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

@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.

As was mentioned previously, pushing the envelope is what makes the stuff we can afford better. That there are people out there that can afford it makes advancing the art practical. In reality, if you put the same tone arm and cartridge on a lesser table of high caliber you would probably not be able to tell the difference. IMHO the AF one is elegant the Zero is not. I think it is more complicated than it needs to be. Mr Nichikawa is over reaching. But the press bought it as usual. Michael Fremer in his usual manner spewed praise in the silliest of ways. "This turntable stomped all over every other turntable I have ever heard. It wasn't even close -beginning with blacker backgrounds than I have ever heard from a turntable."  The back ground noise on the absolute best pressing is far in excess of even the cheapest modern turntable. It would be like trying to hear a pocket radio standing next to a running bulldozer. The only reasons it is better than his current table are it is much cooler and it cost twice as much. Only 40 of them will be made and 10 are already sold so edgewear you better hurry up and get in line:) Rich people buy stuff that gives the rest of us jobs and in the end better stuff. The time people wast being jealous is the time they could spend making themselves rich and in more ways than financially.

@mijostyn    I agree with your previous post about the competition.  I own VPI products including a 19-4 turntable (which had a semblance of isolation with rubber and sprung/spring platform) now used as an excellent 78 rpm turntable.  My TNT VI is a good, not great turntable.  It sounded mediocre until I put it on a Townsend Seismic Sink a few weeks after purchasing it in 2006.  It sound great now.  Why can't VPI make good isolated platforms?   Their arms don't get me excited either.  The SME IV modified I use or my friend's Tri-Planar are superior sounding to a VPI amr.  I'd buy a half dozen good turntables before I would buy a Vanquish.   The Kronos and Thales look good to me for 1/4 the price of a Vanquish (SME too)!

@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..... ;-).

"Audiophiles eat their young"