Every collector has one. The record left too close to the radiator, the promo that spent a summer in the boot of a car, the original pressing that now rises and falls on the platter like a ship in a swell. For years the advice was to live with it or replace it. Orb, the Japanese audio accessories maker, calls its Disc Flattener a signature product, and the DF-01iA+ is its current form. No relation to Alex Paterson’s ambient pioneers, although plenty of copies of Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld could use one.
The principle is straightforward. The record sits between two heaters lined with semiconductor film, which warm the…
