Would Like To Hear From Strain Gauge Owners


I would like to hear from owners of Strain Gauge cartridges (particularly Soundsmith owners)as to how you like the strain gauge system compared to previous cartridges you have owned. Is there any drawbacks to the Soundsmith Strain Gauge system?

I am located in the Cincinnati, Ohio area. Is there any Soundsmith Strain Gauge owners in the Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana area?

I read the review of the Strain Gauge system on Audiogon by Vac man. It was a very good review and answered many questions for me. I would like to hear from others who also own strain gauge cartridges.

Thanks in advance for any info that you can give me.
slowhand

Showing 1 response by mapman

"I came away loving the Voice & finding the Strain Gauge more analytical like CD."

Also Flying Red indicates the strain gauge design does transient response better than most others.

Transient response is one area where CD has a clear advantage in that there is no mass and inertia involved in the playback as there is with vinyl. Also, the strain gauge advertises extremely low mass as well, so this makes sense.

Is it possible that as mass becomes less of an issue with a cartridge/stylus, more like with digital, that the sound starts to approach that "analytical" sound associated with excellent transient reponse that many vinyl lovers do not like with CDs?

Most musical instruments including the human voice have excellent transient response, so this is an area that is important to good playback as well I believe.

Wouldn't be ironic if the state of the art in vinyl playback was really not that much different than the same with digital?