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Thread: Today's new arrival ... Miyajima Shilabe

  1. #1
    montesquieu Guest

    Default Today's new arrival ... Miyajima Shilabe



    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.

  2. #2
    Join Date: Sep 2009

    Location: Essex, UK

    Posts: 3,445
    I'm Andy.

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    Very nice Tom.
    System; Michell Gyrodec SE/ Orbe Clamp/ Gert Pedersen armboard mod/ HR PSU/ SME V / J7 Tonearm cable/Ortofon Cadenza Black// Jez Arkless Turbo nutter B------ /Trichord Dino+

    Amplification and loudspeaker set up is at the moment being split into two groups, comprising the following;


    1. Same sources as above; SONY TAF-770ES/SONY CDP761E/Cable Talk 3.1 loudspeakercable/ Harbeth Compact7ES2/ Stands

    2. Virtue Audio Sensation M451battery PSU, ClarityCaps upgrade/ Sensation M901/Russian PIO caps with Teflon bypass caps upgrade/ JT Dynamic PSU with various tweaks/ Connex Audio 5N Litz loudspeaker cable, Impulse H6 Loudspeakers.




















    Me so horny- Impulse H6 Horny

  3. #3
    Join Date: Mar 2010

    Location: Oregon, USA

    Posts: 44
    I'm Trey.

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    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.
    Trey.

  4. #4
    Join Date: Jan 2009

    Location: Essex

    Posts: 31,776
    I'm openingabottleofwine.

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

  5. #5
    montesquieu Guest

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

    http://theartofsound.net/forum/showt...29-phono-stage

  6. #6
    Join Date: Jan 2013

    Location: Bristol

    Posts: 6,843
    I'm Justin.

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

  7. #7
    Join Date: Jan 2009

    Location: Essex

    Posts: 31,776
    I'm openingabottleofwine.

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

  8. #8
    montesquieu Guest

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    Quote Originally Posted by User211 View Post
    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).


    Quote Originally Posted by Barry View Post
    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.

  9. #9
    Join Date: Jul 2011

    Location: Northamptonshire

    Posts: 1,914
    I'm Peter.

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    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?
    Last edited by petrat; 01-11-2014 at 04:20.

  10. #10
    Join Date: Jul 2011

    Location: Northamptonshire

    Posts: 1,914
    I'm Peter.

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    Quote Originally Posted by montesquieu View Post
    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.

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