theothergregg,
I have a friend who has a VPI HRX table has owned the cadenza bronze, the kiseki purple heart, and now a Transfiguration Proteus (his reference cartridge). Also comments on the Transfiguration Axia below. Here are some of his comments from an email he sent me (he works with the same audio dealer I do, and I can get you in touch with the dealer who has Transfiguration, Ortofon, Soundsmith, and Miyajima cartridges). Here are his thoughts on some of the cartridges mentioned:
"I think the Purple Heart sounded good, but I'd probably put it just belowthe Candenza Black/Bronze......It sounded great, but it never did the 3d thing like I thought it would and it didn't really get out of the way like a 3k plus cartridge should.......I found myself listening to the system,
and not the music, and I'm really trying to get away from that......... I thought the Kiseki did so many things well, and there wasn't anything that I didn't like about the cartridge, but my dealer got two Proteus's and I tried it for a week or so and fell in love with it....... I would characterize the Proteus versus the Kiseki as less veiled, and it gets out of the way of the music more than any other cartridge I've owned, but that's not a surprise for what it costs.
Tonight we had our first audio group at the dealer's house and we listened to several records with the Proteus and the Axia back to back and I was stunned at how close the Axia was.....It is CLEARLY cut from the same cloth......I dismissed the Axia when I got the Proteus because I thought I would end up upgrading in the future, but I should have listened to an Axia for a week because I'm all about value and if it's within a few percentage points of a cartridge triple the price, I would go with it..........
I love the Proteus, but there's no question the Axia is a far better value overall and it still gets out of the way and just lets the music come through, which is what I've been after through all this succession of a dozen or so cartridges over the past 8 or so years....."
I have a friend who has a VPI HRX table has owned the cadenza bronze, the kiseki purple heart, and now a Transfiguration Proteus (his reference cartridge). Also comments on the Transfiguration Axia below. Here are some of his comments from an email he sent me (he works with the same audio dealer I do, and I can get you in touch with the dealer who has Transfiguration, Ortofon, Soundsmith, and Miyajima cartridges). Here are his thoughts on some of the cartridges mentioned:
"I think the Purple Heart sounded good, but I'd probably put it just belowthe Candenza Black/Bronze......It sounded great, but it never did the 3d thing like I thought it would and it didn't really get out of the way like a 3k plus cartridge should.......I found myself listening to the system,
and not the music, and I'm really trying to get away from that......... I thought the Kiseki did so many things well, and there wasn't anything that I didn't like about the cartridge, but my dealer got two Proteus's and I tried it for a week or so and fell in love with it....... I would characterize the Proteus versus the Kiseki as less veiled, and it gets out of the way of the music more than any other cartridge I've owned, but that's not a surprise for what it costs.
Tonight we had our first audio group at the dealer's house and we listened to several records with the Proteus and the Axia back to back and I was stunned at how close the Axia was.....It is CLEARLY cut from the same cloth......I dismissed the Axia when I got the Proteus because I thought I would end up upgrading in the future, but I should have listened to an Axia for a week because I'm all about value and if it's within a few percentage points of a cartridge triple the price, I would go with it..........
I love the Proteus, but there's no question the Axia is a far better value overall and it still gets out of the way and just lets the music come through, which is what I've been after through all this succession of a dozen or so cartridges over the past 8 or so years....."