Koetsu Blue Lace Onyx vs. Coralstone

Dear Sprog, What tonearm? No surprise that you like the A90 better than your Koetsu. Apparently many others would prefer it as well. Koetsu is not my religion, but I hope you will pardon me if I say I still enjoy my Urushi and will continue to do so. (Never heard a stone-bodied Koetsu.)

I certainly would not be among those who would trash you or the A90. In fact, I own and enjoy several different cartridges and have had some thoughts about acquiring an A90 myself. But I heard an A90 in direct comparison to the new Allnic Puritas cartridge, both on the same turntable and in the same brand of tonearm. (Two arms mounted on the same tt.) I have to say that the A90 was very fine, but the Puritas was a shade less mechanical, more "musical". I hate when folks use that word as a descriptor of audio gear, but there it is.

Sprog, Sorry for my redundant question. I see now that you listed your tonearms ahead of my request that you do so. I have inadvertently learned lately that the Urushi does its best in what one would call "high mass" tonearms, i.e., 20 gm, minimum, FWIW.

I agree Lewm, I enjoy the Koetsu but it just isn't close to what an a90 can do. I've also heard many cartridges and it's in a different league altogether from anything else - and particularly the Koetsu which I have to say, again, is seriously overpriced, but reviewers (who get paid by manufacturers for their reviews - oh yes they do) say is the "best thing ever" in the cartridge-world.

You're paying probably double what it's worth just for the name, which has all kinds of "mystical" nonsense spoken about it.

An a90 needs a good time to bed-in to sound it's best after installation, so did you have a couple of weeks at least to listen to the Allnic and a90 for comparison?

Suffice to say that I agree with you on cost. The Koetsu stone-bodied cartridge prices are particularly ridiculous, but so too are the prices of many many other "high end" MC cartridges. I purchased my Urushi in Tokyo for, lets say, much less than the US price. This year, too, I got involved in the thread here on vintage MM and MI cartridges, and I have bought several samples to audition. A select few of those are shockingly good, regardless of the fact that they are also relatively cheap. Of course, this is coming from someone who is declasse' enough to enjoy the Urushi.

I heard the A90 vs Puritas, each in a Reed tonearm, at RMAF, in several listening sessions over 2 days. (I kept going back to that room, because I enjoyed the presentation so much.) I assume that both were up and running for 8 to 10 hours per day for at least a few days before I got there. Dunno whether that constitutes adequate break-in for an A90, or indeed whether both had been in use prior to the show.

I found the a90 needs a good 100+ hours.

Listening in your own system is the only way to really tell how good something sounds - from my experience - and that's not possible with cartridges, of course,
unless you have friends who have what you're thinking of buying ....and they like you ;)

I'm a serious a90 convert. It's so instantly "dead-right" right out of the box even though it takes time to settle in fully. By "dead right" I mean it's just so obviously "there" (what??).

Oh dear ...words words words...

Ears know nothing about words, that's why I like mine so much.