Hey, Ortofon... What's going on?

tnsilver

Stereo Puppy
These two look pretty much the same to me, with the exception of the weighing plate.

This is Ortofon's newest DS-3 digital scale, sold for 150 Euro on their web site:

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This is a no name Chinese digital scale sold for a tad over $5.50 on the auction site (no affiliation) with free shipping.

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I've checked the manuals. Same batteries, same specs, looks like the same unit too...

Anyone care to explain this?
 
Neah, you got it wrong. The gold actually goes with this baby:

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This is actually from another vendor, which is even cheaper than the first. It's less than $5.00.
The seller advertises it as a 500g capacity scale. Oh boy... I think the specs are in the listing title.
Now I don't know who knocks off who anymore, but I'm getting the impression someone is trying
to screw us over and I don't think it's the Chinese.
 
I'd buy the Ortofon scale if it wasn't so overpriced, because it's the only one where the weighing plate is actually as thin as a record, which is important for getting an accurate reading when measuring spring-balanced tonearms.
 
I'm guessing soon there will be a knock off plate for the "cheap" scale. :naughty:
 
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The Ortofon one clearly has some kind of gold on it. That means it's in another league.

That $5 Chinese one looks the same, but if you try to actually use it it leaks gamma rays that will burn your hands off.

You don't want to burn your hands off, do you?
I knew a guy once named Bruce. He got blasted with gamma rays. Didn't seem to bother him at all. Then one day he got really mad. He turned green grew to be humongous. He broke everything in the shop. He hangs out with Captain America now.
 
Just get the Chinese ones for goodness sake!

We all know the 'brands' are sourcing their chit from the Chinese, putting a bit of bent metal and slapping their revered brand logo on it and making a fortune.

Ortofon, you should be ashamed of yourselves!

Have a look at Rega, they do the same. You can fool a bunch of hipsters but not the AK crowd- we knows our chit. :)
 
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Recently watched this video about cheap Chinese scale. Guys videos are a tad cheese but it convinced me to try one. Maybe I could find an ortofon or thorens sticker on eBay....
 
Recently watched this video about cheap Chinese scale. Guys videos are a tad cheese but it convinced me to try one. Maybe I could find an ortofon or thorens sticker on eBay....

I've had this one for a year. Works well, and battery has never been changed.
It correlates to the reading on my Shure balance beam type scale, but I find it easier to use, since the Shure requires me to hunker down and look for balance alignment carefully.
 
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Why don't you buy 1 at 150 for you and buy 30 at 5 to send to all your AK friends? We will test them for you and compare to your results. Then we'll know!
 
I had one of those years ago before they became so popular. It wasn't that cheap back then. I was severely disappointed. It was cheaply built and felt flimsy. The cover was held in place by a piece of foam and kept falling off. One of the buttons was semi-stuck and kept the illumination on, which drained the batteries. It did read VTF sufficiently enough, just as my wife's kitchen scale could if it would fit under the tonearm, but it was a piece of junk and I sent it back to the vendor who sold it to me. I've learned my lesson and my next one was an Ortofon DS-1. I couldn't help but take a peek inside. It's a genuine well built Japanese high precision electronic device which also appears and feels this way. It's a shame their next generation DS-3 scale appear to be a mod'd generic cheap unit and a regression in the quality of that line of products.
 
Ortofon DS-1

That's selling for $185 here in Australia.......ridiculous!

I'd rather buy 15 Chinese versions that work just as well so I have spares when they fail.
 
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