VDH The Crimson Stradivari

VDH The Crimson Stradivarius

VDH knows how to make cartridges. In the years I have never listened to a mediocre VDH cartridge. Maybe in the price range you could have preferred another maker with your set up, but  not one really better. It means that you can be assured that for the price range in any VDH model you have a top contender.

The lower the model the more universal the application also because less critical. 

So a DDT II is for the price an excellent cartridge that will sound good in any decent system and if it doesn't sound good there is surely something wrong with your system.

Then you go up in the range with the MC One or now the classic Frog, or the Black Beauty or the more recent, even if not so recent Condor. Everyone is a great cartridge in its on price point and behond. I will add: VDH cartridges are references. Behond personal taste they have a rare balance of timbric beauty, speed, elegance and stylus life! 

In my life I have felt in love with different cartridges and personal owned more then 50 of different makers. I had Kiseki, Koetsu, Dynavector, Denon, Shure, Stanton, Goldring, Ortofon, Myabi, Clearaudio, ZYX, Linn, VDH, Shelter, Garrot,  and other makers and of each maker I had either owned or listened to at least two models. For example I had 5 different Dynavectors and 4 Koetsus, more or less 10 Ortofons and so on.

My first love when I was 14 was a Stanton 881S. I was stunned when I compared to my old Thorens cartridge that I think was an AKG.  Then of course things went up and up to my second love Koetsu Rosewood. Then I went a long period between Ortofon and all Dynavector range: it was a strange period. Apreciating and admirating without love. At the same time I was exposed by a friend to VDH Grasshopper and was not beguilling but exciting. I was found of this cartridge and its derivate succesors for many years and always had in the back of my mind: it would be nice having a Grasshoper Red, like a Koetsu Red with some Grasshopper genetic traits. But never came out. Maybe it was impossible to achieve it. I don't know if it has been for mastering his art or for a fortunate mistake this cartridge came out from the hand of VDH! The 

Crimson Stradivari.

Let's make it fast: what does it makes this cartridge so special? The answer in this case is simple: it combines sweetness with precision, agility with solidity, precision with forgivness, in a combined word for the ones like me that witnesed the long battle between digital vs analougue it combines both world  in a unique combination of a same nature where what we have tought to be opposite qualities of the music reproduction are free of being togheter without creating a strange creature but only music.

Is this the best cartridge I have ever heard?.Simply yes. The others make better just something loosing too much to the Crimson. If was a tennis match it was like The Crimson always winning with the best at the tie break. It always has that little thing more.

And one extremely interesting point is that its musicality is not lost if you don't set up it perfectly.

For example it is sensitive to VTF but what happens if you put too much weight? It just pushes things in front, giving less depth and giving you the impression of more energy. Then you put less weight until it locks in and you have a very nice panoramic view and space.

In other cartridges when you don't do this right it just sound not right. The Crimson keep its rightness.

It is the first time that I have in one cartridge the old and the modern sound together, the sound of AlNiCo magnets and Neodymium together. Enough power to be connected to any phono stage and light enough to be one of the most precise cartridge I ever had.

The Crimson, as can be red  on the VDH website, can be configured in factory, as most of top line cartridges of the brand, upon our taste and system. I mean Mr. VdH can provide the compliance of the suspension depending on the tonearm we use, the level output and somehow the output impedance to best match the phono stage and finally the length of the stylus according with the kind of music we listen. Long stylus for classic and short stylus for jazz. Or something in between, as most prefer, for all kind of music.

So why I didn't talk too much about every aspect of its sound? It is useless. You know when you were young or if you are still young and you ask how a girl looks like, if they tell you she has beautifull eyes or nice legs it means probably she just got that things nice, but if they say you she is gorgeus what is the difference if she has blue eyes or brown eyes? 

The Crimson makes music in a goergeus way.

This was a friend's cartridge now I have to give it back.  Just need to save money from now on. And considering the prices of cartridges of this level the Crimson Stradivari is also cheap in comparison. When you can be competitive and somehow better of cartridges costing 50% or more then I think we can use this term.

The Crimson Stradivari is not just an expecially good cartridge it is simply one of the best cartridges ever made.

VDH the Mountain

Now it is the time for sharing my experience with this fairly new VDH cable. It belongs to its top line with the Cliff (both built with the 3T trchnology) and with the classical silver series. If the Silver ones are mostly no cables these two top 3T are much more strong in character. This character is a character of not tonal aberration, but of levigation. I feel the Mountain to be in its character like a very fine powder, beauty powder with a very light elegant smell.

After about 50 hours, it is not advisable to have a critical listening tio this cable before this lap of time since its sounds changes in better then in worse then finally stabilizes, we are ready to see what it can do. First thing to notice is a very well deployed soundstage, very good depth and localisation of instruments. With it we also notice a certain not brillance of the timbre of the instrument a la Dynaudio if you are familiar with this brand sound even though not so pronounced. The expression and the inflections of the music are well rendered too. So the nuances that make the music interesting are there. Of expecially interest is, after becoming familiar with its sound and if we have enough listening to hifi experience is its character of doing no harm. This is very important to the experienced listener. If you have heard a lot of hifi equipment and paid for a lot of equipmen that soon after you have sold you know about it. No matter how good an element is you can be after a certain time too aware of something that it does in a way that boders you. And even though you can appreciate many of its qualities after a while it is like you are there not just to have pleasure to what you are listening and to what is undeniably good but to detect what boders you.

I say this since this very worry seems to be beyond the conception of the Mountain character and globally to the 3T interconnect series. It seams these cables where done to perfectly match the equipment that do their hifi job too well at the price of global musicality.

In these cases (and are the majorities) the Mountain has an extremely benefic influence. It restores the musicality, the fluidity and the beauty of the music reproduction.

But what happens in extremely well balanced and thought and assembled systems? First of all don't think your system falls in this cathegory since in 35 years of listening to hifi I can absolutely say they are very rare. And this is not a question of money spent. Let's put in another way: which woman skin won't look more perfect with a beauty powder on? The only ones that have silky smooth skin. How many do you think out there have this kind of skin? You got the point. So what happens in a perfect system, on the perfect skin if we put the Mountain powder on?
The Mountains takes away something from these systems. The Mountain that in most systems takes away the little percent of nastiness resulting from overdoing hifi qualities, will take some energy out of the reproduction from these extremely well balanced systems giving to the final sound a quality of restrained beauty. But beauty nonetheless. It cover the body of the music up with an elegant long dress.

Now a little about why hifi has got to a point to overdo it? My point of view is because of the market. The listener is the potential buyer and he has to choose. The best he can do to choose is getting something at home and try it in its system. What he tries has to be perceived as an improvement. But most of the times what he perceive as improvement is something that is most present with ths component. For example it has better bass, or much better focus, or dynamic then the one it replaces. It is very hard to buy something that doesn't have clearly better dynamics or focus or timbric accuracy but that globally is much better.

Generally thing that have a magic balance becomes classic pieces and generally these don't have any wow factor. Think about the LS3/5a, the LP12, the Spendor SP1/2 and derivates. It is very difficult to buy something for its musicality but that in comparison is a little too coloured or lacking in bass or other thing. This happens for the average hi fi passionate it means for the 90% of the people that have this hobby. For the rest 10% they tend to know what they know they can live with and appreciate.

So if you have a business it is better you target the 90%!

With this VDH has a mature product. It is pointed to the 90% of listeners having expensive systems that lack the magic in favour of hifi.

Not too long ago I have tried, and at the end bought,  the Silver MKIII of this same maker.

This last is exactly the opposity of the Mountain. Where the mountain is good in 90% of the systems the Silver MKIII is a waste of money in most systems, and worse you will end up thinking it is not as good as its lesser companions as the Orchid or the Integration. But you are ending to a wrong conclusion just because your system didn't let you hear all the story.  Just because the story is a no story. The Silver MKIII cable is like a no cable. But of course you buy thing to improve your system! You are not buying something that you cannot hear, what a waste of money! If you put nothing it means what you have it is already excellent and you need just to add something just because you cannot do without it, but this something has not to break the balance you have got.

So let put this way. The Mountain will improve many systems, will give these system the beauty they miss, the Silver MKIII will let shine very,very few.