Following the Jasmine turntable and tone arm, Mr. Nagai, the representative of Bakoon Products, gave us a cartridge evaluation. Here are his impressions after using it for exactly two months.
Jasmine offers four types of MC cartridges: the affordable M series MM cartridges and the mid-priced Nature series named "Wind," "Forest," "Fire," and "Mountain. And the traditional Chineseof porcelainThe B&W Ceramic Series of high-end MC cartridges, which use celadon porcelain for the body, is an ambitious series of cartridges modeled after four fantastic beasts: "Blue Dragon," "White Tiger," "Suzaku," and "Xuanwu.
We asked Mr. Nagai to give us his impressions of the M2 MM cartridge and the Jasmine Ceramic Series MC cartridge."White Tiger."TIGER.
Currently, the Bakun Products listening room is using Jasmine belt drive turntables and Jasmine long straight tone arms and air bearing tone arms for audition and R&D of new products. We have also asked them to post their impressions on our Facebook page.
JasmineMM Cartridge Series - M2
https://exclusive-audio.jp/products/jasmine-m2
This is Jasmine's MM cartridge. The company's MM cartridges come in three types: M1, M2, and M0; the M2 is an intermediate-level product, with a bonded elliptical needle mounted on a hard-coated aluminum cantilever. Most Japanese bonded needles are made of diamond tips bonded to metal titanium, while those made in China have a transparent base and are thought to be sapphire. The recommended needle pressure is 2.5g. If it were sapphire, it would have an advantage because its specific gravity is smaller than that of titanium. What impressed me about the Jasmine cartridge is that the signal pin arrangement is 1:1 with the pin arrangement of the headshell, so there is no need to swap the left and right pins or the top and bottom pins, and it can be connected straight. It weighs only 4.8g and is very light, so depending on the tone arm, it may be difficult to balance. The minimum cartridge weight for Jasmine's dynamic balance tone arm is 5g, and this is less than 5g, so the weight was so low that the balance was achieved by pulling the weight just to the center of the arm. Additional weights may be required if necessary. Incidentally, a one yen coin weighs 1g, so adding a one yen coin to the shell will increase the weight by 1g. The sound has high resolution and flatness, and it reproduces all genres without any preference.
JasmineClick here for B&W Ceramic series "TIGER" MC cartridge
https://exclusive-audio.jp/products/jasmine-tiger
JASMINE has two series of MC cartridges and one series of MM cartridges. The "White Tiger" is one of the four gods in the high-end series. This series is named after the four gods that protect the four directions: Blue Dragon, White Tiger, Suzaku, and Genbu, and comes in a ceramic case with the symbols of each. Each cantilever is made of boron for the Blue Dragon, sapphire for the White Tiger, solid aluminum for the Suzaku, and aluminum pipe for the Genbu. The stylus is a micro-ridge diamond for the Blue Dragon, a shibata needle for the White Tiger, and an elliptical needle for the Suzaku and Genbu, all of which are made in Japan. When auditioned with the company's turntable and dynamic balun stone arm, the sound is very precise and tight. It is not the soft sound of the general analog image, but rather, it is as if a high quality high-resolution source is being played. However, arm adjustment is very serious, and if the arm height, shell tilt, overhang adjustment, inside canceler, etc. are not adjusted properly, the sound will be distorted. When customers come to listen to this sound, they all say that it has changed the way they think about analog records. The child cartridge has such power, but its true value will not be demonstrated unless the proper arm, turntable, and accurate adjustment are used.
I am happy to report that all the customers who came to listen to the Jasmine were surprised at the performance of the product.
Click here to visit Mr. Nagai's Facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/nagai.akira
Kazuma Nishino, who often visits Bakun Products' listening room, has featured Jasmine's turntable and Byakko in his blog "Audio Western Pure Land". Here is an excerpt
Well then, let's change the cartridge, shall we?
Mr. Nagai changed from DL-103 to Jasmine's high quality cartridge, Ceramic series...
Click here for the details of this ceramic series.Jasmine Audio MC Cartridge B&W Ceramic Series "TURTLE" - ExAUDIO (exclusive-audio.jp)
Adjust the needle pressure, etc., and let's listen...
Oh, wow! This is something else entirely! The sound coming out of the SATRI flat speaker with an adapter using a ceramic cartridge is so vivid that I have never heard such an analog sound! The sound is so lively and bouncy...
While I was groaning and moaning, it was time to go home...
Finally, let me play an old classical music disc.
It was recorded in the 50's, but the sound is so fresh and lively that it is hard to believe that it was recorded more than 60 years ago. This is a time machine.
Kazuma Nishino's blog "Audio Western Pure Land" is here.https://ameblo.jp/audioniravana/entry-12780795504.html?frm_src=favoritemail&fbclid=IwAR3vWbdSy3-Mk9iNVE-v-mRh5QyCsFjpZxAsABDpbj96SjJwAXuSTpgAJaw
