@twoleftears is it though? Are you getting something better than an air technology (bearing + suspension) and vacuum hold down? I haven't read the review on the K3, but from what I've heard, no-one's mentioned its technical attributes to justify the price.
If I could afford, I’d purchase 100% Oswald Mills Audio gear
This even without hearing it. The pieces are so beautiful I don’t see how they could not sound fabulous. The Sp10s look like they are built like a tank. I’d even buy their equipment racks. Maybe someday or maybe I’ll purchase something from their sister company Fleetwood sound.
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I’m an industrial designer. And, yes, beauty is totally in the eye of the beholder. I think OMA audio stuff looks very interesting...meaning novel...but man, at those prices...I want the speaker frames/armatures to be single-piece cast-iron beauties...not riveted or bolted together 1/4" plate. You are paying a lot for a bit of novelty. Riveting and bolting together is so much more convenient and cost effective. The harder you look at OMA details, the more it starts to let you down....especially at those prices. Here’s a high end furniture maker: BDDW. Now I think these turntables are much cooler. But that’s also just the industrial designer in me getting stroked by the novelty of it. https://www.dwell.com/article/bddws-handmade-record-players-76591ef0 Then there’s Fern and Robey https://www.fernandroby.com/products/audio Also lifestyle focused. Very nice eye-candy from a design perspective. But as much as the designer in me loves this novelty, I prefer my audio equipment to deal with the audio first. And of course, I’m not rich enough to get any of this high end stuff. The mass market stuff requires it to appeal to a wider audience. That’s why mid-priced premium stuff generally looks good. Same with cars. Go to the extreme high-end and stuff looks border-line gaudy. It’s ’perceived-value’ for someone with a lot of money. That’s the nature of the beast. As much as I love the look of belt drives more. The trained designer in me bought a Technics 1200G. Yes, there are much cooler looking turntables out there...but man, it delivers a lot for the price and I will go with dated yet classic approach if it delivers big time. That is beauty to me. But it’s also the most I could afford to buy as well. |
Most of the modern turntables that I like are based on vintage drives and vintage looking design, here is another example. I admire new designers who can make a beautiful things in a traditional way. This is from Italy. They are all very expensive. |
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