VPI Prime: Casual Review

I am writing this up in the hope that I can help members interested in the new VPI Prime TT. I recently lucked out and picked a mint used condition Prime on another audio website (good luck!). I then quickly searched the web for feedback on the table (maybe should have been other way around). To my surprise there is only one professional review which is favorable and I think another in a British magazine which I have not been able to get a copy. Even the VPI forum is kind of short on SQ reviews (mostly complaining about logistics, wait times and stuff associated with early runs of a product). Other user forums have post describing moves from a Rega RP1 with a $150 dollar kart a new Prime with $1000 kart shockingly amazing results. Well that is a huge upgrade and it should be amazing in comparison but this does not really give insight on how the Prime alone performs.
Being the poor working sap that I am a $1000 + cart is out of the question for at least a year or maybe a couple of months or I guess next month (This sickness is real). That being said this offered me the opportunity to gauge the true performance of the Prime. I upgraded from an older scout table with a Dynavector 10x5. So for my comparison I simply threw my prime into the exact same system with the exact same kart. Obvious only changing the variable of the TT. This enabled me to accurately gauge what the table was capable or not capable.
For Context System as Follows:
Speakers: System Audio Mantras 10 – Exposure speaker cable
VPI Prime #88 with Dynavector 10x15 Pangea Power cord/mouse pad under motor
Musical Surroundings Nova Phenomena I
Exposure 17 preamp
IfiTube Buffer
Exposure 18 Monos
AudioQuest Black Mamba II through the whole chain

Thoughts: Well the table alone is able to vastly improve the sound quality. As good as the scout is I don’t see any hint of diminishing returns. It is easily two times better than the scout. Just about every aspect was improved, you name it resolution, imaging, soundstage, depth, smoothness, musicality so on and so forth. It has really impressed me. The system is dead quite in-between songs and quiet passages. The only noise comes from scratched or dirty vinyl. When I play a well-kept record it is absolutely silent. I can turn my volume all the way up and noise starts at about 85% of total volume on the pot. The stand out thing I notice is how musically engaging the Prime manages to be. My cart produces a much more engaging and refined sound with the prime. There is no fatigue at all. I ran into this with the scout at higher volumes. This leads me to accept and support the argument you are better off with a better table with a weaker kart than visa versa. This table really brings up the performance of the 10x5. Sounds like a much better product now (not that it ever was not).
I invited my audiophile friend over whose system has an Ayre pre and Amp. His pre is older but was a cost no object piece that has an outboard power supply (thinking the Ayre k1xe, very well thought of pre). He has used a Sutherland PHD and now an Ayre phone stage. He had Sonus Faber Venere 2.5 and just upgraded to the Sonus Faber Olympias. His analog source is a Classic 1 outfitted with a Dynavector 20x2H (plus some upgrades). I have not gotten to hear his system since the addition of the Ayre phono stage and Olympias which has been a huge upgrade for him. His phono stage, amplification, table and room treatments (I have none) have always been a cut above my system. Plus with the advent of a different Ayre phono (which he greatly prefers to the sutherland) and a huge upgrade in speakers put him well beyond my current rig. Hopefully his prospective adds a little more information for Gon members.
We listened to several records in our short listening session. We started out with ¿Which Side Are You On? By Ani DiFranco. I threw this on because it is an incredible recording (warning album is full of liberal ideology). I didn’t really prep him as to how good of a recording it was. Next we Listened to a Fela album called Teacher don’t teach me nonsense. We finished off with another Fela album called Ransome-Kuti & Africa which my audiophile friend graciously gifted to me. Friends with class, can’t beat that.
His reactions were extremely positive. He stated it could very well be better than a classic 3 without the 3d arm IHO. A claim in fact made by VPI. He was shocked how incredible the Ani DiFranco album sounded. He was so blown away by it he was a little upset given his upgrades. Of course after listening to the other records he was familiar with in his own system it was apparent that it happens to be an amazing recording and not just the Prime vaulting SQ into the stratosphere. In his opinion its about one of the best recordings he has ever heard and I would have to agree it is top 5% percent for sure. Even on the records he had heard in his system he was still impressed (if less so) by the performance. He thought the imaging of horns on the Fela Albums were better placed with the prime than the classic 1. I didn’t prod him for a full length review but when I told him I was going to put our listening session impressions on Audiogon his text was “I was very very very impressed”.
If you are in the market for a new table I would put this on the audition list. The tables does not only seem to be a good value on paper but in real life. My friend and I are both impressed. I know for a fact the table alone squeezed a whole lot more performance out of my kart and system as a whole. Even though I like the Scout and after fiddling with it for a year I had it sounding really good it does not hold a candle to the Prime. If the Prime was not a vast improvement I would have sold it on. In fact my scout is still on the self below the prime. In addition I never had that search is done feeling with the Scout. I can honestly say I could be happy with the Prime for years to come and you know what it feels really good.