Charisma Audio Cartridges

Since my OP I have had the opportunity to speak with Bernard Li at Charisma Audio and to hear his new Signature One cartridge at High Water Sound in NYC. Jeff Catalano at HWS was kind enough to set the Signature One up for me on his reference TW Acustic table which was equipped with the 12" Raven tonearm. While the system was clearly top tier and entirely unfamiliar to me, I was very impressed with the cartridge build quality, finish, packaging and, most importantly, sound quality. I have been fortunate to hear a few world class systems in my audio lifetime and this was clearly one of them. The presentation was extremely well balanced and tonally correct, with gobs of detail that was not thrust into your face but rather emerged from a very black backdrop. Nothing seemed out of place or spotlighted. There was tremendous coherence and a very natural, musically compelling sonic picture created. Speaking to Bernard before my visit was a real pleasure--he is kind, passionate, knowledgeable and humble. He has clear design parameters and the skills to join carefully selected materials to reach his sonic objectives. He is also resolute in standing behind his products with long-term support should repairs be needed or a retip or rebuild be required. I ended up purchasing the 12" Raven tonearm and Charisma Signature One cartridge for my new Sempersonus TE-2, which should be shipping in the next few weeks. I'll circle back and let you all know how the package performs compared to the VPI that has been replaced.

Thank you very much Dodgealum.

Just circling back now that I have the Charisma broken in on my new Sempersonus TE-2/TW Raven arm/WyWires Platinum phono cable. I've got at least 50 hours on the cartridge. My previous vinyl playback system was a custom VPI Scout "Supreme"--basically a Prime Signature built on the smaller Scout plinth--with a 3D-10 gimbaled tonearm, Nordost reference wiring (arm and RCA junction box), HRX mini feet, Prime motor, platter and bearing. Mounted to the arm was a Soundsmith MIMC Star. Phono cable was by VPI. Unfortunately, I am not able to comment exclusively on the Charisma Signature One since I did not run it in place of the MIMC Star on the VPI. Rather, I installed it on the TE-2/Raven/WyWires so comments are really attributable to the entire playback system. That said, everything I heard of the Signature One at High Water Sound and described above applies here. I am amazed at the sound I am getting. The system has incredible musicality--flow, timing, pace and drive--along with the full spectrum of "modern" analogue qualities--inner detail, soundstaging, imaging, speed, transient fidelity. I am surprised that the gains over the VPI are so signficant, given the excellent performance of my Scout Supreme. The Signature One--mounted as described--is an amazing transducer and I suspect a giant killer at its price point. I liken it to my previous ART 9 in many ways--at $1K you are getting very close to reference quality sound--the Signature One is there. 

I have a Signature One that I will be reviewing for Part Time Audiophile. I only have about 6 hours on it so far but it’s exceptional sounding. I’m hearing an extremely flat frequency response for a very detailed MC. I think most MCs are too bright. Compared to a ZYX Ultimate 100 which is my regular cart, the Sig One is flatter in the mid bass and upper mids/lower treble without sounding lean or too forward.  The freq extremes are more similar than different. The ZYX is quite detailed but warmer overall. It really comes down to what is the best fit for a given speaker and what the listener wants to hear. The rest of the system is a Rega P10, Vac Master Preamplifier with phono stage, Pass Labs X-60.8s or Audio Hungary Qualiton APX-200 amps, Acora Acoustics SRC-2 or QLN Prestige Three speakers.