Reviews
“ We fitted our Garrard 301 on your super-handsome plinth, equipped with our Amai tonearm and cartridge, as you may have seen in the Facebook reel. Both Chee Kai and I were immediately amazed and drawn to the gorgeous sound the moment it started playing.
Compared side by side with the Garrard 401 on a piano gloss finished plinth, it felt like a completely different world and league of musical quality. The 301 allowed us to connect instantly and deeply with the music, without any hesitation.
It genuinely feels like the music is being delivered by two turntables from entirely different leagues. I’ll be sharing more reels in the coming days featuring music played on the Shida 301."
Phillipe Wong, Project Florestine, Singapore
(Shida Reference Garrard plinth, Nov 25)
“After weeks of stringent testing, thorough auditions, and in depth listening experience, we are very excited and pleased to share an important update. We have finally discovered a way to achieve one of our primary goals, to enjoy and appreciate our favourite music with immediately audible, significantly improved sound quality, at a highly affordable and very pocket friendly budget.
The culprit?
Yes, the application of the SHIDA (New Zealand) 0.75 Platform, placed under one of our entry level budget turntables from Edwards Audio (UK). This has been the focus of our recent experimentation.
Below are our immediate audible observations upon listening after applying the SHIDA 0.75 Platform:
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Exceptionally stable and fluid platter rotation during operation;
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Remarkably quiet background, with much unwanted noise eliminated during playback. This allows significantly more micro detail and nuance to emerge. In other words, every single note can now be clearly conveyed for musical enjoyment, even at very low volume levels;
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Incredible clarity, texture, and extension across the full frequency spectrum, sweeter treble, more prominent and natural midrange, and clearer, deeper, and better-extended bass. The presentation is neutral, natural, and smooth, with immediate audible impact;
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In summary, the music now flows as if the entire system has been upgraded by several levels. Notably, there were no changes whatsoever to any other component during the course of testing. The only addition was the gorgeously powerful and wonderfully cost effective SHIDA 0.75 Platform;
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Beyond its outstanding performance, this brilliant product is also visually striking, featuring exquisitely crafted, furniture grade build quality, along with thoughtful design and dedicated engineering;
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Its effectiveness is not limited to turntables. It performs equally well under other audio components, including amplifiers, phono stages, CD players, and more;
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We dare to say that this level of immediate sonic improvement would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to achieve by upgrading an entire system to the same standard at the modest cost of the SHIDA 0.75 Platform.
Phillipe Wong, Project Florestine, Singapore
(Shida 0.75 Platform, Dec 25)
A little bit of local press:
https://www.witchdoctor.co.nz/2025/kiwi-company-introduces-hi-fi-racks/
“The 0.75 platform is very effective, we purposely set it up under our entry level turntable (6kgs) and it made the turntable sound like 3-4 times its price. Immediately apparent in audibility, no need to strain to hear it. A panel of 3 listeners all heard the same improvements.
Chee Kia Ng, Singapore
(Shida 0.75 Platform) Nov 25
“The fact my previous custom made rack also included many
isolation products, I wasn’t expecting a lot of changes.
But the differences were easily distinguishable increased clarity and ease, a more relaxing and enjoyable presentation, putting less strain on my brain to decipher the music through the many nasty artefacts I previously didn’t even know existed. All the technology without looking like an alien spaceship, not only increased the WAF factor but left me with a centre furniture piece that enhanced the aesthetic of the room.
Martyns passion warmth and professionalism, giving updates of the build process and incredible above and beyond setup service, made it not only one of the more satisfying products I’ve come to own but also one of the most enjoyable purchases I’ve ever made."
Jamie Loh
(Garrard 301/ Shindo System) - Shida 01 Rack Aug 24)
“The 01 rack used at last Monday's Auckland Audio Society meeting. There was an immediate and clear improvement - a consensus was that it cleaned up the sound. Having a tuned isolation table may well be the cheapest way to upgrade your system. Locally made too!
Peter Coleman, Secretary of the Auckland Audio Society
(Rega 3 / Krell system - Shida 01 Rack, May 25)
" I reckon a lot of HiFi furniture still looks like it was designed in 1988, so I’ve been admiring the fine lines of Shida racks for a while, and just picked up a 0.5 platform last week. Big thanks to Martyn, love it!
And happy to support a local craftsperson.
I am a keen enthusiast of the low end, and this has definitely tightened up the bass performance from my turntable, which probably has a lot to do with the chunky subwoofer doing it’s thing and the cabinet being built into the room. Things are sounding pretty pretty good.”
Andrew Turley - Auckland
(Technic 1200mk2 - Shida 0.75 Platform Aug 25)
"The Sugden power amp is sitting on your platform seven elastomers under it, big positive changes in the sonics, better pace, definition, coherence etc. Leading edge very good, always was, but now even better, toes are tapping. Very pleasing."
Jeremy Littlejohn - Auckland
(Shindo/Sugden - Shida 0.75 Platform Sept 23)
“It’s a lot more clear. Space between instruments is enhanced - there’s a clarity that wasn’t there before. Blue Monday is astonishing, as is Dexter Gordon.”
Andrew Nicoll - Auckland
(Rega P8/Naim - Shida 01 Rack Feb 24)
"I started evaluating your platform under my CD Transport and it's definitely made a difference... most notable in bass extension and sound staging."
Jeff Lyons - Auckland
(Prima Luna/Allnic - Shida 0.75 Platform April 23)
"A big thank you for the care taken in the finishing of the shelf - it's very nicely made. A quick listen confirmed that it has opened up the sound
- as in more detail, especially in the mids (vocals) ... a little more transparency, tonal colour and soundstage depth.
Your isolation system makes it all sound better!"
Alan Rothwell - Auckland
(Dr Fiekert Blackbird - Shida 0.75 Platform March 22)