SOTA vacuum or no?

As Larry said,the Basis IS a superb table.Not too cheap though,and worth the dough,if one has it.Yet,I'd bet the "newest" Cosmos IV is on the same playing field,meaning both tables will give one LP bliss!
As to the "ring clamp" issue.My friend uses one,and he had a "split second" disaster(actually almost on two seperate occassions)where he destroyed his Titan-i cartridge from a missed cue of his tone-arm.
Once again,like Larry stated..."an accident waiting to happen"!

Best

Here's a friendly hint for using the VPI periphery clamp - if you do it, you will never take out a cartridge. When taking the periphery clamp off of the record, simply put it over your head and wear it as a necklace until the record is turned over, or a new record is in place. The natural action is to lift the ring clamp straight up, instead of sideways which could interfere with the space that the cartridge is in. Wearing the ring clamp is comfortable if and only if you put it under a color or otherwise touching your shirt. It is a bit sharp on bare skin. Try it a couple of times and it is second nature.

Go vacuum. Once you go Vac, you'll never go back. :-)

I have a couple of Stars and it's just hypnotizing to watch how steady the cartridge/headshell stays while tracking.

I've had a lot of records that looked flat when I put them on, but I could see the cartridge going up and down on my non-vacuum table. Everytime the needle starts up a ramp, the tracking force gets increased and then when it's on the downside, it gets decreased. The more a stylus is sensitive to changes in tracking force, the more you will appreciate what a vacuum can do.

One of the things I notice with a Sota is that the arm appears motionless while playing. (this is also true with a ring clamp) On my best albums warp isnt an issue but on many of the records its nice to have something to flatten them to the platter.