Still a lot of suspension running in to go dmnc but it is showing its Matsudaira heritage already I'll give an update in a few weeks. Jonathan and Stig did a heck of a bang up job with the Atlas and it is up there IMO in a rarefied league. The three carts in the pic along with the XV-1t and COi join it. They are all different (emphasis and presentation) but all of them do so little wrong having to choose what's best is something I don't think I can do. They all play all types of music well and do so with most any arm. Gain staging is I believe the greatest determinator for optimal performance.
Yes Peter. TechDAS cart internals are done by Matsudaira-san. The TechDAS and MYSonic factories are 10 minutes away from each other. Matsudaira-san and Nishikawa-san have been friends for over 40 years. Imagine MYS' motor expertise with HNS' expertise with resonance management in one product. All that timbral balance with a dead silent noise floor/ low resonant derived coloration.
To each his own Christian. I personally do not subscribe to the idea that to have a good product it is a must to make everything in house (TechDAS makes the bodies, the design is original and not outsourced). I do not subscribe to the idea for loudspeakers, electronics or carts. Neither my choice of loudspeaker manufacturer or yours does this. Custom or in-house modified drivers, capacitors, resistors and inductors yes, in house produced no.
Do consider that Koetsu Platinums sound different because of the bodies despite sharing the same innards. Here we have even more differences (cantilever, styli). IMO it's a no brainer for those of us that like Matsudaira's work. So much so that my interest increased when I learned of the provenance. DEV, Peter and I are long time owners of Airtight and MY Sonic Lab carts. WBF Jadis was the local distributor of Koetsu, MY Sonic Labs according to him is the only cart he would ever consider owning aside from a Koetsu.
The HiFi News review points out that Nishikawa-san has extensive experience with transducers from his days at Stax, so, in addition to the new body design, even the generator might be highly customized.
Well, did Wilson produced their own drivers for their speakers ?
Did any electronic produced their own capacitors, transformers, cabling for their components ?
In my opinion , it's the implementation that counts NOT whether manufacturers produced all their components in house