VPI's new "Vanquish" Ultra High-End turntable is a STUNNER!

I guess it depends on your definition of 'money's worth'. If a person wants a trophy to show off and likes the VPI's idea of good taste, he'll probably have his pride of ownership. That's what this is all about anyway. It's got nothing to do with sound quality per se.

Hyper capitalism leads to hyper consumption in just about any consumer product category you care to think of. Actually it's sort of a mystery why it took the audio industry such a long time to tap into this market. Perhaps it's because audio was just a hobby for geeks. But now with the tech revolution the geeks have taken over the planet. So audio has suddenly become fashionable and the industry is savouring the moment.

This might explain the current avalanche of $100k+ audio components. This trend enables cutting edge designers to really push the envelope and develop state of the art products better than anything we've ever heard before. Some of these technological advances will find their way into lower priced derivatives. This is good news for us  'normal' audiophiles.

But the prospect of making huge profits on 'audio trophies for the rich' probably attracts a different breed of 'entrepreneurs' as well. It's these characters that give the industry a bad name. The most obvious category that fell victim has probably been cables.

Vinyl playback has become an expression of excellent taste in trendy circles and the turntable has turned into something of a status symbol. So it's bound to fall victim to these characters as well. They simply go after the money of well heeled trophy hunters who don't have a clue about sound quality. It's painful to watch and it may even be harmful to the industry, which might explain the angry tone of voice in some of the contributions. 

I'm not implying in any way that the VPI falls into this category. Most likely it doesn't. VPI has been a reputable manufacturer for many years, even in times when vinyl playback was still on the lunatic fringe. I definitely don't like the 80's red & black styling, but that's a personal call. I have no doubt it will sound great and anyone with the dough who does like this styling will likely feel they get their money's worth.

@mijostyn, TechDas is the first company I think of as a design trying to push the enveloppe. With the current renaissance of vinyl playback they gave Hideaki Nichikawa - the designer of top Micro tables like the SX-8000 mk2 - the opportunity to build on his 1980's designs, using modern cutting edge technology and large resources to do it. The AF series is a 21st century incarnation of the Micro tables. The AF I and II are descendants of SX-8000 mk2 and the SX-5000 mk2, while the AF III strongly resembles the RX-1500VG.

But as mentioned before, we're now in the age of hyper capitalism. So TechDas added the AF Zero to their line up. They pulled out all the stops, making the ultimate statement at $400k. They can bring this thing to market, because that market exists in the real world. A pretty sick world if you ask me, but there you are.

@mijostyn, I seriously contemplated your suggestion. What's holding me back is that the Zero is not exactly a 'mobile device'. Otherwise I could sell the house to buy it..... ;-).