In the lat years I tried some different Headshell cables and from sonic quality, the best were Ikeda and Oyaide. The Ikeda was not too stiff, installation wasn't such a pain with bigger HS pins but some broke and I had to buy new set. Then I bought the Oyaide, good as they are but they are very stiff and to get 2 carts running I had to buy 4 sets.
The newest is Aggelos from Acoustical Systems, expensive, but they have some interesting differences.
Aggelos + Arche HS + Ikeda cartridge
They are very flexible
You can see that in this picture. In the identical set up I broke 2 Sets of Oyaide and needed a LOT of time to adjust it properly...
Here I made the whole set up in 2 minutes and it was perfectly done.
Sonic differences
Honestly, I wasn't expecting much - silver is silver -, my priority was the safe handling and good connecting. When I started an old Decca SXL for the sonic check I was v-e-r-y amazed to hear such obvious differences (and it wasn't bad at all before)
- soundstage became deeper and wider
- the positions of the recording microphones were more obvious
- Instruments became a more nailed focus
- Instruments became a better body
- better real tones than before (I can hear that different violin brands - manufacturer - are used even when they play altogether
- better separation even of very sublime details
- Ambience of the Recording Hall became something hard to describe, in a way I "feeled" to be inside that Hall, very interesting
Why
well, based on those remarkable impressions I thought about it and the answers are based on the technical know how what is responsible for what (my Omnigon Phono Preamp is based on that structure). The silver inside is made and bought in Germany from one of the very best companies. I think, it is a higher quality than usual stuff, no idea how they did it, but it is definitely real premium quality. The clips are from the material costs a multiple factor to the usual ones, they are made for maximum signal transfer (others write that too, but they are not on that standard, but to be fair, there is much, much worse out there, too) and the soldering is also done with a material no one else uses. The whole chain has no weaks.
Summary
The better your system is in reproduction tiny details the more fun you will have sitting in the listening chair.
A Design done Right.
The newest is Aggelos from Acoustical Systems, expensive, but they have some interesting differences.
Aggelos + Arche HS + Ikeda cartridge
They are very flexible
You can see that in this picture. In the identical set up I broke 2 Sets of Oyaide and needed a LOT of time to adjust it properly...
Here I made the whole set up in 2 minutes and it was perfectly done.
Sonic differences
Honestly, I wasn't expecting much - silver is silver -, my priority was the safe handling and good connecting. When I started an old Decca SXL for the sonic check I was v-e-r-y amazed to hear such obvious differences (and it wasn't bad at all before)
- soundstage became deeper and wider
- the positions of the recording microphones were more obvious
- Instruments became a more nailed focus
- Instruments became a better body
- better real tones than before (I can hear that different violin brands - manufacturer - are used even when they play altogether
- better separation even of very sublime details
- Ambience of the Recording Hall became something hard to describe, in a way I "feeled" to be inside that Hall, very interesting
Why
well, based on those remarkable impressions I thought about it and the answers are based on the technical know how what is responsible for what (my Omnigon Phono Preamp is based on that structure). The silver inside is made and bought in Germany from one of the very best companies. I think, it is a higher quality than usual stuff, no idea how they did it, but it is definitely real premium quality. The clips are from the material costs a multiple factor to the usual ones, they are made for maximum signal transfer (others write that too, but they are not on that standard, but to be fair, there is much, much worse out there, too) and the soldering is also done with a material no one else uses. The whole chain has no weaks.
Summary
The better your system is in reproduction tiny details the more fun you will have sitting in the listening chair.
A Design done Right.
