Kai - the Giant who Roared

Kai Highly Recommend Cartridge. Find it now at True Audiophile.

Ikeda Sound Labs Kai cartridge is the top of the line for Ikeda and everyone who's purchased one is estatic - now Stereophile Recommended Components 2018 concurs

Ikeda Sound Labs Kai: 

The top model of a five-cartridge line, the Kai is made in Japan by Ikeda Sound Labs, a company created by Fidelity Research founder Isamu Ikeda. 

The Kai is a low-output (0.19mV) MC design whose boron cantilever sports a Micro-Ridge stylus. Its alumite body is topped with a plate of titanium, resulting in a highish mass of 11.5gm—which goes hand in hand with a level of suspension compliance that MF described as "appropriately low." 

Using the low-impedance (2.5 ohms) Kai with his Ypsilon MC26-L transformer, MF enjoyed "explosive dynamic swings" and "an unmistakably deep, wide, and tall soundstage." He also praised the cartridge's "electrostatic-like transparency" and "fast and clean transients," while noting that the Kai's tonal balance "pushed toward the cool." Use with a high-mass tonearm is recommended.

Grab one now.

Kuzma 4 Point Tone Arms get the Acclaim They Deserve

Kuzma 4-Point now at True Audiophile

Kuzma 4 Point Tone arms have been high recommended to use by TT experts who are flown all over the world to set up tables - and now Stereophile 2018 Recomended agrees:

Designed by Franc Kuzma, this brilliant pivoted tonearm takes its name from its four-point bearing system: Four carefully arranged points contact four cups, permitting the arm to move in both the vertical and lateral planes while avoiding the chatter of gimbaled bearings and the instability of unipivot designs. 

It has an effective length of 11", a pivot-to-spindle distance of 10.3", an overhang of 0.6", an effective mass of 0.4oz, and a total weight of 3.63 lbs. Its removable headshell made swapping cartridges painless, while adjustment of VTF, VTA, antiskating, and azimuth were all relatively simple. With its outstanding immediacy, transparency, and overall coherence, the 4Point consistently exceeded Mikey's expectations. 

Compared to the combo of Continuum Cobra arm and Ortofon A90 cartridge, the 4Point with Lyra Titan i offered greater timbral, textural, and image solidity, said MF. "I'm in love," he concluded. Compared with the Continuum Audio Labs Cobra, the Kuzma sounded more natural and more energetic. "The Kuzma 4Point may be the finest tonearm out there, period," said MF. The Kuzma matched the Graham Phantom II Supreme's detail retrieval and neutrality but offered greater speed and coherence, said MF. Also offered with regular phono cables/no RCA box for $6375

Check it out now.

Sniff, sniffsniffsniff.....snifff.

Flux HiFi Ultrasonic Stylus Cleaner at True Audiophile

Ahhh.

Our sensitive phono nose continues its quest to find the very best turntable accessories. Dry brush? Meh. Onzow  oh better. Now the ultimate care for your investment hits the mark with this amazing Stylus Cleaner. The ultrasonic cleaner by Flux HiFi Sonic.

This is the safest and most effective Stylus Cleaner available. You need to hear your investment and this will make it happen.

You need this!

Stereophile 2018 Recommended knows what the world knows: The Hana EL is the stunning for the price.

Hana EL at True Audiophile

Hana EL MC: $475

Commissioned by Sibatech Inc. and manufactured by Excel Sound, both of Japan, the Hana EL is a low-output (0.5mV) moving-coil cartridge built with alnico magnets and fitted with an aluminum cantilever and elliptical stylus. (A higher-output version, the Hana EH, is available for the same price but has not yet been tested.)

Compliance is medium to medium-low—and thus well suited to the SME M2-9 tonearm used by HR, who declared that "the EL's basic sonic character was highly musical and exceptionally nonmechanical."

Try one, you won't be dissappointed.

Stereophile Recommended 2018? Soundsmith of course.

SoundSmith Zephyr at True Audiophile

Yet again, Stereophile Recommended list 2018, names one of our products.
Soundsmith Zephyr MIMC Star: $1999


The low-output, fixed-coil Zephyr MIMC—the second half of its name reminds the buyer that this moving-iron (MI) cartridge is ideal for use with phono preamps tailored for moving-coil (MC) cartridges—is fitted with a line-contact stylus, and has a recommended downforce of 1.8–2.2gm.
According to RD, the Zephyr MIMC—which is descended from the considerably more expensive Soundsmith Sussurro—offers "high performance at an affordable price."

RD also notes that, when used with his Convergent Audio Technology SL-1 Renaissance Black Path Edition Thurn und Taxis line-plus-phono preamplifier, the Zephyr MIMC performed best into a load of 1333 ohms. AD is weirded out by the fact that, when one sums the resistors required for both the left and right channels, the total is 2666 ohms.

Pick one up now.

How much did Stereophile LOVE the MoFi MasterTracker Cartridge?

Stereophile 2018 High Recommended

MoFi's best moving-magnet cartridge, the MasterTracker is built in Japan using a US-made body machined from aluminum for optimal resonance control. Its twin magnets, reportedly the lightest ones in MoFi's MM line, are aligned in a V formation parallel to the walls of a stereo groove, and its tapered aluminum cantilever is fitted with a Micro-line stylus. Pertinent specs include an output of 3.0mV and a downforce range of 1.8–2.2gm.

After using the MasterTracker with MoFi's UltraDeck record player, HR wrote that he had "never ever experienced such vitality and sharp focus from an MM cartridge," and that, "more surprisingly, this sharp focus did not come from lean, dry, or overdamped sound. The MasterTracker was simply getting all of the energy off the record."

Don't miss out on one.

Stereophile 2018 Recommended Component is also...

Stereophile 2018 Recomended Component

HiFiMan HE1000 V2:

Claimed to have the largest and lightest diaphragms in the history of headphones, the planar-magnetic HiFiMan HE1000 V2 builds on the strengths of the original HE1000, offering lighter weight (14.8 vs 16.9oz) and sturdier cables, plus ear-shaped earpads of thicker "pleather." Impedance is 35 ohms, sensitivity 90dB. According to HR, the V2s are "extremely transparent, and excel at imaging and spatiality."

No less important, Herb noted, was that the V2s "did serpentine flow better than any headphones I know." He added that their low sensitivity "never once let the music hesitate, or lack for sparkle or momentum." Icing on a good-sounding cake: the V2s impressed HR as being "way more comfortable than any Audeze model."

Naturally, you can get one here.

Stereophile 2018 Recommends...

MoFi UltraDeck 2018 Stereophile Recommended Component

"Decades after the first Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab record comes the first MoFi record player—the UltraDeck turntable with Ultra tonearm, both made in the US and created with design input from Spiral Groove's Allen Perkins.

The UltraDeck's sturdy plinth comprises three aluminum plates bonded to the top of an MDF core, and its belt-driven platter—machined from Delrin and weighing 6.8 lbs—rides on an inverted bearing. Four height-adjustable feet, designed in collaboration with Harmonic Resolution Systems (HRS), support the plinth.

The Ultra tonearm has a 10" aluminum armtube, Cardas wiring, and a gimbaled bearing. According to HR, the UltraDeck, when used with MoFi's top-of-the-line moving-magnet cartridge, the MasterTracker (a $2198 package; the MasterTracker is sold separately for $699), didn't provide the "deep 'black' backgrounds or enormous sound spaces" of the considerably more expensive AMG Giro G9 player, "but it did present me with an infectious, easy-flowing, liquid vitality."

According to Herb, the MoFi combo "had stronger energy, achieved bigger dynamic swings, and was more detailed than comparatively priced 'tables from VPI and Rega."

Everyone we've sold these to is blown away. Get one here.