General comments on SOTA

This thread from a couple of years ago addresses your question. As might be expected, opinions are diverse.

Regards,
-- Al

Matching equipment to your personality is an often overlooked aspect when choosing gear wholly or partially based on the opinions of others.

Some people have a healthy does of DIY in their genes or are obsessed with the last ounce of performance so don't mind a product that needs constant attention or requires special rituals to work right. They will often speak highly of a product that needs so much attention that it would drive other users nuts.

The latter type of user might be better off with a more staid product that functions well and reliably with little or no attention.

In short, when reading product reviews, pay attention to the mindset of the writer. You just might save yourself some grief.

Thanks for the link and the comments. Most informative. When it comes to analog I do not fit in the tweaking camp.

I bought my SOTA Sapphire w/SME309 tonearm new in the early 90s. I love it. It has been rock solid reliable and requires little maintenance and tweaking. It's design is very straight forward and easy to service. I have experimented with different types of grease in the bearing and with isolation of the turntable. I didn't replace the belt for many years and was surprised at the improvement a new belt made. I found a synthetic grease for the bearing that makes the table sound better. Weird.
With my Benz cartridge my analog has never sounded better.
A few months ago I found an app for my phone that plots platter speed using the 3150Hz test tone on a test record. I have my speed dialed in exact and was pleased to find my WoW and Flutter measurements good out to two decimal places. That app also surprised me to see that the platter speed doesn't stabilize out to two decimal places until the turntable has warmed up for a few minutes. Once warmed up, I can stop/start it and speed control is immediately perfect.
Sure, I 'd love to try out a Cosmos, but other priorities in my life right now keep me from upgrading and actually that has been a good thing. I've learned to appreciate what I already have.