If Apple made a turntable.... 1. The tonearm would be on the left side. 2. It would only play Apple records, which turn counter-clockwise, and run at 40.7 RPM. 3. The stylus would not be replaceable. 4. It would run off a dedicated power supply, which connects via a proprietary connector, and is serialized, so you cannot use a third-party power supply, or even another, identical, Apple power supply. 5. The output would be only via Thunderbolt port, and it would only connect to Apple-branded products. 6. You would need to subscribe to the playback software, at $19.95 per month. (50 records played per month, maximum.) 7. It would have to be replaced in three years, because...reasons.
I love your view or opinion + sarcasm on audiophile equipment and + the following. I hope non-audiophiles who are getting into this hobby watch your channel and get some perspectives! Great thoughts + personal perspective in this matter!
I've owned the same turntable since 1976. A Thorens TD-124, with a Shure SME arm, and I happen to favor the Shure V15 T-III cartridge (there are others I like as well) . This very heavy, very solid machine was marketed as a "transcription turntable", which ostensibly means it was targeted at the professional market, and not so much for the home user. No automatic functions, no multiplayer capabilities, just rock solid ability to spin a vinyl record at a consistent and reliable speed., which it still does, all these years later, remarkably well. I'm certainly not claiming that it's perfect but I have yet to find anything that would qualify as a perfect turntable. I guess that's just the nature of the beast when it comes to anything so gloriously analog and mechanical as a late 50's - early 60's turntable. But the kind of money that some people will willingly part with in the modern age is, to my way of thinking, really just ego massage in most cases. Most folks would be hard pressed to tell any significant difference between this table and one that goes for 3 or 4 times its current value. Are there superior sounding tables out there? Yes. Will they really provide a ROI that justifies their expense? I'm not convinced that they will. Just my opinion of course, YMMV as always.
I have had a Pioneer TT and Shure cartridge since... 1976. The amplifiers and speakers have changed several times. I nowadays only use it for digitising my own old vinyl (into 16bit FLAC files) so that I can listen to them on headphones via a DAP. The only thing about the TT that is not satisfactory is that there is some piece of gear that lifts and drops the arm, and this can be heard in the background during the first few seconds of any side. But - you know what? - this is good enough. Almost all of my vinyl collection is available online, remastered from less worn copies using a fully professional set-up for the job. In view of this, investing in a modern TT (say Rega rather than Ive) would produce a huge negative ROI, compared with buying hundreds of digital versions (carefully selected to avoid bad remastering, of course).
@@zugzwang2007 Same situation here, in that every other component in my system has been changed several times over the years - but not that table. I love that in this day and age we can buy surprisingly affordable DACs, preamps, power amps, etc. that are much improved over the years (often as a result of improvements in their various discrete components), but sometimes we are lucky enough to find a single device that suits our personal preferences so well that it never needs replacement. That's not to say that it's necessarily the best out there, but that the thrill of audio satisfaction is such a personal and subjective experience for each of us.
If Linn victims had ever examined a TD124 maybe they would have understood real engineering. But. WhatHifi was always there to mouth off loudly for Ivor. The situation stank (look who owned the magazine) ..... morality?LOL
Your comment about the 90s being just as bad as the 70s brought cheer to me. Having survived both the first as a child the second as a young adult.... thank you for that gem of a comment!!
As one already eluded to, but I will go much deeper because all of the accolades you are giving to “Johnny Iv’ “ are already SECURELY DESERVED AND OWNED by Jacob Jensen! He was the Master Mind behind all of the high performing and functionally beautiful gear from Bang & Olufsen! You can pretty much include every Turntable B&O ever made in the group of “If Apple made a Turntable this would be it….!” Because the ironic reality is just the opposite question…..”If Bang and Olufsen made a Computer, the iMac would be it!” I owned the fantastically good Beogram RX2 Turntable. But the very first Beogram 4000 in my opinion is still the standard for the finest Turntable ever designed and built. What does this Linn Turntable “do”? It’s main focus is isolation from outside noise. Well, let me testify, that the same isolation system was included in my later Beogram RX2, which did not play Tangentially like the Beogram 4000. This was the first Turntable offered for public sale that played records in the same way they were and to this day recorded….the tone arm moves tangentially across the vinyl. So back to the isolation….my Beogram RX2’s isolation was so good I could literally drop a tennis ball on the top of the base while the record was playing and it never skipped. I hope you comprehend this….I stood up over the record player and dropped the ball!! All of B&O turntables had this design along with very dense and heavy plinths. So I can pretty much and safely assume that this Linn couldn’t be any better at isolation than the 50+ year old Beogram 4000! The B&O, had no ‘skating’ issues, so no adjustments needed. So….what else does the Linn LP12 Do??? Does it sense the record size…..set the proper speed….does it keep you from having to lift the tonearm or touch it with your hand…..does it return after records end??? Any of these?? Does the Linn have as low a mass in both tonearm and cartridge?? Recently B&O Re-Released the Beogram 4000….the 4000c! This time loaded with its own output phono-stage, and other modern day tech. It too is a limited edition and fitted with a new low mass cartridge, costs a mere $4000 LESS, than the Linn Custom LP12 at $11,000us. But of course getting your hands on one is next to impossible as would be the Linn. But look….here is the real Rub and it’s a Real Rub when it comes to Bang and Olufsen in the world of High End Audio….. it’s this notion right here….”There stuff looks to good to be of Audiophile sound Quality!” And here is where the direct correlation to Apple comes into play….especially when it comes down to how Audiophiles to this very day will turn there noses up when talking about B&O Turntables…”well you can only use there Cartridges!” Sound familiar!??! No company had ever, in all of Audio, made such a move! Some people felt “forced”, taking away the pleasure of “tinkering” as Audiophiles like to do. But in my very experienced and very critical opinion, in 2023, a Turntable needs to have a major focus, and that protecting the vinyl it’s playing. So if you are charging 5 freaking grand, and I have to touch the tonearm to play a record….oh no! I have a Sony Turntable built in ‘79, direct drive, solenoid touch controls, auto lift and return, auto senses record size and end of record, returning and shutting off. It weighs 27 pounds with adjustable shock absorbing feet. I don’t play records anymore…. But if I did, my first question, if I was looking at this Linn LP12 Special Edition Turntable costing $15,000 bucks would…..what does it do that the Beogram 4000 didn’t do? Cause the Beogram surely looks more like an Apple Product by far and away. But really quickly, back to that “Rub”…..I’ve never heard any other Turntable sound or perform better than one offered by B&O!! And for that matter I’ve never heard any piece of gear offered by B&O that didn’t sound as fantastic as it looked….and that’s what always astounded me because I would always wonder…”Well does it sound good?” And any chance I ever got to listen to “those” speakers or that “all in one”….yep, it always sounded like one of the best I’ve ever heard.
Awesome piece of history there ! but then it became hilarious and I nearly peed myself when you said the price. When I was a kid I aspired to a Linn TT but now more than happy with my Rega. Quick side note, about 10 years after I bought the Rega a couple of Watt resistor went open so I wrote a letter to them explaining this (pre Email) and by return of post I had an apology, the part, spare drive belt and a nice alignment protractor to boot ! Sod Apple....cheers.
Yeah...back then the Linn Sondeck LP12 was around £350 without a tonearm...! The Rega was a damn fine deck - with a tonearm (back then it the RB200? An Acos built s-shaped arm, if I remember right, and sounded wonderful - I had a Planar 3 in the early 80s with that arm...loved it! 😊 Cost about £300 total, including the Linn K-5 cartridge (which I later found out was the AT-95!!)
@@stevesstuff1450 It's stored at moment but I remember the tone arm was straight and that's right ! AT-95E I believe ? yeah I love it as much as I did then, its coming out of storage soon ! mine is Planar 2
I enjoy your videos very much! Not many youtubers allow a sceptical look on products etc, so your view is very refreshing. Perhaps a fun idea is to have a look at similar "hi end tech/design" products from Teenage Engineering? The most recent one is hilarious.
I think Teenage Engineering products are meant to be fun toys for people who can afford them. Probably people who have already made their money in the music industry. I thought they were fun in my brief encounter and they do seem very well made. But the price! DM
I commented on Linn’s UA-cam channel that this was a ridiculous price and that the only people who could afford it would probably not appreciate its sound quality, just a rich man’s status symbol. I was immediately attacked! I am by the way a Linn LP12 owner and absolutely love it but it took years of saving up to be able to afford it.
Perfect timing. I received my new cover for my linn LP12 today. It’s custom made in grey felt with the logo and Linn LP12 embroidered in burgundy yarn. If I’d only known about the LP12-50, perhaps I could have had the extra 3 characters appended and wowed all my friends. Maybe it will be worth another £15 to have it remade, or maybe I could ask for a discount if I send mine back and have the extra three characters added. Of course, then they would be off centre, most un apple like, so on reflection that wouldn’t do at all. So an extra £15 it is. And that’s the closest my Linn will be getting to an upgrade to the Linn LP12-50 😂
I'm quite happy being an original me owner of a 1977 or so JVC QL5 turntable with an Audio Technica VM540ML cartridge I installed in 2022 to wrap up my system upgrade. Although the plinth rumbles quite noticeably when played at dB levels damaging to human hearing the sound is pleasant when listened to at reasonable sound levels. Fifty thousand pounds is what wealthy listeners are willing to spend for a name. It now costs north of a million pounds for a "most expensive" two channel system. I only have ten grand American in the system I put together last fall for my humble home and love the hell out of it.
😂 👍👍This appears to me to fall squarely into the "mine is more expensive than yours" domain. That said, I suppose that if someone has that amount of available cash to spend and isn't hurting anyone else in the process, why not? Keeps the economy moving. Just as long as they don't try to tell me with a straight face that it sounds 100 times better than a "decent" turntable at 1% of the price.
I’ve been on a Linn factory tour in the past. I heard their ultimate full Klimax system both with digital and LP 12 sources. It was hilarious how poor the demonstration was, especially considering it was an £80k system. I wouldn’t have even paid £1k to have a sound like that in my home. Very artificial sound not at all what the recordings were actually like. Linn & Naim were both pioneers of the cork sniffing elitism in hifi. I liken those two brands to religious cults recruiting disciples.
I was waiting for the punchline and you did not disappoint. 🤣 I know many Linn owners, and like Apple users, it is quite the cult. I will stick with my recently refurbished and upgraded Technics SP15, thank you. My primary use for my turntable these days is archiving my library to 96 khz 24 bit wave, and doing a bit of remastering and restoration where needed. The Linn Sondeck is anything but studio reference. But then so are most of the phono stages and carts audiophiles go into debt to obtain as well. Well done! And as always, very entertaining! Cheers!
If Apple made a turntable, it would stream the selected music from Apple music and work like a 3-head tape deck, only in this case a heater to first flatten a sector of spinning vinyl or perhaps PLA, a lathe then to cut the music in the next sector, and a stylus to read the groove in the next sector. This way, you will get an unprecedented 'fresh from the lathe' music experience. The stylus output then goes through a preamp with digital RIAA equalisation and the streamed via BT AAC to AirPods.
The truest words in this turntable discussion were voiced by those two ladies toward the finish. As long as a turntable doesn’t produce audible rumble and rotates at the correct speed without discernible wow or flutter (all but the very cheap and nasty models manage to achieve) no amount of extra money spent on another model will make an audible improvement. For those platinum-eared sound buffs who insist otherwise, let me recommend a double-blind testing.
I nearly bought a Linn TT in the early 70s was retailing for around $80 aussie dollars a weeks wages plus arm was extra. Another 2 weeks wages, Still kicking myself. But recently came across a Sugden Connoisseur belt drive TT in a garage sale. Had a SME arm too. Needs a bit of work, new belt, Cartidge, and a few bits missing off the arm. Counterweights. The motor works before the belt broke, was perished. So hopefully in the course of time and tracking down the bits I need I can see if it really is as good as they say.
Linn does make some fantastic sounding audio equipment, that is also very nice to look at… That said, at the moment I have no clue how wealthy I would have to be before I could feel morally and ethically justified in spending any money on their catalog of products, when that kind of money could be better spent on other things, like the down payment on a house. However, I understand perfectly how companies that make luxury items like Linn survive and thrive. Many of the people who have enough disposable income to be able to afford things like that ridiculously expensive turntable have are the same people who won’t stay in a hotel that offers free WiFi and buffet breakfast. Their perception of what constitutes a good value is just different than how most of us perceive things.
If Apple made a turntable it would actually be a scanner that would scan the grooves and the record would play with no moving parts. The software would remove the dust and tracing distortion, there would be monthly software updates, it would only play records in the iTunes library, it would need an internet connection and everything you played would be used to track your listing habits, sell you more records, and when it was 5 years old it would stop working as the software would no longer be supported and you'll have to buy the new version along with your smart speakers, earphones, phone and watch.
Great video giving the history of the one and only LP12. I remember the halcyon days of the LP12 leading the pack buying a separate arm and cartridge of choice. I could ever afford to pay for that level of perfection but I did get an Ariston RD40 with Linn arm and Ortofon cartridge, a very capable front end of its day and within my budget. You know what ? I still would not and could not buy a Linn LP12 front end, even the entry level one. My Ariston RD40 set up still functions well to this day with TLC and I love it, sitting there naked on the shelf on its 3 isolation feet and spinning like a UFO doing the business. There's nothing like decks manufactured and built in Scotland.
The problem with the Linn is that customers continue to buy the upgrades which are inappropriately expensive. I ended up buying some Tiger Paw upgrades for my front end because I was unhappy with mine (even though I had bought a Keel/Lingo 3 upgrade in 2010). They were a fraction of the cost of the Linn stuff & made a fantastic lasting improvement so the deck was much more listenable!
Many years ago, I spent < $300 on a Technics SL-1200. I replace my $300 Denon DL-110 cartridge every five years or so. Unliked the LP12 (which I too owned for a while), the Technics isn't fussy--it sounds the same (great) and works the same time after time. I also think it looks beautiful, but that's just me.
A modern recording (99% likely digital) sent to a cutting head - pressed into vinyl - tracked by a rock (sorry diamond) from a compromised fulcrum or radius point, bobbing about mechanically and played on a £50,000 turntable has to be COMPLETE madness. I love my 'ones' and 'noughts' long live digital, I have no romantic memories of vinyl (im 67 BTW and had the whole Linn / Naim /Kef104 thing)
I bought my second hand (1982) LP12 back in 1999 which was the worst year for vinyl sales (they have been steadily growing again ever since) I cost £400 and several upgrades and services later, sounds better than ever. A thing of sonic and aesthetic beauty.
Some of the most difficult to repair gear ever made. Some of those units have instructions in the service manual on how to modify a screwdriver into an appropriate tool needed just to disassemble the thing.
I was given an ailing B&O TX2 a few years ago and nursed it back to health, starting with having to buy a new cartridge from the one and only place in the entire world that makes them now. And even they said (at the time anyway) that it will not be re-buildable when its stylus wears out. It worked "OK" but was clearly meant to mate exclusively with other B&O gear. After attempting to get it to sound like it should and struggling with putting records in and out of it, I shelved it in favor of a Technics 1200 clone with a VM540ML cartridge. I am extremely happy with that combination. And when the stylus eventually wears out I can actually replace it..! And I can swap head shells and cartridges in a few seconds..! What a concept! Yes, B&O from that era is very much Apple-like- "You will be assimilated into the fold. Resistance is futile. Hand us your wallet and be quiet." 😂
Linn’s marketing department has played a blinder here. Ever heard of the halo principle? For ages, Linn was one of the most expensive turntables out there. Now with manufacturers springing up at all price points, some are making monster tables with uber exotic features for quarter of a million pounds! If you have a model costing this much, your £25,000 turntable must also be sprinkled with magic and beat those cheapskates down at Linn who can barely reach up to the £25 mark and probably sell loads for nearer £4k. So what better than a £50k version of the LP12 to prove they can still cut it with the truly exotic brigade? At half the price but 98% of the performance, the Klimax is now a bargain! Incidently, this is absolutely standard in every market and I’m in no way knocking Linn. I own one and love it. The ‘50 may have an unintended consequence, however, as it does make the standard models look a tad clunky.
I appreciate your jollity but it makes me wonder whether there is such a thing as an audiophile 78 rpm turntable. I suspect there is and I might look into it. DM
Since this is mainly about playing music, maybe the price comparison should be with a Steinway grand piano, Lyon and Healy harp, or if you really want to push the boat out, how about a Stradivarius violin? 🙂
Never had the money to be a real audiophile and spend money on a Linn system. For my limited sins, I have a fully refurbished Akai Mk2 4000DB, a refurbished Sony TC377, a JVC KD500 for those old tapes of me and my musical friends playing live in the 1970's and 1980's and a computer [never an Apple] for the digital rest. Analog for the irreplacable analog and 3 x A&R Cambridge Amplifiers also fully services and restored. One for my 'home stuidio' use, one for my general Audio/Visual entertainment and a third as a backup I couldn't resist when I saw it on eBay for a song. It did need work done but now it sings as beautifully as its siblings from 1979/80.
I just dug out my earliest copy of Hi Fi News and Record Review from 1974. A Linn Sondek LP12 with plinth and cover but no arm was £79.95 and a Garrard 401 chassis was £40……..Oh ,for that time machine!!
Honestly, if Apple made a turntable, it should have been a B&O 7000, in white. While it is not a “classic” as a 4000, its design is purer and the color is more Apple. Also, like an Apple product, it is expensive but not obnoxiously and it works perfectly, every time. With a few add-on parts, you can even control it from your iPhone a few rooms away. (For full effect, please read all of the preceding in staccato, kind of how you speak in your videos.)
Probably no better than the Dual 1019 on a PureSonics tube amp system with their virtually iron-free speakers I grew up with - turntable tech has had very little improvement in the last 60 years - but when the cynics came in your monologue I lost it 😂
If I were wealthy back in the late 70s, I would have designed a turntable that used a laser beam and sensor to read a LP optically and use a motor to keep the head moving over the record surface. Dust would be picked up as noise, but maybe a gentle blower would solve that problem. I described this idea back in the dorms, and everybody laughed at me and told me I didn't know what a laser is. CDs weren't to become a thing for another 10 years...
Not only 50 year old technology, but probably with a target group of 50+ years old who in the end, would not even be able to get the benefit from this evolution (assuming such benefit exists here).
I would be very very (really!) happy with a Mitchell Orbe wich cost a fraction of that LE Linn.... or a Kuzma, really well made record players.... But, whenever will be people that will buy a Linn for 50.000 or more GBP, they (Linn) are right, it's the market....
I really like your videos! Are you a relative of Paul McCartney? You look a bit like his younger brother, and your pronunciation is like his (at least in my ears. I am German, though...)
Hmmm...not sure if agree with this. I think an Apple turntable would be something like a 1980s B&O. Good looks, decent but not truly high-end audio, and totally proprietary/incompatible connectors (and cartridge)! And very expensive!! 😄
It's no good without a Michel record clamp with 4mm glass turntable mat, zerostat anti static ionizer pistol and a sticky tape record cleaner, oh and you could buy direct cut discs !
Haha! Some people here appear to think that Apple products are overpriced! An Apple Turntable.. 1-would not cost £50k, roughly double the "usual", It would be "competitively priced" at a mere £12.5k. 2-judging by the iPod experience, it would value storing vast numbers of recordings as opposed to higher quality recordings, perhaps 150 titles per side of an Apple Really Long Play record, recorded in a special format, being optically read from the bottom by a proprietary contact-less tonearm. Vast sums would be expended to silence anyone that dares refer to it as a (non?)Compact Disc. 3-it would be completely automated in operation with Siri and fully integrated into iTunes, Apple Home, and iCloud. The primary output devices would be HomePod or iMac speakers. 4-the Apple Really Long Play Record would be slot-loading and the controls would be a minimal touchpad, as on the HomePod. 5-the "Pro" version would include double-sided disc reading, backward compatibility with standard LPs through optically scanning the grooves and Thunderbolt connectivity to special Thunderbolt Amplified Speakers available in seven colors with limited edition artwork on the speaker grilles. 6-as previously mentioned, it would have a proprietary Power Adaptor.
Or you could get a Thorens 1600 with a better suspension system for under 4k. Its suspension is fixed in the lateral dimension so that it doesn’t jiggle side to side, which is far more troublesome than vertical movement. IMO, if Apple did make a turntable, it would more like a vintage Bang and Olufsen with its proprietary cartridge system and fixed stylus. If I had only known that records would make a come back, I’d still be using mine 🙁 It was literally a no-brainer. Or, if a Linn (AR-type) turntable is Tim Cook’s thing, it would be more like the Thorens 1601 with semi-automatic operation. At any rate, I doubt that Apple would make a TT that the masses couldn’t afford, so maybe a base Rega would be it after all… Jonny Ive can stick a tonearm in his plinth
Hah - indeed! I've just resurrected an old Strathearn STM-4 given to me decades ago - the DeLorean of the turntable world...works fine and no it does not start up backwards!
If Apple made a turntable it’d be manufactured in China and would cost a lot less otherwise they wouldn’t sell very many. Linn products have been overpriced for the last 20 or so years now. But they have their own clientele and keeps about 200 people employed in Glasgow, so there’s the upside.
No, a £250 quid turntable can’t match a £3K one in blind tests even if the tester is a tone deaf novice. However this £50k TT is not better than a £10k one even to an audiophile with a degree of self honesty. There are many of course that aren’t so honest and exhibit confirmation bias. As for me, I’ll stick with my collection of Roksans, or if I win a little on the lotto I’ll give Touraj another £10k plus just because the Verteres look cool.
My point is that if you don’t really hear and understand the difference between Mal Waldron, and Red Garland, and Ahmad Jamal, then you must admit you love equipment, and would rather discuss Riga than recordings.
One could argue that the Apple design was “inherited” from Braun (one of the main designers was Dieter Rams). So an Apple turntable would have to be a Braun turntable. Although Braun stopped making hi-fi equipment in 1990 ...
My Fluance does everything that Linn does, except strip mine my checking account or run on forever after reaching the end of the record. If only I could have spent $75000 more for it, it could also sound alot worse.......
Would rather spend my money on a really nice computer to play back all of my ripped CDs.. CD is the winner of the physical formats ... it makes no physical contact with the encoded music and lasts longer than the easily replaced player/reader...
I truly do not understand why there are so little options in the linear tracking turntable arena. There is no way that I would pay anything approaching that price for that type of design. While linear tracking has its own flaws, standard designs are known to be far more damaging and inaccurate. I can pick up and refurbish a linear tracking table for 35-50$ US fairly easily. This "thing" is definitely another example of "A fool and his money are soon parted."
Hello, please can you make a benchmark video to compare the most famous audio resampling/interpolation methods and algorithms like Speex, SecretRabitCode, LibaSampleRate,...) ? I mean the best theorical upsapling quality, compared to HD source signal. 😁 thank you
"Perfect"? Albums, are so far from it, Linn's owner must have been dropping 800 mikes of Delysid and never come down. The microgroove LP debuted in 1948 and stereo about a decade later. In most of the Industry, ( LASER ablation into a ceramic disc, via computational algorithm, transcribing the master tape, while ablating the topographical microgroove geometry, that bypasses the 1948 process of cutting/electroplating an acetate/metal stamper with maybe 1000-1500 LP lifespan), the same techniques are employed, from cutting the acetate to stamping the LP. The question is; How much more information can be extracted, given the initial compromise of transcribing from master tape to acetate/stamper, via the cutting process to actual LP, and reproduced by the hardware of the '70's and contrasted with the hardware some 50 years later? Have any double blind tests, there's that pesky empiricism again, ever been performed comparing the difference between a 70's, $1000, TT, in my instance a Revox B-790, to the top of the line, six figure TT's of today, employing the, "Perfect", (sic) source of the, all analog LP?
I am very familiar with the Linn Sondek LP12 and other high-end turntables made in the 80's and 90's. For beautiful aesthetics, in my book it's: 1) Goldmund Reference II 2) SOTA Star Sapphire in Koa wood 3) VPI TNT In terms of sound quality, it would be: 1) Goldmund Reference II 2) SOTA Star Sapphire 3) Linn Sondek LP12 4) The Rest: VPI, Rega Planar, etc. With regards to sound, the SOTA Star Sapphire is clearly superior to the Linn -- the SOTA is extremely neutral while the Linn (not modded) lacks bass and its midrange is lively and very colored. I've never personally heard the Goldmund, but I have read glowing reviews. BTW, any true high-fi turntable setup would need an Eminent Technology ET2 tonearm w/ Shinon Red cartridge and a Nitty Gritty record cleaner. I personally think you're biased w/ the Linn because you're a Brit.
Hamish (designer who lost the court case, & drank himself to death) will be awaiting frail Ivor's arrival in the beyond very soon. All your charitable works were guilt inspired weren't they Ivor?
Well you're not wrong. But the people who will buy this *desperately* need something to spend their money on. They have everything else and, as I said, you can't take it with you. DM
What’s with the snide remarks about the cost of EVs? When CDs were new, CD players were completely unaffordable for most people for years, and there were very few brands/models available, until the genuinely new technology had benefited from several iterations of cost-down engineering over many years. Same with DVDs. Same with HD-DVD/Bluray. And, and, and, every new technology goes through this process. So what’s your point?
It’s hard to see how you interpret my comments on electric cars as ‘snide’. I’m comparing the cost/value of a fairly standard electric car with a high end turntable. DM
This is a rather cynical exploitation of a small number of music enthusiasts with more money than they know what to do with. Yes, I reserve the right to feel (a little) sorry for rich people as well. The LP12 in all its various incarnations, has been one of the better turntables: but digital recordings and playback have long since left the use of vinyl records - or indeed any physical medium, bar studio tape machines - way behind. Why is it cynical? Because Linn have worked with digital technology for nearly a quarter of a century, and have made some very good (if expensive) products in that vein. They must know what the score is. If you really love music, then to be sure you can get closer to the sound by spending more money on equipment. The real advances recently have been in marrying speakers with DSP and there are some great products of this kind out there*. If you have a bucket of money to spend on hi-fi, here's my tip. Get a decent digital source (as long as it doesn't mess with the signal, cheap ones are just as good). You may wish to spend more for user convenience and a pretty box / user interface. Then draw up a shortlist of DSP-controlled speakers and audition them. (The first one I heard was the Kii Three, which made other 'high-end' systems at the same show sound vague, veiled and blurry in comparison.) Tot up the cost of your components and accessories (and no, expensive cables do not make a difference). [* including Linn speakers with 'Exakt'] Subtract that cost from your original budget, buy the lovely hi-fi, enjoy the music (preferably with family and friends). Great. Now give the rest of the money to a decent charity.
But it looks crap and the LP12 is my favourite ever turntable. This is just an abomination of a fantastic legendary product. Being redesigned by some bloke from Apple I'd actually never heard of doesn’t impress me. Why do you need the hinges at any angle when most people just remove the lid. The Klimax LP12 sounds incredible however and actually worth it but not at £50k. Your Spotify analogy doesn’t hold water as it will never sound as good. The AI clips are incredibly annoying.
If Apple made a turntable....
1. The tonearm would be on the left side.
2. It would only play Apple records, which turn counter-clockwise, and run at 40.7 RPM.
3. The stylus would not be replaceable.
4. It would run off a dedicated power supply, which connects via a proprietary connector, and is serialized, so you cannot use a third-party power supply, or even another, identical, Apple power supply.
5. The output would be only via Thunderbolt port, and it would only connect to Apple-branded products.
6. You would need to subscribe to the playback software, at $19.95 per month. (50 records played per month, maximum.)
7. It would have to be replaced in three years, because...reasons.
yes
But some
How it would be much better to use and sound great.
And every time there’s a TTos update it will run slower. DM
It would be made with slave labour by people who would occasionally kill them self's
This is amazingly accurate.
It's hard to say huw much money I saved today, but I'd like to think it is from £50,000
I love your view or opinion + sarcasm on audiophile equipment and + the following. I hope non-audiophiles who are getting into this hobby watch your channel and get some perspectives! Great thoughts + personal perspective in this matter!
I've owned the same turntable since 1976. A Thorens TD-124, with a Shure SME arm, and I happen to favor the Shure V15 T-III cartridge (there are others I like as well) .
This very heavy, very solid machine was marketed as a "transcription turntable", which ostensibly means it was targeted at the professional market, and not so much for the home user. No automatic functions, no multiplayer capabilities, just rock solid ability to spin a vinyl record at a consistent and reliable speed., which it still does, all these years later, remarkably well.
I'm certainly not claiming that it's perfect but I have yet to find anything that would qualify as a perfect turntable. I guess that's just the nature of the beast when it comes to anything so gloriously analog and mechanical as a late 50's - early 60's turntable. But the kind of money that some people will willingly part with in the modern age is, to my way of thinking, really just ego massage in most cases. Most folks would be hard pressed to tell any significant difference between this table and one that goes for 3 or 4 times its current value. Are there superior sounding tables out there? Yes. Will they really provide a ROI that justifies their expense? I'm not convinced that they will. Just my opinion of course, YMMV as always.
I have had a Pioneer TT and Shure cartridge since... 1976. The amplifiers and speakers have changed several times. I nowadays only use it for digitising my own old vinyl (into 16bit FLAC files) so that I can listen to them on headphones via a DAP. The only thing about the TT that is not satisfactory is that there is some piece of gear that lifts and drops the arm, and this can be heard in the background during the first few seconds of any side. But - you know what? - this is good enough. Almost all of my vinyl collection is available online, remastered from less worn copies using a fully professional set-up for the job. In view of this, investing in a modern TT (say Rega rather than Ive) would produce a huge negative ROI, compared with buying hundreds of digital versions (carefully selected to avoid bad remastering, of course).
@@zugzwang2007 Same situation here, in that every other component in my system has been changed several times over the years - but not that table. I love that in this day and age we can buy surprisingly affordable DACs, preamps, power amps, etc. that are much improved over the years (often as a result of improvements in their various discrete components), but sometimes we are lucky enough to find a single device that suits our personal preferences so well that it never needs replacement. That's not to say that it's necessarily the best out there, but that the thrill of audio satisfaction is such a personal and subjective experience for each of us.
@@usaturnuranus Mine was never the best out there. But it was just good enough to survive all subsequent changes.
If Linn victims had ever examined a TD124 maybe they would have understood real engineering.
But. WhatHifi was always there to mouth off loudly for Ivor. The situation stank (look who owned the magazine) ..... morality?LOL
If Apple made a T.t the cartridge could be glued to the tonearm and if the needle would wear you would have to replace the whole unit.
You’re not wrong. DM
Your comment about the 90s being just as bad as the 70s brought cheer to me. Having survived both the first as a child the second as a young adult.... thank you for that gem of a comment!!
It would go perfectly with my system, if I could only afford a $25,000 cable, I mean interconnect. Another great video!
As one already eluded to, but I will go much deeper because all of the accolades you are giving to “Johnny Iv’ “ are already SECURELY DESERVED AND OWNED by Jacob Jensen! He was the Master Mind behind all of the high performing and functionally beautiful gear from Bang & Olufsen! You can pretty much include every Turntable B&O ever made in the group of “If Apple made a Turntable this would be it….!” Because the ironic reality is just the opposite question…..”If Bang and Olufsen made a Computer, the iMac would be it!” I owned the fantastically good Beogram RX2 Turntable. But the very first Beogram 4000 in my opinion is still the standard for the finest Turntable ever designed and built. What does this Linn Turntable “do”? It’s main focus is isolation from outside noise. Well, let me testify, that the same isolation system was included in my later Beogram RX2, which did not play Tangentially like the Beogram 4000. This was the first Turntable offered for public sale that played records in the same way they were and to this day recorded….the tone arm moves tangentially across the vinyl. So back to the isolation….my Beogram RX2’s isolation was so good I could literally drop a tennis ball on the top of the base while the record was playing and it never skipped. I hope you comprehend this….I stood up over the record player and dropped the ball!! All of B&O turntables had this design along with very dense and heavy plinths. So I can pretty much and safely assume that this Linn couldn’t be any better at isolation than the 50+ year old Beogram 4000! The B&O, had no ‘skating’ issues, so no adjustments needed. So….what else does the Linn LP12 Do??? Does it sense the record size…..set the proper speed….does it keep you from having to lift the tonearm or touch it with your hand…..does it return after records end??? Any of these?? Does the Linn have as low a mass in both tonearm and cartridge?? Recently B&O Re-Released the Beogram 4000….the 4000c! This time loaded with its own output phono-stage, and other modern day tech. It too is a limited edition and fitted with a new low mass cartridge, costs a mere $4000 LESS, than the Linn Custom LP12 at $11,000us. But of course getting your hands on one is next to impossible as would be the Linn. But look….here is the real Rub and it’s a Real Rub when it comes to Bang and Olufsen in the world of High End Audio….. it’s this notion right here….”There stuff looks to good to be of Audiophile sound Quality!” And here is where the direct correlation to Apple comes into play….especially when it comes down to how Audiophiles to this very day will turn there noses up when talking about B&O Turntables…”well you can only use there Cartridges!” Sound familiar!??! No company had ever, in all of Audio, made such a move! Some people felt “forced”, taking away the pleasure of “tinkering” as Audiophiles like to do. But in my very experienced and very critical opinion, in 2023, a Turntable needs to have a major focus, and that protecting the vinyl it’s playing. So if you are charging 5 freaking grand, and I have to touch the tonearm to play a record….oh no! I have a Sony Turntable built in ‘79, direct drive, solenoid touch controls, auto lift and return, auto senses record size and end of record, returning and shutting off. It weighs 27 pounds with adjustable shock absorbing feet. I don’t play records anymore…. But if I did, my first question, if I was looking at this Linn LP12 Special Edition Turntable costing $15,000 bucks would…..what does it do that the Beogram 4000 didn’t do? Cause the Beogram surely looks more like an Apple Product by far and away. But really quickly, back to that “Rub”…..I’ve never heard any other Turntable sound or perform better than one offered by B&O!! And for that matter I’ve never heard any piece of gear offered by B&O that didn’t sound as fantastic as it looked….and that’s what always astounded me because I would always wonder…”Well does it sound good?” And any chance I ever got to listen to “those” speakers or that “all in one”….yep, it always sounded like one of the best I’ve ever heard.
Awesome piece of history there ! but then it became hilarious and I nearly peed myself when you said the price. When I was a kid I aspired to a Linn TT but now more than happy with my Rega. Quick side note, about 10 years after I bought the Rega a couple of Watt resistor went open so I wrote a letter to them explaining this (pre Email) and by return of post I had an apology, the part, spare drive belt and a nice alignment protractor to boot ! Sod Apple....cheers.
Yeah...back then the Linn Sondeck LP12 was around £350 without a tonearm...! The Rega was a damn fine deck - with a tonearm (back then it the RB200? An Acos built s-shaped arm, if I remember right, and sounded wonderful - I had a Planar 3 in the early 80s with that arm...loved it! 😊 Cost about £300 total, including the Linn K-5 cartridge (which I later found out was the AT-95!!)
@@stevesstuff1450 It's stored at moment but I remember the tone arm was straight and that's right ! AT-95E I believe ? yeah I love it as much as I did then, its coming out of storage soon ! mine is Planar 2
Loved this video. Well done!
I enjoy your videos very much! Not many youtubers allow a sceptical look on products etc, so your view is very refreshing.
Perhaps a fun idea is to have a look at similar "hi end tech/design" products from Teenage Engineering? The most recent one is hilarious.
I think Teenage Engineering products are meant to be fun toys for people who can afford them. Probably people who have already made their money in the music industry. I thought they were fun in my brief encounter and they do seem very well made. But the price! DM
I commented on Linn’s UA-cam channel that this was a ridiculous price and that the only people who could afford it would probably not appreciate its sound quality, just a rich man’s status symbol.
I was immediately attacked! I am by the way a Linn LP12 owner and absolutely love it but it took years of saving up to be able to afford it.
Perfect timing. I received my new cover for my linn LP12 today. It’s custom made in grey felt with the logo and Linn LP12 embroidered in burgundy yarn. If I’d only known about the LP12-50, perhaps I could have had the extra 3 characters appended and wowed all my friends. Maybe it will be worth another £15 to have it remade, or maybe I could ask for a discount if I send mine back and have the extra three characters added. Of course, then they would be off centre, most un apple like, so on reflection that wouldn’t do at all.
So an extra £15 it is. And that’s the closest my Linn will be getting to an upgrade to the Linn LP12-50 😂
I'm quite happy being an original me owner of a 1977 or so JVC QL5 turntable with an Audio Technica VM540ML cartridge I installed in 2022 to wrap up my system upgrade. Although the plinth rumbles quite noticeably when played at dB levels damaging to human hearing the sound is pleasant when listened to at reasonable sound levels. Fifty thousand pounds is what wealthy listeners are willing to spend for a name. It now costs north of a million pounds for a "most expensive" two channel system. I only have ten grand American in the system I put together last fall for my humble home and love the hell out of it.
😂 👍👍This appears to me to fall squarely into the "mine is more expensive than yours" domain. That said, I suppose that if someone has that amount of available cash to spend and isn't hurting anyone else in the process, why not? Keeps the economy moving. Just as long as they don't try to tell me with a straight face that it sounds 100 times better than a "decent" turntable at 1% of the price.
I’ve been on a Linn factory tour in the past.
I heard their ultimate full Klimax system both with digital and LP 12 sources.
It was hilarious how poor the demonstration was, especially considering it was an £80k system. I wouldn’t have even paid £1k to have a sound like that in my home.
Very artificial sound not at all what the recordings were actually like.
Linn & Naim were both pioneers of the cork sniffing elitism in hifi. I liken those two brands to religious cults recruiting disciples.
I was waiting for the punchline and you did not disappoint. 🤣 I know many Linn owners, and like Apple users, it is quite the cult.
I will stick with my recently refurbished and upgraded Technics SP15, thank you.
My primary use for my turntable these days is archiving my library to 96 khz 24 bit wave, and doing a bit of remastering and restoration where needed. The Linn Sondeck is anything but studio reference. But then so are most of the phono stages and carts audiophiles go into debt to obtain as well.
Well done! And as always, very entertaining! Cheers!
If Apple made a turntable, it would stream the selected music from Apple music and work like a 3-head tape deck, only in this case a heater to first flatten a sector of spinning vinyl or perhaps PLA, a lathe then to cut the music in the next sector, and a stylus to read the groove in the next sector. This way, you will get an unprecedented 'fresh from the lathe' music experience. The stylus output then goes through a preamp with digital RIAA equalisation and the streamed via BT AAC to AirPods.
You’re very close. It would recognise the music being played and stream it in 24-bit lossless. There’s no reason that couldn’t work. DM
The truest words in this turntable discussion were voiced by those two ladies toward the finish. As long as a turntable doesn’t produce audible rumble and rotates at the correct speed without discernible wow or flutter (all but the very cheap and nasty models manage to achieve) no amount of extra money spent on another model will make an audible improvement. For those platinum-eared sound buffs who insist otherwise, let me recommend a double-blind testing.
I nearly bought a Linn TT in the early 70s was retailing for around $80 aussie dollars a weeks wages plus arm was extra. Another 2 weeks wages, Still kicking myself. But recently came across a Sugden Connoisseur belt drive TT in a garage sale. Had a SME arm too. Needs a bit of work, new belt, Cartidge, and a few bits missing off the arm. Counterweights. The motor works before the belt broke, was perished. So hopefully in the course of time and tracking down the bits I need I can see if it really is as good as they say.
That seems quite reasonable. I'll take one for each room of the house. Except for the smallest room, that would be extravagant.
Linn does make some fantastic sounding audio equipment, that is also very nice to look at… That said, at the moment I have no clue how wealthy I would have to be before I could feel morally and ethically justified in spending any money on their catalog of products, when that kind of money could be better spent on other things, like the down payment on a house.
However, I understand perfectly how companies that make luxury items like Linn survive and thrive. Many of the people who have enough disposable income to be able to afford things like that ridiculously expensive turntable have are the same people who won’t stay in a hotel that offers free WiFi and buffet breakfast. Their perception of what constitutes a good value is just different than how most of us perceive things.
If Apple made a turntable it would actually be a scanner that would scan the grooves and the record would play with no moving parts. The software would remove the dust and tracing distortion, there would be monthly software updates, it would only play records in the iTunes library, it would need an internet connection and everything you played would be used to track your listing habits, sell you more records, and when it was 5 years old it would stop working as the software would no longer be supported and you'll have to buy the new version along with your smart speakers, earphones, phone and watch.
I love your AI 'assistants'..... 😉😆
Great video giving the history of the one and only LP12. I remember the halcyon days of the LP12 leading the pack buying a separate arm and cartridge of choice. I could ever afford to pay for that level of perfection but I did get an Ariston RD40 with Linn arm and Ortofon cartridge, a very capable front end of its day and within my budget. You know what ? I still would not and could not buy a Linn LP12 front end, even the entry level one. My Ariston RD40 set up still functions well to this day with TLC and I love it, sitting there naked on the shelf on its 3 isolation feet and spinning like a UFO doing the business. There's nothing like decks manufactured and built in Scotland.
The problem with the Linn is that customers continue to buy the upgrades which are inappropriately expensive. I ended up buying some Tiger Paw upgrades for my front end because I was unhappy with mine (even though I had bought a Keel/Lingo 3 upgrade in 2010). They were a fraction of the cost of the Linn stuff & made a fantastic lasting improvement so the deck was much more listenable!
Many years ago, I spent < $300 on a Technics SL-1200. I replace my $300 Denon DL-110 cartridge every five years or so. Unliked the LP12 (which I too owned for a while), the Technics isn't fussy--it sounds the same (great) and works the same time after time. I also think it looks beautiful, but that's just me.
A modern recording (99% likely digital) sent to a cutting head - pressed into vinyl - tracked by a rock (sorry diamond) from a compromised fulcrum or radius point, bobbing about mechanically and played on a £50,000 turntable has to be COMPLETE madness. I love my 'ones' and 'noughts' long live digital, I have no romantic memories of vinyl (im 67 BTW and had the whole Linn / Naim /Kef104 thing)
I bought my second hand (1982) LP12 back in 1999 which was the worst year for vinyl sales (they have been steadily growing again ever since) I cost £400 and several upgrades and services later, sounds better than ever. A thing of sonic and aesthetic beauty.
Looking at their current styling I'd say Apple's turntable would look more like a Bang & Olufsen piece of gear from the late 80s or early 90s.
Some of the most difficult to repair gear ever made. Some of those units have instructions in the service manual on how to modify a screwdriver into an appropriate tool needed just to disassemble the thing.
Hmm, you have a hammer, and a nail, and you haven't hit your thumb. DM
@@ScottGrammer A channel called @Mymatevince has repaired a number of B&O units. It's quite enjoyable to watch and the equipment is top shelf.
@@TechGorilla1987 Thanks! I'll go check it out.
I was given an ailing B&O TX2 a few years ago and nursed it back to health, starting with having to buy a new cartridge from the one and only place in the entire world that makes them now. And even they said (at the time anyway) that it will not be re-buildable when its stylus wears out. It worked "OK" but was clearly meant to mate exclusively with other B&O gear. After attempting to get it to sound like it should and struggling with putting records in and out of it, I shelved it in favor of a Technics 1200 clone with a VM540ML cartridge. I am extremely happy with that combination. And when the stylus eventually wears out I can actually replace it..! And I can swap head shells and cartridges in a few seconds..! What a concept! Yes, B&O from that era is very much Apple-like- "You will be assimilated into the fold. Resistance is futile. Hand us your wallet and be quiet." 😂
Linn’s marketing department has played a blinder here. Ever heard of the halo principle? For ages, Linn was one of the most expensive turntables out there. Now with manufacturers springing up at all price points, some are making monster tables with uber exotic features for quarter of a million pounds!
If you have a model costing this much, your £25,000 turntable must also be sprinkled with magic and beat those cheapskates down at Linn who can barely reach up to the £25 mark and probably sell loads for nearer £4k. So what better than a £50k version of the LP12 to prove they can still cut it with the truly exotic brigade? At half the price but 98% of the performance, the Klimax is now a bargain!
Incidently, this is absolutely standard in every market and I’m in no way knocking Linn. I own one and love it. The ‘50 may have an unintended consequence, however, as it does make the standard models look a tad clunky.
Never have so many been astonished, by so little......still waiting for the 78 rpm upgrade ( magic beans are always in demand)
I appreciate your jollity but it makes me wonder whether there is such a thing as an audiophile 78 rpm turntable. I suspect there is and I might look into it. DM
Rega make the Planar 78.
Since this is mainly about playing music, maybe the price comparison should be with a Steinway grand piano, Lyon and Healy harp, or if you really want to push the boat out, how about a Stradivarius violin? 🙂
I’d say then that the Linn is a bargain. DM
Never had the money to be a real audiophile and spend money on a Linn system. For my limited sins, I have a fully refurbished Akai Mk2 4000DB, a refurbished Sony TC377, a JVC KD500 for those old tapes of me and my musical friends playing live in the 1970's and 1980's and a computer [never an Apple] for the digital rest. Analog for the irreplacable analog and 3 x A&R Cambridge Amplifiers also fully services and restored. One for my 'home stuidio' use, one for my general Audio/Visual entertainment and a third as a backup I couldn't resist when I saw it on eBay for a song. It did need work done but now it sings as beautifully as its siblings from 1979/80.
I went to the old Harrogate hifi show in the early 70's when I was about 12 or 13. I seem to remember a Sondek cost about £70 back then.
That's only about 500 quid in today's money...
I just dug out my earliest copy of Hi Fi News and Record Review from 1974.
A Linn Sondek LP12 with plinth and cover but no arm was £79.95 and a Garrard 401 chassis was £40……..Oh ,for that time machine!!
And…….stop off on the way back in 2010 for a few hundred thousand Bitcoin…..😢
@@TheAcousticimagerysounds great...but in 1974 I was only taking home 36 quid a week, and that was for working 12 hour shifts.
This would be a turntable that you don't lose money on it will only increase in value ..
Honestly, if Apple made a turntable, it should have been a B&O 7000, in white. While it is not a “classic” as a 4000, its design is purer and the color is more Apple. Also, like an Apple product, it is expensive but not obnoxiously and it works perfectly, every time. With a few add-on parts, you can even control it from your iPhone a few rooms away. (For full effect, please read all of the preceding in staccato, kind of how you speak in your videos.)
Got my full original Thorens TD160 from a flea market for only €10, wonder how this €10 holds up against the Linn 50K
At last a Master who tells us at which point it is just the fool and his money going their separate ways. Thank you.
_DSOTM_, lol, is it possible to listen to it enough and keep up with the TT's depreciation?
Probably no better than the Dual 1019 on a PureSonics tube amp system with their virtually iron-free speakers I grew up with - turntable tech has had very little improvement in the last 60 years - but when the cynics came in your monologue I lost it 😂
I'll keep my new thorens td 1500, fabulous tt
If I were wealthy back in the late 70s, I would have designed a turntable that used a laser beam and sensor to read a LP optically and use a motor to keep the head moving over the record surface. Dust would be picked up as noise, but maybe a gentle blower would solve that problem. I described this idea back in the dorms, and everybody laughed at me and told me I didn't know what a laser is. CDs weren't to become a thing for another 10 years...
It has been tried. From the accounts I heard it was very good at resolving dust. Too good.
Not only 50 year old technology, but probably with a target group of 50+ years old who in the end, would not even be able to get the benefit from this evolution (assuming such benefit exists here).
Awww...come on. What's wrong with Dark Side of the Moon? 😁
See, I do watch your videos to the end. 🙃
I would be very very (really!) happy with a Mitchell Orbe wich cost a fraction of that LE Linn.... or a Kuzma, really well made record players.... But, whenever will be people that will buy a Linn for 50.000 or more GBP, they (Linn) are right, it's the market....
I really like your videos! Are you a relative of Paul McCartney? You look a bit like his younger brother, and your pronunciation is like his (at least in my ears. I am German, though...)
No known link and I certainly don’t have his musical talent. DM
@@AudioMasterclassBut at least you're into music, and that is great!
If I ever buy one, I’ll never remove the price tag from the turntable. I might even engrave the price at the front of the turntable.
An LP12 is a fine up to $10K turntable (in any configuration) tops.
Hmmm...not sure if agree with this. I think an Apple turntable would be something like a 1980s B&O. Good looks, decent but not truly high-end audio, and totally proprietary/incompatible connectors (and cartridge)! And very expensive!! 😄
FWIW, I do agree with 99.9% of things you come out with 😊
If it's an Apple turntable it probably doesn't have an audio output.
That's OK, you can listen via Bluetooth. DM
@@AudioMasterclass LOL, good point :D
Oddly, it also doesn't have a screen.
It's no good without a Michel record clamp with 4mm glass turntable mat, zerostat anti static ionizer pistol and a sticky tape record cleaner, oh and you could buy direct cut discs !
Haha! Some people here appear to think that Apple products are overpriced!
An Apple Turntable..
1-would not cost £50k, roughly double the "usual", It would be "competitively priced" at a mere £12.5k.
2-judging by the iPod experience, it would value storing vast numbers of recordings as opposed to higher quality recordings, perhaps 150 titles per side of an Apple Really Long Play record, recorded in a special format, being optically read from the bottom by a proprietary contact-less tonearm. Vast sums would be expended to silence anyone that dares refer to it as a (non?)Compact Disc.
3-it would be completely automated in operation with Siri and fully integrated into iTunes, Apple Home, and iCloud. The primary output devices would be HomePod or iMac speakers.
4-the Apple Really Long Play Record would be slot-loading and the controls would be a minimal touchpad, as on the HomePod.
5-the "Pro" version would include double-sided disc reading, backward compatibility with standard LPs through optically scanning the grooves and Thunderbolt connectivity to special Thunderbolt Amplified Speakers available in seven colors with limited edition artwork on the speaker grilles.
6-as previously mentioned, it would have a proprietary Power Adaptor.
Warning! No serviceable parts inside!
If Apple made a turntable they would charge you $1000 for the interconnect cable.
To be honest ..you may as well just buy the Linn LP12 KLIMAX ..an absolute beast of a TT and worthy of the 💵💵
You're not wrong. Subtract a Klimax from the LP12-50 and what do you have left for your extra $30k? DM
Or you could get a Thorens 1600 with a better suspension system for under 4k. Its suspension is fixed in the lateral dimension so that it doesn’t jiggle side to side, which is far more troublesome than vertical movement.
IMO, if Apple did make a turntable, it would more like a vintage Bang and Olufsen with its proprietary cartridge system and fixed stylus. If I had only known that records would make a come back, I’d still be using mine 🙁 It was literally a no-brainer.
Or, if a Linn (AR-type) turntable is Tim Cook’s thing, it would be more like the Thorens 1601 with semi-automatic operation.
At any rate, I doubt that Apple would make a TT that the masses couldn’t afford, so maybe a base Rega would be it after all…
Jonny Ive can stick a tonearm in his plinth
I prefer the Ariston, that they copied. Having said that you could say that Ariston copied Acoustic Research.
There's a whole backstory here. I feel that it's more of a business story than an audio story but, who knows, I might cover it in a future video.
Hah - indeed!
I've just resurrected an old Strathearn STM-4 given to me decades ago - the DeLorean of the turntable world...works fine and no it does not start up backwards!
It would look lovely in a teak cabinet. DM
Power Computing.
agreed
It is pretty ----------
If Apple made a turntable it’d be manufactured in China and would cost a lot less otherwise they wouldn’t sell very many.
Linn products have been overpriced for the last 20 or so years now. But they have their own clientele and keeps about 200 people employed in Glasgow, so there’s the upside.
No, a £250 quid turntable can’t match a £3K one in blind tests even if the tester is a tone deaf novice.
However this £50k TT is not better than a £10k one even to an audiophile with a degree of self honesty. There are many of course that aren’t so honest and exhibit confirmation bias.
As for me, I’ll stick with my collection of Roksans, or if I win a little on the lotto I’ll give Touraj another £10k plus just because the Verteres look cool.
And a floating room.
If Apple made a turntable, it would look like the Teenage Engineering TP-7.
But bigger. DM
I just checked, that’s around $95,000 AUD, 🤣🤣🤣🤣😂😂.
My point is that if you don’t really hear and understand the difference between Mal Waldron, and Red Garland, and Ahmad Jamal, then you must admit you love equipment, and would rather discuss Riga than recordings.
I wouldn't swap my Rega Planar 3 for anything. It's the Linux of turntables.
Sorry if Apple would havd design a turtable it s a Technics SL-1200 Mk2 with shure m44-7 catridge!
Anyone here remember the Michelson & Austin TVA-1?
here I thought that it would be a braun turntable clone
One could argue that the Apple design was “inherited” from Braun (one of the main designers was Dieter Rams). So an Apple turntable would have to be a Braun turntable. Although Braun stopped making hi-fi equipment in 1990 ...
My Fluance does everything that Linn does, except strip mine my checking account or run on forever after reaching the end of the record. If only I could have spent $75000 more for it, it could also sound alot worse.......
Yes unfortunately it will sell if it's not already sold out 😂. Be careful, these ladies are going to take over and they will outlive us all 🤣🤣.
If Tesla made a turntable it would be a BIC
If Apple had its way, there would be no Turntables. So who in the hell are you trying to fool.
I bought a Pro-Ject turntable because the Linn wasn't available in red.
Would rather spend my money on a really nice computer to play back all of my ripped CDs.. CD is the winner of the physical formats ... it makes no physical contact with the encoded music and lasts longer than the easily replaced player/reader...
I still can't tell if this is a joke
If it is a joke, it wouldn't be me making it. I take £50k GBP very seriously. DM
I truly do not understand why there are so little options in the linear tracking turntable arena.
There is no way that I would pay anything approaching that price for that type of design.
While linear tracking has its own flaws, standard designs are known to be far more damaging and inaccurate.
I can pick up and refurbish a linear tracking table for 35-50$ US fairly easily.
This "thing" is definitely another example of "A fool and his money are soon parted."
Me too. Of course they’re not perfect but the concept should have been explored more. DM
Why am I listening to this man waffle?
I don't know, but I can waffle plenty more if you like. DM
Hello, please can you make a benchmark video to compare the most famous audio resampling/interpolation methods and algorithms like Speex, SecretRabitCode, LibaSampleRate,...) ?
I mean the best theorical upsapling quality, compared to HD source signal. 😁
thank you
I’ll put it on my possibility list. DM
@@AudioMasterclass Thank you very much 🙏
"Perfect"? Albums, are so far from it, Linn's owner must have been dropping 800 mikes of Delysid and never come down. The microgroove LP debuted in 1948 and stereo about a decade later. In most of the Industry, ( LASER ablation into a ceramic disc, via computational algorithm, transcribing the master tape, while ablating the topographical microgroove geometry, that bypasses the 1948 process of cutting/electroplating an acetate/metal stamper with maybe 1000-1500 LP lifespan), the same techniques are employed, from cutting the acetate to stamping the LP. The question is; How much more information can be extracted, given the initial compromise of transcribing from master tape to acetate/stamper, via the cutting process to actual LP, and reproduced by the hardware of the '70's and contrasted with the hardware some 50 years later? Have any double blind tests, there's that pesky empiricism again, ever been performed comparing the difference between a 70's, $1000, TT, in my instance a Revox B-790, to the top of the line, six figure TT's of today, employing the, "Perfect", (sic) source of the, all analog LP?
Plus shipping 😂😂😂🤣🤣😂
No as you don’t get shipped an LP12. You collect it.
I am very familiar with the Linn Sondek LP12 and other high-end turntables made in the 80's and 90's. For beautiful aesthetics, in my book it's:
1) Goldmund Reference II
2) SOTA Star Sapphire in Koa wood
3) VPI TNT
In terms of sound quality, it would be:
1) Goldmund Reference II
2) SOTA Star Sapphire
3) Linn Sondek LP12
4) The Rest: VPI, Rega Planar, etc.
With regards to sound, the SOTA Star Sapphire is clearly superior to the Linn -- the SOTA is extremely neutral while the Linn (not modded) lacks bass and its midrange is lively and very colored. I've never personally heard the Goldmund, but I have read glowing reviews. BTW, any true high-fi turntable setup would need an Eminent Technology ET2 tonearm w/ Shinon Red cartridge and a Nitty Gritty record cleaner.
I personally think you're biased w/ the Linn because you're a Brit.
I'm a high enthusiast.
Linn screwed the pooch with this one.
Hamish (designer who lost the court case, & drank himself to death) will be awaiting frail Ivor's arrival in the beyond very soon.
All your charitable works were guilt inspired weren't they Ivor?
From the title I was expecting something mediocre, overpriced, overstyled and over-hyped, marketed to the gullible.
I was right.
Well you're not wrong. But the people who will buy this *desperately* need something to spend their money on. They have everything else and, as I said, you can't take it with you. DM
If apple made a turntable I would buy it and throw it in the garbage!
you could buy a car and install a car turntable inside it for that price
And there have been such things. DM
Apple Turntable will not have a platter, no tone arm and plinth made of aluminum, real aluminum.
60k WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What’s with the snide remarks about the cost of EVs? When CDs were new, CD players were completely unaffordable for most people for years, and there were very few brands/models available, until the genuinely new technology had benefited from several iterations of cost-down engineering over many years. Same with DVDs. Same with HD-DVD/Bluray. And, and, and, every new technology goes through this process. So what’s your point?
It’s hard to see how you interpret my comments on electric cars as ‘snide’. I’m comparing the cost/value of a fairly standard electric car with a high end turntable. DM
@@AudioMasterclass Perhaps it’s just the way you paint yourself, without realising… ;-)
@@techydude I remain unbothered. DM
This is a rather cynical exploitation of a small number of music enthusiasts with more money than they know what to do with. Yes, I reserve the right to feel (a little) sorry for rich people as well. The LP12 in all its various incarnations, has been one of the better turntables: but digital recordings and playback have long since left the use of vinyl records - or indeed any physical medium, bar studio tape machines - way behind.
Why is it cynical? Because Linn have worked with digital technology for nearly a quarter of a century, and have made some very good (if expensive) products in that vein. They must know what the score is.
If you really love music, then to be sure you can get closer to the sound by spending more money on equipment. The real advances recently have been in marrying speakers with DSP and there are some great products of this kind out there*. If you have a bucket of money to spend on hi-fi, here's my tip. Get a decent digital source (as long as it doesn't mess with the signal, cheap ones are just as good). You may wish to spend more for user convenience and a pretty box / user interface. Then draw up a shortlist of DSP-controlled speakers and audition them. (The first one I heard was the Kii Three, which made other 'high-end' systems at the same show sound vague, veiled and blurry in comparison.) Tot up the cost of your components and accessories (and no, expensive cables do not make a difference).
[* including Linn speakers with 'Exakt']
Subtract that cost from your original budget, buy the lovely hi-fi, enjoy the music (preferably with family and friends). Great. Now give the rest of the money to a decent charity.
50k for an turn table from the 1970s…
Don't worry! They've probably all been sold now.
@@AudioMasterclass I always wonder how a product can be perfect, if it receives upgrades so often. Linn is a phenomenon.
@@einfachdermartin 'Perfect' is often shorthand for 'asymptotic to perfection'.
It's fine but it's for rich people
At least the 70's had good music...and better movies, the 90's had Friends...and Westlife 🤮
But it looks crap and the LP12 is my favourite ever turntable. This is just an abomination of a fantastic legendary product.
Being redesigned by some bloke from Apple I'd actually never heard of doesn’t impress me. Why do you need the hinges at any angle when most people just remove the lid.
The Klimax LP12 sounds incredible however and actually worth it but not at £50k.
Your Spotify analogy doesn’t hold water as it will never sound as good.
The AI clips are incredibly annoying.
The already overhyped turntable strikes again with ridiculous price... Even the base model is overpriced for a british copy of a Thorens turntable.
p
Never mind Apple turntables, here's a load of bullshit !! 😁