$3,300, and I am almost buying it

At $3,300, nothing comes close to the Technics SL-1300G. And when I say nothing, it is nothing. I am almost considering buying one myself.

That is a strange sentence from a man who already owns a McIntosh MT5. I do not need another turntable. But this is where my investment banker brain kicks in, and the numbers on this one are hard to ignore.

It borrows its motor technology and platter design from turntables costing three to six times as much, including Technics' own $20,000 reference class. Perfect pitch stability, no belt to worry about, and it will happily take cartridges well into the $5,000 range without being the bottleneck. It also won the EISA Best Turntable Award for 2025-26.

And you know what? That trickle-down is where the real value lives in turntables, and the sweet spot sits firmly between $3,000 and $20,000. Even the Michell GyroDec, the sleeper of the list, is genuine high-end for the price of a nice weekend somewhere. The Technics still comes first, and it is not close.

When the man who does not need one is tempted, the value case is closed. I am still at almost.