My new Soundsmith Straingauge cartridge

Dear Spiritofmusic: Great for you and good that you are absolutely satisfied listening your recordings with a very different RIAA curve on the one used to recorded it. At the end the most important issue is that you like it and that's your unique privilege.

Congratulations!

Regards and enjoy the music,
R.

Raul- are you saying the Paul Landerman is incorrect when he says that no RIAA compensation is required due to the different operating principle behind the strain gauge? If that is true, that is a very significant issue.

Oh no, here we go again!

Dear Swampwalker: Correct. In the past Panasonic/Sao Win and other strain gauge cartridges were designed almost in the same way that the ones by SS with one main difference that they worked according to the RIAA eq. curve

SS choosed to left the " cartridge " with its natural curve that is not similar/same than the RIAA curve: has high deviations comparing it to the RIAA curve.

One advantage of that aproach is that the signal does not pass for that " tortuose " RIAA inverse eq. proccess as any other cartridge but in the other side has the disadvantage that what you are hearing is different of what is in the recording due that does not conforms to the RIAA eq. curve.

So you hear differences because the signal is equalized in different way. If you use an external equalizer in your system you can change the signal performance, the equalized signal will have a different tonal balance that all other cartridges with out that equalization.

As with many audio subjects some of us don't give to much importance to many subjects, sometimes because we ignore it we have not the knowledge about and sometimes because we just don't care.

RIAA eq. curve is the standard and I mean it. For years is what was used in the LP recordings and existed a " war " down there for all the LP manufacturers accepted only one eq. curve. This not happen two years ago but 40+ years ago. As I said the RIAA eq. is the standard and till the recording manufacturers alond the RIAA do not change that standard all the records will came and comes with the RIAA eq. curve and not the SS one.

The SS is an alternative, any one of us decide what to do and what we want.

I remember very clear that when I visited a friend in USA he was sticky with the SS over all his other cartridges ( including the Lyra Olympos. ). When I heard his SS my first reaction was: impressive. After more time of playback I start to note that on recordings that I know very well things were happened in different way so different that I don't like it because music does not sounds that way.
I asked to switch to the Lyra ones and everything goes fine. The last day that he mounted again the SS and heard it for a minutes I just can't " support " what I was hearing an prefer to go to the airport.

But, that's me.

Regards and enjoy the music,
R.

I'm not going to join in this technical argument, since I'm unqualified to contribute.
What I can say is that this is one hell of a transducer. Bearing in mind it's on what I consider the most neutral and transparent analog rig I've ever owned (Trans Fi Salvation rim drive tt and Terminator linear tracking arm), it's just complementing these so well.
The sound was initially 'light' but when true bass notes arrived and left in lightning fashion, I realised it was a cart with the fat cut out of the presentation.
It really IMHO takes what's great in digital, and combines these with all the hallmarks of what's unique about analog.
There just appears to be no sound of diamond thru wax as notes arise and decay naturally in a soundfield with a vanishingly low noise floor, unique in analog in my experience.