Anybody out there re-cantilever their cartridge with a Soundsmith Contact Line diamond ?

Have had it done 9 times by Soundsmith, everything from his level ll rebuild when it was still referred to as a ruby cantilever with the line  contact stylus, his level lll ruby line contact stylus rebuild to just recently his boron cantilever with line contact rebuild on my worn out ZYX Universe which I am just amazed at how good it sounds. The cartridges done prior consisted of Shelter 901, Shelter 90X, 2 Shelter 501s, 2 Lyra Helikons, Koetsu Black and a Dynavector DRT XV1s. All rebuilds mentioned made the cart in question sound better than stock with the exception of the Dynavector DRT XV1s which was a lateral move and the Universe which sounds to my ear as good as the stock ZYX. When my Dynavector needs rebuilt I will get the boron cantilever rebuild on it as well. As far as the tracking of the album and more surface noise I don't seem to hear an increase but perceive less noise, maybe due to where the stylus is tracking the grooves of my albums some of which are 65 years old but in well maintained shape. You are going to get your usual nay sayers about cartridge rebuilding by an outside repairman other than the original manufacturer and I say just ignore them.

I thought I was in the clear, but now I’m informed that a Contact Line Diamond stylus with three times the contact area, picks up a ton of surface noise off the record. So much so that the surface noise can become forward on all but the most pristine records. So much so that the surface noise becomes intrusive.

If this statement could be true then the best stylus would be Conical, but it’s the worst ever. So the advanced profiles will bring you the music, accuracy and less record wear. However, comparing to MicroRidge his Contact Line is not an improvement, but also very nice profile.

When people proceed with SoundSmith retipping i would ask why not just buy SoundSmith MI cartridge instead ? Only his own cartridges were designed for use his cantilevers/diamonds. Cartridges from other manufacturers designed for use with different cantilevers/diamonds and it’s a complex question why "x" cartridge is better than "y" cartridge.

Your Dynavector is a $850 cartridge and you can buy plenty of amazing cartridges for the same price or even lower.

Maybe it’s time to try something different? Or you are so in love with DV-20x2 ? SoundSmith can definitely bring your Dyna back to life, but if you like his vision i would look at his own cartridges instead (they are reasonably priced and he could service them at very low price too).

Thx Tooblue,
your input is appreciated.
As for your question Chakster

Maybe it’s time to try something different? Or you are so in love with DV-20x2 ?

The 20x2 has never turned a revolution. It was damaged when being set-up.

Audiogon has no shortage of naysayers who will defend “manufacturers’ original” against everything. 

Audiogon has no shortage of naysayers who will defend “manufacturers’ original” against everything.

As much as a bunch of people who will always claim that refurbished cartridge is better than the original. So why do we need the originals if refurbished always better ?

When i ask those guys they can’t compare side to side (at the same time) the original versus same model refurbished. This is a problem. Normally people biased by the fact that their broken cart is back to life for less than the original manufacturer charge for retip or exchange, and they are happy about it.

There are so many technical aspects in cartridge design that people don’t understand. Each cartridge is different. I believe that people at SoundSmith learned a lot to make their own cartridge. In terms of service this is definitely the best option. As for the sound quality i hope SoundSmith cartridge owners can chime in and make a comments.