I love my Sound Smith Aida for 2 reasons: 1) it kicks a--, and 2) if/when I do something stupid and break it, he’ll rebuild it for $350. The only reason I’d "dump" my Sound Smith Aida is to buy a better / different Sound Smith cartridge. Not to mention, Peter is a good dude, too. |
I own a Soundsmith Boheme. It is the smoothest most natural sounding cartridge I ever owned. |
Even my lowly $400 Otello has more detail than any Grado, also an MI , I've heard under a grand . In Classical that is important .
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I had a Boheme; loved it. Traded it in for Soundsmith The Voice. I'm sticking with Soundsmith. I will say with a disclosure that I do not have "golden ears", The Voice may be slightly better to my ears, but man the Boheme was hard to beat. |
I've owned a Zephyr and a Zephyr MIMC (and still do) and I like them but have never fallen in love with then. I have a VPI Prime and a Manley Steelhead. I would describe the sound as up-front and lively, but they don't do soundstage and depth and lack the refined and dare I say it, realistic reproduction I get from my two Benz Gliders SLO's (ironically both rebuilt by Soundsmith) or the ease and smoothness yet detail I love in my Ortofon Quintet Black. Irrespective of Peter L's vast knowledge and technical expertise, I just don't think that MI is a realistic competitor to MC. When things are right, you just know it, and I have gotten that with Benz and Ortofon MC's and have never quite gotten there with SS's MI's no matter how much I tried. I even hired a pro to come to my house and try to coax the best out of the SS Zephyr MIMC and it just didn't do it for me. Again, very good but they lacked the level of refinement and ease, almost a sense of nimbleness and agility, that I find in my MC's. |
I have a SS modified Denon 103. Their cantilevers and stylus combos are first class, but any stylus type finer than elyptical does require extremely precise setup.
Once that is done, even the very affordble 103 sounds magnificent.
Regards - Steve |
Thanks to all for your feedback. This has been very helpful.
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I have a
Zephyr MIMC, and completely agree with @fsonicsmith It's OK. For the price I would expect a lot more. Overall it's a little lacking, ok bass, mids are clear but not in your face, highs are a little soft. Overall it just doesn't excite. I like everything that Peter talks about and his knowledge seems to be top notch but the carts are just boring IMO. I've used Soundsmith for retipping on other carts and they do an excellent job, but I don't think I would get another cart in their lineup. |
I'm having a similar experience with the Zephyr MIMC as @fsonicsmith and @jbny. I like its ultra-natural presentation and really low groove noise which speaks to P. L.'s design goals. But I was hoping for more given the proposed advantages of low mass MI versus MC. I have it mounted on a Mørch DP-8 with a Pass XP-15 phono pre. The Zephyr is reminding me of an Ortorfon A90 without the top end extension? I've put probably 150 hours on the cartridge. I'm wondering if it needs more? Wondering what the Paua or Sussurro might add? I may need to triple check azimuth as well but I have other carts with "advanced" stylus profiles that sound great. I'll use my USB microscope to check.
@req26161, did you decide to go fo a SoundSmith? |
I have just mounted a Soundsmith Gold- modified DL 103 R, and I am extremely happy with it. Tonally it is very close to my Koetsu Coralstone, with a huge soundstage, explosive dynamics and very good bass. A bit more surface noise than the Koetsu, and maybe a tad less deep bass, but for the money it`s simply astounding.
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My friend has a Soundsmith and a PH5
he has excellent results with a specific Bob's Devices step up transformer
why ARC doesn't go with a high gain setting For low output mc cartridges is completely beyond me |
I have the Paua mkii. I had purchased a cadenza bronze and was not satsfied with the dry lower treble. The dynamics and Soundstage were OK but the Paua is in another league. Dynamics Soundstage are magnificent. More extended top to bottom. Voices are very liquid and have great seperation without losing detail. Was able to get in on the 50 percent off sale and the rebuild price makes it a great long term investment. You can still find this sale if you look around. I came from using Koetsu for years and Benz and dynavector before that. I am definitely in the soundsmith camp now
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I like my Hyperion a lot, better than my Ortofon Per Winfeld or Cadenza Black. All are very good mind you. SoundSmith is ubiquitous at trade shows and the companies that demonstrate at them have a lot of time, effort and money invested to be there. They can't afford to display their systems using second class cartridges. SoundSmith cartridges have enjoyed consistently good reviews in the press too for many years. Anthony Cordesman for example has consistently recommended them, and Mikey Fremer has also always said nice things about them. Of course no company can be all things to all people, but this is a solid company with a solid line of products.
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I agree with billstevenson......(but only the very top is better than the Winfield)
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Using a MIMC Star which replaced an ART 9, both of which I compared to a Ortofon Quintet Black in a review of sorts posted here a while back ("3 Cartridges Reviewed")--Can't do a link for the moment from this computer. While I have always felt that the ART 9 is a gem, the MIMC Star has really grown on me over the past few months. I find it to be very clean with low groove noise and excellent sound staging. It has a very meaty sound--lots of midrange texture and detail but without coloration. It isn't quite as airy as the ART 9 or refined sounding but has a "live" feel and energy that I really enjoy. I can't really think of a cartridge that I am lusting after enough to part with the MIMC Star, except maybe the Seussuro MK II at current discount pricing.
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