Can someone describe the sonic character of a Fuuga in comparison to
- Stonebody Koetsu
- AirTight Opus 1
- Dynavector XV-1s or t
- Ortofon Anna, Anna Diamond, Verismo or Century?
Just to get an idea, in which direction it goes.
Dear Birdwatcher,
I haven’t heard the Fuuga, nor have I heard the Dynavector’s… What I do have heard and have in my arsenal right now, are the…
Koetsu Blue Lace
AirTight Opus-1
Ortofon MC Diamond
I also had the Ortofon Verismo here for over two intensive weeks in last February 2022.
-I’ll try to explain in short terms the differens they make in my particular system.
My workhorse is the BlueLace that sits on my Kuzma 4point. It is powerful in the bottom low end and deliver a mighty drive, the midrange is to die for and in my system it has the most wonderful top end. It works great with voices, acoustic instruments, with rock and pop music.. and (some jazz and classical music).
The Opus-1 sits on my Acoustic Signature TA-9000 12”arm and is not quite as powerful in the bottom as the Koetsu, but not far behind, which means that it’s bottom end can still give a hefty punch when the groovs provides it.
The mids is a little bit more open then the Koetsu, but still very airy and accurate and a beautiful balance overall. The top end on the Opus-1 is brighter and more briliant then the BlueLace, but not in anyway sharp… it is super smoth, yet very exact at the same time, and works very very well on all types of jazz and classical music. I do play all kinds of music on the Opus-1 too, but it really comes alive with jazz and classic.
The Verismo is a very neutral cartridge which not stick out in any direction. It’s quite analytical, but as I said, not over analytical.
I had it here, mounted on the Acoustic Signature Montana Neo turntable. The tonearm was the Acoustic Signature TA-5000 12” arm. The Verismo is VERY well balanced, and VERY exact. I found that the Verismo had a bit of a ”studio-feel” to the sound it reproduced.
In my record collection I found that it worked best on blues, jazz, and especially on classical music were the amplitude in the grooves were very low.. With the Verismo the low sounded classical grooves didn’t sound so low or quiet any more.. but very much alive. The Verismo is not bass’y nor is it sharp… it’s just very exact?!
My latest investment is the Ortofon MC Diamond which I have had for just over a month now, so I haven’t heard the MC Diamond that much yet. It sits on my Acoustic Signature TA-5000 9” arm, where it works very well. It is similar in the sound characteristics to the Verismo, but I feel that it’s better in every way. I feel that it’s much more muscles in the MC Diamond than in the Verismo which in my opinion give it a little bit more warmth to the cartridge.
Like the Verismo - it doesn’t stick out.. It’s just very exact and strait forward.
Not as powerful in the bottom as the Koetsu nor the AirTight, yet very tight and VERY fast in the attack. The mids are beautifully neutral, airy and very 3D, big soundstage, and the top end is briliant and a little bit bright, but not in anyway sharp. Very good in quiet classical parts as the Verismo.
The MC Diamond works good on every kind of music but perform best on jazz and classical music in my particular system.
Hope this is some kind of help…
After all - this is how I find these carts..
Maybe someone finds them different.
That’s find. Just find the cart that works best for you in your system, nothing is right, and nothing is wrong.. just play music and enjoy the moment.
All the best
/ Jk