Pladespilleren.dk 

Pris 250,- Euro including shipping
https://shaknspin.wordpress.com

Latest update - June 27 - 2021

Shaknspin is a small somewhat anonymous looking gadget shaped like an "L". However, it contains more than you just see at first glance. The first thing you notice is that it has no control buttons? Only mechanical button is a small switch pin in the bottom. When turned on, however, a Shaknspin logo appears on the screen and the message "hold still". Shaknspin is laid on a flat horizontal surface and it then calibrates itself. Then the display changes and there is a small menu where you can select various functions. The operation is done by tilting the device up and down or from side to side. You select menus at one tilt and then enter the menus with a sideways tilt. A little hard to explain, but once tried a few times, it seems intuitive.

The operation and measurements are done internally via an advanced "9 degrees-of-freedom" sensor, Shaknspin measures with great accuracy the rotation of the platter 500 times per second over a period of approx. 15 seconds. The average speed is shown directly in the display, but there is more.

Here, many will probably say, "Yes, but so can my phone". Yes, I have also tried such a free app, but data is far more random and inaccurate than Shaknspin. Something your phone definitely can't do is the next feature: measuring wow & flutter. After a short measurement period, a lot of data is displayed in the diplay (tilt down to more images) the following data is displayed:

Average speed During the measurement period (15 seconds)
Average speed deviation
Max / min speed deviation
Max% / min% speed deviation
High-pass filtered max / min speed deviation
W&F DIN
W&F WRMS
W&F peak-to-peak
W&F peak-to-peak 2sigma
Wow
Flutter
W&F (DIN weighted)
Modulation frequency (primary)
Modulation frequency (secondary)
Jitter (average speed change / second)

Graphic displays in the form of curves can also be displayed on the screen (see image below). What is actually hidden behind the individual measurements can be found on Shaknspin's website here: https://shaknspin.wordpress.com/measures-glossary/

Connection via BluTooth

The measured data can be transferred to your Android smartphone. This requires an app - so far only for Android, but an iPhone version is on the way. You download a comma-separated file (CSV format). which can be opened in Excel (after being transferred from the phone). There are the measured data, as well as a long list of approx. 8,000 measuring points with 2 msec interval. You do not get any pictures, but if you have some practice with Excel, it should be possible to make your own curves.  You can see the top part of this quite big file in the picture below.

However, Shaknspin has created a template in Excel. You can download it and then it should be easy to transfer your own data here and get the desired curves. I have tried, but the transferred comma-separated file is in my PC converted to a number format with "." instead of ",". Thus, a measurement of e.g. 33,362 rpm to 33,362 rpm - just 1,000 times bigger!  I have not just been able to solve that problem. Maybe an upcoming software update will help.

Can you trust the data that comes out? If you have a completely stable reference you can calibrate your Shaknspin according to this. However, the built-in reference returns after the appliance has been switched off. I tried to repeat a measurement after approx. 5 minutes. The discrepancies were very small and I have no reason to believe there should be inaccuracies. To test Shaknspin, I tried to provoke it by touching the turntable lightly during measurement. However, it was assumed to be an error measurement and was returned to main menus. The only provocation that was clearly revealed was the use of a wire with a large knot to pull the turntable. This gave a smaller "bump" and despite a 20 kg platter, there was no doubt - far worse data than a normal rubber belt.

Conclusion

One may appropriately ask whether Shaknspin is something the average user needs to invest in? Most will probably be well satisfied, as long as the turntable does not deliver audible errors. But for me and probably other reviewers as well, it is definitely a useful little gadget. In the future, I will make measurements when testing turntables.- see e.g. my review of Soulines Kubrick (in Danisj HERE. I could also imagine that service workshops and dealers would be able to use it as a service to their customers. All in all, a fun little thing that has found its permanent place on my shelf by the turntable.