103R + wood body + Soundsmith retip. I'm 2/3 of the way there and eventually one of the two 103R's I have here will go to Soundsmith.
Although I haven't heard it, the description of the Zu is not surprising to me. I would expect that it excels at detail retreival but is a bit clinical in light of the aluminum body. Kind of like hard metal footers "harden" the sound with components.
The wood bodies (especially clavellin vs. ebony in my experience) give you lots of detail with power/extension at both frequency extremes but really retain the soul of the cartridge & sound.
I'm interested to find out what the Soundsmith retip will do-have heard nothing but positives about it.
Although I haven't heard it, the description of the Zu is not surprising to me. I would expect that it excels at detail retreival but is a bit clinical in light of the aluminum body. Kind of like hard metal footers "harden" the sound with components.
The wood bodies (especially clavellin vs. ebony in my experience) give you lots of detail with power/extension at both frequency extremes but really retain the soul of the cartridge & sound.
I'm interested to find out what the Soundsmith retip will do-have heard nothing but positives about it.