The Article
STRATA PLATTER MAT FROM ORIGIN LIVE
13th May 2024
It’s been a while since Origin Live has released a platter mat but, as Paul Rigby realises, with this new design, the company isn’t messing around
Origin Live’s new platter mat is the most expensive I have ever reviewed at £295 and its a measure of the importance of this oft neglected turntable component that has prompted such an evolved design.
And this platter mat is involved. Why? Because according to the company, the problem with most – if not all – mats out there is that they operate on too narrow a band.
Platter mats are good at damping or removing vibration from in and around the cartridge, the rest of your turntable with its multitude of moving mechanical bits plus the vinyl record itself. Dumping vibration stops microphony forming, lowering the noise floor, exposing detail to the ear and preventing delicate information from being masked behind high-frequency noise.
According to Origin Live, most platter mats out there only tackle the problem across a narrow frequency range. The Strata, says Origin Live, spans many frequency bands, doing a more efficient job.
Which is probably why this new Strata mat arrives in three layers. Well, I can see three, there may be more. The bottom polymer layer forms a solid structure for the mat itself. Moving up is another solid disc layer and bonded to that is a piece of material. The bonded pair of layers are also loosely connected to the rear so be aware of that when handling the Strata. Don’t rip the whole thing apart by mistake, handle it with care.
Which is all well and good. The only issue I can see here is that the Strata sits at 5mm thick. This is also the thickest platter mat I’ve ever reviewed.
So even if you’re using a thick-ish 2mm platter mat, you’re going to have to add a further 3mm of VTA to your tonearm. That is, on your turntable, if your tonearm’s VTA cannot be changed, then this mat is not for you.
Saying that, considering the price, I guess most potential buyers will own a turntable with variable VTA. Unless you’re desperate to buy of course, then I suppose DIY is an option via a set of shims, eh?
SOUND QUALITY
So how does this platter sound and, just as importantly, how does it compare to other platter mats out there? I rounded up several and provided an A-B test with each.
vs FELT
One of the basic platter mats on the market but, for the price, remarkably effective. I much prefer felt mats to those old-fashioned thick rubber mats you might find on a Japanese turntable, for example. Felt mats offer great value for money.
Even so, the Strata walked all over it. The felt matter couldn’t compete. I played Coldplay’s Viva La Vida and the first couple of tracks on Side A. The sense of control from the Strata was absolute, focus around vocal deliveries was a joy, the drums sounded strong, decisive, tonal realism shot through the roof. More than that, the bouncy – what was it – a hammered dulcimer perhaps? Autoharp? I’ll use dulcimer for now. It was struck like a percussive instrument, whatever it was, at the start of Life in Technicolor revealed, for the first time a set of bongos underneath that dulcimer. I hadn’t noticed them before. I heard them now though.
vs LEATHER
The leather mat wasn’t even as good as the Felt mat, never mind the Strata. The leather mat was overly warm, masking upper midrange detail and closing in air and space across the soundstage.
The Stratra did none of those things. Exactly the opposite, actually.
vs CORK
The cork mat? Better. The best of the ‘other’ mats so far offering an improved balanced output between upper and lower frequencies.
The cork mat gets the basics right but doesn’t kick on from there while the Strata does just that often producing an exhilarating performance that plugs directly into the emotion of the performance. Percussion has so much more character on the Strata than the cork, for example while subtle reverb tails hang off acoustic guitar strums that are too reigned in via the cork mat.
vs ORIGIN LIVE UPGRADE PLATTER MAT
Which is a terrible name for a platter mat, I have to say but was my go-to mat for several years at one point because it does a great sonic job and is highly recommended to those on a budget or whose turntable’s VTA cannot be adjusted. Far superior to the cork example. Right across the frequency spectrum this is the mat to buy.
Although it doesn’t hold a candle to the Strata. As good as the Upgrade mat is, when compared to the Strata, bongos on the Upgrade mat sound like someone hitting an upturned cardboard box.
The Strata sounds completely and utterly in control of every frequency on this record. Such precision. Such focus. Noise is also much lower via this mat.
vs FUNK FIRM ACHROMAT
This is the first time I’m hearing a concerted effort to add focus and precision to the musical output. I’m a big fan of the Achromat. It does a great job for a great price, considering its sonic performance here. The bongos sound like bongos, the drums add passion and power while vocals are sensitive and vulnerable but the Strata goes further.
The Achromat is on the right lines but the Strata moves further along the road, if you like. Adding detail, adding space, adding tonal accuracy, adding drum character, adding fragility in the vocals. That noise floor drops still further too.
vs SOUNDECK PM PLATTER MAT
Solidly built, the Soundeck also offers superb control across the frequency spectrum, provides a heap of detail and superlative bass control. Possibly the best impactful bass I’ve ever heard from a platter mat.
The Strata edges the Soundeck in terms of upper midrange and treble detail, though. Also while the Strata’s bass response might not enjoy the same bass impact it does provide more tonal accuracy, better blends into the overall mix and adds more air and space to the music. The dulcimer enjoys far more reach and air from the Strata, for example.
vs HEXMAT YELLOW BIRD
In my opinion, to this point, Hexmat has produced the two best platter mats the world has ever seen. Period. Truly best-in-class designs. This is where the Strata has to earn its corn. This is where the rarified platter designs live. So how did the Strata cope with the Yellow Bird?
The Yellow Bird has it all, focus, finesse, frequency discipline, detail but the Strata lowers the noise floor still further, adding more air and space into the soundstage, releasing detail in the process and giving extra tonal accuracy right across the soundstage. That. That was a shock. I’ve never heard a platter mat outside of Hexmat do that before to the Yellow Bird. But there you are.
vs HEXMAT ECLIPSE
Right now? As we are moving through these A-B comparisons? The Hexmat Eclipse is the best platter mat I’ve ever heard. Bar none. It does everything right. It does nothing wrong it blows everything else away. So let’s compare it to the Strata.
I first listened to the sublime Eclipse, with its midrange insight and organised soundstage, it’s sumptuous detail and low noise performance. Then I listened to the Strata.
The effect is a bit like taking your favourite car into a trusted garage, giving that same car a tune up and then feeling a performance boost of that same car when you’re back on the road.
That’s what is happening here. I even tried playing jazz vocal, Keely Smith’s That Old Black Magic album on Reprise. The Strata added one or even two to everything the Eclipse offered. In fact, the Eclipse’s midrange sounded a little soft, slightly rolled when compared to the Strata. The Strata slightly lifted detail from the background, lowering the noise still further, exposing more detail, adding air and space, tweaking the focus, adding a touch of precision while keeping the sound neutral. Keeping it absolutely balanced.
Look, the Origin Live Strata is slightly more expensive than the Hexmat Eclipse but forget that. Money doesn’t matter here. Not in this test. I didn’t think the Eclipse could be improved upon at all. Money or no.
I am shocked to tell you that the Strata does just that.
CONCLUSION
Testing the Origin Live Strata platter mat was a real eye-opening experience. It works with your turntable and it works with the vinyl itself to lower noise and that lower noise floor is the foundation of the performance from the Strata. That is the basis upon which all the other quality sound features lie. Push that noise floor down and detail gets a real chance to get to your ears. If you can then add control and focus and precision and a sense of air and space to that detail then you’re onto a real winner and my goodness, the Strata does just that.
This platter mat, my friends, is now the best platter mat you can buy.
So here’s a few buying hints for you.
If money is tight ish, if funds can only stretch so far? Get an Origin Live Upgrade Mat, if possible.
If you want to treat yourself to a top quality, high-end mat, buy yourself a Hexmat Yellow Bird.
If you want the best mat that has ever been created on this planet? If only the best is good enough? There is no other option now. Get the Origin Live Strata platter mat. It wipes the floor with everything else but it does so through a unique and innovative design. Which is why I’m giving it a whopping rating of 10 and a rare Golden Groovy.
ORIGIN LIVE STRATA PLATTER MAT
Price: £295
Website: www.originlive.com
GOOD: low noise, balanced output, detailed mids, tonal accuracy, spacious soundstage
BAD: nothing
RATING: 10
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REFERENCE
Origin Live Sovereign turntable
Origin Live Enterprise 12″ arm
Icon PS3 phono amplifier
Aesthetix Calypso pre-amp
Icon Audio MB845 Mk.II Monoblock Amplifiers
Blue Horizon Professional Rack System
Harmonic Resolution Systems Noise Reduction Components
Hi Paul,
Have you tried this new mat on a Linn Sondeck ?
Cheers
Ian
Hi Paul,
At the end of last year a Danish company AM (Anders Moesgaard – founded in 1971) released yet another mat (3 mm thick) in the felt category but with carbon fibre impregnation and claiming to be antistatic. It also claims “smoother, richer tonal balance”, “vast improvement in soundstage clarity and instrumental definition”, “increased dynamic range”, “improved bass response”, “increased vinyl longevity” and “substantial reduction in vinyl noise floor.” It sells for £30.00 at Analogue Seduction.
Getting the Strata mat was quite time consuming. Right after Paul Rigby‘s video on March 17th I ordered the Strata directly from the Origin Live website. I directly paid just to be told half an hour later via email that they won’t sell to me in Germany since they have a German distributor. So I contacted the German distributor the same day, who told me that they will only become the official German distributor at the Munich High End in May. They also told me that they actually have not the product of the prices. Since Origin Live didn’t want to sell to me directly to Germany, I had to wait until the German distributor would get it and sell it to me. Friday, May 17th, two months later, the wait was over and I could replace my Hexmat Eclipse with the Origin Live Strata mat. There is no doubt that on my Thorens TD 126 mk3 with Lustre Sound Tracer GST-1 tonearm, equipped with a MM Transrotor Uccello into an EAR Yoshino Phonobox, the Strata is a strong improvement to the Hexmat Eclipse. It is almost a wonder how it changes the musicality to be more natural and the imaging to be more precise. Today I listened to the Louis Armstrong / Satchmo Plays King Oliver 180g 45 rpm Analogue Productions version. This was a completely different sound compared to the Hexmat Eclipse. I always wondered why some vinyl lovers marvel about this 45 rpm version. I found it in the past a bit too harsh and not so impressive. Putting the Strata on the turntable everything changed for the better. The sound became so much more natural. Very impressive how this mat can upgrade my old turntable.
So thank you for the review and your recommendation.