It has made the vinyl community both curious and furious.
A sleek aluminum block with nothing but a button, a knob, and an upside-down record has made the vinyl community angry.
The $6,000 PP-1 turntable gets rid of everything audiophiles love. It has no visible tonearm, cartridge choices, or adjustment options.
That’s exactly what makes it so interesting. Or, at the very least, worth talking about.
The Anti-Audiophile Design Philosophy
Visit any serious audiophile’s listening room and you’ll find turntables with carefully balanced tonearms and perfectly aligned cartridges.
Additionally, their owners will talk passionately about tracking force adjustments measured to the hundredth of a gram.
The PP-1 boldly claims all of this is unnecessary.
This minimalist concoction from Paris-based studio Waiting For Ideas removes the visible tonearm completely. Records are played upside-down, with the cartridge and stylus hidden beneath a closing door system.
The entire unit is made from a solid block of anodized aluminum, taking 12 weeks to manufacture.
While clearly a luxury product, what’s most daring is how deliberately the PP-1 removes control from the user.
There’s no cartridge to swap, no tonearm to balance, and no alignment tools needed.
The turntable automatically detects whether a record should play at 33⅓ or 45 RPM, and the stylus (a 0.4 x 0.7 mil elliptical diamond) is permanently installed at the factory with no way for users to adjust it.
Even playing specific tracks has been reimagined.
Without a visible tonearm, you can’t manually place the needle on a specific groove. Instead, the PP-1 offers digital-style track navigation buttons. You can press to skip forward or backward between songs, with sensors detecting the gaps between tracks.
The message is clear: this isn’t a tool for tweaking and fine-tuning. It’s a functional work of art that just happens to play records.
Aesthetics take priority, with the official description explaining the device is designed to “transform listening into a tactile, immersive experience.”
There’s no wonder the audiophile community has opinions.
The Luxury Convenience Trap
At €5,800 (about $6,000), the PP-1 costs as much as top models from established audiophile brands like Rega or VPI.
But what exactly are buyers paying for?
With traditional high-end turntables, the price reflects the precise engineering of sound components. As far as the PP-1 is concerned, its value lies beyond sound quality.
You basically pay for three things:
- Eye-catching design (its machined aluminum housing)
- Ingenuity (novel mechanism)
- Exclusivity (owning something made in small numbers)
The solid aluminum construction definitely provides excellent vibration damping, but whether the hidden components match the quality of explicitly audiophile-focused alternatives at similar price points is still a question.
More worrying for vinyl purists is what I call the “luxury convenience trap.” In short, the PP-1 offers simplicity at the cost of flexibility.
First off, the built-in phono preamp cannot be bypassed, so users can’t upgrade this critical component or use their preferred external unit.
Then, the single 3.5mm audio output (no standard RCA connections) further limits system integration options.
Most importantly, when the factory-installed cartridge eventually wears out, the entire unit likely needs to be sent back for service rather than simply replaced by the user.
These limitations might be acceptable in a $500 beginner turntable.
But at $6,000, they represent a bold bet on buyers who value design and convenience over traditional audiophile priorities.
Maintenance concerns are also significant.
With all the delicate mechanisms hidden inside, how does one clean the stylus? What happens when dust inevitably gets into the mechanism?
Traditional turntables allow easy access to components. Meanwhile, the PP-1 seals everything away to maintain its clean look.
The New Vinyl Experience
Despite these criticisms, I’m fascinated by how the PP-1 reimagines the vinyl ritual.
We all know the traditional experience. You carefully remove a record from its sleeve, balance a tonearm, and gently lower a stylus into the groove.
All this has been replaced by something more like placing an offering on an altar.
You lay your record (upside-down) on the aluminum pedestal, press play, and let the hidden machinery work its magic. This approach clearly targets a different audience than traditional audiophile gear.
The PP-1 appeals to design-conscious music lovers who value looks and simplicity. These are people who might otherwise stick with streaming for its convenience but are drawn to vinyl’s physical nature.
For these buyers, the technical tweaking that audiophiles enjoy is a bug, not a feature.
In this light, the PP-1 potentially widens vinyl’s appeal.
By removing the intimidating complexity of traditional turntable setup, it creates an entry point for those who want the analog experience without the learning curve.
It’s telling that the company markets the turntable through design publications rather than audiophile magazines. They know exactly who they’re targeting.
What’s most interesting is how the PP-1 blends analog and digital worlds. It physically plays vinyl records but adopts the control logic of digital players. In doing so, it creates a hybrid experience that acknowledges how digital conveniences have changed our expectations for music interaction.
What the PP-1 Reveals About the Future of Audio
The PP-1 isn’t without precedent.
In the late 1970s, Bang & Olufsen’s Beogram turntables embraced automation and clean design, sacrificing adjustability for elegance.
More recently, the Miniot Wheel (around €2,000) pioneered a similar upside-down playback approach, though at a much lower price point.
These designs have always occupied a contested space between audiophile skepticism and design enthusiasm.
However, what makes the PP-1 noteworthy is its unapologetic positioning at the ultra-premium end of the market.
It doesn’t try to appease audiophiles with token adjustability. Rather, it proudly eliminates the very things they value most.
Should You Buy It?
Is the PP-1 worth $6,000? That depends on your priorities.
If you want maximum sound quality per dollar, with the ability to upgrade components over time, traditional audiophile brands offer better value.
But if you see audio equipment as both functional tools and design objects that shape your relationship with music, the PP-1’s radical approach might be exactly what you’re looking for.
For me, it wouldn’t work.
What I love most about vinyl is the ritual and the sense of being actively involved in the playback process. Stripping all of that away makes listening more convenient, sure, but removes the intimacy that makes vinyl special to me in the first place.
The imperfections and hands-on nature of a traditional turntable are part of the magic.
One thing’s for sure: whether you find it brilliant or outrageous, the PP-1 succeeds in starting a conversation about how we engage with music.
We live in an era where streaming has made music effortlessly abundant yet somehow less special. Perhaps there’s something powerful about a device that forces us to slow down, place a record on a beautiful altar, and truly listen.