Field coil dava cartridge

@newtoncr   : Maybe re-start from zero the cartridge/tonearm set up and with different alignment. A cleaning every connector: pin connectors and IC cables input/output connectors sometimes could help to improve quality performance.

R.

@lewm  sorry for the delayed response.

i am not a regular here, mainly because of the user interface. Regarding your points addressed to me: I have heard Maggie many times, the glass door pic was only in relation to a vyger system as in that article I covered vyger. I think Maggies are high value. I was a panel lover first, liking electrostats and analysis audio and apogee, and you were on my “hit list” as I wanted to listen to soundlabs with an OTL. Unfortunately too many targets and I haven’t made it across so far. 
 

horns was my other love, and I moved completely from panels to horns when I realised dual front loaded horns could do the midbass of well set up apogee grands, with all their might and with low watt SET magic.
 

on how do I evaluate sound? There were reference components and recordings I had on the site which I need to update, with the background that before pandemic I was doing almost 50 classical concerts a year across 6 halls in London before cloacal was primarily a rock guy so essentially what I like is to suit classical reproduction.

 There was a time when I used to like the gear creating soundstage, bass, etc, but since 2018 I have been focused on transparency to recordings, which means the gear should reflect the stage on the recording and the venue ambience should change with the recording. However for this quality original LPs are required which are not easy to access given the rarity and expense. 
 

flow is self explanatory to those who have heard it. It is a continuity of music, from note to note which you will hear with good analog compared to bad digital, or good valves compared to bad SS (please allow me these strawman generalisations to keep explanation simple). The opposite of flow is a stop start you hear after every note.

i like coherence, from top to bottom with linearity through the midbass, and also coherence off stage. Tone, timbre, dynamic range (the low to high distance traveled off a note). I like inflections and contrast…contrast of dynamics, of tone, inflections for example many notes in a violin as compared to just glossing over. Attack of the piano with the body of the note. Breathing of the bass section of the orchestra. Energy. All this should play without strain. 
 

i have liked highs in vintage speakers as well as in TAD ET703 and 4003, I have liked the nuance of beryllium horn drivers and disliked beryllium cone drivers, like paper horn drivers, ribbon drivers, electrostatic drivers, Altec woofers, Vyger TT which is a linear tracker with red sparrow cartridge, Dava, Lampi dac, many SETs, like to tube roll to optimise, blah blah. End game is Oistrakh, Heifetz, Kogan, Annie Fischer, Szell, Fricsay, Reiner, Jochum, Klemperer, Rostropovich, Hoelscher, and many others on decca, RCA, EMI, and some not so popular labels and get realism from them. 
 

i  am writing on the mobile so might have missed a few things

Thanks for taking the time. Taken by itself, the meaning of “flow” as you use it is not “self evident”. Now you’ve defined it, I get it. Harry Pearson coined the term “continuousness”, which I think is similar in definition if not identical.

Personally I think it’s evident when heard. A friend of mine, when he put his optimised tape on next to his currently basic TT set up (waiting upgrade) he texted me he now gets what I mean by flow. Once he optimises his TT set up he should get it there as well. 
 

it’s very evident during compares, especially good tube gear Vs SS. 

I received my DaVa and directly sent it to my friend in NL for a compare, as he has my favourite analog set up, the vyger with red sparrow. It runs through Thrax mk2 and Thomas Mayer phonos into Trafomatic Elysium amps into Cessaro zetas. He also has Techdas AF3 premium with 4 arms and Dohmann mk2 with Graham elite and Grado epoch 3.

i well visit him shortly to listen for myself after which it will travel to one of my favourite set ups, the Altec 817 with Misho Myronov’s audio antiquary electronics. I love it currently with a Garrard and SPU, so it will be interesting to see what happens with the Dava. 
 

Anyway, my Dutch friend’s reaction after setting up the Dava. Less than two hours, still getting it right: “This is the best cartridge I have ever heard!
Excellent tone, crazy detail and unbelievable dynamic !!”

he has had many and still does for direct compare vdh master signature, Grand Cru, Opus, Vyger red sparrow, Grado Epoch 3, etc

further comments from him: 

“It has all the good things of all great carts in to one cart.
And without the negative things (so far).
I mean it has even more detail as the best VdH but without the edginess. It has the dynamics of the best carts but more. It’s crazy..
It has the tone of the red sparrow but even more bloom and speed.”

the next day he decided to buy it.