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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 🤗


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tomic601's avatar
tomic601
12,931 posts
 
Everything made by man is flawed, by how much and how should be the debate. Personally, for those doing the creating I think it stirs the creative juices and market forces to compete and improve. For those of us w open minds, ears and near constant exposure to LP, high speed tape, and digital done well, primacy is not tge discussion point - relative merits / weakness and how to address ARE.

Carry on, my Revox needs an EQ tweak….
noromance's avatar
noromance
9,838 posts
 
Looks like " sensesundertime" left the house and deleted all posts from their profile which is a shame.
Ag insider logo xs@2x
cleeds
5,960 posts
 
noromance
Looks like " sensesundertime" left the house and deleted all posts from their profile which is a shame
Perhaps he was a victim of his own posts. Many of his "facts" were confused and he was struggling to keep up.
mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,570 posts
 
"A man's got to know his limits."

Every analog step adds distortion. Every digital step does not. Everyone is use to mastering for digital now and there are much better utilization of anti aliasing filters. Digital may have had a rough start but everyone now has the hang of it. 

What will happen to pure analog reproduction? If I were a betting man I would give it at most another 50 years. It may have some limited uses sort of like propeller driver aircraft.
mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,570 posts
 
@rauliruegas , Since our last discussion I have been playing close attention to the centricity of records. It is very disappointing. They also do vary form one side to the other, a lot!  Even such vaunted labels as Analog Production are not well centered. 
I did some research and found this. Go to 8:40   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_GBlzcaWlo
0.2 mm tolerance? My back side. Many records are pressed off by three times as much anyway. I am sure you have seen that. As you see in the video it is due either to operator error or faulty machine calibration which by default is operator error. Every run of records (about 1000) is QCed by pulling a sample and playing it. The QC techs are obviously not paying attention to this. 

Take a test record and with a pointed knife cut away 0.2 mm from one side of the hole and play a 1000 Hz test tone. The tone will wander up and and down. It is painfully obvious to any serious listener. 
I started playing records without looking at the centricity then writing down yes or no next to the title. Yes for concentric, no for out. After 10 records I put them back on the table and gauged their centricity. Picking out continuous notes I was right 8 out of 10 times. I encourage everyone to do this. The only way this will stop is if enough of us complain. There is no excuse not to stay within 0.2 mm. The tech looks at the run out groove under high magnification ( the video shows this!) Either he is off or the Machine is off. Take your pick. Having an accurate turntable does not mean a lot in the face of this type of error. The wow far exceeds the spec of any modern turntable. To gauge centricity draw a black line on a small piece of white paper and place it on the turntable's plinth. Move it around until the line visually lines up with the tip of the finger lift. Then you can watch the tip  of the finger lift float back and forth in relation to the line (reference point) 

What an eye opener!!!


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