If you’ve read any of my previous Dreams, you no doubt realize that I am an empiricist by trade—that I believe in the value of relaxed, mindful observation, especially if my solitary observances are independently corroborated by others. Whenever possible, I test my observations by getting either the Spin Doctor, the Audiophiliac, or my Russian neighbor to listen and tell me what they notice. If they notice the same things I noticed, independently, I relax. Corroboration is important because when I submit a review, I have an obligation to get it right. I need to be confident that readers, when they listen, will likely hear the same thing I heard, for themselves.
After a review is submitted, my opinion about a product evolves, getting better or worse with further use or, after a product is gone, with further thought. For example, every time I use Denafrips’ Terminator Plus DAC or HoloAudio Serene preamp—which lately is every day—each seems more musically and sonically unassailable than they seemed as I reviewed them. By “unassailable,” I mean I can’t imagine other people using them in their own systems and not being pleased with what they do and don’t do, especially at their prices.
DR. FEICKERT
Which reminds me of another product I’ve used for a long while, the axis mundi of my review system, a product I’ve used daily for almost five years: Dr. Feickert Analogue’s made-in-Germany, three-speed, dual-motor, dual-armboard, belt-driven Blackbird turntable. I did not fully appreciate its virtues until I finished and submitted my report on PTP Audio’s Solid9 idler-drive turntable.1
Since I first described the Blackbird in 2018 (Gramophone Dreams #252), the Blackbird’s dual high-torque three-phase Papst motors and its 2"-thick Delrin-and-brass platter have persuaded me to keep my Thorens TD124 and Linn Sondek LP12 (mostly) under my bed by spinning records with steady, torque-enforced fortitude.
During my PTP Audio Solid9 auditions, I noticed that the belt-drive Blackbird moved music forward with a force and momentum that felt remarkably similar to that of the PTP idler-drive,
