Jasmine Turtle Moving Coil Cartridge

[Rush2112]

Jasmine Audio Turtle Moving Coil

I thought I would share my experience with this relatively unknown cartridge. Jasmine Audio founded in 2001 and based in China manufacture an extensive range of cartridges, tonearms, turntable, phono stages and accessories. East Riding based IOTA Audio Design are the UK importers for a selected range of thier products including: Two Moving Magnet cartridges £55 and £85, four Nature Series Moving Coils £375-£675, four Porcelain Series Moving Coils £1,195-£3,450, three 9inch tonearms including a Tangenital and two 12inch tonearms £675-£2,695. A serious range of products for vinyl lovers.
https://www.iota-audio-design.com

So, on to the cartridge in question, the Jasmine Audio Turtle, one of the Porcelain Series, with a retail price of £1,195.

The cantilever is aluminium and the stylus an elliptical diamond both sourced from Japan. Output is a healthy 0.38mv and the cartridge weighs 14.1gms which might challenge some tonearms.

Tracking weight was set at the recommended 1.8gms with loading at 100ohms and with a level tonearm. Care with set up, especially VTA, as always is rewarded with maximising the midrange presentation and bass detail and allowing the treble to convey the detail of brass and cymbals realistically.

The Turtle followed a lengthy audition of the Phasemation PP-500 and a longstanding familarty with the Koetsu Rosewood both are considerably more expensive.

The Turtle is one of the best moving coil cartridges I have heard in a long while. It has a very open natural sound, firm tuneful bass with good definition, detailed midrange which is never congested or harsh and clear crisp treble allied to good soundstage depth and width and allthough not better than a PP-500 or Rosewood, both are significantly dearer, it should most certainly be on anyone's list with a budget of a £1,000 as it provides a level of performance significantly higher than you would expect, so if you have ever wondered what a Koetsu Rosewood or Hana Umami do then the Turtle will give you more than a glimpse of what makes them special for a lot less dosh !

At the moment the PP-500 is for me a stand out product it makes playing any record a pleasure which is something that even the Koetsu Rosewood didn't quite do, there were odd discs which wouldn't make it past side one. The Koetsu clearly betters the PP-500 in the midrange but not by much and yes the Koetsu has great bass and treble detail too all inside a large well defined soundstage, which with the best recordings, can be totally enthralling.

The PP-500, however, manages that rare feat of being totally involving and even when you wonder, could something else offer that bit more detail that bit bigger soundstage etc., you are left thinking will it be at the detriment to just enjoying the music .

Therefore, my final dilemma, is do I go for the next one in the Jasmine range, the Tiger, which despite its price of £2,095 is considered by many as the equal of a Koetsu Urushi at £4,995 and even in a similar league in certain areas to a Koetsu Coralstone at £7,995 ! The Tiger is noted for its musicality and low surface noise and based on my experience with the Turtle I have no reason to doubt that will be the case but can it pull off the PP-500's incredible listenability ?

So where next ............

[Rush2112]

Well, I have given the Jasmine Audio Turtle plenty of challenging discs as well as many favourites too.

Overall at around £1,000 this has to be one of the best cartridges at its price point with levels of performance in some areas as good as anything twice the price.

So a star buy at £1,000, hell yes, better than the best at £2,000, well no, but more than capable of showing some of what the best at that price can do, particularly in the lower frequency and tracking ability.

So where am I ? Well I have to say the decision was made for me !

So what was considered ?

Well the promise of great things from the Jasmine Audio TIger remains just that, as there isn't one available to hear at this time, however, when there is, it will be undoubtedly be a definite audition. As for the Benz Micro LP-S, I have no doubt from the reviews and testimonials it is an outstanding cartridge in the £3,000 plus price point and no doubt a contender against cartridges at £4,000 and above including the Koetsu Rosewood Signature and possibly even the Urushi.

However, I set out to see, if at a budget of around £2,000, I could find a cartridge capable of equaling the Koetsu Rosewood. With the caveat if things were not looking good and something at around £3,000 blew me away I would bust the budget !

Well the decision has been made rather easy in reality.

The Phasemation PP-500 is an outstanding cartridge and one of the products that truly demonstrates the addeage that "the whole is greater than the sum of its parts", I found my self playing both sides of an album and playing disc after disc after disc. Something I haven't done for a very long time!

So if you want the details on the sonic attributes of the PP-500 then the review below totally echoes my experience and I didn't find this review until after I had auditioned the cartridge but I could so easily have written every line.

https://positive-feedback.com/review...oil-cartridge/

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