TEAC TN-570: putting the digital back into analogue

TEAC’s second (?) turntable of ‘recent times’ isn’t the same old same old.

The TN-550’s (US$999) basic features: a three-layer plinth in which MDF and marble layers sandwich a rubber layer; an acrylic platter; a WASHI paper mat and TEAC’s PRS3 computer controlled speed regulation which booth host and ‘Business Unit Manager’ Hiroshi Oshima says returns wow and flutter measurements comparable to direct drive designs.

The TN-570 takes the TN-550’s core and adds Audio Technica AT100E cartridge, defeatable phono stage, ADC and Toslink output (for on-the-fly digitisation) and USB output (for archiving to PC or Mac) as PCM up 24bit/192kHz. Look for the yellow and black HRA logo on the plinth. Price? US$1200.

On the floor at the Spring 2016 Fujiya Avic headphone festival, TEAC had the TN-570’s optical feed routed via their new HA-P5 portable DAC/headphone amplifier (US$599) which offers an MFI-certified USB port for direct connection to iOS devices but without the CCK crutch.

Oshima-San walks us through the whole shebang:

Those pondering the point of a turntable that digitises and spills ones and zeroes over an optical connection are directed to powered speaker systems that offer no analogue input. The Devialet Phantom, either run solo or as a pair with the Dialog, feature only a single hard-wired connection: Toslink. The TEAC TN-570 is for vinyl spinning Phantom owners.

Oh, and the Hardfloor remix 12″ was provided by yours truly (and not the Japanese audio giant).

Further information: TEAC