New arrival....Miyabi Fuuga
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Johan, thanks a lot for your wonderful description of the cartridges. There are not many who live a longer time with these really different cartridges like the heart-melting Japanese ones and the neutral big Ortofons.
I search for experiences with the newer and bigger Ortofon cartridges, and you are one of the few who could give really good advices.
As i listen to many classical music and other acoustical works, including singer-songwriter, world music, solo guitar, I think the Ortofons could match well to my Acoustical systems Axiom 12“ tonearm, maybe better than an Azule/Tigereye/Blue Lace or an Opus 1. I like the direct and dynamic way of sound, but on the other side the most important thing for me in music is melody and emotions to die for.
I search for experiences with the newer and bigger Ortofon cartridges, and you are one of the few who could give really good advices.
As i listen to many classical music and other acoustical works, including singer-songwriter, world music, solo guitar, I think the Ortofons could match well to my Acoustical systems Axiom 12“ tonearm, maybe better than an Azule/Tigereye/Blue Lace or an Opus 1. I like the direct and dynamic way of sound, but on the other side the most important thing for me in music is melody and emotions to die for.
Dear Birdwatcher,
The Ortofon MC Diamond could match very well, I think so too. It all depends on what other things you have in your system, speakers, cables, phonostage and such.
But lets say that the Ortofon has the kind of european (little bit) more strict sound than the japanese carts have.. at least, that’s how I find them anyway… The Koetsu’s are definitely emotional and super warm and ”kosey” and and if you like that, maybe Koetsu is the right way to go for you. The Opus-1 on the other hand is somewere in between… It’s more Koetsu than Ortofon, and definitely has the japanese sound, but it’s more strict, and a little bit more analytical then Koetsu.. but no way near the Ortofon in that respect.
The MC Diamond is a supercart, and I really love the sound from it on many recordings, but it all comes down to how the rest of your system perform. In my system it (can) be a little bit tooo bright for my taste, but that’s were I just go with another cart. On records that apear little bit dull on the Opus-1 or the Koetsu, the Ortofon MC Diamond just muscles it’s way forward and shows how it’s done… -you know what I mean…?! I love that.. It is super cool !!
To be somewere in between, and get a little bit of both worlds - I would go with the Opus-1, if it all comes down to one cartridge. But that’s just me.. I have the fortune to have them both.. and if one record doesn’t sound a 100% on the Opus-1, I just switch to the MC Diamond, or the Blue Lace for that matter.
And that is the beauty with having more than one cartridge.
But I’ll give you something more to concider..
My Sonic Lab… beautiful cartridges.. Signature Gold or Platinum… very good carts as well. At the moment I have the Platinum on my Kuzma 4point (the BlueLace is resting at the moment, hehe), and it is a lovely one, tough I had to work hard for it to sing for me.. but with a little TLC and some sugar-pills for the cart it did open up and now it sounds wonderful too. The MSL Platinum Signature is warm and gentle, superquiet background, track the grooves very well, more bass than in the MC Diamond, but less than Opus-1 and even more less compairing to the BlueLace.
Nevertheless, mids and highs is a kind of ”to die for”… I really love this cartridge.
In my system it works good on that particular music that you mentioned in your last mess.
Maybe this one could be perfect for you.
I hope this is helps a little bit more…
Try to ask for a demo x, and ask for to try them at your place before you do an investment. One always testdrive a car before buying it, right?…
Good luck,
/ Jk
Hi Johan,
may I ask you once again, do you find the Ortofon Verismo, especially in comparison to Opus 1, in any way boring, are the „musical messages and feelings“ transported not in full manner? Are male vocals (singer-songwriter as well as classical male vocalists, that I listen a lot) with reduced intensity and maybe not with that colorful beauty?
i am sorry for this maybe very special question, but it could characterize the cartridges well.
Actually i listen with Acoustical Systems Axiom, complete Zanden and big PMC professional monitors, and still hesitate which cartridge i should try first, Verismo/Opus1/Blue Lace/MSL/DV XV-1t, or, to get back to the thread topic, the Fuuga.
may I ask you once again, do you find the Ortofon Verismo, especially in comparison to Opus 1, in any way boring, are the „musical messages and feelings“ transported not in full manner? Are male vocals (singer-songwriter as well as classical male vocalists, that I listen a lot) with reduced intensity and maybe not with that colorful beauty?
i am sorry for this maybe very special question, but it could characterize the cartridges well.
Actually i listen with Acoustical Systems Axiom, complete Zanden and big PMC professional monitors, and still hesitate which cartridge i should try first, Verismo/Opus1/Blue Lace/MSL/DV XV-1t, or, to get back to the thread topic, the Fuuga.
Dear Birdwatcher,
No problem at all… I’m glad that you ask, and I will certainly be at your service if I can.
No cartridge is ever boring, they just perform differently to different music and different components in ones system.
As I have mention before, I have only listen to the Verismo for two VERY intensive weeks last Feburary 2022 when I did set up a Acoustic Signature Montana Neo, with a TA-5000 12” Neo tonearm for a very good friend of mine, with an Ortofon Verismo in the headshell. I did not have the AirTight Opus-1 at that particular moment to do an A-B test…
However: I do remember how the Verismo performed and it is very close to the sound of my latest cartridge - the Ortofon MC Diamond.
Now…. At the moment I had the possibility to do A-B-C-D test between 4 different super cartridges.
Ortofon MC Diamond
My Sonic Lab Platinum Signature
AirTight Opus-1
Koetsu Blue Lace
If I stick to the MC Diamond which have a similar sound that the Verismo has, and the Opus-1…. I would say that you need them both. Game set and match!! Well, it is a lot of money to buy ONE of them, but two… that is really a lot of cash. But I’ll try to explain.
I had two diffrent hifi visits last weekend were we did listen and compared the carts.
Where the Diamond was good the Opus was magic… Where the Opus was good the MC Diamond was like a magic wizard in the grooves. It all came down to what kind of instrument we were playing at the time, what kind of voice the artist had, what kind of genre of music we were playing.
One thing though, that I find with both the MC Diamond and the Verismo, compared with the Opus-1, is that the Ortofon’s has a little bit more of a clean ”studio” sound to them. They do not colour the music in any way. They are both VERY clean, VERY fast and Very exact cartridges. Non of them can never be boring - quite the opposite… they are very find and fun carts to have in one’s system.
The Opus-1 on the other hand, has that warm Japanese sound that takes it closer to Koetsu kind of sound. The Opus tough, does not have the sheer power in the bottom end as the BlueLace and is slightly more brilliant in the mids and highs than the BlueLace, but never sharp or edge’y.
Compared to the MC Diamond, the Opus has more power in the bottom end, and has more warmth in the mids and highs.
Now … the MC Diamond do have bass too, and a lots of it too, when the grooves provides it… but not like the Opus, and for sure.. not like the BlueLace that performs in my system at least, like a monster Top Fuel dragster… and that is why I have the BlueLace as my beloved workhorse here?.
So between the two carts:
If I would go for just one cart, and it was mostly to play male voices and classical music with, I’d go for the Opus-1.
If I would choose a cart for playing jazz and brass instruments like trumpet and trombone and maybe old kind of music like Billie Holiday and such, I would go for the Verismo or why not go all in for the MC Diamond. It all comes down to the different recordings and personal taste. Both of them are top end super cartridges. And they both are spectacular.
But if you can - go for both?.
Well Birdwatcher,
This is just my experience - through my system. You might have another experience in your own system. The best thing you can do, is to speak with your dealers and ask them to lend you a demo ex cartridge so you can try them in your own system at home before you make your decision and investment.
Hope it was of some kind of help. Good luck.
All the best
/ Johan
Dear Birdwatcher,
I forgot to mention,
I do play every kind of music on all my cartridges just to see which one that performs best on what record or gengre. Then I make some small notes, so I know - that the next time I play that special record, it should go with this or that cartridge… Hope you follow how I mean.
It is quite funny to hear how big sonic differences it is between all these cartridges.
All these carts are true masterpieces in their own right - yet there are only a small type of music/gengre were each of them performs at their very peak of performance.
That is why I feel, that it’s difficult to just have ONE cartridge for all types of music - if they were to perform at 100% on all types of music… because they don’t do that… that is the backside to all this.
The fun part of it - or the flipcoin to all this is that now you know… that when you buy a nice cart that goes well to a special type of music, you can directly start dreaming of your next cartridge investment that goes even better on the other types of music in your record collection… after that, yet another one. It does not have to be top end carts all the time just to have fun. Most cartridges can perform outstanding (better than most think) if you set them up correctly, and they don’t have to be a million dollar all the time. Just a half a million, hahaha?.
I hope this starts some thinking and some daydreaming of the fun parts of vinyl playback.
All the best - Cheers
/ Jk
Hi 'Johan K',
Great post with some very interesting information.
Where does the MSL Platinum Sig lie with the other cartridges you have listed and used in terms of music performance and best genre of music for the MSL ? .
Thinking of upgrading to the MSL Gold Sig or Plat Sig from my current and only cartridge the MSL Eminent Ex which I find to be a great cartridge for most of the music genres I listen to from classical to rock mounted on my Kuzma 4Point 11" and connected to my CH P1's MC1 current / trans-impedance input.
Hi there Bonesy Jonesy,
Thank you for your kind words, really appreciate it.
I would say that the MSL P S, is very close to the AirTight Opus-1. The MSL P S is to date, the most quiet cartridge I’ve ever heard. Actually it was so quiet in the background that I at several occasions went up from the sofa, just to look if the TT was spinning… and that is what I found as the biggest difference from the rest of my carts.
In my system, the MSL P S didn’t have exactly the same level of bass as the Opus-1, but not far behind. I feel it had almost the same kind of sound in the bass region as the Opus, just a little bit less amplitude.
The midrange is beautifully balanced, and due to the very quiet background, it works very good with classical music where the midrange parts in the music is played with very low amplitude. I feel that the MSL P S has a very good ability to make quiet parts come alive and not sound so quiet after all.The top end is very well balanced also, and has definitely a very warm ”kosie” sound to it, which I think is very close to both the Opus-1 and the Koetsu type of sound, but in it’s very own way.
I have not yet heard the Signature Gold, but with the Platinum Signature, I think you would be very pleased with it’s performace, which I by the way have on the 4point too. For voices, classical and acoustical music it has really been satisfying. For rock, heavy metal, and such, I feel that it is somewhat a little bit thin… but that’s just me… for Pantera, Metellica, Rammstein and such, do prefer my beloved BlueLace with it’s monsterous low end.
With MSL Platinum Signature you can’t go wrong. It is a very very good cartridge.
Hope it helps.
All the best
/ Jk
Thank you for your kind words, really appreciate it.
I would say that the MSL P S, is very close to the AirTight Opus-1. The MSL P S is to date, the most quiet cartridge I’ve ever heard. Actually it was so quiet in the background that I at several occasions went up from the sofa, just to look if the TT was spinning… and that is what I found as the biggest difference from the rest of my carts.
In my system, the MSL P S didn’t have exactly the same level of bass as the Opus-1, but not far behind. I feel it had almost the same kind of sound in the bass region as the Opus, just a little bit less amplitude.
The midrange is beautifully balanced, and due to the very quiet background, it works very good with classical music where the midrange parts in the music is played with very low amplitude. I feel that the MSL P S has a very good ability to make quiet parts come alive and not sound so quiet after all.The top end is very well balanced also, and has definitely a very warm ”kosie” sound to it, which I think is very close to both the Opus-1 and the Koetsu type of sound, but in it’s very own way.
I have not yet heard the Signature Gold, but with the Platinum Signature, I think you would be very pleased with it’s performace, which I by the way have on the 4point too. For voices, classical and acoustical music it has really been satisfying. For rock, heavy metal, and such, I feel that it is somewhat a little bit thin… but that’s just me… for Pantera, Metellica, Rammstein and such, do prefer my beloved BlueLace with it’s monsterous low end.
With MSL Platinum Signature you can’t go wrong. It is a very very good cartridge.
Hope it helps.
All the best
/ Jk
Hi,
thanks for your very detailed and differentiated answer, it helps a lot, Johan.
And it is funny, that at the end the Koetsu turns out as real Heavy metal cartridge. The old prejudice about Koetsu cartridges was the concrete opposite of it, but indeed, even my former Urushi Tsugaru was very good with rock music. And I indeed listen to classic rock, British hard rock and heavy a lot, even if my beloved genre is classical, folk, alternative and acoustical music…
thanks for your very detailed and differentiated answer, it helps a lot, Johan.
And it is funny, that at the end the Koetsu turns out as real Heavy metal cartridge. The old prejudice about Koetsu cartridges was the concrete opposite of it, but indeed, even my former Urushi Tsugaru was very good with rock music. And I indeed listen to classic rock, British hard rock and heavy a lot, even if my beloved genre is classical, folk, alternative and acoustical music…
Thank you Birdwatcher for your kind words… Sounds very nice that I could be of some assistance. Yeah, I love the Koetsu’s… they really performs on rock, pop, synth, heavymetal, acoustical and voices… For jazz and classical I do prefer my other carts little bit better - but I play those gengres on the BlueLace from time to time too… I depends on my mood at the time… As long as it is funny, and it sounds good, I just go for it?…!!! I would though like to hear the Fuuga some time, and many others too… The future will tell.
Now you have the best, okay…
Cheers
/ Johan
Thank you 'Johan K' for another great and very informative posting. Very much appreciated.
It's interesting you mention the Koetsu Blue Lace as I was also thinking of purchasing this cartridge after I have purchased either the MSL Gold Sig or Platinum Sig (based on enjoying my MSL Eminent Ex so much and hoping for even higher enjoyment from these two upgraded MSL cartridges) for such music genres as rock etc.
With your info on the Blue Lace 'Johan K', I am even more inclined now to buy the Blue Lace first before the MSL Gold S or Plat S and keep my MSL Eminent Ex running along with the Blue Lace ?
Best and coolest way to show off a beautiful diamond collection !
Thank you Bonesy Jonesy,
As Dan D’Agostino said to me… -”50 Ohms with the Koetsu Blue Lace, and you can’t go wrong” ..!! So that’s what I did… and was he right or what… Whaoo !!
If you have the gold-coins… just go for it… we live now not later, right?…
Thank you, nice to hear. Well - that is not a bad idea at all… to me it sound VERY reasonable… I think you are going to be very satisfied.
Small advice though:
Do not forget that the Koetsu’s are super pain in the *** to align!! But if you’re calm, take it slow an do everything like if life depended on it (which means ”Apollo program NASA-Standard”) then you will be just find, my friend..
All the best
/ Jk
Thank you JK.
When I decide to buy one, I will look for a Dealer who does both Koetsu and Kuzma products.
Then I would just send to this Dealer my spare Kuzma 4Point headshell for them to fit the Koetsu too and align it etc. and pay a bit extra for this service.
Same would be for any expensive / high end cartridge i.e. the MSL Gold S & Plat S.
I did this from the Dealer I bought my Kuzma XL DC & 4Point 11" from i.e. bought the MSL Eminent Ex from them too and they fitted and aligned it for me as they also had a demo XL DC with 4Point 11" arm. The small extra amount I paid for this service was great.
If this wasn't possible, I would find a UK Koetsu Dealer who could come to my UK home to fit the Koetsu for me, again for a fee to pay for this service.
If I was in the neighbourhood, I would take all my tools and come help you for free…
Your Koetsu or MSL would sing for us.. I’ll promise ?… haha.
Well almost for free, haha… my fee would be o very hot GOOOOD cup of coffee …
How’s that sound… fair enough?
Good hot coffee and hifi - is like the Ring and the dark lord = they are ONE ?!
/ Jk
Lol
Actually I am coffee holic and coffee aficionado as I make esspresso and cappucino coffee at my UK home with an Olympia Express Cremina
Oooo yes, great coffee and great music played with a great hifi system is just pure.......magic !
Hi folks, updates: I recently secured US distribution of the Fuuga cartridge. Feel free to call/email/DM with questions!
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