I’ve had the pleasure to listen to the Aidas Black Sound - Red Heart. This was sent to me by Victor Simakov of Virahighend along with a Krell KC-200 I purchased from him. This came as a complete surprise and it offered me a chance to try it in my own system, without any obligations. An unprecedented token of good faith and customer service in my experience.
I gave it a good listen (about 25 hours) and after some settling time I was easily convinced that this cartridge can compete with the very best. The noise floor is vanishingly low, suggesting excellent built quality and very good resonance control. It’s an amazing tracker as well. Sonically it is in vdHul Colibri and Ortofon MC A95 territory, two other high resolution 'open' systems I compared it with. The Aidas has a slightly warmer and more relaxed presentation, but without sacrificing transparency.
I wouldn’t exactly call it a bargain, $3000 MSRP is still alot of money. But in the current marketplace with its absurd pricing tactics it’s a VERY good deal. Its closest competitors are on the wrong side of $5k. If you’re in the market for an MC cartridge in this price range, make sure to put it on your ’must hear’ list.
