So I've been trying out a new cork mat prototype that fellow forum member Rikhav had made. Since I have mats made from different materials, I compared the cork mat against them.
The silicone rubber mat that I have is 3 mm thick. It was made by BeginnerN on the forum. This mat has a lively treble, and lots of info comes through. However, it seems to attenuate the bass weight. Its sound is attacking with a nice decay but less holographic overall. More hifi-ish sounding. It gives a good sense of pace and good timing. The same volume knob setting was used for all tests, and the silicone rubber mat seems to sound softest of all the mats tested, and I wanted to turn up the volume a notch or two but refrained from doing so as I didn't want to add the uncertainty of adding another parameter to the tests. This could possibly mean that the silicone rubber is having the highest attenuation of vibration, and thus attenuating the playback volume too, more than other materials tested here. Anyway, this is just a random hypothesis and I have no scientific tests to prove it. For what it's worth, the silicone rubber mat is the densest and heaviest mat despite being only 3 mm thick. I used the sound of the silicone rubber mat as a baseline against which to assess the others.
Natural Cork Mat 5 mm thick:
The treble is laid back compared to the silicone rubber mat. Bass has more weight compared to silicone rubber mat.
The attack is less frenetic but overall sound is more musical to my ears, and a bit more holographic. I don't have a thinner cork mat at this time, but I feel a thinner (say 3 mm) could improve the sound further. 5 mm I feel is too thick and damping more than I would like.
Yoga Mat 3 mm thick:
This is home made from a yoga mat that was lying idle and never saw its intended action. The sound of the yoga mat is very, very close to the silicone rubber mat. I won't be able to tell them apart in a blind test. This is surprising because the yoga mat has much lower density.
78 rpm shellac record used as record mat:
I have been using a shellac as record mat for some months now. To my ears it sounds the best among the different mats I've used. But this could be setup/system dependent, and my personal musical/audio biases.
10 inch vinyl EP used as record mat:
The argument behind using thick acrylic or delrin platters in many modern turntables is the fact that these materials have properties close to, or similar to, vinyl records. I haven't tried delrin but have tried acrylic both as platter and mat. Acrylic mat is hard and is the exact antithesis of a soft rubber mat. The sound is extra lively but it accentuates pops and ticks in the records. It has one major problem, though - the surface being glass smooth, there is very low friction between the acrylic mat and the platter below it. A simple action line using antistatic record cleaning to brush away dust from a spinning record can slow down the speed of the record due to the slippage of acrylic over the platter. But for a further twist in this tale, I tried the 10 inch vinyl EPs and they sound more alive than the shellac. Very alive, in fact, almost as much or same as acrylic, but without the slippage problem as it is a record with grooves already cut in it, and so does have good purchase.
More to check out: A regular rubber mat (very old, from one of my turntables), a mat made from regular bubble wrap sheet, and one more new rubber mat made from regular vulcanized rubber are waiting to be tested.
Here's the bottomline: if you want to tame the highs a bit and don't mind a slight loss of resolution, use something softer like rubber or something even softer like yoga mat. I find the overall presentation quite balanced. It's no wonder that OEMs have been using rubber mats for the longest time due to its balanced presentation.
Try cork if you want to have a more laid-back presentation. At least in my chain, cork adds a sense of 3D-ness which I don't hear with other mats. Also, cork sounds very musical to my ears.
Shellac brings the music alive. If you like it even more livelier, try vinyl or acrylic mat.
Personally I find shellac most to my taste. Your musical goals might be different so please don't be afraid to try out different mats.
Caveats are in order: a more lively presentation accentuates ticks, pops and record hiss, so one must take that into consideration. A general rule is softer mats will dampen vibration better.
Since the mats are of different thicknesses, it was necessary to adjust the vertical tracking angle when using different mats.
The silicone rubber mat that I have is 3 mm thick. It was made by BeginnerN on the forum. This mat has a lively treble, and lots of info comes through. However, it seems to attenuate the bass weight. Its sound is attacking with a nice decay but less holographic overall. More hifi-ish sounding. It gives a good sense of pace and good timing. The same volume knob setting was used for all tests, and the silicone rubber mat seems to sound softest of all the mats tested, and I wanted to turn up the volume a notch or two but refrained from doing so as I didn't want to add the uncertainty of adding another parameter to the tests. This could possibly mean that the silicone rubber is having the highest attenuation of vibration, and thus attenuating the playback volume too, more than other materials tested here. Anyway, this is just a random hypothesis and I have no scientific tests to prove it. For what it's worth, the silicone rubber mat is the densest and heaviest mat despite being only 3 mm thick. I used the sound of the silicone rubber mat as a baseline against which to assess the others.
Natural Cork Mat 5 mm thick:
The treble is laid back compared to the silicone rubber mat. Bass has more weight compared to silicone rubber mat.
The attack is less frenetic but overall sound is more musical to my ears, and a bit more holographic. I don't have a thinner cork mat at this time, but I feel a thinner (say 3 mm) could improve the sound further. 5 mm I feel is too thick and damping more than I would like.
Yoga Mat 3 mm thick:
This is home made from a yoga mat that was lying idle and never saw its intended action. The sound of the yoga mat is very, very close to the silicone rubber mat. I won't be able to tell them apart in a blind test. This is surprising because the yoga mat has much lower density.
78 rpm shellac record used as record mat:
I have been using a shellac as record mat for some months now. To my ears it sounds the best among the different mats I've used. But this could be setup/system dependent, and my personal musical/audio biases.
10 inch vinyl EP used as record mat:
The argument behind using thick acrylic or delrin platters in many modern turntables is the fact that these materials have properties close to, or similar to, vinyl records. I haven't tried delrin but have tried acrylic both as platter and mat. Acrylic mat is hard and is the exact antithesis of a soft rubber mat. The sound is extra lively but it accentuates pops and ticks in the records. It has one major problem, though - the surface being glass smooth, there is very low friction between the acrylic mat and the platter below it. A simple action line using antistatic record cleaning to brush away dust from a spinning record can slow down the speed of the record due to the slippage of acrylic over the platter. But for a further twist in this tale, I tried the 10 inch vinyl EPs and they sound more alive than the shellac. Very alive, in fact, almost as much or same as acrylic, but without the slippage problem as it is a record with grooves already cut in it, and so does have good purchase.
More to check out: A regular rubber mat (very old, from one of my turntables), a mat made from regular bubble wrap sheet, and one more new rubber mat made from regular vulcanized rubber are waiting to be tested.
Here's the bottomline: if you want to tame the highs a bit and don't mind a slight loss of resolution, use something softer like rubber or something even softer like yoga mat. I find the overall presentation quite balanced. It's no wonder that OEMs have been using rubber mats for the longest time due to its balanced presentation.
Try cork if you want to have a more laid-back presentation. At least in my chain, cork adds a sense of 3D-ness which I don't hear with other mats. Also, cork sounds very musical to my ears.
Shellac brings the music alive. If you like it even more livelier, try vinyl or acrylic mat.
Personally I find shellac most to my taste. Your musical goals might be different so please don't be afraid to try out different mats.
Caveats are in order: a more lively presentation accentuates ticks, pops and record hiss, so one must take that into consideration. A general rule is softer mats will dampen vibration better.
Since the mats are of different thicknesses, it was necessary to adjust the vertical tracking angle when using different mats.
