This turntable makes your records float with magnets

Apparently, vinyl is back. Sales are climbing, and people are buying vinyl records in record numbers.

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"the world’s first levitating turntable"

When it comes to turntables, I’ve found that there are largely three rough groups one can use to classify them: bad turntables, good turntables, and look that record is flying in the air turntables. The MAG-LEV Audio seems to fall solidly into the third category, as "the world’s first levitating turntable."

The MAG-LEV Audio uses magnets to suspend the platter hovering in air (it can be seen doing so in this incredibly overdramatic promotional video of a gentleman using his possibly sorcerous floating record player to listen to music in an expensive-looking glass house).

Four feet support the platter when the turntable isn't in use, which then automatically retract into the base when you start playing music. The MAG-LEV Audio also cleverly has an emergency uninterruptible power supply built in to raise the tonearm and extend the feet in case of a power outage so your record doesn’t fall out of the air.

Not that specifications really matter past the "it makes your vinyl records float while playing them," but the MAG-LEV Audio supports both 33.3-rpm and 45-rpm modes, and uses a Pro-Ject 8.6 tonearm and Ortofon OM 5E cartridge.

The floating turntable is also MAG-LEV Audio’s first product, so the the usual caveats of backing a hardware product on a crowdfunding website from an untested company apply. The MAG-LEV Audio turntable starts at a discounted $780 Kickstarter price (estimated to go up to $1,390 at retail), which the company hopes to ship in August 2017.