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Testing the Yamamoto HS-4 Carbon Fiber headshell.

Received the Yamamoto HS-4 Carbon Fiber headshell today and tried it on my 12" Jelco 850L. I guess this is a common upgrade path for many Jelco users so I succumbed to temptation.
Turntable is a modified Garrard 401 in a slate plinth on a maple and concrete support with new third party bearing, platter and idler.
I tested it with my Decca "Garrott Brothers Microscanner" Gold with new line contact stylus and Decapod.
Three records were played. Ketty Lester - Love Letters (1962), Cole/Davinport/Tate/Dickenson - French Festival Nice France 1974, Buddy Tate - The Great Buddy Tate (1981).
I played sample tracks from the records before swapping the standard magnesium Jelco headshell out. From the first needle drop using the Yamamoto, there was a soft grey veiling. Not a great start. There was definitely greater depth and improved bass - I could hear the kick drum pedal hitting the skin in a very specific location and acoustic bass was well delineated and easier to follow. Soundstage was more of a wall of sound with greater height. I remember the same effect using grey plate Sylvania Gold 5751s once which are acclaimed but not to my taste. Female vocals didn’t have the articulation and airy projection I normally experienced and it was that which forced me to stop going any further and I duly put the original shell back. The greyness was gone, replaced by a transparent black background and what I can only call a vast increase in precision and focus. I deliberately didn’t mention the mids and highs with the HS-4 simply because they were compromised and wholly unsatisfactory. With the Jelco, the tremendous detail returned: The color and metallic shimmer of cymbals, the beauty of vocal inflection, instruments speed and clarity. Piano hammers sounded fast and believable. But most importantly, dynamic range now soared with startling realism. That bass drum is not as clearly evident and it is the one area I’ll give to the Yamamoto. Make no mistake though, this carbon fiber headshell was an enormous fail for me. I can only assume the material imparted its soft plasticky sonic signature onto the music. Not recommended.

128x128noromance
lewm
12,571 posts
 
Chakster, I am not sure I get your point.  Who is it that confused the graphite Boston Audio record mat for the carbon fiber Yamamoto (or Oyaide, or etc) headshell?  In addition to my two Yamamoto CF headshells, I also own the Oyaide one, just to see for myself if there is any qualitative difference in their sound(s).  So far, no.  But Noromance does not like either the graphite mat nor the CF headshell, and he knows the difference. Bill Stevenson doesn't like the CF headshell either.  You, Halcro, and I do like the CF headshell.  Yet we all (Nandric and Bill included) own very different audio equipment. Go figure.
Nandric, Don't worry. I pay for our travel to Tokyo.  About once a year, for the past 3 years, we have been renting an apartment via Airbnb, for 2-3 weeks each time.  Before that, I used to stop in Tokyo on my way to and from scientific meetings in Thailand or Vietnam, to see our son for a day or two.
noromance's avatar
noromance OP
9,572 posts
 
Thanks @chakster and @lewm 
Yes, I'm aware of the differences. 
nandric's avatar
nandric
4,086 posts
 
Dear Lew, My worry was that 30% discount for the headshells you
bought in Japan would not cover the ''other costs'' . That is why
I assumed that either your son or Japanese government paid the
''other costs''. 
chakster's avatar
chakster
6,144 posts
 
First of all: here is a shop in Japan, it’s official Yamamoto distributor, not only for his beautiful tube amps, but also for the headshells that international buyers can purchase without tax (VAT) directly from Japan.
chakster's avatar
chakster
6,144 posts
 
@lewm

I am not sure I get your point. Who is it that confused the graphite Boston Audio record mat for the carbon fiber Yamamoto (or Oyaide, or etc) headshell?


"Pure carbon in the form of graphite.

True carbon-graphite is not "graphite" as in carbon fiber golf clubs, tennis rackets, etc.

While such products are often mistakenly called graphite, carbon fiber is a composite material with totally different mechanical properties than pure carbon-graphite.

Commonly used in industrial applications including nuclear power plants and steel mills because of its high thermal conductivity, graphite is made from carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal, honeycomb pattern that are tightly bound in ultra-thin sheets. These sheets are themselves very loosely bound to one another - which is why powdered graphite is one of the best industrial lubricants in existence - and one of the reasons graphite is so effective at absorbing energy."


In addition to my two Yamamoto CF headshells, I also own the Oyaide one, just to see for myself if there is any qualitative difference in their sound(s). So far, no.

Both your your headshells called Carbon-Fiber and both share the same structure with a typical (for everything called CF nowadays) cubic surface. You can see same surface even on cars. It’s funny, but i can see even CF hats.

But Noromance does not like either the graphite mat nor the CF headshell, and he knows the difference. Bill Stevenson doesn’t like the CF headshell either. You, Halcro, and I do like the CF headshell.

I like my vintage Grace Carbon-Fiber headshell from the 80’s, but it has nothing to do with modern Yamamoto or Oyaide. The Grace CF headshell looks like my Graphite Mat or those new Graphite headshells from OMA and Schick. All those products does not have that cubic structure (you have on yamamoto) and probably made of the different material, different formula, different properties as explained by Boston Audio.

The sticker on the Original Grace box says "Carbon-Fiber Headshell", but again this is not the same material as the Yamamoto or Oyaide.

This is why i think we’re talking about different things here and what i like is not what you like because the CF is different too.

The BA mat and OMA mats made from a slice of Graphite, here is the manufacturing process. They call it Carbon-Graphite.

But the Carbon-Fiber mat is completely different, just like the CF headshell you guys have.

The Grace shell i like officially called CF, but does not looks like any new CF products.

I can’t say anything bad about The Mat (which is BA mk3), but even this mat is not what some of you guys owned, because it is not BA-1 or BA-2, it is "BA-3" under SakuraSystems brand now.





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