOW lauded Japanese DD Turntables from the '80s...the 'Golden Age' of Analogue?
  • Technics SP-10Mk3
  • Kenwood L-07D
  • Pioneer P3
  • Victor TT-101
  • Yamaha GT-2000
Because we know that Direct Drive is now 'Flavour of the Month' for the new Uber Decks due to their superior speed accuracy....a 'Flavour' that started with the legendary Rockport Sirius III.
But what about Belt-Drive units like my 20 year-old Raven?
So much for science and technology.......

We can do things today that were only dreamt of even 10 years ago
Except learn from history, harvest experience, expertise and craftsmanship......

Here endeth the Sermon for today šŸ¤—


halcro

Showing 1 response by emailists

emailists
923 posts
 
While turntables are not easy for the average person to truly compare, especially since they need the same arm and cart, I can relay some of my own experience upgrading tables.

Speed stability is a fantastic thing (listen to some Plangent process digital masterings vs. a standard one and you hear how solid it sounds when tape machine wow and flutter is corrected.

However Iā€™m not sure thatā€™s where the sonic benefits come from comparing well designed tables.

Many years ago I upgraded from a Raven One table that I heavily tweaked. It sat on a Halcyonics active vibration table with a Sistrum stand bypassing the tableā€™s feet. It had a TTW copper platter top/clamp/ periphery ring and tape leader as a belt. It was a fantastic sounding table and taken to another level with tweeks.

I became so enamored with TTWā€™s accessories, I bought their Momentus Supreme table driven by 3 belts. I was expecting an improvement, but a nuanced one.

I put the same Graham Phantom II arm and Strain Gauge cart on the TTW and I was pretty shocked to hear just how much more dynamic the music was, and how much wider bandwidth it had.

This was just the pure table without vibration table or copper platter top. It was truly eye opening and a good lesson I suppose on how there is no getting around physics, at least as analog goes.

I can only imagine what a cost no object table sounds like..... (of course Iā€™ve set myself up for someone to come back and say.... ā€œit sounds like a $1000 dacā€)

I havenā€™t fired up my Adjust Plus software (a more complex version of the App the measurement in this topic were taken from- but came with a 12ā€ LP) in a very long time, because Iā€™m a Mac guy and itā€™s PC only, but Iā€™m now tempted to get it going and test out my tableā€™s speed stability.
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