The Colibri “Master Signature”
- Thread starter Tango
- Start date
Could you elaborate on this? Why is the Master Sig more challenging to set up than other carts in your experience?
Thanks.
I wrote about a higher degree of sibilance from Master Sig comparing to my other carts before. Before New Year I had some obvious distortion coming out of my left side amp so I sent it to my dealer to fix. My dealer sent me Ayon Vulcan to use tempolarily. This one step down model actually sounds in some aspects better than my Titan Evo. But anyway what I want to say is the sibilance is tamed down. So part of the sibilance was actually came from my faulty amp. This cart is wonderful.
Tang
Tang
I ordered the 1.1mV African grenadille version. I have been told this was the best version overall. I will have an operation and won’t be able to be at my place until the end of January and will be resting but come February and I hope to be enjoying the master signature
Very interesting, Tim! Congratulations!
How did you arrive at this purchase decision? What other cartridges did you consider?
Purely out of selfish curiosity have you looked into the Grado Epoch? (Revelatory report expected to be forthcoming soon from audioquattr.)
Will you be in a position to compare on the same turntable in an apples-to-apples way this new cartridge to your Benz Micro LP S?
I wrote about a higher degree of sibilance from Master Sig comparing to my other carts before. Before New Year I had some obvious distortion coming out of my left side amp so I sent it to my dealer to fix. My dealer sent me Ayon Vulcan to use tempolarily. This one step down model actually sounds in some aspects better than my Titan Evo. But anyway what I want to say is the sibilance is tamed down. So part of the sibilance was actually came from my faulty amp. This cart is wonderful.
Tang
This is BREAKING NEWS!!!
I steered away from this cartridge due to multiple reports that this cartridge manifests more sibilance than Opus 1 and other top cartridges.
Of course, Tang, I appreciate this is very difficult to estimate, but what fraction of the sibilance which you previously attributed entirely to the vDH cartridge do you think has gone away?
I ordered the 1.1mV African grenadille version. I have been told this was the best version overall. I will have an operation and won’t be able to be at my place until the end of January and will be resting but come February and I hope to be enjoying the master signature
Congratulations!!! I look forward to your listening impressions and reports!
I might be ruining your cheer now. The Master Sig still is a degree hotter than the Opus in term of Sibilances. To be honest this is the only area that kept me from saying it is the best cart of what I have. Ddk said it could be my Kuro that promote extra degree of sibilances. I have other carts that do vocal at least as good or even betterthan the Master Sig so I dont really mind the sibilances. Other outstanding sound aspects of the Master Sig just outweighs this minor drawback.
You went to Audioquattro. I think he has the Master Sig too. Havent you listened to it or you just listened to the Grado?
Kind regards,
Tang
Thank you for this clear and nuanced clarification.
(But I told Tinka about your post, and she just said that she thinks it is very important for us to visit you to sort out this sibilance issue. I told her that after your last post this may not be necessary.)
At audioquattr I heard MSL Platinum Signature, Shelter Harmony and Grado Epoch. The Grado Epoch on the Reed 5T was stunnning.
(But I told Tinka about your post, and she just said that she thinks it is very important for us to visit you to sort out this sibilance issue. I told her that after your last post this may not be necessary.)
At audioquattr I heard MSL Platinum Signature, Shelter Harmony and Grado Epoch. The Grado Epoch on the Reed 5T was stunnning.
At least then I found all other carts colored on vocals compared to vdh which I also preferred on vocals. More musical as well though the vocals I compared were classical like ode to joy, winterreise, and on jazz Mark Murphy. I think people are taking the sibilance issue too seriously if they are skipping such a cart based on just reading about the sibilance (after listening is fine if they have issues). A lot of vocals have also been played on it in two rooms at Munich. Also I found no issues on the Magico Q7 mk2 with multiple phono system I reported on.
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I think maybe she wanted to visit Bangkok because of shopping not really about testing cart
. Really Ron, I wrote about sibilance but it is far from my intention to overblown the issue. And if you worry about loss of nuance with higher output cart, there is a 0.5 mV version that both ddk and I are using. When Ked was here he heard all the nuances from this cart he kept mentioning about this aspect quite a few time in his report. He might be talking about the nuance aspect of AS2000 (which you will be using) but it was the Master Sig he kept listening with. So no worry of nuances whatsoever with this cart and tt combo...they are unbeatable. I have not yet heard better reproduced sound of piano with other carts. Nuances can be lost a lot more from power cables, phono stage, preamp and other things down the chain than from the difference in output of carts. My low output Atlas and ZYX don't give any better nuances or lowlevel resolution than the Master Sig. You will have capability of doing four arms why not have one of the greatest cart on one of them. And trust me with your AS2000 and coaching from David you are not going to stop at two arms.
Tang
If Tinka would like to do shopping has to come to Milan,not to Bangkok
Actually Milan is the best center shopping in the world,also better than Paris
Actually Milan is the best center shopping in the world,also better than Paris
Received my 0.9mV Colibri Master Signature (Grenadille body) back from a service in Holland just before Christmas. I'm a quite happy camper right now with Colibri, Anna, Atlas and LP-S catering for the various musical needs that come up during listening sessions.
I must say that vdH has done a marvellous job with the Colibri. I usually use Feickert's Adjust+ for the principal azimuth adjustment and the Colibri is the best measuring cartridge I ever had since I use Adjust+.
I must say that vdH has done a marvellous job with the Colibri. I usually use Feickert's Adjust+ for the principal azimuth adjustment and the Colibri is the best measuring cartridge I ever had since I use Adjust+.
Thanks Ron.
I've paid no attention to the Grado Epoch ... yet. I seriously looked at the Ortofon Century but alas with only 100 instances it became unobtainable very fast. A friend with same 'table and 'arm gave me a v. nice report on it.
I chose the vdH Master Sig because I've never owned a vdH cartridge and always wanted to try one - it seemed like the right time, with Masetro van den Hul is getting on in age. It came down to the Colibri or the Opus. Frankly, the reports here from David, Tang and others made that decision easy. This does not rule out Opus for the future.
Yes, I can compare the Benz LPS and Master Sig, same 'table and 'arm. The latter cart definitely needs break-in hours and fine tuning. I've only played 5 albums since alignment yesterday morning - very positive initial perceptions. I've also got several other irons in the fire and must focus on those too. I actually need to back off some changes to meet those goals, and will have formal reports forthcoming. Thanks again.
Hi Bazelio, I see a few responses already. Amongst the carts that I have used, which include the Zyx Ultimate Dynamic and the Stein Music Aventurin (essentially a modified Benz LPS ), the VDH is the most sensitive to changes in VTF and VTA IME. The issue of sibilance is not very pronounced as Tang has already mentioned but truth be told, sibilance is accentuated in certain tracks but at the same time, the good news being that it can be tamed almost entirely. It is this process of finding the right combination of VTF/VTA which is highly iterative and requires infinite patience, unlike other carts IME and given that I am essentially a rookie vinyl enthusiast ( with a steep learning curve though), it can be frustrating at times, TBH.
Having said this, I can easily say that the master signature exceeds my other two carts in every possible aspect, especially, sense of realism, tone and sheer impact. I agree with Bonzo and Tang’s observations about this cart.
Frankly, I don’t mind the existence of slightly higher sibilance on certain tracks and will easily trade that off for what the cart provides in return.
I would believe no cart is perfect and in that respect, the MS is presumably no different than some of the other top notch carts. I have to yet hear the Atlas or the Opus so can’t comment on them vis a vis the MS but where I currently stand, there is NO CONTEST.....period!
Hope that helps
Sujay
@sujay could you give some sample tracks from specific pressings that you think exhibit pronounced sibilance with the Master Sig which shouldn't otherwise? If I have the same records, I'd like to give a listen. To me, sibilant tracks should sound sibilant. So I'm curious how these tracks play back in my system. If things were consistently "hot" with the Master Sig, that's another matter. But occasional sibilance on select tracks seems reasonable. If you were to optimize that away with VTF and/or VTA, then I'd think you'd experience a dark tonal balance on everything else.
PS I'm guilty of never really having adjusted VTF by ear. VTA of course, but not VTF. With my carts, I've always set VTF to the manufacturer's recommended value, and left it there. Maybe I'm leaving something important unoptimized? TBH I'm fairly skeptical of claims that +/- 0.05g is going to make a revelatory difference. I guess I should try it for myself and find out.
PS I'm guilty of never really having adjusted VTF by ear. VTA of course, but not VTF. With my carts, I've always set VTF to the manufacturer's recommended value, and left it there. Maybe I'm leaving something important unoptimized? TBH I'm fairly skeptical of claims that +/- 0.05g is going to make a revelatory difference. I guess I should try it for myself and find out.
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Hi Bazelio, two examples straight of the bat......Jennifer Warnes Famous Blue Raincoat the first two tracks. Sarah McLachlan Afterglow (45 rpm) don’t remember which track now but in my view the entire first side. I will look for more specific songs to quote.
I think some of these records are already prone to higher than normal sibilance because I felt the sibilance coming through on my Stein cart as well just to a lesser extent.
Also, not sure whether I mentioned that I have t encountered any problem with classical and jazz - none whatsoever.
IMO, the cart is more sensitive to VTA adjustments though if you change one, the other gets impacted as well.
Aside from my own system I've set up 11 Master Sig Stradivari Colibris in 5 different systems without any problem with sibilance. Tang's system already had a lot of sibilance which we reduced while I was there but still prominent. The Colibri is extremely dynamic and transparent, the highs and the lows go on forever and if there's a problem with the system it will come through, your chance to look for the cause. Aside from the Neumann DST the current Master Sig Stradivari is by far the best cartridges I've had, currently running 3 variants in my own system.
david
david
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