Comparison of some Cartridges in the 4k+ region: Soundsmith "The Voice", Ikeda 9 TT, Ortofon "Windfeld Ti", Air Tight PC1

[spiritofmusic]

I'm a big fan of the ViRa Aidas Panzerholz MC, c€2k. Heard this at UK Paul on end of a SAEC 506 12" arm.

Spooky levels of quiet, deals w surface noise superbly. Quick and dynamic.

If I was looking for something new, this would be top of my list.

 

[gian60]

End of august/beginning september i will listen the top of the line Mammouth from a friend near me

 

[marslo]

Hi Djsina,
if you use mc 6310 in AT pre sound is transparent and high very good.
Who use in not AT System buy AT step up MCT 4818 or MCT 9401B thinking to have a good match but are not very good and give a little roll off to the cart.
I had AT System for more than 10 years

I love Audio Tekne natural sound, one day will make a second system with only Audio Tekne gear...
Congratulations Gian60, if this is the year your are born I am born in 59

 

[djsina2]

Hi Djsina,
if you use mc 6310 in AT pre sound is transparent and high very good.
Who use in not AT System buy AT step up MCT 4818 or MCT 9401B thinking to have a good match but are not very good and give a little roll off to the cart.
I had AT System for more than 10 years

Hello gian60, now I understand what you mean. I am using it with TEA-2000 and TFM-1430. I find the AT sound in general less bright and sparkly than other systems, which I like. I think with AT it helps to have the complete system.

 

[gian60]

I was born in 1960

Audio tekne completly system is very natural sound,mainly the top amp and pre

 

[bonzo75]

I was born in 1960

Audio tekne completly system is very natural sound,mainly the top amp and pre

That's one way of stating I wasn't born yesterday

 

[gian60]

You are lucky,are young

 

[iaxel]

Thanks for the interesting comparison Shakti!
I would add ZYX and DS audio to your list (I’m quite sure they are available in Germany).
Your findings regarding the Ikeda 9TT tracking capabilities is something I’m very sensitive of. Carts that don’t track well, I throw out of the window!
I know some will differ, but I found Miyajima’s cartridges also lacking in this aspect (FYI).

Looking forward to your impressions of the PC-1.

 

[Uk Paul]

End of august/beginning september i will listen the top of the line Mammouth from a friend near me

How does your friend rate the top Aidas Gian?

 

[djsina2]

Has anyone heard the Yamamoto Sound Craft YC-03S? It's very inexpensive at $1k USD and has been described as the poor man's Miyajima.

 

[jeff1225]

Has anyone heard the Yamamoto Sound Craft YC-03S? It's very inexpensive at $1k USD and has been described as the poor man's Miyajima.

I'm also interested in this cart.

 

[spiritofmusic]

There are lots of poor people in this hobby. Especially after shelling out on stupidly priced carts LOL.

Luckily this thread exists on Planet Earth.

 

[shakti]

Has anyone heard the Yamamoto Sound Craft YC-03S? It's very inexpensive at $1k USD and has been described as the poor man's Miyajima.

I was interested a lot, so I ordered it. Unfortunately the built quality was very bad, and far away from their headshells,
so I had to send it back.
Out of that shipment to EU no "ok" replacement was possible, so at the end I got my money back.
I might will try it again, but the first trial was not promising.

 

[djsina2]

Was the problem with the suspension? I've read a couple people having that issue but then others with no problems and lots of hours on it. Maybe there was a bad batch. How long ago was it?

 

[shakti]

Was the problem with the suspension? I've read a couple people having that issue but then others with no problems and lots of hours on it. Maybe there was a bad batch. How long ago was it?

like two years ago,
the complete assembly was not precise and what I would expect from a Japanese product

 

[shakti]

In this comparison the Air Tight PC 1 gets the most hours , as I like it a lot.

In principle, the PC1 is very similar to the ART9, but in all areas better.

So if someone likes the ART9 and wants to do the next step, the PC1 will do it,
without changing the voicing of the set up.

The PC1 still is not the "best" cartridge, as it lack resolution compared to the Ortofon Windfeld Ti or the
Soundsmith "the voice", but the blend of characteristics makes it a very satisfying cartridge.

I do use the PC1 in the heavy Ikeda 345 silver (steel arm wand) with the Yamamoto Titanium headshell and Ortofon silver leads, would imagine , that the Fidelity Research FR64s would be also a nice match.

The lack of fine details / resolution seem to be addressed with the current Air Tight PC1 Coda and PC1 Supreme but this carts will be in Germany around 8 to 10k, so out of reach for this comparison.

Even the few original PC1 reached the 6,5k price in Germany, thanx to pricing and conversion rates.

 

[shakti]

As the current Air Tight PC1 becomes a little to expensive for this 4k+ comparison, I like to mention the

Air Tight PC7, which retails in Germany for just 3k

I had the PC7 for three days as a loan, so I had some time play around (finally I bought PC1)

The PC7 is performance wise somewhere between ART9 and PC1, in terms of dynamics and "jump factor" the PC7 is really good and close to PC1, if it comes to purity of voices the PC7 is more close to ART9

If PC1 is too expensive and you want to listen music over and above the great AT ART9 level, the PC7 might be an alternative. But then never give a listen to PC1

So I try to avoid listening to Opus 1 or Supreme or Coda

 

[gian60]

The price list of Mammoth Aidas is around 9.000 euro plus some discount but cannot sell out of Italy because in UK there is a distributor

 

[djsina2]

I had the Air Tight PC-7 with the Thoress phono pre. I thought this cartridge was superb for the money (cheaper in US than Germany). I preferred it to the Kuzma CAR-50 at less than 1/2 the price. I then got the Audio Tekne phono pre and the PC-7 was not as good. The Audio Tekne MC-6310 was much better in comparison.

 

[Uk Paul]

The price list of Mammoth Aidas is around 9.000 euro plus some discount but cannot sell out of Italy because in UK there is a distributor

Yes Gian, That's me..