Once the bearing, motor, and tone arm are reasonably good quality then from that point on the vast majority of the difference is tuning. Early on they used a lot of solid wood and metal, springs, and rubber. Now its more often MDF, aluminum, acrylic, and elastomers. Some of these modern materials are inherently intrinsically better. Some. But the fact remains, its the makers choice of tuning priorities that determines the final result.
This is why VPI, Rega, AT and SOTA turntables are different in spite of all being modern. Same as Linn, Garrard. Different choices, different sound.
The beauty of it is once you relax and accept this fact its much easier to choose and be happy. Even better it becomes super easy to answer questions such as:
Easy. You can raise that rig to a whole new level with $40 of fo.Q tape. This special piezoelectric tape damps vibrations. But not by muffling dynamics like sorbothane. fo.Q tape eliminates micro-vibrations by transducing them into heat. An unbelievable amount of information is lost, covered up by these micro-vibrations. Without them the sound opens up with improved inner detail and presence.
Its easy to apply, and the adhesive leaves no residue making it easy to try and move. But you will like it wherever you put it. Under the platter, around the spindle, anywhere on the plinth, or base, under the base, and of course on the tone arm, tone arm base, etc. Under the feet. You will run out of tape before you run out of ideas. And you haven't even gotten to your speakers yet. You will be ordering more.
See, its not just Linn, VPI, Rega and Kenwood who can tune turntables. You can do it too.
If you like this one let me know, I got an even better one for you.
This is why VPI, Rega, AT and SOTA turntables are different in spite of all being modern. Same as Linn, Garrard. Different choices, different sound.
The beauty of it is once you relax and accept this fact its much easier to choose and be happy. Even better it becomes super easy to answer questions such as:
I am pretty happy with this platform but I am always curious as to where I could improve.
Easy. You can raise that rig to a whole new level with $40 of fo.Q tape. This special piezoelectric tape damps vibrations. But not by muffling dynamics like sorbothane. fo.Q tape eliminates micro-vibrations by transducing them into heat. An unbelievable amount of information is lost, covered up by these micro-vibrations. Without them the sound opens up with improved inner detail and presence.
Its easy to apply, and the adhesive leaves no residue making it easy to try and move. But you will like it wherever you put it. Under the platter, around the spindle, anywhere on the plinth, or base, under the base, and of course on the tone arm, tone arm base, etc. Under the feet. You will run out of tape before you run out of ideas. And you haven't even gotten to your speakers yet. You will be ordering more.
See, its not just Linn, VPI, Rega and Kenwood who can tune turntables. You can do it too.
If you like this one let me know, I got an even better one for you.