Cal, I currently have a sale pending on my Blackbird, but I haven't heard the Maestro Wood. I have read great things about the Maestro, but I was not very impressed with the Clearaudio Aurum Alpha that I owned, I know the AA sold for less than 40% of the price of the Maestro, so take that with a grain of salt.
I was very impressed with my time with the Blackbird though, very fine cartridge. Very detailed and airy with no edge or harshness at all. Maybe not the best rocking cartridge out there, as the bass was a tad on the light side, but other than that, it can hold it's own with more expensive cartridges.
I was very impressed with my time with the Blackbird though, very fine cartridge. Very detailed and airy with no edge or harshness at all. Maybe not the best rocking cartridge out there, as the bass was a tad on the light side, but other than that, it can hold it's own with more expensive cartridges.