The popularly of vinyl records has grown by leaps and bounds in recent years. Experienced audiophiles have long praised this early music playback format for its incredibly warm sound, but today, even young people who grew up in a world of digital media are discovering the pleasures of throwing a record on the turntable. Everything about the vinyl-listening experience, from the painstaking attention to high fidelity to the large-scale artwork that graces each record cover, delivers an experience that is sorely lacking in our disposable world of pirated MP3s and tinny desktop computer speakers. However, there’s at least one area in which digital audio technology soundly beats its analog predecessors: signal to noise (S/N) ratio.
The surface contamination and imperfections that plague vinyl records inevitably cause a level of background noise that is abhorrent to many who are accustomed to the crystal clarity of CDs and computer audio files. After striving to reduce S/N ratios in its high-end SL-1200GAE/G and SL-1200GR turntables, Technics has created the most incredible turntable in the history of the company with its Reference Class SP-10R Direct Drive Turntable.
This turntable premiered at the recent IFA technology showcase, demonstrating a remarkably clear S/N ratio of just 92 decibels. The Technics Reference Class SP-10R Direct Drive Turntable also demonstrates exceptional rotational stability with a new coreless direct drive motor and a platter that weighs in at a hefty 7 kilograms.
The result is a reference class turntable that promises an outstanding listening experience, thanks to a more powerful and accurate sound.