How Does the Soundsmith


How does the Voice MI cartridge stack up to low output MC cartridges in the $3000 to $6000 range? I am using a ZYX Atmos MC (.24mv) cartridge now with a VPI Aries 2 TT and a JMW 12.5 arm. I am using a modified Ayre phono stage.

I would like to hear from anyone that has compared the "Voice" cartridge to more expensive LO MC's.

How does the "Voice" do with complex music where a lot is happening on the recording?

I heard this cartridge at RMAF last year, but it is hard to draw conclusions in such an enviroment.
slowhand
Raul,

I received that Ortofon MM you recommended but I've not posted on your MM/MI thread because I haven't actually heard it yet. I wouldn't think it useful or courteous to post about something I haven't heard, would you?

Slowhand,

We heard the Voice in three rooms at RMAF, including Mosin's. (His table was our best-in-show BTW, though that was despite the arm and cartridge he was using, not because of them.) The Voice did the things I described in each system, as its bigger brother did once also (with the variations I mentioned). Take our impressions FWIW to you.

What we heard was a cartridge that's exceptional value for the money (as Mosin said) though not quite capable of the harmonic clarity we hear in the various (much costlier) LOMC's that I mentioned. (Aside to Mosin, the Olympos is a whisker on the romantic side of neutral, even Jonathon Carr will tell you that, but it's certainly clearer and more resolving than the Voice - as it should be for the price!) To our ears those LOMC's have played with less harmonic congestion than the Voice in any reasonably compatible system. I believe that addresses the question you asked as best as I can.

Chris,

Point taken about the plasma tweeters and in theory I agree. Of course there's more to designing a cartridge than just reducing moving mass, else my ADC XLM would be amongst the world's elite (it's not, trust me).

Your sense of articulation, timing and harmonics has always differed from ours (Paul's and mine). That's been obvious since the day we received our first Teres table. Multiple conversations since then have only confimed those differences.

As you know, things we report hearing have not always been confirmed by you and your listening friends. We react to certain sounds differently, in any system or room and even in the same system and room during the same session. I suspect this underlies our differing perceptions of the Voice as it has with other components, including some of your own manufacture.

The physical pain in Paul's face from distortions other people don't even notice is quite real, as multiple Audiogoners who've heard demoes in our system will attest. But that doesn't make what he hears any more or less "real" for the OP than what you hear. All any of us can do is describe what we hear, honestly and as best we can, and let him draw his own conclusions. Trying to prove each other "right" or "wrong" won't take us anywhere worth going.
Dear Doug: I always say: system, ears and music priorities dependent.

regards and enjoy the music,
Raul.
Mr Audiofeil...THEM'S FIGHTIN' WORDS! Not from me btw...I just see it coming. LOL.
You may very well have heard the Voice at RMAF last year in the OMA room. At the time, I was using the cartridge because I thought it was fantastic with the Schroeder Reference on the Saskia slate idler drive turntable, producing the kind of sound I wanted from the OMA system. Now OMA also sells the Voice, so that's my disclaimer.

I've heard the Voice in direct comparison with the Lyra Olympos, Koetsu Coralstone Platinum, and Soundsmith Strain Gauge, all on Schroeder arms, and can assure you that its up there with all of them, despite costing a factor of 3 to 5 times less, which is simply remarkable. And one does not have to deal with issues of MC carts such as properly matching step up transformers. Despite what some other posters in this thread have suggested, the Voice is not only extremely fast due to its very low moving mass, its also tonally correct, and a pleasure to listen to. I would not use words like "easy" or "romantic" to describe it, but natural and accurate. I was never a big fan of moving magnet cartridges before I heard the Voice, but it certainly changed my mind very, very quickly.

I won't even begin to discuss the Zyx...

Jonathan (Oswaldsmill Audio)
Aptquark,
I mentioned in an earlier post that I own the Universe. It's a good product.

However, there are better phono cartridges available. I know this is contrary to some of the cheerleading you'll read here. Some of these folks are surrogates and/or friends of the previous Zyx distributor and have used the threads to champion this line for the past few years.

Over time they will gain the experience and realize how small their audio world was before hearing some of the real knock out cartridges.