Strata is the latest in a long line of platter improvements from the British brand as Origin Live is no stranger to the development of platter technologies, from its first turntables in 1991 to the award-winning platter mat in 2009 and, in more recent years, the multi-layer platter on its range of turntables. These are just some of the prototypes pictured below.

The Strata platter mat is Origin Live's way of making their latest multi-layer technology available for anyone wishing to improve the performance of their turntable.

Composed of three distinct materials joined together using a specialised flexible bonding technique, it promises to dissipate oscillations from across the vibration spectrum. Origin Live insists that single-material solutions only operate within specific bands of vibration.

Additionally, the flexible bonding between the layers is also a design feature. We are told that allowing a slight interaction between layers causes vibrational interference, which dissipates resonances.

The Strata platter mat uses trickle-down technology from the Multi-Layer Platter. It was first developed for the company's flagship Voyager turntable and is now available across their range from the Swift upwards.

As the company believes that due to energy dissipation, the parts of a turntable closest to the cartridge have a far more significant influence on performance than items further away, its research and development led the Origin Live engineers through hundreds of materials, thicknesses, profiles and combinations, each carefully listened to in comparative listening tests.

Company founder Mark Baker told StereoNET:

Having listened to many different platter mats in R&D, we've found that the problem with most turntable mats is that they only work over a specific frequency range and do little to help absorb frequencies within other important ranges. It's obvious that when you try different mat materials under your records, they contribute to the characteristics of the sound in very different ways.

Mark concludes:

The only way to solve this issue is to use multiple materials arranged such that they improve all aspects of sound quality, such as detail retrieval, decay, mid-band transparency, clear separation in the soundstage and deep dynamic bass.

The Origin Live Strata is black and will work on any turntable that can accept a 4.5mm thick mat. It retails for £295. In case you are wondering, no additional mat is needed on top.

Visit Origin Live for more information