New Transrotor TRA9 tonearm coming soon

I'm not sure the Opus would be any better than the Hyperion. Air Tight has another middle man in the way, the Hyperion has a lower effective mass and as good a stylus as it gets. My own  experience with Soundsmith cartridges indicates that they are very well balanced performers with exceptional bass and tracking. Detail is not lacking either. Differences with other good cartridges will be minor at best. If I were going to spend that kind of money on a cartridge it would be for a low output Atlas. 

i think in the end only you will know by exploring n possible combinations…. enjoy the journey 

@mijostyn 

I understand your point, but, I do have a chance to test and compare both side by side and have already made inference that the Hyperion is no slouch. It has brought me plenty of listening pleasure, that’s for sure.  However, when compared directly to the Opus 1 and listened to on my system, it is no longer a subjective belief, but more so objective. Hearing them on my system confirms my belief and what I am saying. Regardless of the Hyperions lower effective mass, my ears tell me otherwise, that the Opus 1 is better all around. Albeit, it is nuanced in this overall performance gain. One can easily live happily ever after just by owning the Hyperion. I am going through a phase of exploration and the Opus 1 seemed to check all the boxes. I suspect I will go through the same ordeal ,after this year when I finally get either a Koetsu Jade Or Onxy. 
 

I had previously posted about the costs of Uber expensive cartridges and the value of keeping them when your faced with a slightly less than half price to retip or remanufacture them. The Hyperion is a bargain in this sense. I will always keep the Hyperion on the ready to spin on one of my other mounted tonearms, it’s that good, I was in love with the voicing and delicate instrument portrayal. The Opus 1 does it better, like Carly Simon says:) I am going to enjoy both. 

I think you will find that on your most difficult records the Hyperion will sail through were the Opus crashes. The Koetsu is worse. The only MC cartridges that will track with the Hyperion are the Lyras and maybe and Ortofon or two. IMHO, if a cartridge can not track everything I throw at it, I'm not interested. This says nothing about the sound quality but with all the best cartridges it is all subjective even on your own system. But, that is why Howard Johnson made 28 flavors.