Today's new arrival ... Miyajima Shilabe

[montesquieu]

http://i1181.photobucket.com/albums/x440/montesquieu61/shilabe_zps8baa8feb.jpg (http://s1181.photobucket.com/user/montesquieu61/media/shilabe_zps8baa8feb.jpg.html)

Early days yet but first impressions are ... wonderful. I heard a Miyajima Waza with the Aurorasound Vida last summer and it did really set me thinking. I loved my Audio Note Io / Kondo S6 but it was always more of a 'hifi perfection' head kind of love than one truly of the heart. The Waza got close to bettering it, not in hifi terms but in musicality and naturalness. Made me think the Shilabe might be a sensible way to go.

Well the Shilabe is even better in musical feel but also seems to match the Io in the top to bottom capability in all the big hifi attributes. As I found with the Vida previously with the Kondo step-up, it works better with a good SUT into MM than straight into the MC setting (in this case my S&B TX103).

More to report later but in conjunction with the Radford STA100 that came last week my system just took a giant leap forward. I've been sorely missing the Io/Kondo for some months now but I've finally got a combo that at least equals and on some measures betters them.

[Tarzan]

Very nice Tom.:stalks:

[thankyoumisterman]

I've set myself some personal guidelines on what I'll spend on hardware anymore, but I must say that I really dig the Miyajima cartridge lineup. Those are some wonderful-sounding cartridges.

[Barry]

So does that mean the EMT XSD15(sfl) might be up for sale? :eyebrows:

[montesquieu]

Sorry Barry it went in my last pile of stuff .... was around for a few days as well

http://theartofsound.net/forum/showthread.php?34733-FS-LOOK-all-change-2-arms-TT-cartridges-%28SPU-EMT-FR%29-phono-stage

[User211]

Better than an IO/that amazing S6? Wow - must be good:)

[Barry]

Bugger! I have been away in the Nubian desert in Sudan, so missed the FS post.

[montesquieu]

Better than an IO/that amazing S6? Wow - must be good:)

It is VERY good .. I think 'better' might well divide opinion (perhaps even on 'religious' grounds) but for me it's up there in hifi terms while being more engaging. Let's face it the world has moved on since Kondo was about, and Miyajima is really onto something with the cross-ring design, a genuine and significant innovation, whereas the Io was really created as a super-optimised SPU.

I found the Io a difficult customer. In many ways I loved it to bits (especially with the S6) and back to back it slaughtered anything I put up against it on an list of hifi attributes, but for all its undeniable strengths I never quite felt it punched its weight emotionally in complex or nuanced classical music. The Waza (into the Vida) of all the cartridges I tried ran it closest - damn close - but although I can no longer compare them back to back, the Shilabe clearly betters the Waza.

I just find the Shilabe more engrossing than the Io, but it has a similar 'faultless', presentation, big, bold and dramatic, but not coloured, baggy or overblown. It's very good with the TX103 as well (nice match), no special 1ohm SUT required which is a plus. Tracks like a train as well and is low in surface noise (both great Io traits too, but there's no backward step there).



Bugger! I have been away in the Nubian desert in Sudan, so missed the FS post.

Dunno what to say to that! There must be a clever pun in there.

[petrat]

Like you have, I run both an Io and a SPU, admiring and loving the qualities of both, but also a little frustrated that I can't have the two in one .... so I am more than intrigued by your comments! Any particular reason that you didn't go for the Kansui, Tom?

[petrat]

It is VERY good .. Miyajima is really onto something with the cross-ring design, a genuine and significant innovation ...

They certainly are innovative ... from UK distributor site ..

Madake Blackwood Stereo
This stereo cartridge uses a cantilever made of bamboo (Madake).
The material normally used to make a cantilever has some small inherent resonances and is often made from metal and/or a stone of hard material. Unusually in this cartridge Bamboo is used which removes a lot of the extra resonance from the cantilever. A very effective result is thus achieved.

[montesquieu]

Like you have, I run both an Io and a SPU, admiring and loving the qualities of both, but also a little frustrated that I can't have the two in one .... so I am more than intrigued by your comments! Any particular reason that you didn't go for the Kansui, Tom?

The Kansui is hardly any more expensive, and I did consider it. Having heard the Wazza back to back with the the Io in my system (and also owned no less than three of Miyajima's mono cartridges - Kotetu, Spirit and Premium BE, the latter's sale being a considerable regret, indeed I've begged for it back!), all the reviews of the Shilabe suggested it took the design in presisely the direction I was looking for, whereas the Kansui's main innovation seemed to be mainly in detail and resolution.

Having been down that particular route before and found it a fools errand - more detail is not necessarily more music - it was actually an easy choice. Maybe I've jumped the gun on that one and it would certainly be interesting to hear, but I'm pretty satisfied that the Shilabe has the balance I'm looking for. Even Miyjima himself is equivocal as to which is 'better' in all respects and I think that speaks volumes. Knowing a little bit about marketing too the closeness in price is intriguing (whereas the Bamboo-encased Madake is 50% more again). To me that suggests equivalence, with only the merest hint of a hiererchy to satisfy people who need to conceive of things in this way.

Actually it brings to mind experimentations I got into years ago with Lyra cartridges, where you have variations on a theme, notionally hierarchical but where the attributes are not necessarily distributed as you'd expect. I owned the top end (at the time) Helikon,,having previously also had the Dorian and Dorian Mono as well as an earlier Clavis) but while the Helikon was ultra-detailed, I found the warmer and slightly cheaper Argo i to be the pick of the bunch in terms of musical enjoyment.

Whatever, the Shilabe is a gem, and getting better all the time (about 30-40 sides in now). Was up till 3:30am this morning spinning the black stuff.

[pure sound]

I was fortunate enough to borrow a Shilabe to use at the RMAF show last year. It was that or an Ortofon A90 but the Shilabe was a better sounding cartridge to my ears. Quite different to an Io1 or Io Gold but certainly a valid and enjoyable alternative. I'd actually liken the sound more to one of the higher end Shelter models.

Incidentally I'd say that the UK made AN cartridges have also moved on a good way from the original Japanese Io ii aswell. Certainly better tips now. Probably better made parts all round.

[montesquieu]

I was fortunate enough to borrow a Shilabe to use at the RMAF show last year. It was that or an Ortofon A90 but the Shilabe was a better sounding cartridge to my ears. Quite different to an Io1 or Io Gold but certainly a valid and enjoyable alternative. I'd actually liken the sound more to one of the higher end Shelter models.

Incidentally I'd say that the UK made AN cartridges have also moved on a good way from the original Japanese Io ii aswell. Certainly better tips now. Probably better made parts all round.

That's interesting Guy. My Kondo-era Io had been back to Audio Note UK several times (including while I had it) for rebuilding so not sure how much original Japanese stuff was still in there :) AN said it had been rebuilt to UK Io ii spec.

Would appreciate any thoughts you have on optimum step-up for the Shilabe? 16 ohms/0.23mV is a funny value to match and while the S&B is working pretty well at 1:20 Miyajima's own step-up for it is 1:27.

[Non-Smoking Man]

I was at Tom's place last week for a listen and was very impressed with his new arrivals.
There were three changes from the system that I'd heard not two weeks previously - the Shilabe, the AN Arm2, and the 100w Radford (replacing a GN MC(?) cart, Jelco 750, and a big SS Japanese stop gap amp).
Its impossible to say what each was contributing but you have to say the Radford drove the Tannoys really well and the arm/cart worked together very well also. There was a gorgeous, unstrained, 'organic' feel to the sound with lots of body. Tom's Toccata in D (Bach organ music), music I have heard before on my system though a different recording, was replayed with awesome aplomb.
I'm tasked with delivering an Audio Note counterweight to Speedysteve for a 'weight-on' mod to replace the 2 pound coins bluetacked to the one Tom was using - Miya-jima advise a massy arm for the Shilabe.
Jack

[User211]

Some dodgy English on how this cartridge works here. (http://www.miyajima-lab.com/e-stereo.html) The video is worth a watch to gain insight into how it really works. The coil is right in the centre of the fulcrum. That should mean the signal generated is a more accurate representation of what is in the groove, compared to a conventional MC. Seems like a fair argument.

I'd guess this cartridge has less of an inclination to talk BS to you in other words. It won't exaggerate what is in the groove, therefore, it should sound more natural.

[pure sound]

Hmm, the location of the coils are only part of the story. How the magnetic circuit is arranged, the magnets used, the profile of the pole pieces and the material they are made from, the cantilever profile and material, the diamond profile & polishing, the structural integrity of the body, how the lead out wires are taken from the coils to the output pins. All will make a contribution to the sound. It's too simplistic to focus on one aspect & attribute the performance to that. It's undoubtedly a very nice cartridge though.

Tom, I'd have thought anywhere between 1:20 or 1:30 would be fine. Again, how the transformer is made; winding arrangement, core material etc affects the resulting performance with a given cartridge every bit as much as the ratio / load presented to the cartridge.

[montesquieu]

Tom, I'd have thought anywhere between 1:20 or 1:30 would be fine. Again, how the transformer is made; winding arrangement, core material etc affects the resulting performance with a given cartridge every bit as much as the ratio / load presented to the cartridge.

Since I'm in Japan later this month, I'm thinking of tracking down a pair of hashimoto hm7 - 1:15 and 1:30 available. The S&B Tx103 actually works very well at 1:20 but I could do with a shade more gain, I heard a pair in a Choir Audio box into the Vida and was very impressed.