You might have been mistaken for thinking that all the innovations in turntables had been long done with. Now well into its dotage, the senior format not only refuses to die off, but also continues to break new ground.
Clearaudio is unquestionably leading the charge in modern turntable development, and - from here at least - it doesn't seem like vinyl's last hurrah.
The Performance is a fine example of how Clearaudio continues to push the audio envelope. Looking similar to the Ambient turntable, but with a less over-engineered power supply, and very much in line with the Champion decks that came before, the new Performance has an ace or two up its bearing.
The Performance features a ceramic alloy bearing material for the main shaft, to dramatically reduce friction. That alone would be dandy in its own right, but the base of the deck and of the bearing housing feature donuts of magnetic material that repel one another - without the main acrylic platter to mass load the bearing, the housing floats toward the top of the bearing shaft.
This means that the platter effectively floats on air. The chaps at Clearaudio are jolly good eggs, so this bearing is offered as an upgrade to all existing decks, except for the entry-level Emotion.
The Ambient had a delicious, super-density, bullet-proof Panzerholtz material sandwiched between the two brilliant-white synthetic marble layers in the main chassis. The Performance is more humble in plinth materials; the synthemarble is still there, but the Panzerholtz sandwich is replaced with more 'umble slice of MDF, hidden from view with a neat aluminium band.
The motor is physically removed from the deck itself (it sits in a cutaway top left of the plinth) and is essentially a drive-damped motor in a housing with a speed changing spindle and a round-profile belt. The motor has enough torque to move the 40mm-thick acrylic platter, but does quiver a bit for the first few seconds and many will want to give the platter a little push on start-up.
The Performance comes supplied with an arm and cartridge. The arm is identical to the one fitted to the Ambient - the Satisfy Carbon Fibre - while the cartridge is the extremely fine, wooden-bodied Maestro moving magnet design. There's even a little clear plastic clamp to hold the disc down.
