Sumiko Blackbird, Shindo and EAR

Very interesting, Restock...are you basically saying that you do not think the blackbird optimizes the capabilities of the shindo? thanks.

Ggavetti, the Blackbird should work well into the MM input (as it is a high output MC which is designed for MM inputs).

Of course there are always better and more resolving cartridges out there at almost any pricepoint. If going the low output MC route, I would use the internal MC in the Monbrison or external step-ups connected to the MM input to match the cartridge best. Overall I tend to like low output MC cartridges more, but matching a right step-up to the cartridge is more of an art form than a science and can become quite involving.

The Monbrison does have an excellent phono stage built in and it certainly would improve even further with higher resolving cartridges.

Thanks again. This is helpful.

Regarding more resolving carts, I would say that I am not too much in favor of extremely high-resolution systems...sometimes I feel like real life (e.g. live concerts) is lower definition than some of the systems we use to reproduce it. In the past, I was an amateur photographer. There was a Nikon lens that most people raved about...it was so high-def that it would allow you to spot micro-details about one's face that the naked eye would not be able to see, at the same distance. As I said, most people raved about it, but I thought it was way too high-def for me. I guess this kind of reasoning carries over to audio. So far, the blackbird produced the most real sound i've ever heard in my system...but I am sure there are many other carts that can do better than that.

FWIW, I ran a LOMC Ortofon cart (which is very low impedance) into my Monbrison for some time and loved it... then I tried a Blackbird and liked it _much_ better. Yes, a tiny bit of detail missing, but it had none of that funny, tizzy treble you sometimes get with LOMC. And is stellar in every other way, frankly.

And, yes, of course run it into the MM input...

That is precisely how I would describe the Blackbird...I just listened to the new Bob Dylan's LP, and found it totally amazing...very real

And, by the way, the Blackbird was substantially cheaper than the Ortofon (Kontra H).