A $300-$400 turntable tweak

Here is one more vote for NOT using the ring. I, too, found that my Clearaudio periphery ring was making the music more digital like than analog. Since I had bought it i kept using it in the beginning wondering what is going on- never occurred to me that the ring might be the culprit. Since 'common sense' will tell you that a flatter record should perform better. after trying many tweaks. adjustments, one day i just omitted the ring and Valla! Glorious Analog sound.

I still have the ring and use it with few warped records- reluctantly.

"IME, the sonic benefits of keeping a mechanical path to drain away vibrations trump the lower noise levels of a floating bearing. OTOH, if the finish and lubrication of the bearing points is such that significant noise and vibration are generated as a result of the mechanical contact, you may arrive at different conclusions."

That is an interesting explanation. May be that is why I tend to prefer mechanical bearing vs Magnetic bearing in my Clearaudio Master Ref analog set up. The Magnetic bearing may not have efficient vib drain path (just a spindle of some ceramic material) to the Everest Stand my CMR rests on