Analog Gear News

Happy 2024, everyone! We here at AnalogPlanet central hope you all had a great holiday season, and are ready to tackle a new year ahead that is sure to be met with many great gear and LP options for us all to peruse, review, discuss, and share together. In the meantime, I want to look into something that was mentioned briefly in passing in a story we posted back in December — Groovetracer subplatters. Read on to see more about Groovetracer’s way-cool subplatter options, as well as their other accessories of interest. . .

Jim Hagerman is at it again. The Hagerman Audio Labs head honcho did some soul searching recently about cartridge loading — and while doing so, he in turn came up with the Piccolo Zero MC (moving cartridge) headamp. Read on to see more about Hagerman’s lightbulb moments leading up to creation of the Piccolo Zero, and what it does. . .

From the Musical Surroundings press release:

"When Hana decided to create a high-end cartridge, Master cartridge designer Masao Okada-san applied the concept of Umami combining brilliant materials and classic Japanese techniques with modern audio engineering."

With High End Munich 2023 right around the corner, we’re already getting word about some of the cool new analog gear debuting at the show. One such item that’s caught our eye is Goldring’s new E4 moving magnet cartridge. Read on to see what you can expect to get with the flagship E4 MMC. . .

You can have the best gear in the world in your system ready to play all those new and/or vintage LPs in your collection, but if any piece of equipment in the playback chain is not properly stabilized — especially when it comes to fortifying your turntable and/or amplifier(s), for example — then you’re just asking for unnecessary noise-related complications. With that in mind, the E1X Isolation Base from HRS might make for quite the good, stable option. Read on to get all the E1X base details. . .