I've never been tempted to swap my felt mat for anything else. The Sondek's metal platter rings, and the felt damps it fine for little money. I haven't ever encountered a consensus on another mat that worked better.
In fact, UHF magazine suggests, cynically or accurately, that other mats are usually thicker and therefore reduce the VTA. In other words, people who try them and like their sound better didn't have VTA properly adjusted in the first place.
What aspect of your table's sound would you be improving with a new mat?
It's going to be a matter of taste, and will also depend on your arm and cartridge. But I've used the felt on my LP12, the NoFelt donut mat, and Herbie's Audio Lab's Way Excellent mat, and they all sound different, and in my experience, the Herbie's wins.
I always found the felt mat to be great, and whenever I substituted, I wasn't happy. Last year I did try the ExtremePhono None-felt donut mat, and after going back and forth, I thought the sound was a bit more dynamic with it. Haven't tried some of the more pricey mats.
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