Jadis, I hope you are reading this and can offer me some advice on a Koetsu purchase (since you are a great authority on Koetsus according to Jack). Between the Coralstone and the jade which will you choose, taking value into consideration? On an overall scale of 10 and if the Coralstone were 10, what would the Jade be?
Hi Thf99,
Well, I'm not really a 'great authority' on Koetsu carts (thanks Jack) though I love its sound enough to distribute it in our country for a few years. And that's a tough question but I'll try to answer it based on my experience.
I recall, as I was doing product tests for all the Koetsu models that I ordered, I was able to flip them in and out quickly to my ET2 arm and I did hear briefly both the Jade and the Coralstone in my system. The Jade impressed upon my memory to be lusher and easily forget about analyzing anything but to just listen to whatever I was playing. On female vocals, I would say it's the most tantalizing sound I've ever heard. Simply a pleasure to listen to. The Coralstone, while still maintaining the Koetsu lushness, will give a better definition of the sound stage, micro detailing, and extensions. Taking price into consideration, with the Jade about half the price of the Coralstone, I would have to say the Jade has better value, and with value a consideration, I would take the Jade myself. Even now, I still have the Jade on my wishlist/cart, only the credit card is not ready. LOL It's hard for me to do a scale comparison because just when I thought the Jade would lack extension in my system, it was very well extended and fast in Jack's system. And I would say the Coral sounded 'faster' in my system than the Jade. What I can say though is that you can't go wrong with both models. If I had no budgetary constrains I'd take the Coral, but otherwise, the Jade will satisfy me a lot, I know.