2023 Editors’ Choice: Best Turntables $10,000 & Up

Compared with the open-chassis, suspensionless designs of contemporary models, the Cosmos Eclipse smacks of a bygone era. Nonetheless, NG found its attributes indispensable—progressive vacuum holddown, excellent acoustic-mechanical isolation, a dampened sub-chassis, and what amounts to a suspended seismic platform that can suffer a San Andreas episode without a skip. Also available as an upgrade for current Cosmos owners, the Eclipse package incorporates Sota’s latest innovations and can include a three-phase motor, a mag-lev platter, a new electronics package with speed control from Phoenix Engineering, plus various fine-tuning twists and tweaks. The performance gains are nothing short of stunning. A true classic reborn. NG, 316

The dual-plinthed Innovation Wood combines some stunning innovations with Clearaudio’s ceramic/magnetic bearing (CMB) technology and lightweight yet extremely dense Panzerholz to damp resonances. It uses a massive stainless-steel subplatter, which, when coupled with a DC motor with optical speed control, results in superb speed accuracy. JH has not heard any belt-driven ’table best the Innovation Wood in this critical area. Solo instruments and voices have such rock-solid pitch stability that you’ll swear you are listening to a direct-drive ’table without the motor noise. JH, 204

Replacing SME’s previous entry-level Model 10A, which also came with the 309 tonearm, the Model 12A represents a substantial leap in performance over what was already an impressive ensemble. It evinces the typical SME house “sound”: all but peerless neutrality, deep background blackness, and dynamic range second to none. A powerful new motor effectively banishes concerns over speed accuracy, stability, constancy, and timing, while its proprietary mat/clamping arrangement rivals vacuum hold-down. Not only is the 12/309’s sonic performance astonishingly close to that of the company’s flagship models, but it also receives the same standard-setting quality of build, parts, fit, and finish. The 12A may be the welterweight in the company’s lineup, but it can certainly hold its own in the ring with the big boys. PS, 306

Eschewing an enclosed plinth in favor of an open chassis, the Spyder mounts the platter assembly’s base on a cylindrical pillar. Additional cylindrical pillars support up to four tonearms as well as the outboard motor. The Spyder’s sound is transparent, dynamic, low in perceived distortion, with a high degree of neutrality. It exhibits a clarity without that etched quality that is sometimes mistaken for clarity or transparency or resolution. The Spyder is also well isolated from external disturbance, even when the music gets big, deep, and loud. Operationally this setup was a joy to use, its fit and finish of a caliber that spells “G-E-R-M-A-N” in caps. In sum, here’s a vinyl player of all-around excellence that should provide years of performance both pleasurable and trouble-free. PS, 269

Reviewer AM has had some experience with other big, fancy, expensive turntables. Can he definitively tell you that any of them is better than the Taurus? No, he cannot. Can he say that the Taurus is the best turntable you can buy at any price? Come on. You know the answer to that. Of course, he can’t. But the direct-drive Brinkmann manages to combine love and appreciation in a way that few can, and it’s a clear step above the finest $10k–$20k ’tables he’s heard, fully justifying its status as a reference. It’s one of the few products he’s reviewed about which he has no reservations. AM, 315

The beautifully machined Analog Manufaktur Germany Viella Standard is that relative rarity—a truly first-rate and original audio component that, while by no means cheap, is still within the financial reach of folks who aren’t made of money. The V12 may not (in fact, it does not) give you everything that a $100k+ Walker or Acoustic Signature Invictus gives you, but what it does supply on select recordings—the extended sense that you are in the actual presence of real performers in a real space—is more than enough to justify the rave review JV gave it. A great turntable. JV, 226

The Odar is the latest and most fully evolved version of the turntable ideas involved in previous Pear Blue designs, involving a heavy platter belt-driven by a very low-torque motor (you need to start the platter by hand), and very careful control of resonant energy. The sound is what REG regards as ideal—very silent in background with unconstrained perceived dynamics, very solid, detailed but without any hint of exaggeration by resonances in the upper frequencies or motor-induced platter vibrations. Forget any misguided idea sometimes expressed that this type of sound is too subdued. What it actually is is correct—and superbly musical in the best sense. A turntable at the outer limits of the possible, without a stratospheric price. (Electronic external power supply with choice of 33 or 45 rpm, but no fine speed adjustment.) REG, 328

Technics, long the dominant manufacturer of direct-drive turntables, has now returned to its original area of renown with the SL-1000R. And it’s a beauty. Simple in design but sophisticated in execution, the SL-1000R provides the virtues of direct-drive without its former drawbacks. There is no discernible noise transmitted from the motor to the platter. Instead, the SL-1000R has remarkable fidelity on transients, stopping and starting musical passages on a dime. This precision allows vocals, not to mention acoustic instruments, to come through with excellent tonal accuracy. This simple and elegant turntable makes a strong case for the virtues of direct drive. JHb, 306

A turntable that is as visually appealing as it is sonically. Few, if any, ’tables in this price range can boast this level of precision machining, which extends to everything from the platter to the weighty damping puck. The result is superlative sound. With the proprietary Sikora tonearm, the ’table delivers effortless and snappy vinyl playback. It also produces a soundstage and bass that are particularly winning on orchestral pieces. Its wealth of impressive attributes mean that the Standard Max cannot be deemed anything other than a top contender. JHb, 324

The three-motor Raven AC-3 is an unsuspended ’table of relatively low mass made from very high-quality materials, including spectacular bits of copper. Every part of this black beauty has been machined to the highest possible tolerances; every aspect of its design tested and retested by measurement and by ear. The result of all this labor and ingenuity is a ’table that reproduces the duration of notes—from starting transient through lingering decay—more completely than any other. JV, 180

Built like a battleship—black on black in black, all metal in a baked-on matte finish—the Kuzma’s Stabi M turntable looks strictly industrial. Brutally heavy, thick slabs of aluminum form the outer and inner chassis, with just enough elasticity between to allow for judicious damping without compromising rigidity. The sound is superbly neutral, with very quiet backgrounds, and like all large heavy turntables in PS’ experience it soundstages with exceptional stability and solidity. There’s also a difficult-to-define sense of liveliness about the sonics that is addictive. All in all, a superior platform for your vinyl treasures. PS, 248

Designed by A.J. Conti, the 2200/Vector 4 setup redefines for PS what is possible in vinyl playback. In every area and aspect of performance, this Basis combination outperforms all other turntable/’arm setups (this includes several costing multiples its price). Design, engineering, and precision in machining approach a standard of perfection surpassed by none and equaled by virtually none. WG, in his follow-up report after purchasing a 2200/Vector 4, wrote “I must report that never in my almost four decades as an audiophile have I lived with a record player like this one—so across-the-board uncolored, transparent, coherent, and seemingly responsive to whatever frequency and dynamic range, ambient, tonal, space, air, and other microscopic information may be pressed into vinyl grooves.” (PS, 180, WG, 317)

This ingenious turntable with counter-rotating platters is Kronos Audio’s way of offering the lion’s share of the sonic advantage that its more-expensive PRO brings to the party at a more cost-effective price. Reviewer GW was supremely impressed, saying that the implementation of the dual-platter, contra-rotational concept is the single most significant development in turntable design in decades. With the Sparta, records he’d been listening to for decades were given new dimension, increased focus, enhanced clarity, and more credible tonality. He bought the review sample. GW, 259

A beautiful piece of audio art designed around a Free Magnetic Drive system that is as quiet as they come, the Orion Reference FMD does an admirable job of isolating the platter from any anomalies generated by the drive system. The sonic result provides a very low noise platform that allows music to erupt from the darkest of backgrounds. AJ, 253

This improvement upon the middle model in SME’s lineup now brings it so close to the flagship 30/3 that it’s doubtful their performances can be reliably distinguished on even the highest‑resolution setups. Stability, control, and neutrality triangulate the virtues of this and every other SME setup, with an extraordinary impression of foundation plus a deep, deep background blackness that very few competitors can approach, let alone surpass. Built like all SMEs to the highest standards, this setup will last a lifetime. PS, 216

Built to an amazing degree of mechanical precision, the Basis 2800 Signature is nothing short of revelatory in its ability to seemingly disappear from the playback chain. This ’table imposes no discernable colorations on the music, allowing a deeper and more immediate connection with your LPs. RH, 172

As the “Three” suggests, this ’table is the third progeny of TechDAS, with the mighty Air Force One, reviewed by Paul Seydor in Issue 254, at the head of the line, both in sonics and price. The belt-drive Air Force Three Premium is a different customer. It offers a tremendous amount in a small package, ranging from vacuum hold-down to an air-bearing platter. It was evident from the very first needle drop that the Air Force Three Premium possesses a remarkably continuous sound. This makes for an extremely non-fatiguing presentation, one that will have you pulling out album after album, not in a search for the last detail contained in the grooves but for the lovely—reviewer JHb called it “holistic”—sound. JHb, 280

Mounted with the SME Series V ’arm, the 30/2A impressed PS with its tonal neutrality, pitch accuracy, resolution, transparency, rhythmic grip, ambience, low coloration, and soundstaging. He concluded that its specialness “lies in three related areas of sonic performance: background silence, dynamics, and that elusive impression of liveliness that persuades you the music has come alive in your living room.” PS, 154

Thomas Woschnick’s massive, beautifully designed and finished, statement turntable with outboard motor and separate power supply delivers all the ravishing timbral beauty of TW’s less-expensive AC-3, while adding a transient liveliness, rhythmic pace, and resolution of low-level detail that make for a more complete and realistic sonic presentation. Equipped with Woschnick’s own 10.5 ’arm ($5500), the Black Knight competes at or near the same exalted level as the Acoustic Signature Invictus and the still superb Walker Black Diamond Mk V. JV, 274

This high-tech, high-mass turntable from German engineer Gunther Frohnhoefer took 15 years to bring to fruition. Built like a Magico loudspeaker of damped, satin-finished, CNC-milled aircraft aluminum (with brass “silencers” seamlessly fitted into holes drilled and line-bored into its massive platter), the near-200-pound Ascona effortlessly reproduces the lowest-level timbres, textures, and spatial cues, as well as the most thunderous dynamics, uniting the toe-tapping “pace” of a lighter ’table with the authority of a heavyweight. JV, 221 (Neo version not yet reviewed)

The key to great LP playback is lower noise (which equals higher fidelity). The trouble is that mechanical resonances transmitted from turntable, motor, and tonearm tend to fight against this goal, adding distortion rather than subtracting it. Not so with the Clearaudio’s Master Innovation turntable equipped with the extremely low-mass, near-vestigial, carbon-fiber, linear-tracking TT-1MI tonearm. This brilliant Peter Suchy design not only effectively isolates the drive system from the platter (the main platter “floats” on a magnetic field above the drive platter, eliminating any points of physical contact—and thus any transmission of friction and noise); it also eliminates the inevitable tracking/tracing error of pivoted ’arms via Suchy’s equally brilliantly designed linear-tracking tonearm. An engineering masterpiece, one of JV’s references, and TAS’s 2019 Turntable of the Year. JV, 301

A worthy successor to the still-in-production, former “flagship” SME 30 (recently upgraded to Mk2), the larger, moderately higher-mass Model 60 features new adjustable, de-coupled feet, and now hidden within the four support columns, a new, more sophisticated vertical and lateral isolation/damping O-ring suspension system. The biggest news though is the new Series VA ’arm exclusive to the Model 60, CNC-machined from an advanced, acoustically inert polymer resin. The new ’arm, suspension and a few other design enhancements work together to produce SME’s most sophisticated sounding, lowest coloration turntable yet. Michael Fremer, 333

Although it looks like Basis’ 2800 Signature, the Inspiration has more in common with the Basis Work of Art. Sonically, it is revelatory, playing in an entirely different league than the 2800. It is astonishingly quiet, not just in an absence of background noise, but also in stripping a layer of grunge from instrumental timbres. It also seems to allow instrumental decays to hang in space longer, such is its low-level resolving power. When paired with the Basis SuperArm 9, the Inspiration is stunning. RH, 220

A couple of years ago, Acoustic Signature introduced a behemoth turntable—the ultra-wide, ultra-deep, ultra-heavy, ultra-expensive, original Invictus. Quieter and more imperturbable than any analog front end JV had heard up until then, the Invictus sounded uncannily like a tape player. It was just smoother and, to use an HP phrase, more continuous than the competition in every sonic respect. Comes now a far smaller, more affordable, and, interestingly, more advanced version of the Invictus—the Invictus, Jr. Designed over the last two years (the original was conceived better than six years ago), the Junior takes technological and sonic advantage of all that Acoustic Signature has learned in about half a decade. The result is in certain ways an even better record player (harder-hitting, higher resolution) than the Senior for a lot less dough. TAS’ 2019 Turntable of the Year. JV, 297 (Neo version not yet reviewed)

This turntable from the distinguished Asian veteran-designer Hideaki Nishikawa is an all-out attempt to exceed every aspect and parameter of turntable performance. An air bearing for the platter, air suction for the vacuum hold-down, and air bladders for the suspension system triangulate the nucleus of the AF One Premium, the first to combine them in a single design. The sonic results are a background blackness and consequent dynamic range the like of which reviewer PS never experienced with vinyl. PS, 254

The Transcendence is designer A.J. Conti’s radical rethinking of the turntable after more than 30 years of creating some of the world’s best record players. An all-out design, the Transcendence is the result of Conti’s heroic attempt to make LPs sounds like mastertape—his reference in creating the Transcendence. In a design departure from previous Basis ‘tables, the Transcendence is built from stainless-steel rather than acrylic, and the suspension system is entirely new. Sonically, the Transcendence lives up to its name; this turntable has achieved some kind of breakthrough in LP reproduction, rendering the sound of records with a previously unimaginable body, solidity, dynamics, and texture that indeed sound like tape, not vinyl. RH’s reference, and TAS’ Overall Product of the Year for 2019. RH, 295

This elaborately re-designed, handsomely styled chunk of anodized aluminum remains the most massive turntable JV has heard or tested. With six motors (controlled by an outboard power supply), a 37-pound platter, and a 260kg CLD chassis, it’s a beast. When paired with Acoustic Signature’s superb new TA-9000 Neo tonearm, it is also the best record player JV has ever heard—the virtual embodiment of sonic neutrality and completeness. Nothing engraved in vinyl escapes it (or is altered by it). This is one of those game-changers that you have to hear to fully appreciate—a truly great piece of high-fidelity engineering. (JV, Neo version not yet reviewed)

The Air Force Zero, a 700-pound+ beast devoted to spinning a vinyl platter as unobtrusively as possible, is an immensely impressive creation, a tribute to the ingenuity and seriousness of purpose of its legendary designer, Hideaki Nishikawa. The massive air-bearing platter, composed of multiple layers of stainless steel, gun metal, and tungsten, makes the LP itself look positively diminutive. But the sound that this gorgeous belt-drive ’table produces is something altogether different. It can ramp up to dynamic fortissimos that will shake a room, whether the music is a Mahler symphony or a Led Zeppelin tune. But perhaps the most impressive aspect of the Zero is its refinement. There is a sense of ease to the proceedings, a blissfulness that transports it into a truly lofty realm that perhaps no other competitor can quite match. JHb, 312