MY SONIC LAB Cartridges

@dover have you made any direct comparisons between MSL cartridges and the work Matsudaira San has done for other brands like Airtight, TechDas, Haniwa, Accuphase and others?
The body materials, components and specs are all more or less the same, so it would be interesting if there's a difference between his own brand and the OEM work for others. Perhaps there's a certain amount of tailoring the sound to the requirements of that particular brand?

@edgewear

I have only heard the MSL & Airtight.
My impression is the MSL tends to sound more precise versus the Airthight which is little warmer in the midrange. Personally whilst others describe the Air Tights as more musical, romantic - I found them to be a little muddled through the midband. Of those two brands I would go Mysonic every time. I think some folk who have "hifi systems" prefer added warmth to flesh out what is missing from their system.

I think what happens is that as Matsudaira's development continues you get trickle down to the OEMs. I suspect that the OEM's have a say in how their versions are voiced. You have to remember that all of these businesses - Mysonic, Air Tight, Techdas etc - are artisanal and they will be wanting a voicing that suits their own products that they either manufacture or distribute.

At each price point they are similar in performance, but my attitude is why buy the OEM when you can buy the original. The designers own brand, Mysonic, will represent best the designers goals at each price point in my view.

Right, MSL cartridges are a slightly better value because there is one less middleman. 

The mythology surrounding cartridges is rather stunning. Cartridges are extremely simple devices. It is all in the details. Anyone with a good assembly microscope can make one. I did not say make a good one. That takes a lot of practice. Labor is the most significant and largest expense. The parts do not cost all that much. Prices are inflated to suit the market. Less so for MM cartridges.

I think people like lewm and myself are better at filtering out the psychological aspects of listening so our appraisal of sonic differences is less dramatic and I would like to think more realistic. Both of us use ESLs so it is not that our systems have limited resolution.