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3 New UBER Decks - Is this Turntable's SwanSong? 🦢

Michael Fremer has recently reviewed three new turntables designed to be the 'Last Word', 'Cost no Object' STATEMENTS!!!!........Do I recall hearing this claim before??
I love Mikey and have followed (and trusted) him for decades.
He has been the longest and foremost published 'champion' of the superiority of vinyl (uber alles) in the world.
I am thus ecstatic that he has been able to listen and compare these decks in his own room, with his own equipment virtually side-by-side
It's almost a 'given' that he will be the ONLY person on earth given that privilege....

So what Mikey HEARS.....is indisputable

Given his 'character' and desire for accuracy and honesty.....years ago, Mikey started including some 'objective' measurements in his turntable reviews.
These measurements were done utilising the Dr Feikert PlatterSpeed App which has since been discontinued.
As the App only worked with the Mac iOS of many variations ago.....Mikey has kept an old iPhone which can still operate the App.
The PlatterSpeed App had a few technical limitations.....
Foremost amongst these, was its dependence on a 7" record with an embedded 3150 Hz Frequency track to produce a test-tone which the App could process through its algorithm to produce the graphs and all the corresponding numbers.
To stamp hundreds of 7" discs with perfectly 'centred' HOLES is a nigh impossibility.
It's almost impossible to do it with a 12" disc!!!

This means that ALL the figures produced in their Chart Info are dubious and mostly UNREPEATABLE!!!!
I have Chart Infos for the same turntable/arm combination but with the 7" disc moved slightly producing different figures.
I even have Chart Infos produced with the same turntable but different arms ALL with different figures (the arms are in different positions surrounding my TURNTABLE).

So what is my point......?
The GRAPH produced with the PlatterSpeed App is accurate and USEABLE when looking at the 'Green' Lowpass-Filtered Frequency.
If the hole was PERFECTLY centred.....this 'Green' line would be perfectly STRAIGHT......but only if the turntable was maintaining its speed PERFECTLY.
The wobbles in the 'Green' line are due to the hole's eccentricity as well as any speed aberrations.
So the best performing turntables are those with the most constant and even wobbles approaching as closely as possible a STRAIGHT LINE.

Now the SAT Direct Drive Motor is actually the same as Technics developed for their latest SL-1000R except with some bespoke modifications.
It appears that SAT have corrupted what is a very good DD Motor unit....🥴

Mikey says that the OMA-K3 produced the best PlatterApp figures of any turntable he has tested 👏
Does this mean that the OMA-K3 is the most accurate turntable of these three decks.....or maybe of ALL turntables?

Mikey can't (and won't) test and review products from the past which are no longer produced because that's not his job!
But wouldn't it be great if someone WOULD review products from the past against the modern equivalent?
Classic turntables with reputations....gravitas...like the legendary EMT 927 and Micro Seiki SX-5000 and SX-8000.
And what about the NOW lauded Japanese DD Turntables from the '80s...the 'Golden Age' of Analogue?
  • Technics SP-10Mk3
  • Kenwood L-07D
  • Pioneer P3
  • Victor TT-101
  • Yamaha GT-2000
Because we know that Direct Drive is now 'Flavour of the Month' for the new Uber Decks due to their superior speed accuracy....a 'Flavour' that started with the legendary Rockport Sirius III.
But what about Belt-Drive units like my 20 year-old Raven?
So much for science and technology.......

We can do things today that were only dreamt of even 10 years ago
Except learn from history, harvest experience, expertise and craftsmanship......

Here endeth the Sermon for today 🤗


halcro
halcro's avatar
halcro OP
2,664 posts
 
I am careful to state that these Platterspeed measurements are for “entertainment purposes only”
Yes....but unfortunately you don't explain WHY!!!
99.9% of people have no experience with the PlatterSpeed App and simply accept your published results 'on face value'.
Many would also accept them as 'Gospel'....🤥
That said, I use the same 7” Feickert test record for every test so while the record isn’t perfect the relative results are 100% accurate.
No they're NOT!!!!!
They are unrepeatable and unreliable.
Do you want me to post the Plots of the same turntable/arm set-up with the test record rotated 1/4 turn...?
Visitors who got to hear all 3 turntables thought they were clearly among the finest they’d heard though all sounded different from one another, and sounded as I’d written (once the reviews were published).
I haven't disputed this....in fact I reinforced the claim that only YOU can offer an opinion on the comparative SOUND of these three decks.
And for that, I for one am grateful...🙏
halcro's avatar
halcro OP
2,664 posts
 
@grooves 
If you'd REALLY like to include an objective, repeatable, scientific and REVEALING test for any turntable.....why not ask Ron Sutherland to help you set-up TIMELINE....?
This test not only reveals VISUALLY...the true ability of a turntable to keep:-
  • Accurate Speed
  • Constancy of Speed
But is able to display 'in real time'....the effects of STYLUS DRAG!!!
Both Weiss and Krebs pointed out that ONLY direct drive can track and accurately reproduce a record and not be slowed down, however slightly, by the transients and dynamic contrasts presented in a record's grooves.
You could include a LINK in your Review to the applicable YouTube Video.

This could be a revelation in turntable comparison reviewing....
The only drawback could be the commercial pressure from manufacturers whose turntables are revealed for what they really are.....🤥 



halcro's avatar
halcro OP
2,664 posts
 
Maybe one day Mikey got enough from the business and will be able to build up a real listening room 😂
I've had the privilege of visiting Thuchan's Listening Room and should emphasise that whilst he says he has three DIRECT DRIVE turntables both vintage and modern......he also has (and had) many other turntables including the EMT 927 R80, Micro Seiki SX-8000 II, Continuum Criterion with both Cobra and Copperhead Tonearms as well as several Revox B77 Tape Decks.
Here is his BLOG 🤩

So I was able to hear the Victor TT-101 against some formidable opposition and it was certainly not shamed.....
Richard, my best friend, has one of the very first Continuum Caliburns (before Mikeys).
Before that, he had the Rockport Sirius III which was quite a revelation for me.

It took a LONG time for the Western World to give any audiophile creedence to Direct Drive.....
alexberger
945 posts
 
EMT DD turntable like EMT950 and EMT948
are in the same league as best vintage japanese DD turntables.

Actually, many EMT collectors (especially classical music lovers) prefer 950 over 927 and 930.

One my friend prefere EMT948 and Yamaha GT2000 over Kenwood L-07D and Sp10 mk2. He have or had all of them in his own system.
rauliruegas
13,129 posts
 
Dear friends :: What I posted day before yesterday at Stereophile was looking for an answer from him about the controversies in this thread and not there ( yet ) and here have that answer because that "  for “entertainment purposes only” " is not an answer coming from a very high regarded " professional " reviewer, at least not an " elegant " answer due of what halcro told you: 

""  99.9% of people have no experience with the PlatterSpeed App and simply accept your published results 'on face value'.
Many would also accept them as 'Gospel'...""

@grooves  , so that answer is a must to have not exactly only for our " satisfaction " but for your self and your readers. All analog lovers need to KNOW the true facts on that critical issue.

R.
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