I've always thought that ripping vinyl to a nas drive is a ridiculous thing to do

About 7 years ago I started into my collection of over 3000 vinyl albums and stopped at number 5 or 6

It wasnt just the playing and turning them over it was mostly typing in the artist and track information

I decided that life was too short and I would just play the records on my LP12 when I felt like it

As I was doing away with my cd player and ripping my cd collection I was happy to live with the split

Play a cd from the streamer, play vinyl on the turntable. Simple

I still feel that's a good way to go but often I'm lazy when I have a vinyl record that's not on my hard drive, isn't available online in cd resolution from Tidal, and I dont feel like getting up to look for it.

Then I probably just choose other music.

Last week I was shown a product that changes all that, the Plato from Entotem.

This young British company produces a one-box solution in various guises.

Entry level is a streamer and 1Tb Nas drive all in one box, connect to your existing system and you're streaming and ripping your vinyl to the internal hard drive, £ 1899

Next up is the same gubbins but adding a very high performance turntable input with both moving magnet and moving coil capabilities and a 2Tb drive, £ 2400

Then you can have this with a built-in power amplifier so it becomes a complete one box system for £ 2999

And to top it off you can have a Class A power amplifer included for £ 3999

So I hear the cynics say why would I want to downgrade my vinyl performance to cd level? and here's the clever answer:

You don't, this uses 24 bit Studio Master encoding to give a near perfect copy of your vinyl sound

I have recorded from a Rega Planar 3, a Rega RP8, and from a Linn Sondek LP12. With each improvement in source the recorded sound is noticeably and obviously better.

Simply better, garbage in, garbage out, etc, etc

I am so impressed I have bought one to demonstrate here, they don't give them away you know, to demonstrate it I have to invest my hard-earned!

There are some options for the amount of storage, SSD, solid state silent storage, and even a range of high gloss colours to appeal to your inner Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen

Everyone knows the name Plato is from the Greek philosopher

I didnt know that he said this:

Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the uni ver se, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything

Good man Plato