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Trettire's Retro Ambient Audio System offers a full hi-fi system with no wires
Ought to elicit more than a few "wow, no wires" comments.
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The resurgence of physical media has been in full swing in the alternative music scene for a while. Nowadays, likely as an effect of streaming services' shenanigans, even mainstream audiences are catching on to the tactile experience and ownership offered by a CD or a vinyl record. We covered the Syitren RM1 CD player frame only a few weeks ago, and now the concept is back in full-system form thanks to Trettitre's Retro Ambient Sound System (RASS).
The spiffy-looking setup comprises a vinyl turntable with RGB backlighting, a compact disc player, and a cassette player — all atop a magnetic metal rack complete with a phone holder. The star of the show is the record player, a unit packing an actual Audio-Technica AT-3600L phono cartridge, a self-balancing tone arm, and even a manual speed knob for up to ±5% adjustment. There's Bluetooth support with high-end AptX, AptX HD, and AptX Adaptive codecs, as well as an auxiliary 3.5 mm output.
The physical controls appear to be both simple and reassuringly sized — no menus or touchscreens here. Hi-fi vinyl player units do spend a large portion of their mechanical design on ensuring full vertical stability, however. The vertical orientation of this TTT-LP3 unit is almost a worst-case scenario for this task, so the self-balancing tonearm has its work cut out for it. It's worth noting that since all the components are magnetic, you can just pick them up and put them on a table.
The units are all fully wireless and attach to their frames magnetically, though there's no combined charging mechanism or power supply — each unit has its own battery, USB-C charging port, and Bluetooth connection. The TTT-LP3 record player does have the ability to charge wirelessly with the included T-shaped adapter.
The TTT-DP3 CD player's interface looks to be straightforward. There are physical buttons with individual shapes, and a small OLED screen for displaying track information. The dust cover atop the disc is also magnetic, which is quite a nice touch. Oddly, though, the specs do not list high-end audio codecs for this unit, a strange choice given that CDs have by far the widest sonic range of the physical media types on offer.
As for the TTT-CP3 cassette player, there's not much to say, in a good way. The buttons are decidedly chunky and inviting — one can only hope they elicit the same satisfying clunk as in old-school hi-fi units. As with the CD player, there's no mention of high-end audio codec support, but cassette tapes aren't known for low noise floors or pristine treble, anyway.
You can preorder Trettitre's Retro Ambient Sound System at Kickstarter for $399 if you're quick, with $76 shipping, under the "late pledge" or "early bird" headers. After that, the unit will set you back $429. The individual components are also available if you don't want to grab the entire setup.
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