Thanks, lancelock. I have a SoundSmith The Voice that I really love, and the Sussurro is apparently a step up from both that and the Paua. The ES is another evolution still, so I have no idea how a Paua ii ES would compare to the earlier Sussuro ii.
van den Hul Colibri, Koetsu Rosewood Signature, SoundSmith Sussurro Mk ii
After years of focusing on medium to high compliance MM and MI cartridges (and a handful of old piezoelectrics) in various turntables, I'm finally looking to add my first serious MC cartridge. I've long been interested in either the Koetsu Rosewood Signature or the van den Hul Colibri (XGP/XGW) and had planned to go with one of those carts. That said, I've seen enough glowing reviews of the SoundSmith Sussorro and its progeny to make me seriously consider that as an alternate route. I would love to hear thoughts from anyone who has experience with more than one of those carts.
The cart will be mounted in a Moerch DP6 (yellow) as the second arm on a Thorens TD 124.
My listening tastes are eclectic, so I'm particularly interested in how the carts handle a diversity of music.
Thanks in advance.
Best,
Carroll
The cart will be mounted in a Moerch DP6 (yellow) as the second arm on a Thorens TD 124.
My listening tastes are eclectic, so I'm particularly interested in how the carts handle a diversity of music.
Thanks in advance.
Best,
Carroll
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- 17 posts total
I don’t know the Sussurro, or for that sake any other Soundsmith cartridge, but of the Colibri and the Rosewood Signature the former wins as far as I’m concerned. Not because the Koetsu is bad in any way; au contraire, it’s a glorious cartridge. I do, however, find the Colibri more neutral, more homogenous, more agile, with a tighter bass performance and simply better suited as an all-round cartridge for all kinds of music. My own musical tastes could be said to be eclectic too I guess and I listen to classical, early music, 60s/70s British rock/folk/folk-rock, a wide variety of "ethnic" music, French chansons, classic jazz, indie rock, blues and much more. While the Koetsu would be slightly better suited to a some genres, it would be less suited to others, while the Colibri handles each and every one superbly. |
I just got a Soundsmith Sussurro Mk 2 and I love it. According to this review of an earlier model, it tracks better than anything he tried except for the Shure V15 series, and my listening tests confirm that: https://www.dagogo.com/soundsmith-sussurro-mcp2-phono-preamplifier-review/ But the Sussurro then takes all that information picked up by the stylus and cantilever assembly and preserves it in the output, unlike MM's. Definitely I'm hearing detail now that makes me marvel at just how much information in those grooves is waiting to be unleashed. Of course a very quiet phono stage helps with this, in my case a Pass XP 27. I'm now convinced that the arguments Peter Ledermann is making for why his low mass moving iron design is better are absolutely legitimate. I, for one, have always been in the camp that tracking is paramount. Shure only lost out in the end because their cartridges, although the best trackers, were not very articulate. Now Soundsmith, and particularly the Sussorro because of my experience with it, have picked up where Shure left off and brought superior tracking and sound quality to the table. |
- 17 posts total