The Miniot Wheel 3 is not your grandfather’s turntable. In fact, if you showed it to a vinyl purist, you might be met with confusion, mild panic, or a long-winded lecture about “real hi-fi.” But for those who enjoy seeing form and function remixed in unconventional ways, this Dutch-made device offers one of the most unique record playback experiences on the market.
Miniot Wheel 3
At AED 12,313 (€2,900), the Wheel 3 isn’t just a design statement—it’s a serious piece of kit aimed at listeners who want their audio gear to look as good as it sounds. And while it looks like something you’d find mounted on the wall of a Scandinavian design museum, there’s a lot going on under the minimalist surface.
Let’s start with the weirdest bit: there’s no visible tonearm or stylus. The Wheel 3 plays vinyl from underneath, using an optical sensor to read grooves without physically touching the surface. Yes, it’s basically reading your records with light—think of it as the vinyl equivalent of a self-driving car. This not only eliminates stylus wear but also removes the risk of needle mishaps (looking at you, party guests who don’t know how to cue a record).
The tonearm is still there—kind of. It’s a vertical, linear tracking arm tucked beneath the record, riding from center to edge while an axial flux direct-drive motor keeps the whole thing spinning. The motor is custom-built in-house by Miniot, and it uses optical speed control for precise, wobble-free playback. All of this is processed through a built-in high-end preamp, so you won’t need to hunt down extra gear just to get sound out of it.
In terms of placement, the Wheel 3 is as flexible as your favorite yoga instructor. It works standing upright on its included base, flat on a table, or even mounted on the wall. In what might be one of the strangest flexes in turntable history, it also works upside down. That’s not a typo. You can literally hang it from the ceiling if you’re into vinyl spider-chic.
Controls are baked into the central spindle—just twist or tap to change tracks or adjust the volume. There’s no clutter, no screen, and no visible cables once it’s installed. You get playback at 33⅓ and 45 RPM, and all controls are designed to be as low-profile as the unit itself. It’s a purist’s nightmare and a minimalist’s dream.
Of course, there are trade-offs. For one, this isn’t a turntable for tinkerers. There’s no cartridge to upgrade, no stylus to swap, and very little you can tweak. If you’re the kind of person who owns a stylus scale and a record brush with a name, this probably isn’t for you. Likewise, if you like watching a tonearm gracefully descend on your LPs, you’ll have to make peace with this thing doing it all behind the scenes like a sonic stagehand.
But the biggest challenge? The price. At nearly €3,000, the Wheel 3 sits well into luxury audio territory. That said, for those with the budget—and the aesthetic sensibilities to match—it delivers a record-playing experience that’s genuinely one-of-a-kind.
So, is the Miniot Wheel 3 the future of vinyl? Not exactly. It’s more like a very stylish, very specific side road. It’s for people who love records but hate clutter. People who want their turntable to double as art. People who think: “What if my record player didn’t look like a record player at all?”
For them, the Wheel 3 might just be the most delightfully strange and clever way to spin vinyl yet.
