Rega Naia Turntable Aphelion 2 Reviews

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909.931.9686

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joel.m@upscaleaudio.com

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Daniel Geiger

Verified Reviewer

“I upgraded from a VPI super prime scout with SoundSmith Zephyr MIMC* cartridge to the Rega Naia with Aphelion 2. There are two approaches to TT design: really heavy (the sky is the limit) and really light. There are few high end options for the latter, which makes selection easier. A few youtube recommendations by Harley Lovegrove of Pearlacoustics (have and love his speakers) and Cheshire Audio, plus discussion with Sean-Paul at Upscale settled the matter. I also read Roy Gandhi's book, which is interesting, though occasionally lets you wonder, particularly about why motor is built into plinth and not kept separate as e.g. in VPI if reduction in vibrations is such a key aspect of TT design. The TT has a space-age, techno look. Love it or hate it, I basically like it. I drive Teslas since 2013, and do a bunch of electron microscopy. I am not too fond of the exposed foam in the plinth; foam is going to deteriorate sooner or later. As a museum curator I have seen no good, only bad and ugly foam. However, by the time the Naia foam deteriorates, I will no longer be on this planet. The construction of everything is extraordinarily clean and precise. I could put a Zeiss sticker on this vibration measuring device. The motor is strong enough that I can use a record brush. Spin-up time is more than reasonable and 45 rpm is immediately available (8 s delay on VPI with ADS). I have not yet verified anti-skate of tone arm with the Wally skater. The two downsides are the lack of adjustable feet and the joke of a dustcover. I find it bizzarre that on a table that puts that much thought into everything, ensuring a level plinth/platter is ignored. I made my own levelling base from 1.5" thick oak with Dynaudio speaker spikes. As a hobby I do a bunch of wood working, so was pretty easy. There are also commercial options. The dustcover offers zero lateral protection for the stylus and cantilever. Having had one cart repair due to a feather duster incident has sensitized me to this. For the time being, I am using my old acrylic box cover from the VPI. A bit over-dimensioned, but better safe than sorry. The Rega frisbee is in the shipping box. Utterly useless. The Rega rig sounds very precise, particularly the clean attacks with bass notes is a clear improvement over the previous VPI. It is for the sound that I purchased this unit. There it shines. Used with Zesto SUT, EAT eglow petite (to be upgraded), PrimaLuna EVO 300 pre, PassLabs XA25, Pearlacoustics Sibelius SG, REL T9.”

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Posted 1 month ago