Anyone heard/compared these carts?

CMK,
What's the tonearm and phono stage you plan to use? Koetsu is never lacking in 'audiophile' quality, but what it can bring, further, is a 'magical' musicality so hard to duplicate by other cartridges. I have the 'other cartridge' set up, but in direct comparison in my system, anybody would've pick the Koetsu, as music just flows out. It is pointless to worry and listen to 'audiophile quality' when the music just mesmerizes.

Urushi is quite a bit better than RS, in fact, I prefer it over Onyx.

The reason I mentioned phono stage and tonearm because Koetsu seems to work with most tonearm, very rarely there is any compatibility, but can't say that to other cartridge. Regardless of using RB300 or SMEV, the Koetsu always sounds like a Koetsu. However, phono stage is very important, as it could very well be a limiting factor, if you have the better cartridge, but not a good performing phono, the upgrade effort is not worth while.

I am not affiliated with Koetsu, but own/owned various Koetsu, and other cartridges over the years. My ultimate cartridge purchase would be an Urushi Platinum.

Hi Extremephono
The arm is the Kuzma Reference, effective wt 13g, I think would not be a problem with the 11.5-12g wt of the Urushi.

Phono is the Herron mc, which has 66db gain, enough for most, except the lowest output mcs. Only concern is that the Herron loading is recommended at 47K. Although one review I've read also gets good results with an Airtight phono loaded at 47K(see link). How do you load your Koetsu?
http://www.secondbeat.com/html/articles/april/koetsu.html

I'll do some auditioning to provide more clarity.
BTW, if you had a choice between the different Urushi finishes, which would you prefer? Wajima, Tsugaru or Vermillion?

Hi Cmk -- No, I can't bring myself to say the Koetsu is "coloured" because it is very "magically musical" as extremephono put it... So, is it musical truth??
I don't know, but I can sit back & enjoy myself listening to a big Koetsu w/out bothering about details that may be missing.

An Insider or a Colibri (to choose models not on your list) reproduce more of what is on the LP (i.e., the recording -- however close or far away that may be from the actual musical event being reproduced). So "closer" to the recording...

BTW, you understand that this is a very personal take. I am very familiar with the products but, at least, there's no "pride of ownership" affecting what I say :)!

Gregm & Extremephono
Thanks for the inputs. I arranging to listen to the Urushi with my phono before deciding. I had the opportunity to listen to the Allaerts and find it to be as you put it "musically precise". There was a slight emphasis to the mids, especially vocals, with excellent separation and soundstaging.

The search continues...