
MAG-LEV Audio – Levitating Turntable - evo_9
https://www.maglevaudio.com/
======
Animats
That's just decorative. The real advance in record players is IRENE.[1] This
is an optical record player. It takes a 3D image of the recording surface with
a confocal microscope. That's used to create a 3D model, which is then
"played" in simulation to get out the audio. The Library of Congress uses
these to recover old records and cylinders. They can even put a broken record
back together.

[1] [https://news.lib.berkeley.edu/project-irene-lawrence-
berkele...](https://news.lib.berkeley.edu/project-irene-lawrence-berkeley-
national-laboratory-library-unite-save-native-american-voices)

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nlawalker
Killer marketing idea - an audio product with a feature that _looks_ like it
could _conceivably_ improve audio quality in some way, but make absolutely
zero claims about whether it does or not. Don't pay for any research, don't
stretch the truth in the marketing copy, just let the audiophiles buy it and
argue about whether it has any effect. Everybody wins!

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rdiddly
They, and each of the reviews they quote, carefully avoid any mention of any
auditory benefits. Are there none? To me, the real reasons for doing this
would be

1) to isolate the turntable from floor vibrations. Walking or stomping nearby,
or even closing a door, can be picked up and amplified as a rather unpleasant
booming low-frequency sound. And jumping hard enough nearby can even make the
needle skip.

and possibly

2) to eliminate the mechanical motors and thereby another source of noise or
interference. All while possibly achieving better or more consistent control
of rotation speed?

So, why are any such claims so scrupulously avoided? Because it doesn't
accomplish either of those things? Because their experience with phonographs
is so shallow they don't even know those issues people might care about? It's
weird...

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aidenn0
It seems to me like the turntable is still connected to vibrations, just
magnetically rather than mechanically.

~~~
darkmighty
It could be better because it seems hard to make low-pass solids at audio
range and beyond: for example, while you can easily make a spring which has
low pass behavior in the few Hz range, the spring itself is made of metal and
conducts sound normally. I guess you have felt pads and foam (which have thin
strands and large number of interfaces for sound to reflect). The magnetic
force however should retain its springy behavior up to arbitrarily high
frequencies.

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Zenst
Interesting development of the standard turntable, though the aspect that it
still utilises a stylus that makes contact with the record is the area I'm
looking at some technological love.

With that, a laser or photo sensor that reads the record surface would be an
advancement and preserve records from wear and tear that a stylus needle will
induce.

Maybe the next version will embrace such technology.

Reference -
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_turntable](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_turntable)

~~~
LeoPanthera
I've listened to several laser turntables. The audio quality is quite bad. The
main problem is that a stylus, in the process of traveling through the groove,
pushes dust and dirt out of the way, so that it can make direct contact with
the record.

The laser does no such thing, and so there is significantly more noise in the
playback, unless your record is _perfectly_ clean, which is essentially
impossible.

It also will not play records which are colored or transparent. Only black
will work.

~~~
Zenst
Thank you, the aspect about dust and dirt would be an easy overlook (as I did)
and one which could affect quality. Though I'm sure an issue that can be
engineered away.

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cyberferret
I am guessing that this turntable won't need isolation dampers to prevent
needle jumping?!

But on a more serious note, I have always been intrigued as to why the
majority of turntables still seem to rely on a belt drive system that goes
back many decades. Surely modern technology has come up with a reliable direct
drive motor that can better regulate the torque and RPM requirements of the
platter, as well as offer better stability?

Is it similar to the 'digital versus vacuum tubes' type arguments that are
prevalent on guitar amp discussion forums?

~~~
vortico
Of course, you can find direct drive brushless motors on higher-end models,
but the truth is that they're more expensive, so when you're trying to make a
sale to most customers who just want to spend a couple hundred bucks, they
don't care about direct drive.

Direct drive is certainly better and more reliable than any belt system. Very
low flutter and wow.

~~~
bashinator
Not to mention DJing requires direct drive for the better torque leading to
lower latency for beat matching and scratching and the like.

~~~
crtasm
It's perfectly possible to beat match on belt drive but yes, not something
you'd ever want to use over direct.

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ykevinator
It's really cool. I'd like to see one but not buy one.

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robotbikes
Very cool if you are a rich audio geek who wants to impress fellow vinyl nerds
with your conspicuous consumption. I'll probably have to wait 10-15 years
until some cheap Chinese knock off is produced (if ever).Or better yet I think
I'll go back and mod my USB turntable to work with a raspberry Pi as a virtual
turntable.

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yourapostasy
They are likely continuously, dynamically monitoring and adjusting
electromagnets, to work around Earnshaw's Theorem [1]. It isn't possible to
statically levitate with magnets, so I'm interested in finding out the
hardware mechanism they're using for the monitoring, as well as their
provisions for the turntable "crashing" out of the levitation fields. I'd love
to find server fans that use the same tech, perhaps condensing the logic they
use into FPGAs at first and then ASICs, and practically never have to worry
about replacing a server fan again (the fans will wear out, but on a much
longer timeline).

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earnshaw's_theorem](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earnshaw's_theorem)

~~~
jws
Earnshaw's Theorem does not apply to moving magnets. A spinning magnetic disc
can levitate over static magnets.

As much as I'm liking sounding like I have a clue about the theorem… my
brother had a Levitron and I played with it.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levitron](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levitron)

~~~
taneq
I had one of those too. I don't think "stable" is really the right
description, though - it generally wobbled all over the place. It didn't just
shoot off straight away though so there's definitely some kind of attractor
stuff going on.

Edit: Although reading the wiki link, it sounds more like the instability was
just due to it requiring a very specific speed.

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asfdginionio
At least it seems like they're being honest about the fact that it's a cool-
looking gimmick. I expected some audiophile nonsense about isolating the
record from seismic micro-tremors and using levitation coils to cancel
electro-audiophonic interference from the Earth's magnetic field.

Looks cool. I don't know why anyone would spend so much money on such an
outdated technology, though.

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apapli
Back in the 90s I’m sure I remember something like this in the market.... I
was a small-time DJ and liked to keep across the new AV gear.

I also certainly remember magnetic levitating AV stands to minimise
distortion. It was a bit of a gimmick, given the cables would still introduce
vibrations. But I’m sure some people paid big dollars for them.

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ziffusion
"visually enhances"

That's a lot of trouble to go to merely visually enhance the audio experience.

~~~
barbecue_sauce
Skrillex will take what he can get.

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hakfoo
What I find odd is that they're levitating the platter.

I would have been more interested in a design which levitated the tonearm,
allowing for less drag as the tonearm pivots.

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samatman
The weight behind the tonearm 'levitates' it across a fulcrum, and this is
adjustable on a quality turntable. The needle should have neither more nor
less drag than absolutely necessary.

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vortico
The real question is: Can you scratch with it?

~~~
kuzimoto
I know this is probably a joke, but I really can't imagine it would be good at
that at all.

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notananthem
Oh look audiophile bullshit

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LeoPanthera
Nowhere does the manufacturer claim that audio quality is improved. The
_first_ sentence of the product description says that it _looks_ good.

They're being quite honest.

