AT ART 1000 vs London Reference vs Ana Mighty Sound 103.3


I have eagerly desired to hear the ART 1000 every since I first heard about (2016?) and finally I decided to have one sent out to me to satisfy my curiosity. I have read many things about this unique design, all good. People have compared its dynamism to the London, going as far as to state that it's capable of explosive dynamics. I listened to the unit on my Technics SL 1200 GAE with both my AMR PH 77 (MU 6900 tubes and AMR TriCore Capacitors installed) and my SPL Phonos. I used the LP Gear Zupreme headshell and the Audio Technica AT-LH 18/OCC headshell.

First off this cartridge in the AT headshell is a thing of beauty, a real functional piece of art (no pun intended :). I literally took photos of it on my TT as it just looked so gorgeous.

The ART did not take to the LP Zupreme very well with the sound becoming a bit cooler and taking on an almost strident nature. 
 
I found the ART to be a very fluid and refined cartridge, it reveals a massive amount of information from the groove. All in all I spent about a solid 20 or more hours intensely listening and fine tuning the cartridge to reveal the best it had to offer. It is a bit to the right of neutral, i.e. I find it to be a bit warm and it does instill a bit of lushness to the music. This may be welcome in some systems that may err to the left of neutral or are a bit sterile. 

I listened to music by Jacintha (Fire and Rain, James Taylor Tribute), Julie London, Dianna Krall, Chasing the Dragons Espana, Joss Stone, Stevie Ray Vaughn (45, Couldn't Stand the Weather from the 12 album boxed set), Stacey Kent and many others. 

It sounded lovely, and that's where I started having issues. I simply could not become engaged with the music that I know so well. My 103R is engaging, my 103.3 is engaging as is my London and Anna. The Art caused me to sit there and listen and wait and wait and wait for the magic. It never happened. I wanted to like this cartridge so so much but in the end I simply could not connect with its take on the musical spectrum.

I compared it to the London and let me go on record and state that if anyone tells you that this cartridge has London like dynamics, don't ever listen to anything they convey to you concerning hi end audio without listening for yourself. It is NO WHERE near the London as far as dynamics, immediacy or aliveness. It is more refined than the London but worlds away from that live feel that the London can so easily evoke. 

Comparing the ART to the 103.3 and 103R I found the 103R to be a bit rough sounding in direct comparison and yet, it makes my foot tap and makes me smile. The 103.3 does what the 103R does only so much better and far more refined. At the end of the day the 103.3 was preferred (for my ears), it simply plays with nearly the same level of refinement as the ART, but not quite, and yet the openness and aliveness it presents is far more engaging. I found myself leaving the 103.3 on for longer periods of time during my comparative cartridge swap outs.

I would sum it up as follows; I find that the ART has a sort of hi-fi-ish sound. It makes the music sound a little processed to my ears. Some people like this sound, I am not one of them. I would attribute this same quality to the Air Tight PC 1 Supreme, but not the PC 1. I find that the PC 1 Supreme has that same sort of hi-fi-ish sound where as the standard PC 1 does not and to my ears, sounds better than the Supreme. 

All in all this is a beautifully made device that will, I have no doubt, sound sublime in some systems and to some ears. Even though it is ultimately not for me I think it is a great value as I could easily see some of the other manufactures charging $10K or more for this unit. 

I think I am going to send Francois another 103 and try a 103.4 with the silver coils to quench my curiosity :)

Hope this was helpful to someone. 

Thanks for reading. 
audiofun
Lewm:

Thanks for the kind words. I did neglect to mention that the cartridge had 80 hours on it prior to my beginning the listening sessions.

I will still continue working with it to see what more I may be able to coax out of it to the possible detriment of my bank account :)

The 103.3 is a 103 or 103r modification performed by Ana Mighty Sound in France.
@audiofun, a Tzar dealer will provide that $10,000 cartridge for audition?! I don’t have a spare ten grand, but would love to hear it. I'm a diehard Decca/London enthusiast, getting my first in 1972 (a Decca Blue), and current owner of two (about to be three, with the acquisition of a Mono).
bdp24:

I would recommend you have a chat with Robin Wyatt. I don't want to write out of turn concerning any of his policies :)

You have much more experience with Deccas than I do with the Reference being my first real exposure to them not counting You Tube videos. 

You have me interested in looking at their mono offerings as I need to add a mono cartridge to my small but growing collection. 
@audiofun, it only goes to show that making music is rather simple but at the same time is an art. Also goes to show how many and how often audiophile products miss the point..no matter the price.
Pani:

I agree with you but I have to confess something LOL. The ART started sounding better last night as I put another 5 hours on it. I don’t think the dealer really put 80 hours on this unit. I am not saying that he told me a fib but rather probably took a best guess. I bet this cartridge probably had about 40 real play time hours on it when I received it. As of now I have put about 25 to 30 hours on it and it definately took a turn for the better last eveing. It was eery as I could almost hear it getting better in real-time as I went from album to album.

I am not ready to pronounce anything definitive at this point but I will say that the "hi-fi-ishness" (my own special word:) is starting to depart quickly and definitively. This is one of the reasons I like to continue testing a product until I am absolutley sure it will not change any more. Had I not been told this unit had 80 hours on it I would NEVER have written a review with such a short auditioning time.

As it stands the music is beginning to sound more of a whole and not heterogenous as it was originally with different parts of the musical spectrum appearing to exist separately. It is now much more homogenous.

I knew I should have quit when I didn’t care for it :) If it continues to change for the better my bank account will be smaller. I will continue running this unit in for the next several days and report back.