How Does the Soundsmith

I recently switched to the Voice as my reference cartridge. My previous reference cartridges were a ZYX Universe and a Koetsu Jade Platinum. To my surprise I found the Voice much more satisfying than the ZYX or Koetsu. It is an extremely fast, articulate cartridge and yet smooth and easy on the ears. I also find that it does remarkably well with less than ideal recordings, not at all what I had expected. I found myself digging a lot of not so great recordings that I previously had set aside.

The Voice is by far the most sensitive to proper setup of any cartridge I have played. VTA, Azimuth and tracking force all make a huge difference. To get the most out of the Voice you need an arm that allows for fine repeatable adjustment of all of these parameters. It sounds great even when the setup is imperfect, but it really sings when dialed in. It is also the easiest to dial in cartridge that I have listened to. You know immediately when you hit the sweet spot.

Dear Slowhand: That cartridge comes ( design ) from B&O MMC series cartridges and like the original B&O is really good.

THat MM/MI alternative compete not only in that range price of the LOMC ones but well beyond that, in some ways not only compete but IMHO surpass these MC cartridges.

I heard three different SS but The Voice that performs very well but I prefer the original B&O. Like always this opinion is system/ears and music priorities dependent.

I don't think you can go wrong with the MM/MI alternative, it's a great one. I concur with Teres on the quality performance of these cartridges and like him you will have a nice surprise.

Regards and enjoy the music,
Raul.

I agree with Teres' comparison of the Voice with a Jade Platinum. Of course revealing that a cartridge is faster and more articulate than a Koetsu will win us neither friends nor golden ear awards. They’ll be crying "Death!" on one side and "Duh!" on the other!

OTOH, if a Voice sounds faster or more articulate than a UNIverse then IMO something was amiss. From what I heard in two rooms at RMAF, neither the Voice nor its bigger brother would even match the articulation of the Atmos, much less a UNIverse.

I definitely agree the Voice is "smooth and easy on the ears" though that's a listener preference and not a characteristic of any live music I listen to, especially if it’s complex. Understanding how it goes about sounding this way may help you make a decision.

The Voice goes smooth and easy because it collapses harmonic overtones toward or into the fundamental. Example: an 16kHz overtone is attenuated and some of its energy feeds the 8kHz overtone, which is also attenuated and some of its energy feeds the 4kHz fundamental, etc. (In the Voice this can leave a trace of mud on the fundamental; the Strain Gauge does the same thing but more cleanly.)

Components which do this - and there are many, not just cartridges - can make the sound simpler, smoother and easier for a system to reproduce and for the listener to hear.

Quite a few cartridges (including UNIverse, Colibri, Lyra Olympos, XV-1S and even the Atmos) deliver a more complete spectrum by reproducing rather than collapsing higher order harmonics. Of course that demands more from a system - which must reproduce all those harmonic complexities clearly. Distorted upper mids and highs sound anything but smooth and easy, as we all know.

The Voice can indeed produce a powerful, fast, smoothed and easy sound. It's not clear from your post if that's your goal. FWIW, no SS phono stage that I've heard reproduces harmonics completely either, so it's possible the Ayre might let you enjoy everything the Voice does without missing what it doesn’t.

Dear Doug: +++++ " The Voice goes smooth and easy because it collapses harmonic overtones " +++++

like I posted I don't heard/hear The Voice so I can't speak on specific but in that " collapses harmonics " that you comment I can't understand how do you know that this fact comes from the cartridge in specific where there are other audio links in that audio chain that could be the " culprit " about even that like Slowhand posted: ++ " I heard this cartridge at RMAF last year, but it is hard to draw conclusions in such an enviroment. " ++++, could you explain it?

On other subject I don't hear any " smooth " characteristic on MM/MI cartridges but the natural agresiveness that has the live music, maybe and I say only maybe Teres means with that smooth word the rightness of the performance in that cartridge, I really don't know and I don't want speak by Teres.

Anyway, Doug when you hear with the right set-up in a good audio system almost any MM/MI cartridge you can/could be a little confuse of what " audio words " use to decribe its performance because in someways that quality performance is something " new " and you don't have " new " audio words but maybe to re-invent the meaning of our audio vocabulary.

In the other side what for me means bright ( example ) maybe for other person could be over-bright or shrill.

Regards and enjoy the music,
Raul.

Doug,

I suspect that what you heard at RMAF was not an accurate representation of the cartridges, but rather the systems they were being presented in. The Soundsmith cartridges you mention are clearly more articulate than the Universe. The Universe is a fine cartridge and it would not surprise me if others would prefer it to the Voice. But I don't think anyone who has heard them side by side would find the Universe more articulate regardless of their overall preferences.

I have no idea what you are referring to regarding collapsing harmonic overtones. What I hear from the Voice is very extended, detailed treble that is remarkably clean and therefore easy on the ears. Not easy on the ears because is has been smoothed, rolled off or lacking information.

I believe that the reason for the smoothness on the top end is due to the very light moving mass in the Voice, and more so in the Strain Gauge. Both of these cartridges have far less moving mass than a good MC. What I like about the Voice is similar to what I hear from Plasma tweeters. Again due, I believe, to low mass (essentially zero for the plasma tweeters).