Playback Accessory Reviews

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Playback Accessory Reviews
DS Audio’s Truly Excellent ES 001 Eccentricity Detection Stabilizer
Michael Trei  |  Aug 24, 2022

One problem that seems to plague many turntable designers is they frequently start with the assumption that the record you’re going to play on their creation is perfect — as in, it’s flat, smooth, and perfectly centered. Unfortunately, this is rarely true, as most records do have errors of one type or another. Thankfully, the DS Audio ES 001 eccentricity detection stabilizer is here to help determine just how off-center your records might be, and how to fix the issue. Read on to find out more about how the ES 001 does its job. . .

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Playback Accessory Reviews
Hart Audio Special Source Vinyl Super Cleaner Mk3
Michael Fremer  |  Jun 23, 2021
The Hart Audio Special Source Vinyl Super Cleaner Mk3 is a wooden block to which is attached microfiber brush, which is a synthetic fiber finer than one denier or decitex/thread, having a diameter of less than ten micrometers. It's a mix of polyester, polyamide, and polypropylene.

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Playback Accessory Reviews
Uberlight Flex LED Task Light Is Up to the Task!
Michael Fremer  |  Mar 23, 2021
A reader who manufacturers this Reliable Corporation Uberlight™ Flex Task Light sent a few for me to check out. One night he took one home and placed it next to his turntable. He found, among other things, that it let him easily read the inner groove area information on his records and he thought that perhaps I'd also find it useful.

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NewsPlayback Accessory Reviews
StylusTimer, The Handy "Cartridge Odometer" Now For Sale
Michael Fremer  |  Mar 27, 2020
The recently reviewed StylusTimer, not quite ready for purchase then, is now available for sale at the StylusTimer website.

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Playback Accessory Reviews
Vinyl Center Hole Reamer From Stable 33.33
 |  Feb 18, 2020
From the folks who gave us the Stable 33.33 transit platter—a device you might only realize you need after getting one—comes the Vinyl Center Hole Reamer. If you've ever had a too small record center hole—and who hasn't— but were afraid to ream it out with a round file fearing an uneven ream resulting in too big a hole, this device is the solution.

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Playback Accessory Reviews
StylusTimer is a Handy Cartridge Odometer
Michael Fremer  |  Feb 04, 2020
While there's some debate about how many hours a phonograph cartridge stylus lasts and how often it should be replaced, one thing's for sure: not keeping track of your cartridge's "mileage" makes difficult knowing when the time's come for a re-tip or replacement.

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Playback Accessory Reviews
Mind-Pop Revolution's Presslift Record Stabilizer/Tonearm Lifter
Michael Fremer  |  Aug 18, 2019
Mind-Pop Revolution's Presslift is a complex, approximately 1.6 pound machined brass record stabilizer that is also designed to act as an end of side tone arm lift.

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Playback Accessory ReviewsSet-Up Accessory Reviews
Jolida’s Foz XT-R Crosstalk Reduction Device
Michael Fremer  |  Aug 26, 2018
Minimizing inter-channel crosstalk maximizes channel separation and helps produce a maximally wide and balanced soundstage. Azimuth is a critical cartridge set-up parameter.

Many if not most gimbaled-bearing tonearms don’t allow for axial tilt adjustment to set azimuth.

With arms that do, unipivot or gimbal bearing, physically making sure the head shell is parallel to the platter or setting cantilever perpendicularity using a mirror, does not insure correct azimuth setting just as an arm parallel to the record does not assure correct SRA/ VTA.

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Analog Gear NewsPlayback Accessory Reviews
A "Clamp On" Solution For the Denon 103's Too Flimsy Mounting Arrangement
Michael Fremer  |  Apr 10, 2018
The longevity of Denon's 103 cartridge series, first introduced in the 1960's and still in production speaks to the design's enduring popularity. The design's weak point is its flimsy mounting system. As my colleague Art Dudley put it in the December 2007 issue of Stereophile: "The most common complaint about the DL-103 is also the truest: Its good motor is compromised by a too-flimsy mounting arrangement, with open-edge bolt channels that prevent the cartridge from being rigidly fastened to a head shell."

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Playback Accessory Reviews
Say Hello to My "Little Fwend" Automatic Tone Arm Lifter
Michael Fremer  |  Feb 06, 2018
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Analog Gear NewsPlayback Accessory Reviews
DS Audio's ST-50 Stylus Cleaner Adds Elegance to "Drop In" Stylus Cleaning
Michael Fremer  |  Jan 29, 2018
At CES 2018 optical cartridge maker DS Audio introduced the ST-50 an elegant-looking "pad" type stylus cleaner that uses a transparent urethane pad developed for semi-conductor "clean room" air scrubbing.

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Playback Accessory Reviews
Koeppel Design's New LP Block Solves the Age-Old "Where the Hell Did I Put That Record Jacket?" Problem
Michael Fremer  |  Jun 27, 2017
It's an age-old problem and a problem of old age— particularly in a cluttered listening room: you put the record on the turntable, put the jacket down and then forget where you put it. Has that ever happened to you?

Koeppel Design, maker of neat record dividers and the snazziest LP carrying bag has the solution with its new LP Block.

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CES 2016Playback Accessory Reviews
SweetVinyl's Brand New Product Category For Vinyl Lovers Explained
Michael Fremer  |  Jan 08, 2016
The Sugarcube from Musical Surroundings, shown at CES 2016 in prototypical form represents a brand new product category in the vinyl world according to SweetVinyl's Leo Hoarty and he's not spewing hyperbole.

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Playback Accessory Reviews
You Can’t Demagnetize Vinyl But You Can Demagnetize a Record: The Furutech (alpha) and the Stein Music DE3 Record Demagnetizers
Michael Fremer  |  Dec 26, 2015
About a decade ago my friend and fellow audio writer Ken Kessler flew over from the U.K. to review the Continuum Caliburn turntable. At the end of a day’s listening it occurred to me that I had on hand not one but two “record demagnetizers"—both in unopened boxes. One was from Furutech, the other from Acoustic Revive.

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Playback Accessory Reviews
FLUX HI FI Electronic Stylus Cleaner
Michael Fremer  |  Sep 18, 2015
Electronic stylus cleaners have been around for decades. Though very popular in the 1970s and 1980s, these vibrating devices rapidly fell out of favor for a very good reason.

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