Soundsmith Hyperion cart - any feedback?

Any user experiences or other opinions, etc? Currently looking at one for my table. I noticed the Koetsu Rosewood Sig is at the same price point too.

 

Will let you know. Expecting one shortly.

 

Cool. Looking forward to it.

 

When is the big day? I need to make my decision soon and it takes like 3 months. I have the Paua mkII.

 

Got the Hyperion MkII (used) cartridge this morning. It has roughly 130 hours on it, so broken in. Mounted and aligned it (only took an hour on my TransFi tonearm). Sounds heavenly. The bass is unbelievable. Imaging and separation amazing. Groove noise is extremely low. I probably need to tweak the alignment (specifically VTA--it's level by eye, but a little up/down might improve things) a bit, but it sounds fantastic the way it is. The stylus guard is nearly unusable on my tonearm. Other than that I highly recommend it. Definitely a step up from the Kleos (as well it should be!).

 

I have two Hyperions. One is a spare so I don’t have to go for months without vinyl playback.The sound is full with detail and no fatigue.

 

Well, that's certainly one way to go!

 

That just reminded me of that great line in Back to the Future, “oh he’s teasing you nobody has two TVs” lol

 

Thanks! The other cart I was considering at the same price point was the Koetsu Rosewood Signature.

 

I can't comment on the Koetsu. Sorry.

 

Yeah well, those are the MKI versions. There were some deals to be had. Still, very expensive.

 

When I first read this I was thinking you were nuts (or had a lot more disposable income than I do). After a couple weeks living with this cartridge I can absolutely understand wanting to have a second one as a backup. Unfortunately my system is down at the moment due to renovation of my office/listening room. I plan to swap out my Wavestream Kinetics phono stage for a newly repaired Jeff Rowland Consummate phono and pre. It's been 5 years since I had the Consummate in my system, so it's hard to remember, but it was a revelation when I first got it. The Consummate has variable loading (I'm currently using 562 ohms which is my only option between 302 ohms and 10k).

 

Well...I wasn't planing on buying a second Hyperion, but after being held hostage by Peter Lederman for over three months, I decided to begin searching. Also, having a spare cartridge was suggested by some smart vinyl aficionados on this forum. Luckily, I found one from a dealer in Washington state. It was a return on consignment.

I'm running my Hyperion with no loading on my Convergent Audio Technology Black Path Extreme. Sounds best to me that way.

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No loading? I have my SS Paua mkII set to 800 which I found to be the most dynamic setting even though the minimum recommended is 100 ohms.

 

My phone MC preamp is different than yours. I tried loading at around 800 and it was like the highs got a hair cut.

 

Tullman,
What does "no loading" mean on the CAT? Does it default to 10k, or ???

 

FROM Convergent Audio Technology:

The MCX1 has a very high input impedance. It is 8K ohms in “low gain”
mode and 2K in high gain mode. (Early units only had low gain and their
input impedance was 4K) This is very important because many people prefer
the sound of an MC cartridge “straight in” rather than being loaded down.
(please read our article about loading MC cartridges). We find that 2K
sounds essentially “straight in” with any MC cartridge. The current draw of
2K is negligibly higher than 47K. We have heard no cartridge which shows
dynamic compression at this impedance. (It seems that 1K is about where
this compression effect starts with some cartridges.)
BTW you can still load your cartridge further with CATs loading plugs if you
have a hot cartridge which really needs to have a “little off the top”.

MC Cartridge Loading



This is one of those many areas of audio which is fraught with confusion and misinformation.


There are two opposing “camps” regarding cartridge loading. One camp says “you must ALWAYS load a cartridge” the other says “NEVER load”. Both camps are wrong, as Zealots usually are.


Some cartridges MUST be loaded to sound tonally natural. These cartridges sound lean, thin and sometimes just plain bright if they are not loaded down. The load affects the cartridge across the entire audio band, but the highs are the most affected because the driving impedance of the cartridge is higher in the treble, this due to the inductance of the coil. Effectively the load “bullies” the cartridge into good behavior.


Some cartridges sound natural without any load. No reasonable person would load such a cartridge because the effect on tonality will be negative.


The load ALWAYS reduces the dynamics, vibrancy and life of the cartridge at least a little bit. This applies to cartridges which must be loaded as well as those which don’t need the load. Lower value resistors especially effect vibrancy, because they are a heavier load than higher value resistors. (Resistors work backwards in that regard). Making a cartridge work harder by forcing it to drive a low impedance makes the cartridge sound a bit less free and easy. This is intuitively obvious.


But please remember that although loading ALWAYS has this negative affect, the improvement in tonality sometimes outweighs this consideration.


CAT prefers to use cartridges which sound natural without a load. Our transformer has an 2K input impedance which is essentially “unloaded” for any MC cartridge.

 

Sorry I can fully admit that I have no idea what that^ means. lol

My Soundsmith Paua mkII cart recommended load resistance is “greater than 470ohms”.

My phonostage which is a Zesto Andros Deluxe II has loading options from 50-1,000 and the designer recommends starting as high as 1000 to maximize dynamics and then dialing it back if needed. I’m currently at 800 ohms and it sounds vibrant and alive. It has on the fly settings and when I experiment dialing it down the music and soundstage flattens noticeably particularly in the midrange it appears.

 

I believe that anything over about 2000-3000 ohms is basically no loading (MC or low output MI). But some of this also has to do with how the phono stage reacts to the load, and also what kind of resistors are being used to load. Depending on the system you might hear whether or not the resistors used to load are radio shack or cheap steel pins with jumpers, or something much better quality, even though it's a shunt.

Might also have to do with the compliance of the cartridge and how well the mass of the tonearm is matched to it. Get a low compliance cartridge like the Hyperion and a medium to low mass arm, and you might like a different load setting.

 

Well... you asked the question so I gave you what CAT has said. My MC transformer defaults to 2K. BTW, Peter Lederman told me that the Hyperion can be used without loading and perform properly. I had a few lengthy conversations with both Ken Stevens and Peter Lederman before spending that kind of money. I wanted everything to work well together. System matching is important to me. Of course the Hyperion can work well with other preamps too.
The bottom line is I prefer the Hyperion in my system without loading. You should do what sounds best to you in your system.

 

The lowest I can go on my phonostage load setting is 50 ohms. Can’t go to zero and can’t go above 1,000.

 

Thanks. It makes sense. My system is down at the moment, but when I get it set back up in a couple weeks I’ll try pulling the load resistor which will drop loading to 47k.

 

Seeking advice. Given Peter’s unfortunate health issues, would you guys wait months or longer for a Hyperion or scrap that idea and pivot to a Koetsu Rosewood Signature Platinum?

 

I’m not up in the lofty Hyperion zone with you guys but I’ve been waiting quite awhile for an Otello order, and I’m hearing that Peter is back home and recovering, and the company is trying to get back up and running in full production mode. Hope it’s true, especially the part about Peter’s recovery. The dealer who’s buying the cart and installing it for me is currently saying it will arrive in three weeks. Fingers crossed.