Every vinyl-spin­ning audio­phi­le knows the importance of clean LP sur­faces and pro­ba­b­ly owns at least one car­bon-fiber record brush. But Ramar, head­quar­te­red in Ger­ma­ny, has ele­va­ted the pro­sa­ic brush into some­thing, well, über-luxu­rious. The two-pie­ce case is made of solid wood, mil­led from a sin­gle woo­den blank, then impec­ca­bly oiled and finis­hed in your choice of wal­nut, cher­ry, or ash. The brist­le cover is alu­mi­num and coa­ted with elec­trol­ess nickel. Final­ly, there’s the brush itself—a uni­que mix­tu­re of car­bon fiber and goat hair, with a lar­ge sur­face area so as not to miss a sin­gle atom of dust. Included is a stylus-clea­ning wand that magne­ti­cal­ly atta­ches insi­de the case. Extra­va­gant, okay, but for the well-dres­sed ana­log rig this is one splu­r­ge that is more than worth it. A joy to use, it makes record clea­ning a pre­mi­um event rather than a bor­ing obli­ga­ti­on. (Forth­co­ming)

The Abso­lu­te Sound, Issue 323