Has anyone seen this? A really beautiful turntable

As per usual, this discussion has turned into several arguments. That’s OK. Terry, you seem to have presented evidence that it is worthwhile to have as noiseless a bearing as possible. With that sentiment, I wholeheartedly agree, and I am not at all surprised at the excellence of the performance of your DIY air bearing. Kudos to you, if what you report is accurate. But your bearing is a "real" bearing, not at all like that of the maglev turntable we are discussing, in that your bearing takes into account the necessary function of a turntable bearing: First and foremost, the bearing has to position the platter firmly and fixedly in space while also allowing for rotation in a plane perpendicular to the vertical only, with as low friction as possible. THEN you try to make it as quiet as possible, as you have done.

terry9, What evidence can you present that it is impossible to reduce bearing noise to the point where it is indeed "irrelevant"?  Bearing noise is never zero, but in well designed turntables, it is below audibility to a listener at the listening position.  Therefore, I kind of think the floating platter is a gimmick designed to appeal to those who are looking for a novelty item to show off to friends, rather than for good sound reproduction. Furthermore, there is or has to be a trade-off in stability of the rotation of the platter, with that device, because the center of rotation is not mechanically fixed in space.  That could lead to massive amounts of wow and tracing distortion.  Or maybe that's why it is reportedly off the market.  (Hearsay evidence for that, I admit.)

According to several posters on Vinyl Asylum, this company or this product has gone under.  The stories are conflicting.  One is that it cost too much to produce.  Another is that it cannot work with an MC cartridge because of the magnetic field.  And finally, another person wrote that it plain does not work reliably.