The Palladian-A step beyond

As previously noted I ordered a Palladian a few weeks back based on the experiences @halcro  and others posted. It was hand delivered by Norm from Rutherford Audio last night and I installed it this morning. Installation is very easy given the very visible cantilever and number of parallel surfaces, as well as the multiple screw threads. One caveat is that it is quite a "flat" cartridge body (i.e. shorter distance vertically from stylus to top of body) hence for those with the tonearm at its extreme low of travel you may need a spacer (I am virtually bottoming out my tonearm and cannot lower it any more). For initial listening azimuth was set at level, SRA with he body horizontal (maybe halcro you can advise on how best to measure SRA given this stylus profile). 1/73g and load at 200 ohms

With the caveat that this is based only on the first few hours this does appear to be something special. What strikes me most is the fine detail on supporting instruments, for example individual strings on a finger picked guitar, or the details in a background (well buried in the mix) bass line. Relative to the Air Tight PC1 it replaced (which I really liked) it is less romantic in the bass, I suspect actually more accurate but also that the bass will open up with more hours. But overall it's the extreme sense of natural detail enabling you to wander around in the mix that is the overriding characteristic to me. I'll report back in more detail once I've gotten more hours but so far I would strongly recommend checking this cartridge out

Folkfreak, Thank you for taking the time to post your very early observations.  Sadly, the cost is such that one cannot casually "check this cartridge out".  It's more an act of faith. After you put tens of hours on the Palladian you might then want to switch back to the PC1 for a bit.  Such experiments can be quite revealing.

@folkfreak, I found that there was a significant change in the Palladian's sound after the first 10 hours or so of playing, all very positive. I would not have been happy with that initial sound compared to my run-in Aiwon. If you see promise immediately, I wager that you are in for a very happy experience. I very much look forward to your follow-up.

@lewm , a pity we do not live close, otherwise I would invite you around for a listen and a cup of good Chinese tea. Cartridges are practically the most difficult things to audition.

All the best.

Thanks for the preliminary report folkfreak...
As bluewolf says.....rapid improvement is heard through the first 20 hours although straight out-of-the-box, this cartridge will impress 👀

As lewm rightly reminds us......buying an uber-expensive new cartridge is an act of faith.
Best to take the advice of someone you trust. I did.....
I hope that being inspired to take that risk by reading this Thread, has paid off.....🤔❓

Regards

@fleib , 

Despite any history you might have with Dertonarm AKA Dietrich Brakemeier, I think this cart should be judged on its merits. You might have a hard time convincing Acoustical Systems cartridge owners that their ears are deceiving them. The rest is history or conjecture.

I appreciate this comment as these are the words of an open mind. Here's the thing. I am not a geometrician and I do not know the geometry behind UNI-DIN. But what I do know is that there must be excellent geometry behind UNI-DIN as otherwise it would not work. It is impossible for it to produce the sound I am getting if it did not work.

I can appreciate people wanting to discuss and debate technical aspects that they see are behind designs. But these discussions cannot change the actual performance that products are producing. I do not need to know how something works to know that it does work.

All the best.