This is not a tongue in cheek question.
I’m so old that the word “turntable” means things like “Dual - Garrard - Pioneer - Technics...etc”
So I have to ask - Is this VPI thingy any good?
Yes, they’re all made with expensive machined parts in top-quality materials. Over 40 years, of course, they have had some less-successful models and various problems, but the basic quality is very high, and they do sell a lot of units in Europe and Japan.
I grew up calling them phonographs. In 1981, when I was shopping for a new one, the girl, in her twenties, who was helping me had never heard the term and didn't know what I was talking about.