Accuracy, Authority, Consistency, Control: U.S.A.-Made Soundsmith Aida mk II ES Moving-Iron Phono Cartridge Plays Demanding Inner Grooves with Ease, Offers Involving Airiness and Focus Looking for a cartridge that plays the challenging inner grooves of LPs with the same degree of accuracy, authority, consistency, and control as the less-demanding outer grooves?

Soundsmith designed its hand-built Aida mk II ES moving-iron phono cartridge for such purposes.

Aida mk II ES accomplishes the tough feats via an uniquely shaped OCL stylus, whose sharper contact surface on a faceted diamond allows it to easily ride the modulations of even difficult, climactic passages while delivering high-frequency information with no-sweat panache.

Outfitted with a ruby cantilever, the fixed-coil Aida mk II ES plays with airiness, focus, and warmth that will involve you in the emotionalism of the music time and time again. You'll experience soundstaging, dynamics, and instrumental separation that testify on behalf of analog's timeless appeal.

The U.S.A.-made Aida mk II ES further benefits from a significant evolution of Soundsmith's DEMS (Dynamic Energy Management System) design. ES cartridges direct internal vibrational forces without reflection and disperse them properly to the tonearm.

Such absence of reflections enables the stylus to stay in far greater statistical contact with the groove walls, leading to increased liquidity, reduced "grain," and preservation of valuable detail. Azimuth adjustment is also built into each model, along with the option for electrical isolation for hum-prone systems.

Advantages of Moving-Iron Designs A moving-iron cartridge has both the magnets and the coils fixed in place. A very low-mass and extremely precisely wound iron cross is affixed to the cantilever/stylus assembly and placed between the magnets and coils.

As the iron cross moves in the magnetic field, it generates signal voltage. Since only the iron cross moves, more coil windings (higher output) and heavier magnets (more powerful) may be used without penalty.

Other advantages to MI designs are very low moving mass (greater resolution) and superior channel separation (better imaging). Buy With Confidence: Aida mk II ES Can Be Rebuilt for 20% of the Original Cost Aida mk II ES benefits from infallible customer support and a wonderful safety net.

Soundsmith is the only high-end cartridge company that rebuilds its own products at a fraction of the original price – no matter what the issue. Equally important, moving-iron cartridges can always be rebuilt, unlike MC designs sometimes damaged beyond possible repair.

Soundsmith Moving-Iron Cartridges Offer Best of Both Worlds Enjoy the best of both worlds: Soundsmith's moving-iron cartridges encompass the advantages of moving-coil and moving-magnet designs while simultaneously lessening or eliminating the respective approaches' deficiencies.

Boasting extraordinary tracking abilities that let them effortlessly sail through complex musical passages, a warm and detailed character, exceptional transient response, and a full sound that completes entire notes and finishes instrumental structures, Soundsmith models exude natural musicality and high-end design.