EMT and SoundSmith

Haven't heard either of these. My experience is with Benz (Glider and Ruby) and Koetsu Black Goldline. Five or more years with each, except now because of what I have learned about Soundsmith I'm looking forward to getting a Hyperion, hopefully next year. Why so soon? Its not the Koetsu. That thing is marvelous! Best I've had. Its because everything I know from having used and studied this stuff so long tells me Ledermann's low mass fixed coil design is a game-changer. 

Lederman gets that jitter is the main source of noise and mis-tracking, and that low mass is the main method of reducing it. All the reviews back that up. Which is enough all by itself. But on top of that, even better, a Soundsmith gets you off the merry-go-round. Thanks to his warranty and re-tip/re-build policies finally you can feel its worth putting big bucks into a cartridge, and not feel its disposable. Which they all are. Because when worn, what do you do? Bite the bullet and buy another one. In a way you wind up being afraid of playing records because every hour of play is one hour closer to having to fork over big time for a new cartridge.

With Soundsmith a couple hundred bucks and your kilobuck cart is back brand new and better than ever. Lederman has transformed the cartridge from a consumable to something more like a tube amp, where you do occasionally replace the tubes but the amp just runs and runs so its worth buying a really good one.

Soundsmith has so many unique features going that with herd resistance being what it is it'll be a while sinking in. Sounds like you're already somewhat clued in. If you do decide to go with Soundsmith you might want to consider a stretch to the very best you can afford. The recommendation used to be get the best table and arm you can afford. But that was based on those lasting so much longer than the cartridge, which was considered a consumable. Now Lederman has made it possible to step that up to where its safe to put a lot more into the cartridge. Like I said, a game-changer.

EMT has by the usual measurement 1 mV output. So your phono-pre
has sufficient amplification with 56 dB. 

I agree with everything @millercarbon said but wonder how many SS owners actually take Peter up on his revolutionary policy. The typical audiophile likes to change things up, not wear things out. I’m guessing most SS owners sell and move up the line or to another flavor cartridge long before they wear out the tip and send it back to Peter for a rebuild. If anything, the retip policy does improve the resale market for your SS when you decide to move on. 
BTW, just sold my MIMC Star (w/ less than 200 hrs) and am also interested in comments comparing SS with EMT (HSD 006 or JSD 5/6). 

Hi Dodgealum - what cartridge have you moved to - I was thinking of buying the Zephyr MIMC Star.  I spent a lot of time with his Hyperion at the Cap Audio Fest in addition to the Strain Gauge and both were outstanding on his system.

Those cartridges are out of my price range right now so thinking about the Zephyr since I am getting low on cartridges - down to one and it is getting long in the tooth.  Hope I did not hijack the thread gmercer.

Jerry 

@pops Haven’t yet—still working out possible arm and cartridge combos for my next table. Very interested in hearing EMT and Charisma but have not had the opportunity yet. May also move up the Soundsmith line to a new ES body model above the MIMC Star but will have to decide in concert with arm selection.

Good luck with your choice. 

gmercer, I think I would go with the Sound Smith. I think the company would be easier to deal with if something should go wrong.
millercarbon, I am all for low mass moving systems but how low is good enough? Low enough to keep the resonance frequency above 20 kHz will do. Any lower might adversely affect damping. Stylus "jitter" is one of Peter Ledermann's made up terms to scare people into buying his cartridges. I have a hard time buying anything from a guy whose office looks like it got hit by a tornado. Bad move putting that into one of his videos. Fortunately the rest of the outfit looks better organized. But, it is the "jitter" bug that really turns me off. It sounds so terrible, like it would eat holes in your vinyl. Who here has actually heard a stylus "jitter"? Anyone? I certainly have not. I imagine the stylus rattling around in the groove would sound terrible. Because Peter says it it must be true even if you can't hear it? Right.

Also, to what degree is "jitter" the result of the moving mass of the cartridge versus the design and quality of the tonearm and associated bearings? As @millercarbon knows, Mark Baker of Origin Live makes a strong case for his composite arm tubes and sophisticated bearings in properly controlling the cartridge as it traverses the grooves. I'm sure moving mass is important--makes sense--but wonder how so many moving coils extract performance at least on par with what Soundsmith achieves at similar price points. As mijo says, how low is good enough? I'm thinking reducing moving mass is a worthy goal but not as definitive as Peter might argue. Maybe focus on the quality of the arm is more important?

Thank you one and all for the feedback. Still undecided but am leaning towards SoundSmith due to the rebuild retipping service. That's a real money saver over the long term. In effect the cart will last for as long as you want it.
What I liked about EMT is that when Brinkmann had a cart they utilized EMT carts and modified. That says something to me, as a fan of Brinkmann. Plus Swiss engineering, and all that jazz.

Unrelated to their carts today and this discussion but when searching around for more info on EMT it looks like they won a technical grammy award in 2017:
https://www.emusician.com/artists/emt-and-dr-harvey-fletcher-to-receive-technical-grammy-awards

@gmercer I am interested in SS for two reasons. One, as you mention retipping service for as long as you want.  This has become more interesting to me since my Transfiguration Proteus crapped out after 450 hours.   That was an expensive 450 hours.

And second, his system at CAF this year was as good as any room I heard.  He was using two front ends, his strain guage system and a Hyperion and both sounded as pure and engaging as analog can be.