If I could afford, I’d purchase 100% Oswald Mills Audio gear

i think one has to approach OMA products ignoring the price. maybe you buy them because you have to have their performance.

.........or your interior designer says that the OMA product would look perfect in your Palm Beach bungalow.

.........but unfortunately some will end up buying them mostly because of the price. that is sad.

from what i have read and heard from some who heard it, the new OMA K3 tt does not have a presentation that would appeal to me. i prefer tt’s that expand and deliver the full note and pull me into the music. so it’s price is irrelevant.....to me. i do mostly like how it looks. but that has little value to me personally for hifi gear.

i absolutely respect the OMA K3 as a product that accomplished what was intended. and it will be the answer for some. whether it’s because of how it sounds, or looks, or what it costs.

as a consumer of expensive turntables, i’m a candidate for the K3. what does that mean? if sufficiently motivated, i could re-task some of my hifi system assets into the K3. (not suggesting that there are not others here that could also buy a K3, but i’m also committed enough to vinyl to actually pull the trigger).

but the K3 is not my cup of tea sonically. it does not sufficiently hold onto the the note sustain. it cuts it off. is that musical truth? what does truth mean?

i own 4 turntables which all deal with note sustain differently, and i tend to prefer the one that does it longest, then play the one least that does it least.

the lack of vacuum hold-down is not a deal killer for me, but the musical implications of the fluid suspension as opposed to other approaches only make the note sustain issue worse. and raise the noise floor which is also a factor.

i’m fine with the aesthetics, even the arm (i’m a fan of Mr. Schroder’s arms) and while Jonathan has not always played nice, i could move past that long enough to buy one if it sounded like it would have to, to justify my commitment to it.

for me it starts and ends with performance.

i will add that i enthusiastically applaud OMA’s efforts to build their vision of a SOTA turntable. and even admire their road less traveled. i’m glad to be a vinyl lover at a time when these type products exist and that we have the marketplace to sustain them.

i’m betting that the hedge fund whales will have their interior designers spec’ing this new "bauble to have" enough times to keep the OMA fires burning. hard core vinyl lovers? the jury is out. unlikely that 'we' are the target audience.

@lewm

Mike, have you heard the K3 or are you extrapolating from your vast prior experience as to its sonic character? Also, would you care to mention which of your turntables wins the sustain trophy? I’m guessing it’s a belt drive type.

my take is based on feedback; (1) mostly Fremer’s review, but also.....(2) feedback from ears i trust who has heard it in Fremer’s room, and (3) feedback that people who have heard digital transfers from it compared to other similar transfers from other tt’s under review.

all those sources are saying the same thing. they respect it, but hear what it’s doing.....and not doing.

my take is also based on looking at the design and how it approaches each design aspect. having owned a number of direct drive turntables; the Rockport Sirius III, which had an air suspension, air bearing, and linear tracking air bearing arm. the Technics SP-10 Mk2 and Mk3, EMT 948 and Wave Kinetics NVS with active isolation.......the presentation feedback for the K3 approach, connects the dots completely. it’s exactly what i would expect.

the K3 ultra focus on speed accuracy maybe does not yield the musical benefits that were intended. a little too ’left brain’ maybe. matters of taste and preference i suppose. the K3 miight be the perfect answer for some.

i’m sure it’s a dynamite turntable and does it’s thing superlatively. the question being whether you like ’it’s thing’ $360k or not. at a more reasonable price point it would be fun to have this formula one car of turntables sitting here to do hot laps. but music is more than hot laps to me.

as far as my turntable that absolutely does sustain most beautifully; that is the CS Port LFT1; which uses a non feedback motor, driving a aramid thread ’belt’, with a 100 pound granite plinth, a 60 pound stainless platter, with low flow, low pressure air bearing, air float platter and air bearing arm. it’s magical with delicacy and nuance, yet boggies and does scale and beautiful bass impact and textures. very micro-dynamically ’alive’....but always human sounding. the Saskia model two idler also is no slouch at sustain, and once i added the active isolation to the NVS it’s sustain improved.

i like all my turntables plenty, and sustain is not everything. but my choice of listening does seem to be drawn to it.

an aspect of music that is essential to me is a liquid, grainless, continuousness. a humanity if you will. sustain is a part of that idea.

Lew; of course, this is exactly why we own multiple turntables, or move from one to another. it’s to find the exact musical equation that brings us the most listening pleasure. or maybe some just like collecting?

plinth shape in and of itself a dominant indication of presentation? never considered it before. OTOH a plinth plays a huge role in performance i agree.

certainly the Rockport, NVS and CS Port all have a big sound, the NVS and Rockport being more ultra dynamic in degrees, plus big and bold. unlimited really. but my room now is more supportive of that than when i had the Rockport......so hard to know exactly between those 2.

the Rockport has a 200 pound air suspended plinth made of a lead/steel carbon fibre encased sandwich. the NVS a cast aluminum skeleton. the CS Port and small square hunk of granite.

none large and square. but all very ’engineered’.

the Saskia idler is more focused and less expansive than these others, but that plays wonderfully to the forward lean to the bass, and tonal density that works for my favorite jazz pressings. is this related to the plinth shape? i tend to see the 180 pound slate Saskia plinth as adding heft and solidity, and the Pabst motor idler mechanical’s more scale related than the plinth.

@lewm 

i have changed my mind on my perspective about the K3 since my comments above, in October 2021, eighteen months ago. a month after i made those comments, i spent 2 days at a small local audio show where Michael Fremer was present, and was able to talk to him quite a bit and about the K3 particularly.

i don't now consider that the K3 is lacking in musical sustain and my expectation would be that along with it's other attributes that i would be more than satisfied in that regard. which is in contrast to how i had read Michael's review comments.

so right now i would view the K3 "as" my cup of tea. unfortunately i'm not in a position to be in that price range for a turntable. and if i was not sure it would be my top choice, but it would for sure be high on the list.