Turntable of the Year $1000-$5000
From the electronics wing of the company which delivers some of the most carefully-curated vinyl on the planet, Mobile Fidelity, comes the ‘plus’ version of its StudioDeck, indicating the inclusion of a pre-installed StudioTracker cartridge at a package price of $2499, while for an additional $369 you can add the optional Mo-Fi Super HeavyWeight record weight to go on top — though we didn’t reckon the StudioDeck+ needed it. This is beautifully-designed deck created in collaboration with Allen Perkins of Spiral Groove, the MDF plinth strengthened and given mass by a bonded aluminium plate, with the platter made of Delrin (a DuPont polymer resin), and driven by an attractive orange belt turned by a 300rpm stepped-pulley AC motor which provided excellent speed stability.
The tonearm is a fully-adjustable 10-inch straight aluminium design with a gimbal bearing, housing the polymer body and elliptical stylus of the Japanese-built StudioTracker cartridge — and should a future upgrade urge arise, the StudioDeck can accommodate either of Mo-Fi’s higher-level cartridges just as easily.
But even Mo-Fi’s junior cartridge proved to deliver the deck’s remarkable characteristics of extremely low surface noise (given a clean disc) and tight timing, together with an open ceiling for sound with a clarity beyond the smoothed-off tone of many turntables at or below this price; the resulting liveliness was delightful to hear. Bass handling, meanwhile, was declared by size and solidity, so that the combination had us sometimes forgetting we were listening to vinyl at all, especially since the Mo-Fi comes with a smoked glass lid which hides the deck’s beauty while in use!
Junior member of the Mo-Fi range this may be, but the StudioDeck+ utterly charmed us from looks to build to sonic performance, a testament to both the track record of Mo-Fi in pursuing the highest levels of vinyl software, and those engineers it has enlisted to create this expanding range of hardware.
More info: www.synergyaudio.com