I was lucky enough to have the Kansui on my deck for a couple of weeks, and to compare it to my Shilabe many thanks to Hugo - top bloke. There's a very good reason some reviewers believe the Miyajimas to be the best carts available, regardless of price. But I guess they hold the same goal as myself - emotional engagement.
Both carts share the same house sound. Big bodied, palpable imagery that is difficult to describe in any other way than visceral. A few other MC carts have this but it tends to be an effect of and limited to the lower registers, with a less dense, less fleshy midrange or treble. The Miyajimas have it from bottom to top, adding density to each note as well as to the air around them. But don't think this equates to a thick top end - it doesn't. The treble is wonderfully detailed and extended, but also has a silky, effortlessness and palpability that makes percussion a joy to hear.
The Miyajimas don't retrieve the nth degree of detail, my Allaerts gives me more insight and resolution, but listening to either the Kansui or Shilabe is such a pleasure I've never given a thought to that lost final decay of a tambourine or another detail from out there at the back of the soundstage. They offer emotional engagement in a way that my Allaerts doesn't - no matter how beautiful it sounds. And for me that's the point of listening to music.
So is there a difference between the two carts? Yes, but it's very subtle. Both carts have phenomenal bass, truly phenomenal but the Kansui is maybe more transparent here than its brother. The Kansui perhaps spotlights the upper mid a little more, adding a slightly lighter gloss to strings for example. And that's it. Resolution, soundstage, palpability etc are the same - fantastic.
Anyhow, right now the Shilabe is still on the arm and the Allaerts in its box enjoying an extended break.
My gratitude to Hugo for allowing me to listen to the Kansui.
Technics SP10 mk2
Jan Allaerts MC 1 Boron mk1 cart
Miyajima Shilabe cart
Hashimoto HM-X SUT
Siggwan (gimballed not unipivot) Cocobola 12"
Aurorasound Vida LCR Phonostage
The Truth linestage
Dave Slagle Autoformer Volume Controller
Cary 805c SET amps
Audio Note ANe-SPX speakers
Townshend Isolda speaker cables
Cardas Golden Presence interconnects