Soundsmith SG-220 Strain-Gauge Cartridge System Review

Downsides or Who Shouldn’t Buy this Cartridge?

There aren’t many, but there are people who should not buy this cartridge. First, as I have said over and over again, geometry is critical. Not hard to get right, but a necessity and a little time consuming. If you’re not willing to do this, then this cartridge isn’t for you. Second, it likes clean records. It’s not that it exaggerates surface noise, in fact, it does just the opposite. A clean record sounds more like the view out a window than other cartridges when its clean versus when it has a slight film on it.

Last, if what you like about analogue is that it gives you a warm, fuzzy feeling, then the strain gauge is not for you.  Some would say it’s not a forgiving cartridge, but I disagree. In fact, many LPs I thought were poor recordings were better with this cartridge because it made the LPs sound clear from what was just poor recording technique. I don’t guess it makes it sound any better, but like a noise in the car it doesn’t bother me so much once I know where it’s coming from. Still, it doesn’t add color that’s not on the recording and a lot of people expect this from LPs. Maybe this is why many prefer the sound of a vinyl rig even to great tapes. If you’re looking for a cartridge that will add its own beauty to recordings or if you are looking for a warmer, richer sound on every LP, then you need to look elsewhere.

Upsides!

First, some mentioned the strain gauge’s cost as a downside but I’m going to suggest it’s a bargain. The cost of my Miyabi Standard MC cartridge, Auditorium 23 Homage T1, 1 extra meter of High Fidelity Cables CT-1E interconnects, and a Shindo Giscours preamp is $38,800. This makes the $8,600 cost of the Soundsmith strain gauge for a superior sound seem like bargain to me.

Second, it also has a user replaceable stylus for $599. I don’t know about you but I think that beats the heck out of sending it back and waiting for months to get it back.  Besides, we normally paying a lot more for it. By the way, $599 is for the Nude “Optimized Contour” Contact Line/Ruby Cantilever. You could go as low as $249 for the Bonded Shibata/Aluminum Cantilever.

Third, the accompanied preamp has a very usable remote control. Best thing about the remote is it allows you to raise or lower the volume by very small amounts. Thus, it is not hard to find that  perfect volume. Lots of very expensive preamps I’ve used have stepped volume controls and the steps are too big to get just the right volume, sometimes.

Last, the biggest upside is that I feel more like I’m listening to live music with the SG-220 in the system. It is much more emotionally involving. The longer I listen to the system with the SG-220 in it, the less I begin to think about the system and the more I was amazed by the music and the performances.

Conclusion

I made direct comparisons between the SG-220 to the following cartridges; the Miyabi Standard, the Benz Ebony TR S class with micro-ridge stylus, the Allnic Puritas, the EMT JSD 5, and the Miyajima Shilabe. All the cartridges were used with the AMG V12 tonearm, on the V12 turntable. The preamp for all the cartridges other than the SG-220 was my $28,000 Shindo Giscours, with either the $5,000 Homage T1 SUT or the $1,600 Allnic AUT 2000 SUT.

The pure fidelity effortlessness achievable by the Soundsmith is truly amazing by comparison. In terms of temporal realism, none of the MC cartridges could touch it; nor do any of them have the same tight bass combined with huge slam, great texture, and bloom. Only the Benz TR comes even close to the strain gauge’s ability to start and stop notes on a dime; none have nearly as little smearing.

Add to this world class dynamics, beautiful shading, and three-dimensionality that is almost spooky and you have a totally different way of listening to vinyl. The harmonics and timbre were as good as any of the other cartridges, but not overly reverberate. In the end, a few of you may want a more forgiving, richer cartridge; no one who heard in my system wanted this, though. I think really we are just used to vinyl sounding that way. It takes time to get used to the different way this cartridge sounds. With every cartridge I tried, I kept missing the SGG-220 when it wasn’t in the system. I guess you can be sure that this is now my reference for vinyl playback.

One Last Closing: Lessons from the Strain Gauge

The Soundsmith Strain Gauge cartridges can teach you a lot about how good recorded music can sound. It will also teach you about sounds you have come to accept and sometimes feel comfortable in vinyl playback that I no longer believe are really there.

If you have the patience to get all there is from your system, this cartridge can help you. By the time I had lived with this cartridge for a while, I discovered that my speakers weren’t set up quite right, especially the toe-in on the right speaker. Now, I only moved them a couple of inches in total, and the sound popped into space.

So, if you get one of these little wonders, be patient; let the cartridge teach you things about how vinyl can really sound; keep working on the geometry although I think it changes some at first as the stylus assembly settles in; let it help you dial in your whole system. I promise you, in my system it was more than worth the effort; it took me to places I didn’t know I could get to with recorded music playback in my home.

Addendum:    Best Mono Cartridge Ever?

As my regular readers know, I love mono. So it was a big concern to me that if I gave up my phono preamp I would have no way to play mono LPs and hear them at their best. I have been a big proponent of “real” mono cartridges as well as a mono input on the preamp. You get neither with the SG-220.

The good news is that the SG-220 is the best mono playback system I have used by a long shot. I would go so far as to say for me it would be worth owning if only for listening to mono LPs. It surpassed the wonderful EMT, the Allnic, and even the Miyajima Premium BE mono cartridges. It is quieter in the groove, more dynamic, and much more alive sounding. As well the spacing (that’s right spacing on mono recordings), air, and three-dimensionality are just amazing.

I asked Peter about this and he said this was a very normal reaction, and the reason is that it is the most phase coherent cartridge system made. I listened to Folksy Nina, a very old mono recording without great sound, but great music. I had never heard it anywhere near as quiet or alive sounding. Maybe even more important was how great my English mono pressing of the Beatles’ White Album sounded. What another blessing; you don’t need a separate tonearm, mono cartridge, and another SUT to get the best mono sound I have heard.

Comment from Soundsmith:

Dear Constantine and Jack,

Firstly, thank you very much for this draft – it is greatly appreciated.

I am also glad that Jack “got it” – his review is the essence of what this device is. While no cartridge is perfect, as any mechanical transducer must inherently be imperfect, what it does do correctly is exactly what Jack “got” – The SG shows that the other technologies to play vinyl are farther from perfect than one might have thought.

In doing so, it presents a more honest playback than other technologies – and MOST folks can actually hear that – BUT – some are unable to. Not to their discredit in any way, but it does indicate that we do have an acoustic memory of what a device is supposed to sound like.

I am thrilled with this review. Usually there are negative points on any product. I think Jacks comments on who should NOT buy this product are PERFECT.

Reviewing is a VERY tough job – it is by far the last job I would want in this industry !

NO THANK YOU.

I would rather build gear than comment on it.

Best – Peter