This thread has veered off in a weird direction. Here's my attempt to inject some objectivity and balance.
I own a Soundsmith Strain Gauge and have also had the opportunity of playing The Voice cartridge in my system. Further, I've heard others' Strain Gauges in five different systems/rooms.
What the Strain Gauge cartridge does uniquely is track better, with less groove noise and better transient response than any cartridge I have heard, period.
Talking with Mr Ledermann, I believe this is due to the very low effective moving mass - of the order of a tenth of the best moving coil. With so little inertia, it is inevitable that the stylus traces more accurately. A consequence of the lower moving mass is the cantilever assembly's resonant frequency is way out of the audio band. It is thought by many that what we perceive as groove noise is in fact resonances from the cantilever/stylus assembly.
To shed some light on the RIAA debate - my understanding is that the strain gauge, being a displacement device, has an inherent roll off of 6 dB/octave. Mr Ledermann has made an engineering decision that the cartridge's frequency response is sufficiently close to the RIAA curve that it does not require equalisation within the preamplifier.
So the preamplifier contains only gain stages. This means an absence of reactive components in the signal path (i.e. capacitors - which introduce phase shifts). The argument (to which I subscribe) is that the ear is far more sensitive to time/phase anomalies than frequency response anomalies. Let's face it, even the best "reference" speaker has a response curve that looks like a mountain range - with way more influence on what we hear than a deviation from the RIAA curve!
In my view, RIAA compliance is a red-herring (unless you are promoting a product that has it as its main selling point). Choosing a product on its RIAA performance would be like checking the temperature inside your fridge before deciding what to wear outside.
So, what's the consequence of Mr Ledermann's design choice? I would say better insight, a total absence of "veiling" with remarkably precise image placement and three-dimensionality and a sense of "rightness."
Let me share an experience that I think illustrates the paradigm shift that the Strain Gauge represents. I was invited to take my unit to the home of a highly respected British audio reviewer (he writes for Stereophile plus several UK audio magazines). On intial hearing he was quite uncomfortable because "it didn't sound like vinyl."
He played some reference LPs and then compared them to his current reference - a Japanese moving coil. He then fired up his custom modifed CD player, which he regards as the best in the world. He played the same reference cuts on CD then on the Strain Gauge. His conclusion was the Strain Gauge was better than his CD player and got closer to the master tape than anything else he had heard.
I think this illustrates the difference between the Strain Gauge technology and all other phono cartridges. I can understand some comments about it sounding like digital - you do get the detail and speed of digital but it's way better than CD - it is less fatiguing to listen to (none of the hardness of CD) and there is a delicacy and nuance in the higher frequencies that is totally absent from CD.
On many LPs, The Voice runs the Strain Gauge very close. It doesn't quite have the same ability to extract the last detail and nuance and it isn't quite as explosively dynamic. However, due to it having the same stylus and cantilever and a lower effective moving mass than a moving coil, it shares the same traits and strengths as the Strain Gauge.
I believe it is the "softening" effect of the magnetic induction process with The Voice (remember the Strain Gauge is literally measuring precisely the undulations in the groove whereas there will always be some third order distortion product in a magnetic circuit) which leads some audiophiles to prefer it, however for me, the Strain Gauge is the more faithful and compelling component.
Finally, I would say that the Strain Gauge is not for everyone. I have a friend who listens mostly to 70s/80s rock music - he brought along a Yes LP, and that sort of compressed, distorted music doesn't really utilze the strengths of the Strain Gauge.
I would recommend anyone interested to listen and make their mind up for themselves. I had the advantage of hearing and deciding I wanted one before there were reams of audiophile drivel posted online about the product.
I own a Soundsmith Strain Gauge and have also had the opportunity of playing The Voice cartridge in my system. Further, I've heard others' Strain Gauges in five different systems/rooms.
What the Strain Gauge cartridge does uniquely is track better, with less groove noise and better transient response than any cartridge I have heard, period.
Talking with Mr Ledermann, I believe this is due to the very low effective moving mass - of the order of a tenth of the best moving coil. With so little inertia, it is inevitable that the stylus traces more accurately. A consequence of the lower moving mass is the cantilever assembly's resonant frequency is way out of the audio band. It is thought by many that what we perceive as groove noise is in fact resonances from the cantilever/stylus assembly.
To shed some light on the RIAA debate - my understanding is that the strain gauge, being a displacement device, has an inherent roll off of 6 dB/octave. Mr Ledermann has made an engineering decision that the cartridge's frequency response is sufficiently close to the RIAA curve that it does not require equalisation within the preamplifier.
So the preamplifier contains only gain stages. This means an absence of reactive components in the signal path (i.e. capacitors - which introduce phase shifts). The argument (to which I subscribe) is that the ear is far more sensitive to time/phase anomalies than frequency response anomalies. Let's face it, even the best "reference" speaker has a response curve that looks like a mountain range - with way more influence on what we hear than a deviation from the RIAA curve!
In my view, RIAA compliance is a red-herring (unless you are promoting a product that has it as its main selling point). Choosing a product on its RIAA performance would be like checking the temperature inside your fridge before deciding what to wear outside.
So, what's the consequence of Mr Ledermann's design choice? I would say better insight, a total absence of "veiling" with remarkably precise image placement and three-dimensionality and a sense of "rightness."
Let me share an experience that I think illustrates the paradigm shift that the Strain Gauge represents. I was invited to take my unit to the home of a highly respected British audio reviewer (he writes for Stereophile plus several UK audio magazines). On intial hearing he was quite uncomfortable because "it didn't sound like vinyl."
He played some reference LPs and then compared them to his current reference - a Japanese moving coil. He then fired up his custom modifed CD player, which he regards as the best in the world. He played the same reference cuts on CD then on the Strain Gauge. His conclusion was the Strain Gauge was better than his CD player and got closer to the master tape than anything else he had heard.
I think this illustrates the difference between the Strain Gauge technology and all other phono cartridges. I can understand some comments about it sounding like digital - you do get the detail and speed of digital but it's way better than CD - it is less fatiguing to listen to (none of the hardness of CD) and there is a delicacy and nuance in the higher frequencies that is totally absent from CD.
On many LPs, The Voice runs the Strain Gauge very close. It doesn't quite have the same ability to extract the last detail and nuance and it isn't quite as explosively dynamic. However, due to it having the same stylus and cantilever and a lower effective moving mass than a moving coil, it shares the same traits and strengths as the Strain Gauge.
I believe it is the "softening" effect of the magnetic induction process with The Voice (remember the Strain Gauge is literally measuring precisely the undulations in the groove whereas there will always be some third order distortion product in a magnetic circuit) which leads some audiophiles to prefer it, however for me, the Strain Gauge is the more faithful and compelling component.
Finally, I would say that the Strain Gauge is not for everyone. I have a friend who listens mostly to 70s/80s rock music - he brought along a Yes LP, and that sort of compressed, distorted music doesn't really utilze the strengths of the Strain Gauge.
I would recommend anyone interested to listen and make their mind up for themselves. I had the advantage of hearing and deciding I wanted one before there were reams of audiophile drivel posted online about the product.
