Great video! Thank you Audio Salon and Michael Fremer for presenting this to us.

Michael, thanks for your coverage of this event.

So nice to be able to take part over the net. What cool technology wow! I love these long videos you make.

Great video, thank you!😊

Awesome presentation as always

I went to the Florida Audio Show in Tampa last weekend. Beautiful equipment I’ll never be able to afford. Very impressive. If you have a chance to attend one, make the effort. I came home with an itch to buy a tube amp and a good pair of headphones but I’d have to break into my 401K.

His spoken English is excellent. Great preso!

Loved this Michael. Fantastic idea for saving the cartridge in case the pump for the tonearm air bearing cuts out. If would appear that if the arm were to freeze up with the platter still turning you not only risk ruining the vinyl but there’s a real possibility the stylus and cantilever could be damaged. At least, that’s what I was thinking.

@trackingangle929

5 ай бұрын

that's the biggest concern...

Wonderful coverage Michael. Many thanks. Just in case of interest, DLC means Diamond Like Carbon. It's a high tech from of carbon coating. Sonus Faber first used it on the tweeter on the new Ex3ema and others like Magico are also using it on some of their tweeters.

@trackingangle929

5 ай бұрын

I’d originally had that in the video. It’s not there?

@ashvarma2486

5 ай бұрын

@@trackingangle929 It is except you had described it as diamond like coating but not diamond like carbon coating which is a very specific type of very hard carbon structure applied in a coating form through a very specific process. I was just trying to add a little more detail. Hope this helps!! I suspect it is being used as a high tech damping material but that's just a guess as I am not a designer. Hope you get to review this amazing arm at some point.

@trackingangle929

5 ай бұрын

oh! Thank you!@@ashvarma2486

Michael this was a great presentation. Very impressive turntable and arm technology. Could you speak to your thoughts on how it sounded to you?

@trackingangle929

5 ай бұрын

So many unknown variables (and some known of course). The arm sounded "liquid", uncolored, smooth etc. Room bass is still being worked on, but some tracks were spectacular....I can't say much more about it until I get that arm here for review...

I love Motofumi's unhurried delivery. And I wish I could speak Japanese the way he speaks english.

@trackingangle929

5 ай бұрын

Me too re: Japanese but I’m too jumpy for slow delivery

Then it cuts off where we don't get to hear the thing after all that!

Whatever happened to the Mag-Lev record player?

❤👍🏼

Is there already some more information about the new Tech DAS cartridge other than it has a diamond cantilever? For example the price?

@trackingangle929

5 ай бұрын

final price not determined.It includes a diamond cantilever that's been laser-hollowed out toreduce mass...I'm assuming it's otherwise similar to the previous TechDAS top of the line cartridge but as more info becomes available I'll post something on the website...

Micheal compared to your OMA turntable , what are your thoughts?

@trackingangle929

5 ай бұрын

I had both the OMA and Zero here at the same time. Profoundly different sonic presentations. You can read both reviews on my previous endeavor’s website.

I’m concerned that they had not considered that failure mode (i.e. your question) in the development of that tonearm. It sounds more like you were part of their product development team to have that kind of input.

@trackingangle929

5 ай бұрын

I saw the debut at last Spring's Munich show (along with everyone else) and asked that question....

Im a Audiophile but that turntable looks ridiculous 😂

@trackingangle929

5 ай бұрын

It’s the ultimate expression of the company founder’s design beliefs. Consider that he was involved in designing Stax electrostatic headphones, and designed the Micro Seiki line of turntables. All of his products over many decades have attained legendary and/or desirable status. So there’s that! The Zero is large. I’ve seen it in very big listening rooms where its scale appears less overwhelming.

Why is the Zero so high up ?

@trackingangle929

5 ай бұрын

available shelf space I suppose

First!! Hi Michael!

High end audio power people…lol !

Not necessarily no friction you can get frictional from air it can cause noise why no removable headshell ? you can make it just as good as a fixed headshell

@trackingangle929

5 ай бұрын

Air can produce turbulence and noise but I suspect they’ve addressed that in the design. They have chosen to use changeable arm wands to maintain rigidity at the head shell as Graham arms also do.

@jedi-mic

5 ай бұрын

@@trackingangle929 yes you would have thought they've done some Sonic tests to see if there's any turbulence noise, all just depends how much, there's no figures on this I suppose, you would be hoping quieter than a mechanical bearing lol you don't necessarily have to have any structural movement using a replacement head shell all depends how it's designed. If you can replace the whole tube then you can replace the head shell in the same manner you don't need to break the wiring loom in the process

Is this taking place in a old folks home 😂

@trackingangle929

5 ай бұрын

If you are fortunate you will someday reach that age. Or perhaps you'd rather die young? That's the choice. On Saturday there were more young people but honestly this is costly stuff and the people who showed up were mostly well-off from having worked hard throughout their lives and are now in a position to reward themselves.

I'm sure it sounds great but whatever happened to Keep It Simple Stupid? If all that clobber is needed just to play a record properly then the format is flawed and pointless surely. I'm glad you pointed out the serious flaw in the design. Having a flattened Koetsu could be alarming! Typical designers. They never see the fault modes.

The combined age of the audience must be over 1000 years. I do hope they had some defibrillators handy.

@trackingangle929

5 ай бұрын

The annual income of every member of this group is more than you will earn in your lifetime. So there's that...

@merlinthemagus

5 ай бұрын

@@trackingangle929 Ah, so old men with more money than sense. Your preferred audience. So there is that.

@cameraplus7233

5 ай бұрын

I'm betting that you're no spring chicken either. Myself, like most of Michael's viewers may not be in the first flush of youth, so a pretty crass thing to say.

@trackingangle929

5 ай бұрын

I have spoken to many of them and they make complete sense. A few of these people have had very successful careers in the music business. One spent years working in Frank Sinatra's studio and knows "everyone". He went on to own a lucrative dealership from which he's now retired. He makes complete sense and enjoys the things he buys. I'm not sure why you think he doesn't make sense. @@merlinthemagus

@trackingangle929

5 ай бұрын

actually my audience greatly varies in age. As do the writers for my site. Two are under 20. One started writing for me when he was 12 and he's a vinyl fanatic and a brilliant writer. So there's that.@@merlinthemagus

1) if the power goes out the platter stops. No damage to the cart. Solution in search of a problem. 2) even were (1) not true, a simple capacitor can store the energy to power an arm lift if the power cuts out. This has been done already with mag lev tables. Thus this is a needless AND over engineered solution. 3) This is a preposterous amount of gadgetry and expense for an arm that will not be “heard” by anyone. This arm, compared with a conventionally pivoting arm costing (say) $2k will be indisguishable in a blind compare with all else equal including (especially) the cart. This hobby has gone mad, and despite the talent and good intentions of everyone in this video, it’s time to come down to earth before they lose the large cohort of audiophiles who have common sense and real world budgets.

@trackingangle929

5 ай бұрын

I love your post because it combines sanctimonious lecturing with profound ignorance about what is and what is not audible. I’m sure as an engineering genius you have a long list of products you’ve developed and produced. May we have that please?

@trackingangle929

5 ай бұрын

By the way, there are many great affordable products for audio enthusiasts. Do you lecture Ferrari and Maserati to change their ways or the automobile industry will go extinct? Do you think a Ferrari is indistinguishable from a Kia? Your comment is a thinly veiled cry that you can’t afford this stuff. I’ve read it all before.

@trackingangle929

5 ай бұрын

Sonic differences among arms are measurable by the way. If you cared you could find such measurements but you prefer to live in the it all sounds the same world. Good for you!

@edd2771

5 ай бұрын

@@trackingangle929My points are not sanctimonious or lecturing. They are merely my common sense option presented concisely. The fact that you feel compelled to respond not once, but three times, and make judgements- not about the points I make- but how I make them tells me I’ve hit a mark. You tell me I’m ignorant repeatedly , but until you perform the blind test I describe, you are just thrashing about.

@edd2771

5 ай бұрын

@@trackingangle929 I have a modest system. I also have hearing loss and rely on hearing aids, so fortunately there is a ceiling on what I am willing to chase after for sound quality. But just because I do not have an engineering degree, or golden ears, or product manufacturing experience does not mean I cannot make commonsense observations. You are using what your logic teacher should have told you is a very weak argument- an argument from authority. That if if a statement comes from an "expert" or a manufacturer or a reviewer, it must be true. Needless to say, this is not the case. I do not need to be a physicist to know the laws of gravity are true. Please stop using this form of argument and rebut my statements by listening on a blind basis and drawing the same conclusions you would otherwise. Not because I ask you to, but because it is the ONLY way to settle disputes of this nature.

The vinyl crowd doesn't seem to understand the intrinsic limitations of a vinyl cutting lathe. Ask the best lathe operators what they have to do to make the grooves fit without too much excursion, and differently-so at different radii of the medium. The frequency response, signal-to-noise, harmonic and inharmonic distortion, dynamic range and stereo separation are all heavily and necessarily compromised from what's on the mastering tape. One can only think that vinyl afficionados are subject to some form of flock confirmation bias. Sure, there is a specific charm to what remains of the signal once it's re-interpreted by a tonearm, but it's akin to looking at a landscape through a peep hole. Those who want to prove me (us) wrong, have only one possible means : A randomised control trial conducted as it should, double-blind, etc. Short of proving your point objectively, let's assume that the vinyl thing is a fashion and a fetish ; one that's been hyped enough for people to fork out the price of a luxury car on useless but pretty encabulators.

@Kowinaida

5 ай бұрын

Talking of frequency limitations, how often do you have sex?

@VideoArchiveGuy

5 ай бұрын

Yet those flawed pieces of plastic most often still sound better than digital despite digital's "perfect sound forever" reputation, indicating there are still things about sound reproduction we don't understand.

@trackingangle929

5 ай бұрын

There are more than few seasoned industry professionals in that crowd who have forgotten more about music reproduction than you will ever know. Your comment is incredibly condescending, self-righteous and self-serving. Your lecture is hilarious. Roy Halee, who recorded all of Simon and Garfunkel's great records, and many of Simon's solos including "Graceland" is a major vinyl enthusiast who thinks the records, while not perfect, sound far closer to what he's recorded than do any digital versions. He is a huge vinyl fan. Another person visible in that video produced a long list of records, many of which I'm sure you love on CD but he prefers the vinyl, but I guess you know better and it's "confirmational bias", the go to expression used by the all knowing self righteous community.

Too bad the old geezers can't tell the difference between that tonearm and one that is on a $100 turntable. Sad!

@trackingangle929

5 ай бұрын

your comment is far sadder.

@elmhurst86

3 ай бұрын

What a ridiculous comment.