Audiophilepure

https://www.soundstageultra.com/index.php/equipment-menu/1238-thales-ttt-compact-ii-turntable-system

The Swiss know how to make high-quality, compact machines. They own the high-end automatic watch market, right? Every year, a Swiss manufacturer like Audemars Piguet brings out a new complication—movement—that contains even more parts, does more crazy computations, that never needs resetting for leap years, the orbit of Neptune, Easter, all that stuff. I own an Omega Speedmaster watch, and it doesn’t do any real tricks. It’s a NASA-approved chronograph, so I can time my steaks superbly to ensure they’re medium rare every time, but other than that, all it does is tell the time with great accuracy. I have seen this watch with the back cover removed, and there’s a whole world in there—gears, levers, springs—all manufactured with insane precision. Switzerland is the land of miniaturization.

https://www.hifinews.com/content/luxman-pd-191a-turntable

Where it became interesting was in comparing two pressing types, which I had never actually bothered to do before. Such was the openness, transparency and detail retrieval afforded by this flagship Luxman deck that I figured I would compare the new, clear pressing with my black vinyl originals. The validity of this test is questionable as I am sure the new release has been remastered, while the original came from younger master tapes.

Still, what intrigued me was a question that some hardcore vinyl addicts love to debate: is black vinyl better than clear, as its carbon component serves as a lubricant, even though transparent vinyl is the material’s natural state? I had three black vinyl versions of Swan Song dating back to 1974 as well as the new pressing, and while I couldn’t arrive at an answer to the black/clear conundrum all sounded unalike thanks to the PD-191A deftly exposing their differences.