Perhaps being better known for their British-made amps and CD players, Roksan have created a bit of a unicorn in the Attessa turntable. Plug and play at heart but built like a far more pricey competitor, will they strike a balance between high-end and simplicity?
Being unsure how to type out a fanfare noise, I’ll just state it. This turntable deserves its own fanfare – particularly at its VIP price! After enlisting the more vinyl oriented colleagues in my store (Thanks Jon and Steff) to help me get this all set up properly, I was keen to start seeing if this was the turntable I’d finally integrate into my own home setup, after sticking with streaming and CDs for so long.
The above also needs to serve as a little disclaimer. The Roksan Attessa is a gorgeous turntable and at a frankly astoundingly low price considering its previous RRP that was north of £1000! The turntable is priced against options that are easier to plug and play – whereas the Attessa benefits from patience and time to get it calibrated and done correctly – there are helpful videos, guides and colleagues on hand who can assist here to help guide you. That said, there IS a phono stage built in to the unit which is more than serviceable, should you not have on your amp, or not want to add boxes or expenditure.
However, once this is done, and I’d budget around 30 minutes if you’re new to this – the Attessa will reward you by sounding better than anything near its price point. Immediately putting on London Grammar’s fantastic track ‘Hey Now, this serves as a litmus test against a track that I know second for second on streaming in Hi-Res – and the Roksan effortlessly knocked it out of the park.
Introduce yourself to the joys of Roksan turntable ownership, with the Roksan Attessa Turntable.
With extra weight to the vocals, and the detail bringing the band into the room adds to the intimacy of the track as well minimising any struggles your amp and speakers might have when playing back digital tracks – as good as they are, I will now admit there is something missing when put against a correctly setup turntable.
After moving away from the sole vinyl I bought for the occasion and using the store stock – I moved over to Led Zeppelin and Michael Jackson (not at the same time) and immediately found myself tapping along and fully engaged in the music, whereas streaming can present you with a phone, the king of distractions already in your hand, there is no urge to pick up anything other than the vinyl sleeve whilst the Attessa is at play, it gently forces you to engage with your listening and enjoy it.
It’s unusual for me to talk about the sound first – but such is the impression the Roksan Attessa has left. But let’s talk about unboxing and build. The Roksan is a sleek unit being a belt driven turntable. There is also nothing garish or bright to distract you whilst you’re listening. The soft monochrome finishes (unless you manage to nab a remaining Heritage Green) can seamlessly blend in with the rest of your hifi kit, and has looked at home on our ash, walnut and black glass stands and racks as well.
Roksan have opted to use dampening measures usually found on their flagship Xerxes turntable to help minimise distortion during playback, as well as an extremely dense platter – something that other options at this price point will be using aluminium for. Coupled with their own Dana cartridge and their gorgeous Unipivot tonearm (the key reason for the longer setup time) all of these careful decisions come together to help extract every bit of detail it can from your records, and reveal things in even your favourite songs you won’t have heard before.
To get your hands on one of these units, and hear the difference it can make against its contemporaries, chat with your local Richer Sounds store who will be happy to show you just how impressive this turntable is.
Author: Tom, Cardiff Store
