Hi Maril555,
When I set out to buy a TT about 10 months back, I auditioned a long list of TTs and that includes the TW Raven One, Raven AC, Microseiki RX8000, RX8000 MK2, SME 30, Avid Acutus, Brinkmann Bardo and quite a few more. Among them also was a Platine Verdier. Initially I was quite disappointed after listening to many TTs because a lot of them didnt do much to me even though I was buying my first TT and expected to be blown away after all these years with digital. In the past whenever I have listened to TT it was on one of those vintage DDs and I always liked the analog presentation to even the best digital I had heard. So, considering that now I am ready to invest upto $10k it was natural that I thought I will be blown with every audition. But that did not happen, rather I was shocked just how many of these expensive "well engineered" TTs screw up the sound. Few of them clearly sounded like CD!! Anyway, among the tables that we are discussing here:
1. Micro Seiki - I have not heard the RX-5000, while the RX-8000 sounded nice, it had the natural flow we associate with analog music reproduction, the resolution we look for in high end analog with a solid foundation.
2. TW Acustics: It has all the ingredients that we associate with "high-end" sound and I can understand why so many people like it. Tons of details, resolution, very huge and stable soundstage, a touch of warmth, overall balanced sound. BUT, to me it had an artificiality/coloration in the flow of music. The notes did not naturally bloom, hold and decay the way we know it should. There is a "rush", a little too much leading edge and not enough time to bloom. There was also a colouration in the timbre of the instruments as if to artificially make it sound "rich". Basically it felt like I am hearing something cooked.
3. Platine Verdier: Finally the sound that I had imagined a high end analogue player would have! The Verdier had the best rendition of tone and timbre among all the players I had heard. It also had the best flow, something very continuous and liquid I havent heard in any other TT. Couple that with a full frequency spectrum music and incredibly 3-dimensional soundstage. It was one of the most natural music reproduction I heard that day. There was nothing cooked. I normally dont give a lot of importance to soundstage tricks but what caught within the soundstage of a Verdier is the fact that every individual instrument sounded 3 dimensional, full blown and proper. It was just too good to pass but it was too expensive for my wallet. So, I bought the Nouvelle Platine Verdier, the Auditorium 23 revision which is suppose to be at the same level as the big Platine.
The other TTs I liked were the Avid Acutus, SME 30 and EMT 938.
When I set out to buy a TT about 10 months back, I auditioned a long list of TTs and that includes the TW Raven One, Raven AC, Microseiki RX8000, RX8000 MK2, SME 30, Avid Acutus, Brinkmann Bardo and quite a few more. Among them also was a Platine Verdier. Initially I was quite disappointed after listening to many TTs because a lot of them didnt do much to me even though I was buying my first TT and expected to be blown away after all these years with digital. In the past whenever I have listened to TT it was on one of those vintage DDs and I always liked the analog presentation to even the best digital I had heard. So, considering that now I am ready to invest upto $10k it was natural that I thought I will be blown with every audition. But that did not happen, rather I was shocked just how many of these expensive "well engineered" TTs screw up the sound. Few of them clearly sounded like CD!! Anyway, among the tables that we are discussing here:
1. Micro Seiki - I have not heard the RX-5000, while the RX-8000 sounded nice, it had the natural flow we associate with analog music reproduction, the resolution we look for in high end analog with a solid foundation.
2. TW Acustics: It has all the ingredients that we associate with "high-end" sound and I can understand why so many people like it. Tons of details, resolution, very huge and stable soundstage, a touch of warmth, overall balanced sound. BUT, to me it had an artificiality/coloration in the flow of music. The notes did not naturally bloom, hold and decay the way we know it should. There is a "rush", a little too much leading edge and not enough time to bloom. There was also a colouration in the timbre of the instruments as if to artificially make it sound "rich". Basically it felt like I am hearing something cooked.
3. Platine Verdier: Finally the sound that I had imagined a high end analogue player would have! The Verdier had the best rendition of tone and timbre among all the players I had heard. It also had the best flow, something very continuous and liquid I havent heard in any other TT. Couple that with a full frequency spectrum music and incredibly 3-dimensional soundstage. It was one of the most natural music reproduction I heard that day. There was nothing cooked. I normally dont give a lot of importance to soundstage tricks but what caught within the soundstage of a Verdier is the fact that every individual instrument sounded 3 dimensional, full blown and proper. It was just too good to pass but it was too expensive for my wallet. So, I bought the Nouvelle Platine Verdier, the Auditorium 23 revision which is suppose to be at the same level as the big Platine.
The other TTs I liked were the Avid Acutus, SME 30 and EMT 938.