Talking about service!

It was a choice between a Hana Umami Red and a SoundSmith Sussurro Mk II ES.  I chose the SoundSmith for all of the reasons cited above.  Peter Lederman called me back (after having left a message about a technical question), which I found to be outstanding in its' own right.  Anyone else at SoundSmith could have called me back with an answer, but it was Peter Lederman himself that returned the call.  I was impressed.  I am also impressed with the sonic qualities of the Sussurro Mk II cartridge.  An added benefit is that I am supporting an American company as well as a truly class-act human being.

@mammothguy54 , good choice. The Sussurro is more accurate and tracks better. I have not looked at the Umami Red Stylus but I have only seen one stylus that was polished better than the Soundmith (the Sussurro and Voice use the exact same stylus and cantilever) and that is on a $10,000 cartridge. The picture about is of very high magnification but look at the stylus it is perfectly clear of imperfections. That is not what you commonly get. Some styluses are actually black. 

What I am seeing is that the more expensive cartridges have intentionally selected styluses and appear to be polished better. Soundsmith seems to have used it's best stylus down to the $3000 level for sure and maybe even further down the line. 

I will start more threads on the topic of styluses after I gather enough photos to show everyone. I will post them so everyone can see for themselves.  

In the above post The picture above is supposed to say "above is not of very high magnification." 

@mijostyn Thank you for the information and good comment.  Your contributions always attract my attention.

@mammothguy54 , Thank You.