Vertere Acoustics Announces Updated DG-1S Turntable and Phono Preamp

Vertere Acoustics announced that its DG-1 record player/turntable has been updated and improved. After little more than three years, the company already had many ideas on how to improve its original product and announced the DG-1 S, which will be available in September 2022. Also updated and improved is the Vertere PHONO-1 MKII L MM/MC Phono Preamplifier, now featuring a new gold-plated L-shaped PCB and significantly enhanced accessibility for the customization DIP switches.
 
Vertere is a British audio company known for its extreme high-end designs, founded by Touraj Moghaddam with the aim to design products that offer an experience closer to the original recording. Vertere approaches product development by working in close collaboration with the recording and mastering industry and focusing on the fundamentals, looking for simple solutions.  They also promote their own recordings and own a record label. 

"The best audio equipment shouldn't add anything to or remove anything from the original recording. Instead, it should affect it as little as possible; bringing the listener ever closer to what the artist, producer and mastering engineer wanted you to hear," states Touraj Moghaddam.
 
The new DG-1 S Dynamic Groove Record Player targets a less extreme customer driven by performance who almost needs Plug and Play setup. From Vertere's research, this customer wants ease of setup and use but not at the expense of future upgradeability.

To design a record player that will sell for $4995 USD including Vertere's own Magneto cartridge, when the brand's existing designs can sell for $200k, requires a back-to-fundamentals approach. When improving the new DG-1 S turntable, Moghaddam focused on both the mechanical and the microprocessor control parts. 
 
First, by improving the platter bearing finish to deliver lower noise, lower rumble, and a lower effort for the motor, and designing the new Groove Runner S tonearm. This new tonearm is constructed from a five-layer polymer laminate bonded to a second five-layer polymer laminate with the signal carried in between, and the arm and bearing having an improved profile and counterweight alignment. 

In place of conventional tonearm cabling, a flexible PCB is sandwiched into the arm's laminates to carry the signal from the cartridge to the output terminals. Completing the arm are a stainless-steel counterweight with azimuth adjustment and a fine adjustment tracking weight. The Vertical Kevlar thread tonearm bearing is now adjustable for tension and azimuth. The Horizontal nylon thread bearing is now fitted with greater precision to ensure even greater consistency. 
 
The DG-1 S turntable uses an advanced, improved, microprocessor-generated electronic motor drive, matched with a fully programmable and copper/stainless steel shielded motor drive PCB – allowing for future upgrades. The improved movel uses a new Motor Drive software that allows separate adjustment in two steps for the lowest possible noise and vibration. The result is an elegant turntable that draws on the engineering of the reference models to deliver outstanding performance and ease of operation at a newly affordable price. "The job of a record player is very simple and very linear," says Touraj Moghaddam, "the most accurate measurement of something going past the stylus and throwing it from side to side over 1000 times every centimeter."

Vertere PHONO-1 MKII L
Just prior to unveiling the new Vertere DG-1 S turntable, Touraj Moghaddam announced that its PHONO-1 MKII, MM/MC Phono Preamplifier has been improved. The New PHONO-1 MKII L features sound quality improvements that are subtle but significant. The PHONO-1 MKII already was better than the original due to the more optimal choice of components. The L takes this further with non-trivial PCB layout improvements. Moving the linear power supply to the main PCB allowed a significant track and ground plane layout optimization. The new design ensures signal tracks are of equal length, impedances lowered, and track widths adjusted to direct current flow. The PHONO-1 already included an unusual grounding selection switch with three positions giving a choice of Hard Ground, Ground Lift, or Soft Ground. The new L variant also provides a second ground terminal that is hard-wired to the signal ground. This, in certain installations, may achieve even lower background noise from the record player.

The PHONO-1 MKII L is user-configurable for most Moving Magnet and Moving Coil Cartridges available. The DIP switches on the bottom of the unit facilitate the choice of 15 input impedances and 9 options of capacitance together with 10 choices of gain. For example, it allows a somewhat peaky (with a rising HF response) Moving Coil cartridge to be tamed by adding capacitance rather than by reducing input impedance. Lowering the input impedance tends to 'slug' the sound, reducing musical performance and drama along with lowering the brightness. Adding capacitance while keeping the input impedance higher allows the full performance to shine.

The PHONO-1 MKII L ($1,599 USD) is also available in a range of high-end finishes, including a new DG-1 design featuring a front panel to match the new Vertere turntable, and new silver aluminum, Signature Vertere orange and semi-matt black finishes. The power LED is now orange to easily identify the PHONO-1 MKII L version.
www.vertereacoustics.com