Magic Diamond vs Airtight PC1?

I use the Magic Diamond Blue with the Walker Audio Proscenium Gold TT in a vinyl only playback system. From a technical perspective, it is a medium output MC (0.38mV) of medium compliance. The body is milled from a solid chunk of metal and the stylus/canteleiver assembly is potted to the body in such a way as to make it non-replacable should it break (trust me on this - as I just snapped the canteleiver off mine, and am awaiting the arrival of a new cart).

The Magic Diamond has no real sonic signature of it's own. It is a very neutral cartridge. It is a cart that requires some patience during breakin as it is likely to change from day to day over the first 100 hours or so. But once it settles in you notice the speed and attack of leading edge transients and it's uncanny ability to deliver a focused sense of the music across the frequency spectrum without any emphasis in one range at the expense of another. When used in concert with the Proscenium Gold TT (my only experience with the MD), music leaps from a velvety, ultra black background. Good recordings sound good - and bad recodings sound bad. It digs into the grooves of the LP and fleshes out whatever is in there. It is detailed - but detailed in such a way that lets you listen with ease through the cart and into the music.

Disclaimer: I have no experience with the Airtight and can only relate what I hear in my room on my system.

Not sure what you mean by much press but Jonathan Valin has written at length about the Airtight and Mikey mentioned it in one of his recent reviews as well. I heard from another dealer who compared the Orpheus to the Airtight that the latter was the one to beat (for more money). Arm synergy, of course, is the wild card here.

Also, taste in sound?

Krc, I will "ditto" Slipknot1's comments on the Magic Diamond cartridge and also reference an answer I posted to another thread on the Magic Diamond a few nights ago and another from about a year ago, fwiw. These earlier comments continue to hold true for me. One additional consideration is arm synergy, as Piedpiper mentions. Both Slipknot1 and I use the Magic Diamond on the Walker Audio turntable with it's linear air bearing arm. You *may* find a similar synergy on the linear air bearing Eminent Technology arm.

The only person I know who may have listened to both the Magic Diamond and the Airtight PC1 in the same system is Lloyd Walker. I know he had an Airtight PC1, but I don't know if he ever mounted it for an evaluation. Lloyd's very approachable and he'll tell you exactly what he hears, bad or good. I encourage you to call him for a chat.

Good luck in your search, and let us know what you do!
.

Slipknot- I thought this might be a good time to tell how I ripped the cantilever off my benz micro glider. In an attempt to deal with the inexplicable absence of a dustcover on a multi-kilobuck tt, I laid a cloth over the tt. During each seesion I lifted it off the tt. One day I lifted the cloth and heard this disturbing suction sound. My worse fears were confirmed when I noticed the entire cantilever was gone. Never to be seen again