Kiseki Purple Heart upgrade?

Looking for upgrade from Ortofon Cadenca MC red.
I was considering an Ortofon Cadenca MC bronze or a Soundsmith Zephyr MK/III
My system is a MA5200 into Harbeths. (Soundsmith phono pre)
The Purple Heart has found it's way onto my radar. It's at the top of my budget.
Any thoughts on which one I should concentrate on/demo?

Music taste is mostly rock, some jazz, scores

 

Have you looked into Dynavector carts at all?

The new Karet 17DX is supposed to be outstanding! I have the 17D and love it, the DX is a supposed big upgrade.

 

I have heard many positive comments about the Soundsmith Zephyr MIMC Star, and I am considering buying one to test it versus the Koetsu Black I own.

 

I had a Purpleheart but I could never get it to work correctly. I traded it towards a Soundsmith Sussuro MkII and I couldn't be happier. Soundsmith carts are much easier to set up, not to mention the low price for re tipping.

 

If you do so, please let us know your impressions.

 

What table/arm is it going to be used with?

 

Mentioned in his profile.

VPI Classic 1- unipivot arm

 

Oh, it was on the wrong part of the profile. I looked at the information and it wasn't filled out.

That said, I know the Kiseki's like an arm with a bit of mass. Not sure how much mass the VPI unipivots offer.

 

Interesting. The only reason I didn't buy the Blue you had for sale is the listed compliance suggested it needed a medium mass arm such as the VPI.

 

More and more people have told me that the Purple Heart is immediatly extremely appealing due to frequency response lon-linearities such as a warm mid-bass and prominent mid-highs. But in the long run, not so impressive dynamics and a recessed midrange becomes not so satisfying. How about a Transfiguration Proteus or Audio Note Io-1? These are both extremely low output, so they require a VERY quiet phono stage or a transformer step-up, but the primary benefits of very low output are amazing dynamics and impressive presentation of very subtle detail.

 

So, who has heard either of these, and what did you think of them?

 

Well, you ARE an Audio Note dealer, soooo...
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If I was insincere about how good or mediocre some of my MANY MC cartridges sound, I would not have mentioned my Transfiguration Proteus in the same breath as my Audio Note Io. The fact absolutely IS that Audio Note makes noteworthy MC cartridges at admittedly high prices. So does Transfiguration, Dynavector, and a few other really standout manufacturers.

And nothing about my statement was about the AN being yours or anyone else's "cup of tea", just that the two carts I mentioned were extremely low output, and I have found this to explain a couple of sound qualities they share. Whereas a cart that I had and have gotten rid of was lacking in these qualities.

soooo...

 

I think you have the right to initially fail to see how you might look like you're 'talking your book' as a dealer (seems to be a blurry line here on SHF), but not the right to miss that AND be uppity/indignant about it.

Just sayin', Warren. Out.
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I certainly don't mind people speculating about my motives, and assuming I am just like most other selfish, money grubbing, stereo salesman.
I have dealt with many of them, and agree we are a 2-faced breed, generally speaking. But, nobody that knows me puts me in that category AT ALL. In fact, I spend more money BEING an Audio Note dealer than I bring in SELLING Audio Note. Do you know that I spent 1 million dollars to buy a home in a very upscale neighborhood, on the shore of a lake, to use as my audio display venue? Do you know that I will NEVER make a million dollars selling Audio Note in Southern California, land of outdoor (not indoor) activities? And, do you know that MOST businesses are in business to MAKE money, whereas I am an audio hobbiest gone wild? Why else would I have B&W 800 Matrix speakers featured in my primary listening room, the largest room in the house, and now use 30 year old MFA tube amps with them instead of my demo $25000 pair of AN amplifiers? Well, I will tell you why... because I determined that these B&Ws sound better with 120 wpc push-pull than 45 wpc SET. They sounded great with the ANs too, and I could have kept them together, but I opted for a little improvement in SOUND. Remember SOUND? It is why we are doing this... not to judge and critisize people we don't know and have never met.

Do you know that the USA importer for EAR, who is AN's most direct competitor, is a very nice friend of mine, and we never seem to be in competition at all? And I can be seen at many audio shows, sitting with Tim DeParavacini, or Evanna Manley, just having a great time chatting about all subjects, including audio?

If anyone HAS purchased from me would like to make THEIR opinion known about how I feel about my customers, and what I will do for them, please straighten-out some of these suspicious pundits.

 

Hear, hear. Warren is one of the good guys.

 

The Florida show had an amazing HW40th table with the Kiseki. It sounded fabulous.

 

To me it’s worse when people don’t let you know they are dealers. Warren’s “tag” under his name clearly says he’s a dealer. So if someone doesn’t know him personally they can choose whether they take his advice with a grain of salt or not.

I’m more interested in what @wpjs got?

 

Oh, and shall I thank you for defining my rights for me? Shall "Blurry Steve" apologize to you for truly being a close friend of mine and enjoying some of the opinions I express here on his website?

 

Warren, you're putting words in my mouth that simply aren't there, and I don't think you get where I'm coming from. It doesn't matter if you're the nicest guy out there (you may well be) or one of the selfish, money grubbing salesguys you refer to (and that we've all met). It's that, as a dealer, if you're making equipment recs for your own brand, then there's a conflict of interest.

Some ppl might feel uncomfortable with that. Dig?

However, Gov above does point out that your tag under your name does at least let ppl know – if they're careful readers– that you are a dealer. So that at least is something, and I concede I might be being overprotective of the posters here in this.

Still, it would be nice if you worked the fact that you're a dealer into the conversation when and if you do make equipment recs that involve your own brand. Just a suggestion.

I myself am simply sensitive to conflicts of interest because we see them so often in audioland, most obviously in the case of the review mags/sites. If you are one of the good guys, as you say (and as you hopefully are), then you know exactly what I'm talking about, and why my defenses are up.

Peace. And yes, FTR, I do like AN products (though not always their prices ).
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Are you sure? Maybe you should start a poll!

 

Sure, why not?
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I think my problem is that I don't get how truly liking some of the equipment I sell, and saying so, is a conflict of interest. Please explain.

 

I suspect that what he meant is this is that, as a dealer, it could represent a conflict of interest for you to recommend a component which you may love the sound of, but which you don't happen to sell. So this conflict could cause someone in your shoes to recommend the next best thing which you do sell over something which you don't.

BTW: I'm not saying that I believe this to be true of you! I'm merely attempting to explain his perspective.

 

The Transfiguration Proteus is an absolutely delightful and engaging cartridge, very fast, precise, and resolving. It was my former cartridge and I enjoyed every minute I spent with it.