What is the “World’s Best Cartridge”?

@pindac, @sksos , It is odd that the cartridges Mr Matsudaira designs and builds cartridges for other companies that are so highly reviewed, the Air Tights in particular, but you hardly hear about his own cartridges. 

I have many hand made Japanese woodworking tools and the Japanese put have special pride in the tools they sign with there own names and they frequently give the tool it's own name. It is obvious to anyone that uses them that these tools are indeed special. I think this is a cultural trait.  So, I was drawn to his own cartridges and that trait was obvious just looking at it in the box. The Signature Platinum is much smaller than it appears in pictures. The logo is perfectly engraved and the finish flawless. All the angles are dead on and the stylus is the smallest I have ever seen and perfectly polished under high power. It is a little Jewel. In the Schroder CB tonearm plugged into a current mode phono stage (6dB more gain than voltage mode) the Platinum Signature is as or more dynamic than any cartridge I have ever used. It's bass is as good as the best 24/192 digital recordings and it's spatial orientation of instruments is uncanny, the spaces between dead quiet. It does everything from 45 rpm Led Zeppelin to old Decca classics with aplomb, a cartridge for all days and all ways.

The internet seems to feel that the Signature Gold is "warmer." I have trouble imagining that. Is It tilted towards the low end or the transients softer? It uses the same stylus but in a Duralumin cantilever. All other specifics except the metal used for the body are identical. The Duralumin cantilever is slightly larger in diameter so it is probably just as stiff. Is it warmer because it's Gold and the Platinum is icy silver? I bet if we put the two together there is not much at all between them. 

Until I use other low impedance cartridges I really have no basis for comparison, but that will change shortly. In the meanwhile I think either Signature would match up beautifully with the Four Point 9 or 11. The 14 might be a bit too heavy for it. I think the Kuzma M with a 4 Point 11 and a MSL Signature would make a wonderful final turntable set up. You could spend a lot more money and do substantially worse!

Mijo, does your Seti offer both current- and voltage-mode drive?  Was wondering how you can know, except by guesstimate, that you are getting "6db" more gain from current-drive vs voltage-drive.  Most companies won't list a gain spec for their current mode phono stages, I think because net gain from current output is so dependent upon how the internal impedance of the cartridge interacts with the input impedance of the stage.  However, at the output in both cases you do have a voltage, so that's where you could compare the two types of stage in terms of db output.  The difference between current- and voltage-drive would be different for every cartridge, in this case.

I have signed my tool, too.  I call it "Mr Happy". But I refuse to lacquer it.

There is a switch on the front panel of the Seta. You can go back and forth between current mode and voltage mode. On my Lynx Hilo I have both input and output metering in one dB increments with a peak hold function. 6 dB is 6 pixels to the right and I am not blind yet. Yes, the gain depends on the internal impedance of the cartridge and I will have three different low impedance cartridges with which to test that theory. 

It sounds to me that Mr Happy could use a good lacquering. 

For a certain level of Clientele, even Sake can be supplied in finest of packaging craft man produced to an ancient discipline. I'm pretty much sure the Vessel for containing the Sake, will have been produced from the Furnace of a renowned Ancient Families present day members maintaining the traditions.

It is always down to how a certain individual likes to separate themselves from a more common approach to a purchasing of a Product and how much pomp and ceremony they choose they need to attach themselves to Justify the purchase of a luxurious item.

I have seen a few descriptions offered of the MSL Signature Cart's across different forums and have only seen one that has added much rosiness and romanticism as the influencing factor of the Purchase. 

I went into my Garden Shed and have seen a Saw from a Bygone era, and thought WOW!, that's impressive Craftmanship, I want to buy a Cartridge with all this Heritage and Tradition behind it. Then ending up with Titanium, Extra Super Duralumin, Super Duralumin and Boron as the Item that is the connection to the past craftmanship. That is difficult for myself to buy into. 

I prefer, I have a few quid spare and bought this and for me it proved to be up my street and a good buy it was too, but that's me.       

@pindac, it seems you missed the point probably because I did not word it well. 

The beauty of a fine, hand forged Japanese handsaw is that it will be perfectly tensioned and follow a line perfectly on both sides of the wood. It won't wander off the cut. With commercial saws it is hit or miss. It is entirely about performance. Getting a saw to to cut perfectly straight takes time and skill. The masters that are business savvy will have their personal line then a commercial line that uses their name but is not made or signed by the master.

With cartridges it is all about performance which requires extreme precision with very small parts. It is not that Yoshio Matsudaira builds second rate cartridges for other companies, it is obvious that he does not. but I do think he puts that much more into his own. This is all about performance. Aesthetics are secondary.