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EQ UIPMENT R EPORTMICHAEL FREMER

TechDAS Air Force Zero
TURNTABLET

he Air Force Zeroturntable is very large
for a turntable, but it is
not as large as a house.
At $450,000 for the base model,
it does, however, cost as much as
many houses and more than manyothers.1
This observation will set off
howling among some audio
enthusiasts of a sort that never
happens in the wine world, forinstance, where well-heeled oenophiles routinely spend large sums
for a short-lived thrill.
Yes, I know, some people arehomeless. Others are hungry. Isn’t
it wrong to spend the equivalentof a suburban home on a meansof playing records? It’s a legitimate
question, and I don’t dismiss it,
but it’s not for me to say, except when it comes to my own
choices. It’s a decision each of us
must make for ourselves. Now,
where was I?
Nishikawa’s ultimate
analog statement?
I’m sure TechDAS founder
The finger snaps were slower— involved in other projects,
Hideaki Nishikawa has heard
too.
almost suspended in time andmore turntables than I have, andNishikawa-san left Stax
I’ve heard a lot of them.
in 1980 to join Micro Seiki.
far fleshier than I expected
He received his mechanicalAs manager of the technifrom long familiarity.
engineering degree in 1963, whencal department, he was
I was still in high school. He theninvolved in the development
joined Stax Ltd., where he was instrumental in developing
1 According to Zillow, the average US home price is $287,148, a 13% increase inthat company’s legendary electrostatic headphones. He wasjust one year.—Jim Austin

SPECIFICATIONS
Description Belt-drive,
air-suspension turntablewith vacuum hold-down andelectronically controlled ACsynchronous motor. Speeds:
33 1/3 & 45rpm. Motor type:synchronous AC (Papst).
Bearing type: Air. Number of
tonearm fittings: 2. Dust-cover: none. Accessories
supplied: 2 titanium bases, 1
disc stabilizer, 1 platter cover.
Power supply: 115/230V,
50–60Hz.
Dimensions Turntable:
35.5" (902mm) W × 26.6"(677mm) D × 13.18" (335mm)
H. Weight: 750lb (340kg).

Reprinted from Stereophile magazine

Power supply/air units (3):16.9" (430mm) W × 14.3
(365mm) D × 8" (205mm)
H. Weight: 33lb (15kg), 28.6lb(13kg), and 22lb (10kg).
Finish Black/Extra superduralumin.
Serial number of unit
reviewed 018.

Price Basic version:$450,000. Approximate
number of US dealers: 7.
Warranty: Three years.
Manufacturer
TechDAS, Stella Inc. 51-10
Nakamarucho, Itabashi-ku
Tokyo 173-0026, Japan.
Web: techdas.jp.
www.stereophile.com

TECHDAS AIR FORCE ZEROof a long line of turntables
including the company’s
statement product, theSX-8000, which remainedin production from 1981
until 1990. Find an online
photo2 and you’ll noticemore than a passing resemblance to the Air Forceturntable line, especiallyin the large metal platter
topped with a doublelipped vacuum hold-downsystem. Also notice how
the outboard motor drives
the platter with a belt
around its periphery.
Micro Seiki’s slew of talented engineers
produced turntables and tonearms for otherbrands and performed precision machining
work for other industries, much as SME doesin the UK and Ortofon does in Denmark.
Diversification helps with a company’s stability—hence its longevity—something every
audiophile should consider when investing in
high-dollar gear. What good is a lifetime guarantee from an out-of-business company?
In 1989, Nishikawa founded Stellavox (nowStella, Inc.), an importer (into Japan) of highperformance audio gear. In 2010, he started
TechDAS as the Stella housebrand.
Even if you’re not a fan of
TechDAS turntables, you haveto admire Nishikawa’s passion
and decades of accomplishments and the consistency of
his vision of what constitutes
good turntable design.
Nearly a decade has passed
since TechDAS introduced its
first turntable, the Air Force
One. Last year, I reviewed the
updated version of that ’table,
the Air Force One Premium,3
which is now second to the
top of the TechDAS line. Six
months ago, the formidable Air Force Zero arrived in manycrates. Assembling it took a team of two several days, butsince then, I’ve been listening to it and enjoying everything
about it, from its impressive size, which at first felt almost
cartoonish (a feeling that quickly dissipated when the stylus
touched the record with a gentle “bip”) to its ease of use andtrouble-free, non-fiddly performance.
We’ll probably see a few product enhancements throughout the TechDAS line. Maybe we can hope for a truly
affordable model that retains the line’s key features, priced
below the current “entry-level” V, or perhaps a more compact, less expensive version of the Zero: call it Zero.1. But
to me the Air Force Zero looks very much like the ultimate
fulfillment of Hideaki Nishikawa’s turntable vision.
The massive Zero took three years to develop, from inception to launch. Just watching the technicians unpack the
Zero made clear the company’s careful attention to detail.
Reprinted from Stereophile magazine

All of the many modules,
feet, and platters, and theultraheavy main subchassis assembly, were securely and efficiently positioned in stacks ofsubpackages within each crate.
It took two people almost two
full days to repack it for secureshipping, and of course it tookmuch longer to set it up.
How many of these halfmillion-dollar, 725.5lb boats
does TechDAS intend to float?
I was told that TechDAS is
at least halfway through a
Top-to-bottom: The
Air Force Zero floats
its upper structure on
four cushions of air.
Moving the main support frame required
three strong people.
The Air Force Zero’s
266.7lb stack o’ platters also floats on an
air cushion.

40-unit run. The
serial number ofthe review sample
was 018.
The three-phase,
synchronous Papst motors
used in the AF Zero are newold stock, originally used tospin Revox tape recorder
capstans. (The size of the AF
Zero’s production run wasdetermined partly by how
many new-old-stock Papst,
high-torque, three-phase,
12-pole AC, synchronous motors the company was able tosource.) TechDAS takes themcompletely apart and rebuilds
them into highly modified
motors that include a customized air-bearing spindle andflywheel. The rotor assembly floats, so no load is applied to
its thrust plate, minimizing noise and producing the largest
possible moment of inertia, which TechDAS has precisely
calculated. The flywheel and rotor together weigh 5lb andproduce a moment of inertia of 116lb∙cm2.
TechDAS’s goal for the motor was to produce “virtuallyzero wobble” thanks to the combination of air and metal
bearings, the “enormous” inertia generated by the flywheel
effect, the extremely high S/N ratio made possible by the
air bearing, and what TechDAS claims is the best speed
stability and consistency of any Air Force turntable—the latter due to a new electronic drive circuit designed for stable,
precise rotation with low vibration.
2 As I write this, there’s one on eBay, offered at $40,000. Some audio products
hold their value.
3 See stereophile.com/content/analog-corner-294-techdas-air-force-one-premiumturntable-graham-engineering-elite-tonearm.

www.stereophile.com

TECHDAS AIR FORCE ZEROThe new, multistep
drive system begins with asensor that communicatesplatter speed to the microprocessor. The desired rotation frequency is synthesized by a “Direct Digital
Synthesizer” (DDS) withreference to a crystal oscillator. Each motor phaseis driven by its own 50W
power amplifier. A threephase generator circuit
creates the phase shift inplace of the more typicalcapacitors, which are moreerror-prone and deteriorate with age. A
torque-switching circuit adjusts motor
voltage during startup or when changing
speeds to quickly achieve rated speed, atwhich point the speed locks and torque isdecreased to further reduce vibration.
A strong motor is needed during
startup because there’s a lot of mass to
move: The Air Force Zero doesn’t havea platter; it has a stack o’ platters. On thebottom of the stack is a 15 3/4", 80lb platter made of nonmagnetic forged stainlesssteel; above that is a 43.5lb, 12.2" plattermade from the same material; the drive
belt, which is made of “polished and non
flexible polyurethane fiber” and isn’t
stretchy, wraps around this platter. Abovethat is a 40lb, 12.2" platter made of castgunmetal, a form of bronze. The plattersecond from the top is also stainless steel.
It weighs 48.5lb.
The top platter comes in two versions.
The standard version is titanium with a “special surface
hardening treatment.” It weighs 13lb. For an extra $50,000,
you can get a tungsten top platter that weighs 50lb. Bothare topped with a soft mat and vacuum-holddown lips. The
upgraded platter was supplied with the review sample.
The total weight of the platter assembly comes to 229.3lb
with the standard titanium top platter and 266.7lb with theupgraded tungsten top platter. Altogether, the main chassis,
including the motor unit and with the heavier top platter,weighs 765lb.
The five stacked platters are “held as one,” not by mechanical couplings but by air pressure, a system similar tothe vacuum LP hold down. When properly set up, all theplatters are, of course, level, including the top surface. Whenthe air pumps are activated, this 266.7lb mass (with theupgraded top platter) floats and rotates on a 10µm layer ofcompressed air! Plus, the entire assembly is air-suspended on
the four corner pods.
The power supplies and the various pumps occupy three
additional chassis weighing 84lb. The machined stainlesssteel base frame weighs 220lb.
All of which raises an obvious question: What kind ofrack do you place such a heavy turntable on, especially one
with an asymmetrical footprint? The VXR stand made specifically for the Zero by HRS adds $52,000 to the price.
Rereading what I just wrote makes me think of Rega
Reprinted from Stereophile magazine

The TechDAS Air
Force Zero’s platterspeed statistics measured two ways: with
the PlatterSpeed app
and the Shaknspin.
The low-pass filteredspeed deviation is
0.02%.

Research’s Roy
Gandy, whose approach to turntable
design is precisely
the opposite of
Nishikawa-san’s.
Gandy’s ultimate goal would be a nomass design; for his ultimate ’table, thelimited edition Naiad (about $41,000
with arm), he settled for a superlowmass, ultrastiff carbon-fiber composite
chassis. Wouldn’t a head-to-head comparison be interesting?
Logistics
Fitting this enormous turntable into myroom required that it be placed on the
opposite side of my room from where
my equipment rack sits. Phono preamps
were placed close to the turntable. I used
two 5.5m runs of balanced Tara Labs
Zero Gold interconnect cable to get thephono preamp output across the room tothe line preamp.
I borrowed a 6m length of AudioQuest Hurricane AC cable and plugged
it into the PS Audio PowerPlant 15, since
I’m still waiting for the final permit for
the transfer switch bypass. Because so many boxes needed
power, I used an RSX Technologies Power8 multioutlet,
fully shielded extension box fitted with eight solid copper
AC receptacles and no sound-damaging surge protectors.
The Zero can accommodate two 9"–12" tonearms mounted on massive titanium armboards drilled for your choice ofarms. The review sample was supplied with two standard
titanium armboards drilled for the Graham Elite and SAT 9
CF1-09 tonearms.
Easy to use, little required maintenanceOnce the dealer setup was accomplished, the Zero waspractically maintenance free for the six months it spent in
my listening room. You turn it on by turning a single knob,
and then a screen tells you if air is required and where. The
easily activated pump with attached air hose lets you “topup” the feet as required with four tirelike air valves locatedbehind a front plate. Occasionally topping up the air in oneof the feet was the only maintenance the Zero ever required.
Place a record on the platter, choose the speed, activate
the vacuum hold-down, and in a surprisingly short time,the ’table locks in to the right speed (and tells you so on thescreen), and you’re good to go. Very good to go.
I attended the Zero’s North American debut at The Audio Salon in Santa Monica in April 2019 (analogplanet.com/
content/techdas-air-force-zero-debut-audio-salon-first-imwww.stereophile.com

TECHDAS AIR FORCE ZERO

pressions-stun-listeners) a few days before AXPONA, andas I wrote, I went there a skeptic and left believing I’d heard
the best vinyl playback I’d ever experienced, beginning witha level of background silence I’d never before heard, nor hadanyone else in attendance. When the stylus kisses the record,
there’s a natural nothing. There is energy in the stylus/vinyl
exchange, which the best turntables minimize. The Zero,performing like an enormous drain for unwanted energy,
seemed to eliminate it completely.
Look at the measurements produced by both the
shaknspin and the oft-used PlatterSpeed app (previous page).
Both sets of measurements are what you might expect froma direct-drive turntable including maximum relative deviation low pass filtered of ±0.02%. That’s impressive to look at
but more impressive to hear.
Weight, gravitas, and the Air Force Zero soundRegardless of arm (Elite with optional tungsten armwand
or SAT CF1-09) or cartridge (X-quisite ST, Lyra Atlas λLambda SL and Etna λ Lambda SL, or TechDAS TDC01
Ti), all of which I am familiar with in other contexts, theAir Force Zero put its sonic stamp on all associated gear.
You may say that it should have no sound of its own for thatprice, but in the analog world—digital, too, for that matter—every link in the chain has a sonic character, which tome is not the same thing as an amplitude-based coloration.
The Zero let through each cartridge’s timbral and dynamic
character while imparting its own unique and immediately
recognizable weight, sledgehammer “slam,” ultragenerous
sustain and decay, and the blackest backgrounds I’ve heard aturntable produce.
I listened first to the TechDAS TDC01 Ti. I heard thelong, sticky bass sustain and muscular bottom-octave control
and attributed it to the cartridge, but later I heard that
unmistakable quality with the other cartridges even as they
maintained their own character.
In a recent webinar, Bernie Grundman talked about cutting Dave Brubeck’s Time Out for Classic Records from theoriginal three-track tape. (It’s now on Analogue Productions—APPJ 8192-45—pressed from the same metal parts.)
I’ve been playing this record in one pressing or another since
the early 1960s.
The first two bass drum kicks, drenched in added EMTplate reverb, produced decisive, emphatic force and communicated Joe Morello’s intent to set off the tune with a bangthat I’d never noticed before. After those first two kicks,
you could hear him ease off the pedal. The bass sustain that
followed the attack lingered more noticeably in the reverb.
Morello’s cymbal work was richer and fuller, with morewood and somewhat less brass sparkle, making it soundmore natural and less hi-fi. The snare sound, too, had morenuance and natural detail. The Zero lingered on everything,producing gravitas and richness on piano and saxophone ona recording I’d always thought sacrificed instrumental solidity for reverb-drenched effect.
I wondered: What would the finger snaps sound likeon Elvis’s sinewy take on “Fever”? (Elvis is Back, Analogue
Productions AAPP-2231, sat on the shelf next to Time Out,so no mystery where that idea came from.) The finger snaps
were slower—almost suspended in time and far fleshier thanI expected from long familiarity. Bob Moore’s bass lines
took on added attack weight and longer-lingering sustain,
and Buddy Harman’s ricocheting bongo hits sounded fuller
and richer, almost like larger conga hits. At one point, Elvis
Reprinted from Stereophile magazine

A S S O C I AT E D E Q U I P M E N T
Analog sources OMA K3, SAT XD-1 turntables; SAT CF109 and Graham Elite tonearms; X-quisite ST, Lyra Atlas λLambda SL and Etna λ Lambda SL, and TechDAS TDC01 Ti
cartridges.
Digital sources dCS Vivaldi One SACD player DAC; Lynx
Hilo A/D–D/A converter; ROON Nucleus server; Pure
Vinyl and Vinyl Studio software.
Preamplification darTZeel NHB-18S, Ypsilon MC-10L, MC16L, and MC-20L and X-quisite SUT X-20 step-up transformers; Ypsilon VPS-100, CH Precision P1 with X1 PSU.
Power amplifiers darTZeel NHB-468 monoblocks.
Loudspeakers Wilson Audio Specialties Chronosonic XVX.
Cables Interconnect: TARA Labs Zero Gold, Zero Evolution,
Zero and Air Evolution, Analysis Plus Silver Apex, Stealth
Sakra & Indra, Luminous Audio Technology Silver Reference, interconnect. Speaker: AudioQuest Dragon, TARALabs Omega EvolutionSP. AC: AudioQuest Dragon andThunder, Dynamic Design Neutron GS Digital power cord.
Accessories PS Audio Powerplant 20 and 15, CAD GC1and GC3 Ground Controls; Oyaide AC wall box & receptacles; RSX Industries Power8 box, ASC Tube Traps; RPG
BAD, Skyline & Abffusor panels, Stillpoints Aperture II
Room panels, Synergistic Research UEF products (various), Symposium Ultra platform; HRS XVR turntable stand,
Signature SXR and Stillpoints ESS stands, Thixar andStillpoints amplifier stands; Audiodharma Cable Cooker;
Furutech record demagnetizer; Furutech deStat; Loricraft
PRC4 Deluxe Audiodesksysteme Pro, and Kirmuss Audio
KA-RC-1 record-cleaning machines. —Michael Fremer

sings “fever!” followed by two familiar kickdrum exclamation points; each produced depth-charge thunder.
I had a visitor recently who owns a very good stereo.
He wanted to hear Lou Reed’s “Walk on the Wild Side”
wherein Herbie Flowers plays two bass lines: one on double
bass and the other an octave and a third higher on electric.
I’d not played this on the Zero, but oh man! The “sticky”
double bass below and the light but precise electric above
produced through the Zero a “Walk on the Wild Side” thelikes of which I’d never before heard. I followed that up
with what I knew would be an awesome kickdrum soundfrom the “Porky Prime Cut” UK edition of Squeeze’s“Tempted” from East Side Story (AMLH 64854). It was
beyond-expectations, slamming good. The next day, my visitor called and said, jokingly, in reaction to what he’d heard,“I hate your f…king guts.”
Chasing the Dragon recently released an ambitious andmeticulously recorded, produced, and packaged five-LP
edition of the Bach Cello Suites (Chasing the Dragon
VALLP014), most of which is performed by Justin Pearson,
principal cellist of the National Symphony Orchestra. It
includes two versions of the 3rd suite, one with the piano
accompaniment written by Robert Schumann. (Robert
Schumann wrote accompaniment for all six, but wife Clarais thought to have destroyed the others; somehow the 3rd
survived.)
The church recording (to analog tape) in five sessions in
two venues, using a pair of omnidirectional microphones,
is sonically spectacular in its lifelike instrumental timbresand 3D spaciousness. The Zero’s presentation of this rewww.stereophile.com

TECHDAS AIR FORCE ZEROcording, compared to the rendering produced by the SAT
XD-1, demonstrated the Zero’s special mid to mid-low
frequency weight, power, and drive and its unique ability
to slow down the notes—something that works to benefit
Mr. Pearson’s workmanlike, somewhat light-hearted reading compared to János Starker’s more brooding, powerful,and gravity-bending performances—either the late-’50s
mono version for EMI reissued by the Electric Recording
Company (ERC 33CX1656) or the Mercury box reissued
by Analogue Productions. The notes float by in one reading and tear your heart open on the two others. I’d playedand enjoyed the mono ERC on other turntables, but the
Zero’s “stop time” presentation created an unmistakable,
well-defined small studio space in which Starker appeared
more convincingly than I’ve ever heard from this vintage
mono recording, produced by attack certainty, sustain
generosity, and prodigious decay into a black that digital
reproduction, for all its extended dynamic range, for somereason can’t produce.
IMPEX’s mono reissue of Frank Sinatra’s Columbia
Records swan song Sing and Dance With Frank Sinatra (IMP6036) is a “must have” for any Sinatra fan. Originally a 10"
record, it is reissued here as a 12" with additional tracks.
Sinatra pivots from faded teen idol crooner to hip, swinging
sophisticate. You can feel in these performances how Frankunfolds his newfound rhythmic abilities. He’s creating a new
Frank live as he leans into the microphone and lets it rip.
Through the Zero, the added weight and grip helped
create a presentational ease and certainty that resulted in a
serene listening experience, on this old recording and on
every record I played, even on hard rock and heavy metal

records. The Zero’s stillness and certitude helped deliver
every musical genre’s full weight and meaning, minus the
distractions created by less precise reproduction.
Conclusion
It may seem contradictory to note that a turntable with abase price of $450,000 has a recognizable sound, but if you
get to hear the Air Force Zero under conditions commensurate with its performance capabilities, you’ll quickly
understand that it’s not contradictory at all. The turntable isrecognizable because no other turntable, or none that I’ve
yet reviewed, so effectively sinks unwanted and extraneous
noise while passing the musical goods with effortless ease,often in the most subtle and nuanced ways. The AF Zero is
not a flashy-sounding “show off” turntable.
The Zero is the most speed-consistent belt-drive turntable
I’ve reviewed, and with its air-bearing platters and air suspension, also the quietest, best isolated, and most inert, withstable sonics, quiet, and exceptional detail resolution with noadded grain or unnatural, mechanical edge definition. The
Zero was also trouble- and hassle-free for six months and asmuch fun to use as it was to hear.
Let’s just add it up: $450,000 for the base turntable. Add$50,000 for the tungsten top platter. Add $52,000 for the
HRS stand, $14,250 for the Graham Elite arm, and an extra$9000 for the titanium armwand. That comes to $575,250.
Just to play records? Yes. Just to play records. Add another$50,000 or so for the SAT CF1-09 second arm and then go
buy a few cartridges.
For those who can afford such an extravagance, I say, why
not? And while you’re at it, feed the hungry. n

ANY CLOD CAN HAVE THE FACTS; HAVING OPINIONS IS AN ART

MANUFACTURERS’COMMENTS
TechDAS Air Force ZeroAs the one who conceived, developed,
and designed Air Force Zero, I alreadyhad an idea of this ultimate turntable inmy mind when the Air Force One waslaunched. Although the Air Force One
was designed to have the best performance in the market in as compact a size
possible, there were a few concessions we
had to make, just like with any product inthe world.
When designing the Zero, we aimed

Reprinted from Stereophile magazine

to remove all the limitations so as to realize the best ever record player in history
in performance and musicality. Our goal
was to fulfill the following six aims.
1) To play back all energy engraved in thegroove of a vinyl disc.
2) To minimize surface noise and scratch
noise generated on the vinyl.
3) To minimize any tracking error.
4) To reduce resonance on the disc.
5) To achieve a smooth and precise
rotation without mechanical and electric

THIS ISSUE : Representatives of WallyTools,

Shaknspin, QHW, Cyrus, Naim, Focal,
Audiovector, TechDAS, Canton, Boulder, and
Pro-Ject respond to our reviews of their products.

noise by maximizing the moment ofinertia.
6) To create a turntable without musicality compromised vs reality.
By pursuing these aims, we haveachieved the highest level of musicalenergy, a black background, and a senseof air in reproduction so that it delivers
the breathing voice of the artist with all
its subtleties.
Hideaki Nishikawa,
TechDASwww.stereophile.com