AXPONA 2026

Tien Audio of Taiwan showed their latest turntable, the 10th Anniversary edition of one of their extant belt-driven turntable designs, at AXPONA 2026. Among its upgrades are a new plinth where solid walnut replaces MDF as its main material. While on demo, the table’s acrylic platter appeared to glow from some lighting underneath.

This Tien table uses a low-torque motor design that deploys three brushless BLDC motors, which are connected to a digital controller to help maintain speed consistency and accuracy across 33⅓, 45, and 78rpm. It’s also equipped with Tien’s Viroa Plus tonearm, a dual-pivot type that’s reported to assist with bass response and dynamics generally, in addition to more balanced stylus tracking due to less bearing friction. The armtube is made of a combination of carbon fiber and aluminum, and it houses a single crystal copper cable to transmit the signal.

The Viroa’s design is also said to offer “quick” azimuth adjustment; VTA is also adjustable. Users have the option of attaching either silicone feet — the same material from which the turntable’s belt is made — or spiked feet for isolation, depending on one’s tastes and sonic preferences.

Per my quick chat with company founder/designer Tien Cheng, the 10th Anniversary turntable is available now with the consumer’s choice of either anodized brushed black or anodized brushed silver finishes for the top portion of the walnut plinth; the latter is made-to-order. This model’s overall style appears to give a nod to a Linn Sondek LP12 turntable — at least to my eyes.

The Tien 10th Anniversary turntable is sold direct and retails for $4,500, including a 15V DC power adapter. Here, it was demo’ed with a DS Audio Master 3 optical cartridge, whose signal went into a DS Audio equalizer ahead of additional amplification from Keces Audio, another Taiwanese maker.

Also shown in the room were a couple of the company’s other turntables, including a couple of versions of Tien’s TT5 that was first released about eight years ago and now incorporates aluminum. There was a TT5 in black powder-coated finish (shown above) with one of the Aidas cartridges, while a second TT5 in a shiny red finish with the vacuum-controller platter option (shown below) was displayed passively; custom finishes are also available. Prices for TT5 turntables range from $15,000 to $20,000, depending on the platter option — e.g., with or without the vacuum upgrade.

The TT5 models use a three-belt, three-motor design as well as the same motor controller as the 10th Anniversary table. According to Cheng, their subplatter designs also apparently share some similarities.

A short listen to Manu Dibango’s “Big Blow,” the first track on Side A of his 1976 Island LP Afrovision, found the 10th Anniversary turntable — which played through a pair of stand-mounted speakers — full of funky energy and snappy grooves. The upper midrange into the highs edged toward sounding a bit tipped-up and cymbal taps sounded slightly tizzy on the attacks, but these weren’t overly troubling; no faulting the front end, or any one aspect within the system. On balance, the rhythmic steadiness and vocal detail outweighed these shortcomings. The upshot: An almost crystalline clarity shone on most of the few tracks — or at least parts thereof — I heard on the Tien table during my room visit.

Tien Audio also displayed another product, their Record Coupler, which claims to absorb shock and reduce micro-vibrations during vinyl record playback. Like most record clamps, it gets placed over the spindle on top of an LP’s label. But this model only weighs a reported 75g, or approximately 2.6oz. It’s made of a patented polyester material “to maintain a flexible structure” that sounds like a hard/soft combination to couple with the vinyl more than pressing down on it. I wished I’d had a chance to return to the Tien Audio room later and listened to it in an A/B comparison. Maybe next time!

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Go here for Julie Mullins’ report on SOTA’s many cool offerings at AXPONA 2026, including their flagship Onyx turntable; Quasar, Comet, Escape, and Moonbeam turntables; Pyxi phono stage; and more. This story first posted on April 28, 2026.

Go here for Ken Micallef’s video interview with Sierra Sound co-founder Michael Fajen and Aesthetix sales and marketing specialist Brent Hefley about the gear shown in the Sierra Sound room, which including the AMG Viella turntable with 12JT Turbo tonearm, Sorane SA-1.2 tonearm, and Aesthetix Rhea Signature phono stage — plus, we get an exclusive visit to “The Tonearm Garden”; this story first posted on April 27, 2026.

Go here for Julie Mullins’ report on a pair of American Audio & Video demo rooms at AXPONA 2026, with one of their systems featuring a Dual CS 529 turntable and Violectric PPA-V790 phono preamp, and the other featuring a Goldring GR3 turntable; this story first posted on April 23, 2026.

Go here for Julie Mullins’ report on a couple of Monarch Systems demo setups that included an SME Model 8 turntable and Loricraft Audio PRC6i professional record cleaning machine; this story first posted on April 20, 2026.

Go here for Julie Mullins’ report on the analog gear she encountered in some exhibit rooms that were put together in tandem by Technics and Nagaoka; this story first posted on April 15, 2026.

Go here for AP editor Mike Mettler’s report on an Acoustic Sounds listening session that deployed a Döhmann Helix One Mk III turntable, in addition to other high-end gear from Wilson Benesch, Supatrac, DS Audio, Audio Research, and Wilson Audio; this story first posted on April 14, 2026

Also go here for our sister site Stereophile‘s in-depth AXPONA 2026 coverage, which often includes video interviews with key manufacturer reps, product engineers, and equipment designers who were at the show.