What is the “World’s Best Cartridge”?

BBC Singers at The Edinburgh Festival, with Sofi Jeannin (mezzo) and arranged by Paul Drayton. I don't have a recording, but heard it on CBC radio (we have great FM reception here, but a pity the CBC plays mostly dreck these days).

@dogberry , A coral version of The Lark Ascending? I did not know a human voice could go that high. Vaughn Williams is an eternal favorite. 

I am about to retire and plan on completing my ultimate system. Damn the torpedoes! 

The Lark Ascending - A Musical Encounter like few others, it is Transcendental in how it can touch a person.

It does me proud when listened to on the TV, let alone the HiFi System.

It was the first really good one you heard and it left an indelible impression on you. 

I daresay there is something in what you say - first love and all that. The eye-opening (ear-opening?) experience that reveals previously unknown possibilities. Mine came with my father-in-laws LP12 (cartridge - I never knew enough to enquire at the time - it was about the music and not the equipment!), Quad amp and B&W active speakers. I later learned that wasn't quite perfection...

So, I have continued to enjoy such revelations with appropriate investments (and yes, there were too many investments made on the basis of reviews that disappointed). I am convinced there are more such leaps of experience to be made, but now being retired I don't think I shall ever make them given the price of admission.

Oh, that other kind of first love? She's still here. The one that stops me playing jazz, blues, Supertramp, Steely Dan and The Doobie Brothers when she's around. But she did support me discovering opera in my thirties and travelling across the country three times a year for my fix at the COC. The one that was in tears this morning on hearing a choral version of The Lark Ascending. She's a keeper.

Going to be a little sarcastic. The best phono cartridge in the world is the one you heard years ago in an audio shop when your hearing was still sensitive. It was the first really good one you heard and it left an indelible impression on you. 

Mijo, as I think you know, my amplifiers are essentially older MA2s with huge EI type power transformers that make them very heavy. I think you’ll be getting toroidal power transformers on your new MA2s. Much lighter.

@lewm To be clear this is the M-240, of which exactly 6 chassis sets were made. It used a lot of MA-2 parts. You built yours up in bits didn't you?

Ralph, thanks. Your corroborating my preliminary hypothesis will save time. Getting the very heavy chassis safely down to my basement workshop is my next problem. I’m hoping that the output tube in question was not damaged. Visual inspection shows that none of the 3 cathode wires is blown. That’s encouraging. There’s a problem in the bias circuit for that one position that’s going to be hard to find, because evidently I did not find it 6 months ago when the exact same problem occurred.

Mijo, as I think you know, my amplifiers are essentially older MA2s with huge EI type power transformers that make them very heavy. I think you’ll be getting toroidal power transformers on your new MA2s. Much lighter.

If you have a genius idea how the input stage CCS could affect bias on only one of 4 output tubes (7241s), I am all ears.

@lewm It can't but I imagine you knew that.

@lewm , Good luck getting it straightened out. I am still waiting PATIENTLY for my MA 2s, but I did throw a monkey wrench into the works by asking for a 12 volt trigger on the amps. I think the newer amps bias automatically. I always keep a full set of tubes in reserve. Being neurotic, when one blows I'll change them all. 

Fortunately, the Seta L plus has a front panel gain switch as well as a switch to toggle back and forth between current and voltage mode. But, there is one issue that is a PITA. The flat signal has separate output jacks from the RIAA analog corrected signal. To switch back and forth requires getting at the back panel and moving the XLRs. This makes it more difficult to A/B digital and analog RIAA correction. 

I have one output tube located in the R front corner of on one monoblock that keeps failing in the red glow death mode. This has happened 3 times over the course of years. But of those 3 incidents, two have occurred in the last 6 months. Last time on the bench, I naturally checked the potentiometer that controls bias and the upstream bias voltage circuit and found no problems. Moreover, it worked for 6 months between then and now. Two nights ago, after a 90-minute listening session, I heard crackling on the R speaker and then saw that the tube in that R front position was glowing red. Plus the CCS tube for the input dual differential cascode stage was also glowing red. (Never saw that before.) If you have a genius idea how the input stage CCS could affect bias on only one of 4 output tubes (7241s), I am all ears. (My guess is these were unrelated events.) But otherwise, I have had no problems with 7241s per se. I bias them conservatively at 400mA each. As you know, my amps permit separate control of bias for each output tube, and maybe that’s why I in general do get away with using the 7241. Sound marvelous.

I apologize for the off-topic post, but Ralph is my guru, and he did ask.

@lewm I have to say I'm amazed that you have had the continuing patience to deal with the 7241 power tubes! We don't modify any of our amplifiers to use that tube since most people don't have the patience to deal with them.

I have used the Audio Technica ART7 (0.12mV output, 12 ohms internal R), the ZYX Universe (0.24mV output, 4 ohms internal R), and the Ortofon MC2000 (.05mV output, 2 ohms internal R) into the BMC MCCI Signature ULN (phew, long name!). The gain structure with the ZYX is fine at 0db setting, with the AT, it blooms at +7db, which is too much for the ZYX. With the MC2000, the jury is out, either 0db or +7db, probably the former. Note that the MC2000, with a voltage output about half of the ART7, in theory it makes much more current than the ART7, because of lower internal R. But then too, the MCCI has a finite input impedance which also is a factor as the internal R of the cartridge approaches, equals, or is lower than the input impedance of the stage. It’s not that the cartridges don’t sound good with the excessive gain setting options; it just becomes overwhelming at some point. That system is out of commission for the moment; I have a tube problem in one of the Atma-sphere monoblocks. It has to go to my workbench for diagnosis. Which is why I cannot yet deliver a verdict on the optimal setting for the MC2000. The MCCI offers 0, +7, +11, and +14db options for gain, if memory serves. You set gain using jumpers inside the chassis, which is a bit of a pain if you’re changing cartridges all the time.

@lewm , not at all Lew. I just got the tracking number on the MC Diamond. It will be delivered tomorrow. It is a higher impedance cartridge than the MSL, 6 ohms, so I shall see how big the drop of in gain is. I use the MSL on the lowest gain setting and there are 4 at 3 dB intervals. The signal to noise ratio won't be as good, but I can't imagine it won't be tolerable. 

What is the highest impedance cartridge you have used?

@normansizemore please inform us what cartridge you are listening to now.

Ha!, the worlds best cartridge is the one I’m listening too now.  The others don’t matter. =)

N 

Mijo, I hope you know that my question was not meant to upstage you. I was merely looking for the information you've kindly now provided.  I've hooked up my BMC to three different low output, low internal impedance cartridges, and I can confirm the relationship between impedances and apparent gain.  This is as theory predicts, but still it is quite interesting to me to experience it.

The context being, the era of evolving designs such as Ikea Furniture and the Phono Cartridge Designs for the Vinyl LP at 331/3 and 45 RPM share a very similar time in history.

No matter what one does to them, in their attempts to attach the products to a desirable Heritage, there is no Heritage associated with the Design and Production of the modern world items, that spans back to the Period of History, where the Craftsmanship is revered, valued, protected and preserved.

That element of association is clever marketing, especially through a Models Naming being related to a Tradition, followed with the idea intimated of being Craftsmen Produced, or when an aesthetic is being added as a coating to a part belonging to the assembly, that is being awarded the status as a 10000-year old ancient tradition. Not one of these cleverly dropped in messages, is able to produce a Cartridge to an improved level, these are there to appeal to certain clientele and be persuasive in their content. Then there are those who actually believe the spiel. 

A person was once intercepted by a TV Team and asked on a TV interview, if they were in any way influenced by the methods used for Marketing Alcohol.

The person made it known they were absolutely not under any influence.

The person was then asked what their drink of choice was, which was made known to be Guiness.

The person was then asked why they would choose to drink Guiness, to which the reply was 'it's good for you'.     

**** If I were to follow the Instructions in a Cabinet Makers Text Book and apply a Heritage Coating such as a Shellac Finish on to an Item of Ikea Designed and Produced furniture. I fail to see how this can not acceptably present itself as a comparison to any modern product, that coated with a Heritage Coating. ****

Wow!  No offense intended, but really?  It’s been maybe five years since I have bought a piece designed/produced by IKEA, so I suppose it’s possible that unbeknownst to me the quality of materials used and care in assembly has experienced a major uptick.  But, I don’t see it.  Those are just two things that a great craftsman can bring to the table (no pun) that completely elude most mass producers.  

I am fully on board with the Japanese Craftmanship in their Traditional Tool Making. I would love to spend time with a Skill that is replicating woodworking traditions that extend back a Thousand Years that have evolved into various established Traditions, that have been strictly followed for many hundreds of years, with the Tools required and Skills needed to produce this work being passed on through generations of families.

The Smithing Traditions and Skills required to produce the Steel and Tools is sharing a history that shares very similar culture as the Products produced with the Tools.

The Layered Steel required to produce the Tools, comes from Ancient Tradition, the Traditions of the Swordsmith will always come to the forefront in most discussions.  These are one area of Smithing, there are disciplines for working with Steel that are highly sought, such as producing Tamahagane Steel, families are Three to Four Generations Old carrying out this discipline and there are Apprentices from these families' forges having produced these Steels as an apprentice and Smith for more than 60 years, a life's work to preserve a tradition.

I get it and I get the ritualistic disciplines to remain faithful to the preservation of the disciplines.

Where I am not getting it, is how Japanese National who has a recognised Skill for producing a product that belongs to a very modern world, who is marrying a selection of Modern Materials to assemble a very modern world product, is selected as an individual to be offering the Heritage of the Smith and Carpenter. 

Ikea is a Designer of Carpentry and very modern. Ortofon is a Designer of Cartridges and share a very modern history almost the same as Ikea, but a little longer as an established Brand Name.

My Take on it, is that all Cartridges that are of Interest to the user of a Vinyl LP as a Source Material, are a Modernistic Design and dependant on modern technologies to perform to the standards that are expected. It might be an attractive idea, to bring a Tradition to the Design when considering an Aesthetic or USP, but this tradition when added certainly is not a requirement for a Cartridge to Function.

If I were to follow the Instructions in a Cabinet Makers Text Book and apply a Heritage Coating such as a Shellac Finish on to an Item of Ikea Designed and Produced furniture. I fail to see how this can not acceptably present itself as a comparison to any modern product, that coated with a Heritage Coating.

Urushi on a Cart' Body, Shellac on Ikea.

Realisation both are precision produced with a design that is attractive to many, but neither are Born from Generations of Handed Down Heritage.

If a modern product is supplied in Presentation / Storage / Transportation Box, that has very attractive features and is possibly even hand produced by a Craftsman with Heritage Skills, this does not transfer to the Modern Product contained within, the Product in the Box, only has a Heritage back to the time it appeared as marketable product.

A Cart' is a Sacrificial Part to be used, it comes with various design options and a wide range in pricing to acquire such a part. If one chooses to extend their purchasing to the upper end of the pricing scale, that is fine, as said I have interest in a Cart' from this Pricing end and want to encounter one for the experience.

I certainly won't be creating fantastical reasons as to the reason it should be acquired. It is either an attractive item in use and as a result of the impression made, become a worthwhile consideration as a Purchase, or it is not.  

I'm still very curious if anyone has had the pleasure of listening to the MSL Gold Sig vs. Platnium Sig in the same system and can tell me the differences. 

Thanks in advance

@pindac, it seems you missed the point probably because I did not word it well. 

The beauty of a fine, hand forged Japanese handsaw is that it will be perfectly tensioned and follow a line perfectly on both sides of the wood. It won't wander off the cut. With commercial saws it is hit or miss. It is entirely about performance. Getting a saw to to cut perfectly straight takes time and skill. The masters that are business savvy will have their personal line then a commercial line that uses their name but is not made or signed by the master.

With cartridges it is all about performance which requires extreme precision with very small parts. It is not that Yoshio Matsudaira builds second rate cartridges for other companies, it is obvious that he does not. but I do think he puts that much more into his own. This is all about performance. Aesthetics are secondary.   

For a certain level of Clientele, even Sake can be supplied in finest of packaging craft man produced to an ancient discipline. I'm pretty much sure the Vessel for containing the Sake, will have been produced from the Furnace of a renowned Ancient Families present day members maintaining the traditions.

It is always down to how a certain individual likes to separate themselves from a more common approach to a purchasing of a Product and how much pomp and ceremony they choose they need to attach themselves to Justify the purchase of a luxurious item.

I have seen a few descriptions offered of the MSL Signature Cart's across different forums and have only seen one that has added much rosiness and romanticism as the influencing factor of the Purchase. 

I went into my Garden Shed and have seen a Saw from a Bygone era, and thought WOW!, that's impressive Craftmanship, I want to buy a Cartridge with all this Heritage and Tradition behind it. Then ending up with Titanium, Extra Super Duralumin, Super Duralumin and Boron as the Item that is the connection to the past craftmanship. That is difficult for myself to buy into. 

I prefer, I have a few quid spare and bought this and for me it proved to be up my street and a good buy it was too, but that's me.       

There is a switch on the front panel of the Seta. You can go back and forth between current mode and voltage mode. On my Lynx Hilo I have both input and output metering in one dB increments with a peak hold function. 6 dB is 6 pixels to the right and I am not blind yet. Yes, the gain depends on the internal impedance of the cartridge and I will have three different low impedance cartridges with which to test that theory. 

It sounds to me that Mr Happy could use a good lacquering. 

Mijo, does your Seti offer both current- and voltage-mode drive?  Was wondering how you can know, except by guesstimate, that you are getting "6db" more gain from current-drive vs voltage-drive.  Most companies won't list a gain spec for their current mode phono stages, I think because net gain from current output is so dependent upon how the internal impedance of the cartridge interacts with the input impedance of the stage.  However, at the output in both cases you do have a voltage, so that's where you could compare the two types of stage in terms of db output.  The difference between current- and voltage-drive would be different for every cartridge, in this case.

I have signed my tool, too.  I call it "Mr Happy". But I refuse to lacquer it.

@pindac, @sksos , It is odd that the cartridges Mr Matsudaira designs and builds cartridges for other companies that are so highly reviewed, the Air Tights in particular, but you hardly hear about his own cartridges. 

I have many hand made Japanese woodworking tools and the Japanese put have special pride in the tools they sign with there own names and they frequently give the tool it's own name. It is obvious to anyone that uses them that these tools are indeed special. I think this is a cultural trait.  So, I was drawn to his own cartridges and that trait was obvious just looking at it in the box. The Signature Platinum is much smaller than it appears in pictures. The logo is perfectly engraved and the finish flawless. All the angles are dead on and the stylus is the smallest I have ever seen and perfectly polished under high power. It is a little Jewel. In the Schroder CB tonearm plugged into a current mode phono stage (6dB more gain than voltage mode) the Platinum Signature is as or more dynamic than any cartridge I have ever used. It's bass is as good as the best 24/192 digital recordings and it's spatial orientation of instruments is uncanny, the spaces between dead quiet. It does everything from 45 rpm Led Zeppelin to old Decca classics with aplomb, a cartridge for all days and all ways.

The internet seems to feel that the Signature Gold is "warmer." I have trouble imagining that. Is It tilted towards the low end or the transients softer? It uses the same stylus but in a Duralumin cantilever. All other specifics except the metal used for the body are identical. The Duralumin cantilever is slightly larger in diameter so it is probably just as stiff. Is it warmer because it's Gold and the Platinum is icy silver? I bet if we put the two together there is not much at all between them. 

Until I use other low impedance cartridges I really have no basis for comparison, but that will change shortly. In the meanwhile I think either Signature would match up beautifully with the Four Point 9 or 11. The 14 might be a bit too heavy for it. I think the Kuzma M with a 4 Point 11 and a MSL Signature would make a wonderful final turntable set up. You could spend a lot more money and do substantially worse!

@pindac if you are ever in the Boston area (we are 45 minutes North in Southern NH) you are more than welcome to come over and have an extended listen.  😉 

But you may be correct that Sussuro came very soon after Voice.

Thats correct - I heard the first Sussuro and his first Strain Gauge cartridge not long after the Voice had come out. The Paua came out after he visited New Zealand - name comes from our Paua - Maori name for seasnails which is a delicacy down here.

@sksos I am really liking your assessment of the MSL Gold Signature, it is a Cart' that is creeping through the undergrowth of various threads, with many who are willing to stand up and declare 'I am impressed'.

Where does your report stand out and get my attention, the TT in use is one I have looked at with growing interest and one that I am impressed with. The design intent for the build, is somewhere that I lean toward when considering a TT or Modification to a TT. Another Item of interest that has caught my attention, is that the Head Designer of Micro Seiki and the Founder of Tech Das Hideaki Nishikawa has been impressed by the Kuzma Designs, maybe only for an import to Japan reason, as Mr Nishikawa is also a CEO of a High-End Equipment Import Company. If the Kuzma can draw him in when visiting the Trade Shows in Europe, why shouldn't it draw me in as a distant observer.

The report catching my attention does not stop there, you use an all Valve Phonostage, of which I have a Bespoke Built Valve Input / Valve Output design, which is my keeper Phon', I can't foresee myself separating from it.

It seems you have experienced over the past period, approx' £20 000ish of Cartridges across Three Models, and from the Three the MSL Gold Signature has been the one that is seemly worthwhile to make old bones with.

It is this type of report that adds value to my visits to Audiogon, Thank You for this contribution.

I am at some point going to get a listen to a MSL Cart' from this level of production. Using one's words used as an assessment is totally OK to form a shortlist, but to form an individual view on a Cartridge and to fully comprehend the impression it can make needs time made available to be in front of it.   

@lewm I owe you thanks. I tried the same process with the Grado Statement 3 and it has transformed the cartridge from being a boring but honest into a spirited creature that just about beats out the Sussurro. It likes 100Ω best of all. I put the gory details in the 'Moving Iron Adventures' thread.

To the best of my recollection, The Voice was SS’s first cartridge after they had already marketed the SMMC line , which are basically copies of B&O cartridges. But you may be correct that Sussuro came very soon after Voice.

Over the last few years I've been using a Kuzzma CAR-50 then the Sussuro MKII and most recently a MSL Gold Sig. All have sounded wonderful BUT the MSL (after a minimum of 25 hrs) is just in another world "in my system."  The system hasn't changed, using a Kuzma 4Point on either a Kuzma XL or Stabi R table into a NVO all tubed phono stage. The MSL has more extension at both ends of the spectrum a more solid bass, more transparency and just sounds more like real instrumnets, it just sings and lets me forget about the gear and enjoy the music. 

@lewm ​​@dover , Al I can tell you was that this was confirmed by Peter. We spent 2 hours together listening to the Strain Gauge and Hyperion at his listening room talking mostly about COVID. At the time I was already using The Voice.  I do not know if they spend more time fine tuning the Sussurro. I did not ask that question. As dover suggests the variation in channel matching could well be a function of the larger coils but I do not know that for sure. The low output version of the Voice is the Sussurro except I think the Sussurro came first. 

re Soundsmith cartridges

Same stylus, same cantilever, same suspension and chassis. The ONLY difference is larger coils. 

This is not correct.

The more expensive low output SS cartridges ( Paua, Sussuro, Hyperion ) have much better channel separation - 5db improvement - and channel matching is much better - 0.5db vs 1.0db

Of course each model also has a different cantilever material - aluminium, ruby, cactus.

It would be interesting to know whether the lower channel separation in the high output versions is direct related to the larger coils.

I think once upon a time there WERE two versions of the Voice, one of which was low output.  There wasn't much difference in cost. Do you REALLY know that the Voice and the Sussuro are exactly alike other than coil windings?  There are at least half a dozen Soundsmith cartridges that now bridge the price gap between the two, so why would PL even need to make them structurally alike?

There is also present a Marketing Snobbery, where one has to protect the Old-Guard, by keeping the Riff-Raff out, keeping the product for the ownership of the well-heeled only.

This as a marketing strategy certainly lends itself to being attractive to a certain proportion of clientele, who pay oodles for the tailor-made service.

Seeing as the only places that these Types of Clienteles converge is at commercial ventures, or specially arranged presentations/demonstrations, it is not difficult to keep the clientele separated from the Riff-Raff, which really leaves the exclusivity through pricing as an attraction to a product.

Low Volume Turnover - High Mark Up for a Product that has a mysterious allure, that captures the interest, will be an ideal USP to win over a certain type of customer.

Imagine the little extras like having a one-to-one dialogue with a proprietor of an establishment, it can't get more intimate as an experience than that, and surely worth investing in.    

@dogberry , Peter is a very honest fellow. I asked the question and he answered. I had trouble understanding why he would make such low output cartridges with a design that could easily do higher outputs, increasing dynamic range and signal to noise ration. "Market forces" was his answer. 

@lewm , don't believe me Lew. Check out the construction. Same stylus, same cantilever, same suspension and chassis. The ONLY difference is larger coils.  Peter is a smart businessman. You charge as much as people are willing to pay. Why would you do anything else if you run a business that supports a workforce of people. 

@mijostyn You must have caught Peter L. in his cups to make such damaging admissions!

Although I question the notion that the Sussuro is naught but a low output version of the Voice, and PL probably would too (because Sussuro intro post dates the Voice by several years and because there’s a big price gap between the two populated by several other models) I can see that your preference for the HO cartridges may hold water, given that my very favorite vintage MI cartridges are all HO types. Interesting to note that the recommended load R for Voice is greater than or equal to 47K ohms.

@lewm , No need to own any of the low output types Lew. Peter admitted to me that he only makes them due to market forces. He feels his high output cartridges are better, which is why I bought the Voice several years back. It is nothing but a high output Sussurro. He does not make a high output Hyperion because people looking for high output cartridges will not spend that much on a cartridge. Why is a Sussurro $2000 more expensive than The Voice? Only, and I mean ONLY because people looking for low output cartridges will pay that much, "because the market allows it," was Peter's direct response. Peter also feels his Strain Gauge is his best cartridge, which is certainly open for argument. I will say that The Voice is a spectacular cartridge for the money. It is balanced, tracks beautifully and is well put together. It is also far less demanding of phono stages and will make a relatively inexpensive stage sound stellar. My old PH3 SE sounded glorious with it.

At any rate I am very convinced Soundsmith cartridges are significantly better than any moving magnet design using similar styluses and cantilevers, and better many than many moving coil cartridges of similar construction. In my experience only when you get to moving coil cartridges in the $10,000 range with similarly priced phonostages are they superseded by a noticeable margin. 

The problem with moving coil cartridges is that it is pitifully easy to make one but very hard to make one at the state of the art. Since they garner a lot of money the profits can be huge, which is why there are so many cottage manufacturers and terrible cartridges.   

.

There’s no argument with your direct experience. I am a fan of MI but i don’t own any of the low output types. By now I’m surprised that other owners of Sussuro or other low output SS cartridges haven’t chimed in.

@lewm Soundsmith, as you may know, recommend using an MC input with 63dB gain. Loading is to be a minimum of 470Ω, as anything lower results in loss of high frequencies. 470 - 1000Ω is suggested.

I have the option of 10, 25, 50, 100, 400, 800, 1200 and 47kΩ on an MC input. I find Dame Janet Baker and the first of Elgar's Sea Pictures useful for this as she has a rich contralto for assessing the top end, and the tympani provide plenty of bass

47k leaves a high end peak that makes for a sound I call thin and scratchy. 1.2k improves on it, 800 is nicely balanced and rounded (probably the best and most accurate setting), 400 becomes a little bit lush, being biased towards the bass with the top end rolled off (I rather like it for musicality!). Going down to 100Ω goes too far in that direction, rather like playing clumsily with tone controls. And having reached that point and listened to the 'Sea Slumber Song' four times I didn't go lower. I'm rewarding myself with Jacqueline DuPré on the other side now.

I'm quite happy with the sound of the Sussurro at 400-800Ω: the place where it fails compared to the London Reference is in something mysterious. The latter makes me want to tap my toes or conduct as I listen. It's nothing to do with imaging as I have but one ear and no directional hearing, so no stereo for me. The sense that I'm listening to something 'live' is what I mean. I have to attribute it to the speed and responsiveness of the cantileverless Decca. And having had the first movement of Elgar's cello conc. on the Sussurro, I'm now repeating it on the other table with the Reference. The difference isn't just in the attack of the pizzicato, even the slow bowing on the C and G strings have a richer timbre with each little catch and slip of the rosin on the horsehair audible. That's what I'm going to miss when the Deccas die.

@richardkrebs 

But get it right and they are pretty darn good. Obviously choosing the best curves here, but you can see plus or minus 1dB and 1 degree from 20hz to 20 kHz for the EM/1A. Further, the errors occur in the extreme bottom and top ends of the curves. 

Unfortunately you have highlighted the issue -

Every time I reinsert my current based step up to replace a SUT I get more bottom end extension, the bottom end is far more accurate, cleaner, better timing, and more extended top end, along with the increased resolution - no downsides.

If you are still running SUT's in your home-brew preamp, then I would suggest you investigate alternatives, if you are interested in improving your system. 

Nothing more, nothing less.

@lewm 

I experimented with a Soundsmith Paua and a bunch of phonos - tried loading above 1k - didn't work - optimum was around the 800 ohm mark. Caveat here is that on that particular cartridge the electrical specs were changed quite significantly through that cartridges lifetime. So with any SS cartridge you need to check the specs for the specific cartridge you buy and check SS loading recommendations for suitability.

doggie, You did not mention whether you ever went ABOVE 800 ohms for load R.  Into an MM input, the problem may well have been lack of gain, rather than the load resistance.  It would be worthwhile to try a high load resistance, e.g., 47K ohms WITH gain that is sufficient for its very low output (preferably 65db or more but maybe a bit less depending upon the gain of your linestage, if any), if you own a phono stage capable of both.  As you know, MI cartridges are not new.  B&O, Acutex, Nagaoka, Grado, and a few others, not to mention Decca, have been making them for decades.  What is new about some of the SoundSmith models (and the new Grados) is their low output.  Ideally you want a high gain phono stage AND a high load resistance, or much higher than 800 ohms, anyway.  I've gotta believe you could get more out of your Sussuro. 

If you mean me, @lewm , I think it is at its best at 800Ω. I had previously tried it as an MM input, with the volume cranked up and it didn't matter what the capacitative load was set at. Turns out one should RTFM.

Even set as an MC input, with some fiddling with the resistive loading, it still doesn't match the sheer joy of the Nagaoka MP-500. It seems like we don't quite know what we're about with MI cartridges that have cantilevers just yet.

For whomever it was that was dissatisfied with the Sussuro loaded at 800 ohms, I strongly recommend you try 47K ohms and then move down in increments. It might be that the Sussuro will bloom at higher load resistance. Although it has a low internal resistance (10 ohms, I think) it like all MI types has inductance much higher than an LOMC with similar voltage output and internal R, which also is why it is problematic to match it with any SUT.

Dover

The point I was making is that, contrary to what you said, properly set up SUTs do not exhibit problematic phase errors. Nothing more, nothing less 

cheers 

@richardkrebs 

As can be seen from the plots, they are sensitive to loading on their primary and secondary windings, including capacitance. Get it wrong and their frequency response and phase curves aren't pretty. But get it right and they are pretty darn good. 

So with the Soundsmith you have a cartridge that is sensitive to loading and transformers can be adversely affected when loading ( either primary or secondary or both ). It's a recipe for disaster unless you get a transformer built specifically for the cartridge and you know your targets. 

And then there are the colourations ( which you ignored ).

In my case I have a custom built moving coil step up that is current based ( designed and hand built by a cartridge designer ) which does not have these issues, but more importantly has much higher resolution than any transformer I have tried thus far - and this includes some of the most highly regarded transformers ever made. Obviously the current based step up is unlikely to work with the Soundsmith MI's and I am not prepared to lower the resolution of my system to accommodate one cartridge.

@dover Agreed. The Sussurro MkII sounds best in the MC input with loading set to 800Ω. Even then, it isn't in the running for World's Best. Writing this I wonder if I should have tried that trick with the Grado Statement 3. Its 1mV output is rather in no man's land, and it bores me through the MM input.