I’m not sure anyone today is keeping accurate numbers, but if what I saw at High End Vienna is any indication, and of course it is, turntable sales along with those of the associated accoutrements are on a serious upswing.

Like Putting a Handle on A Refrigerator

An assignment to “cover analog” at a massive show like this is like putting a handle on a refrigerator and asking someone to hand carry it—not that I’m complaining! Beginning 10:00 A.M. Thursday and ending Sunday afternoon at 4:00 P.M., I ran myself not quite into the ground for four days looking for and finding almost every analog-related device on display.

How best to report this: By category? By price? Nope. I think it’s more fun to just hit “play,” and let it stream. Please keep in mind that most but not all prices are approximate because of newness and exchange-rate fluctuations.

Two exciting new mc cartridges debuted at the show: the $11,000 Audio-Technica AT MCD1, which like the previous limited-edition AT MC2022 features a single-piece, Orbray, diamond cantilever/stylus, this one having a Shibata stylus profile instead of the previous microline. Unlike the MC2022, MCD1 is not a limited edition.

Ortofon launched its new top of the line $16,999 Vertex cartridge, featuring a totally new generator system and a new microline stylus profile featuring a square shank that fits into a laser-drilled square hole in the diamond cantilever. Ortofon also launched a new top of the less costly X MC series, the X50 priced at around $1600.

In other cartridge news veteran moving-iron cartridge manufacturer Nagaoka finally got picked up by Mo-Fi Electronics as its American distributor.

Dynavector introduced two high-end cartridges, the XV PRIMA and the XV ULTIMA. These are upgrades to the popular top of the line XV-1S and XV-1t models.

TechDAS debuted the new circa $70,000 Air Force 20 turntable, pairing it with the Air Force 10 air-bearing tonearm in the Marten Audio room. The new table looks like a scaled-down version of the top-of-the-line Air Force Zero.

At an offsite location Aries Cerat introduced the new $150,000 Pandora Minor turntable. While it’s smaller than the bigger Pandora, it features a pair of tangential-tracking air-bearing tonearms and a pressurized direct-drive platter spinning system that the company says rotates without a traditional spindle bearing. The high mass (200kg) platter sits on a self-aligning hydrodynamic bearing in an oil bath and floats on a “cone” of oil—as I understood it. The drive system’s encoder has about “11 million points per revolution,” according to the company owner and chief designer Stavros Danos.

Vienna is Heinz Lichtenegger’s hometown so the owner of Pro-Ject, Musical Fidelity and Platine Verdier filled one of the largest lower floor rooms with just about every product he manufacturers and it made for an impressive display of one man and his equally entrepreneurial wife Jozefina’s entrepreneurial gusto and dedication to good sound. Numerous new moderately priced Pro-Jects made their debuts including the X5B featuring a new upgraded arm (at that price point) and other enhancements. There’s a new Harley-Davidson turntable in the “named” Pro-Ject line to go along with Elvis, Beatles, and Metallica turntables. Of course, it has a leather slipmat. There’s a new VC-E Mini compact record-cleaning machine, and a moderately priced record flattener.

The Musical Fidelity line grew to include new, fully balanced phono preamps, including the newly introduced Nu-Vista Vinyl S—about $5000. There’s also a new M3X turntable, also priced around $5000. There are now three Platine Verdier turntables in the lineup.

Across the room in the E.A.T. section, Heinz’s wife Jozefina showed me the new circa $9000 No.9 MC cartridge. The line is no longer made for her by Ortofon, so it’s sourced elsewhere in Europe. A reviewer friend told me the No.9 is “stunning.”

In other record-flattener news, AFI, which has a Flat.Duo flattener/relaxer that simultaneously accommodates two records, introduced a simpler, single-record version the Flat.Solo that flattens but has no “relax” mode. Cost is a around half that of the Flat.Duo, or approximately $1200.

Constellation’s $54,000 Performance and Boulder’s 808 were two phono preamps debuting at the show. The $54,000 Performance is a large “second-tier” unit featuring the company’s touchscreen convenience. It’s a Peter Madnick circuit update to a John Curl original design. The price-verified Boulder 808 is a compact update to the 508, which had limited adjustability. The 808 adds Boulder’s “personality cards” that allow end users handy with a soldering iron to change loading or they can send the cards back to the factory for the change (Boulder prefers circuit purity to DIP-switch convenience).

At a convenient off-site location, Wattson debuted the equally compact $7500 Madison phono preamp available in mm, mc, and optical cartridge versions. Wattson’s engineers believe that the far more precise RIAA filtering available in the digital domain is worth the 384k/24-bit sampling rate tradeoff that the company believes is transparent to the analog source. The included optical digital out is an added convenience feature.

Simon Brown, designer and manufacturer of The Wand carbon-fiber tonearm showed a new 12** version of his dramatic-looking tonearm. Cost is between $8000 and $9000 dollars. He partnered with Mavis, a new Vietnam based electronics company, that along with a hybrid preamp and amp showed the stylish DS1 phono preamp priced around $8000–$9000. It does feature an optical cartridge option, but Brown said the DS did not stand for DS Audio. Speaking of which, DS Audio introduced a new low-cost hybrid tube/solid-state optical-cartridge phono preamp.

Italy-based Riviera introduced its first phono preamp, the APF01 “Special Edition,” an all-tube design set to go into production in the fall with 3 inputs, each individually adjustable from the front panel—including settable HF and LF deviations from the standard RIAA curve. If it sounds as good as it looks…you know how that goes.

HiFiction’s Micha Huber debuted his newest Reference turntable with pivoted tangential-tracking Statement tonearm. The Reference features the new mechanical regulator mechanism I first saw in development at the Turbenthal factory following 2024’s Munich High End Show where I also saw the newly developed Magnifier preamp/phono preamp (circa $35,000)—a collaboration between HiFiction and Stellavox.

Another Swiss Huber, HSE Swiss’s Robert Huber, showed a newly developed handmade silver-wire DIN-to-RCA phono cable priced at around $7000, regardless of length. His two new cartridges, one featuring the Orbray single-piece diamond-cantilever microridge stylus (ML-4), the other (ML-2) fitted with a boron cantilever, were not quite ready for sale, though he announced them last year in Munich. Hopefully by the end of the year, he said.

Korf Audio introduced the TA-CF9 sapphire-tubed tonearm available in 9** and 10** versions, featuring a ceramic head shell and priced around $7000. Korf also introduced a “drop in” circular arm mount platform for Technics turntables costing a few hundred dollars. In a very short time, you can remove the Technics arm, install the mount, and drop in a number of compatible arms. Korf may manufacture it with a few diameter openings.

Netherlands based Takumi introduced its second model, a new $2495 turntable that features what appears to be a well-engineered tonearm and high-quality machining throughout.

Wilson-Benesch introduced the new Greenwich turntable featuring the same sophisticated motor and drive as the more costly Prime Meridian and GMT models. Cost is $70,000 without arm, which is considerably less than the other two. Customers can enter at the lower price points and eventually upgrade to the more costly editions as their budgets and insanity levels allow.

Thiele debuted the new IWD01 (IWD stands for idler wheel drive), a two-motor design set into a split chassis featuring a sophisticated motor drive system. It includes the TA01 pivoted tangential-tracking tonearm. There are more design features than can be addressed in a show report.

Döhmann Audio has for more than a few years now been working on a vacuum platter option that was introduced at the show. It’s retrofittable and costs $50,000.

KLAUDIO’s Peter Cheon has had a busy year: he’s added a few enhancements to his previously introduced Magnezardirect-drive turntable/pivoted tangential-tracking tonearm combo, and at the show he introduced the 200U, a new ultrasonic record-cleaning machine that automatically adjusts to clean 7**, 10**, and 12** records. Price is $7000. The add-on accessory “record changer” automatically cleans 5 records of any size in any order. Just load it up and let it run! Cost is “under $4000.”

Degritter continued upgrading and improving its Fonoteck floorstanding “industrial grade” ultrasonic record -leaning machine that will sell for under $8000. It features a new adjustable screw motion brush system and an anti-bacterial filtration system that operates even when the machine is not being used.

Dr. Feickert introduced two new turntables: the Virgo S and Virgo SE. Both feature triple motor drive and spin with aluminum platters. Mo-Fi distribution sets prices and Dr. Feickert was unsure of the American prices but based on European prices probably around $10,000 for the S and more for the SE.

Clearaudio introduced a new Elevation turntable in two models that will be available 4^th quarter 2026. The smaller one can be upgraded to the larger one. The table features an isolated motor, isolated opposing pulley mechanism, and isolated platter bearing. It has an “organic” look with interchangeable wooden frames made from various types of wood. Clearaudio also introduced a new colorful “gaming” turntable ($1700 and a Rammstein turntable named after the band (about $2500). Also new in the budget department from Clearaudio is a 499 Euro ($690 U.S.) Compact Phonopreamplifier and a new under-$350 N2 mm phono cartridge.

Acoustic Signature celebrated 30 years in business with a late afternoon party and two new turntables. The Model 30 Neo has the big Invictus platter in a new compact form factor with new cosmetics and new power supply. Cost without arm is $25,000. The Merlin Neo is the company’s lowest-priced turntable (4000 Euro) complete with TA-500 arm and external motor controller and motor. The low price is only possible, CEO Gunther Frohnhöfer told me, if the product generates “enough volume.” Otherwise, this model will either get more expensive or go away. Quality “is the same” as the more costly products. The Merlin went on the wholesale market the day I spoke to him (during non-consumer days), and he said it was “immediately successful.” There’s also a new upgradable power supply—the DMC-50—for all of the turntables in the line with the exception of the Merlin.

Pear Audio demoed a new configuration for its Odar turntable. Rotating the Odar makes room for a new free-standing arm base.

JMF announced it would put its step-up transformers inside the PHS 7.2 phono preamp instead of offering them as an outboard option.

Transrotor added the $4500 Scala to its extensive turntable line. It features multiple arm options and has an acrylic-topped aluminum platter.

DS Audio introduced the SC-001, a high-speed (but not ultrasonic), vibrating, anti-static record brush that will cost $1200.

Ars-Sonum introduced the “Magnum” edition of its FONIA MC phono preamplifier (9750 Euros) that upgrades the step-up transformers to silver amorphous core Lundahls and adds new Furutech input and output jacks among a host of other parts upgrades.

Finally, Mobile Fidelity Distribution displayed three new Music Hall prototype turntables featuring a totally new look for the brand, with production set for Q4. Where they will be built has yet to be determined. The top of the line is the “Tribute Eleven” will cost “about $5000.” Below that is the Model 9 “around $3500” and the least costly model is the 7, “around $2500.” The new tonearm has removable head shells.

Music Hall founder Roy Hall, who sold the company to Mo-Fi waltzed in during my inspection and had some pithy things to say that will not be repeated here, but he was generally pleased with much of what he saw. Roy asked about my Saab. I told him it’s my keeper car. “It’s that car to the nursing home,” I quipped. He responded, “It’s already in a nursing home.”

If I missed anyone showing new analog products at High End Vienna I offer my apologies. I think I covered more ground at this show than most of the people half my age.