My Sonic Lab Signature Platinum MC Stereo Phono Cartridge
The sound of My Sonic Lab cartridges is the result of master cartridge designer Yoshio Matsudaira seeking natural reproduction by minimizing signal loss, internal distortion, and phase distortion. The Eminent EX utilises Matsudaira-san’s unique SH-μX magnetic core. This special core material has a higher permeability and flux density than the core material typically used in MC cartridges.
It allows My Sonic Lab to use fewer coil windings than other moving coil cartridges, minimising distortions that degrade the signal while at the same time not sacrificing signal output. This high efficiency approach results in a wide dynamic range, fast transient response, low distortion and high signal-to-noise ratio. Users around the world have commented on the ability of My Sonic Lab cartridges to communicate tremendous natural detail, clarity and revealing new layers of information from their favourite records.
A key reason for the exalted sound of My Sonic Lab cartridges is the heritage or provenance of the creator. This can often help to explain why something sounds the way it does. Creating cartridges that produce this level of performance is only possible with immense experience and talent. Previous to founding My Sonic Lab, Mr. Matsudaira worked with Yoshiaki Sugano and played a major role in developing the original Koetsu Onyx cartridge. The two had met previously at Supex. Early in his career while Matsudaira-san worked with Sugano, he also designed a cartridge for Luxman, which is how he met Miura-san. They developed a close relationship which many years later led to Matsudaira designing and manufacturing cartridges for Air Tight while he was with Audio Craft. In 2004, after three decades of designing and building MCs for nearly every top Japanese cartridge manufacturer, Matsudaira started My Sonic Lab. He still does OEM/ODM for many of Japan’s top brands.
The Signature Platinum is one of the best all round cartridges in the world, it’s excellence never limited to a particular music genre or style. It delivers an honest, accurate, emotionally engaging performance of whatever music you play and is one of the ultimate expressions of designer Yoshio Matsudaira’s philosophy. Pure transparency without distortion or colouration. Building upon the outstanding design of Signature Gold, the Platinum eliminates the final percentages of cartridge coloration by incorporating a Black Ion Hardened Titanium body that is completely free of any audible resonance and a Boron cantilever, which is lighter, more rigid and faster than aluminium cantilevers. Where the Signature Gold perfectly expressed a sublimity with an understated evenness and dignity, the Signature Platinum is all about pushing the dynamic expression to new heights.
The result is pure transparency. The listener experiences a more precise, pure sound, with a greater sense of speed, fine detail, power and dynamics with even more presence and “there-ness”. Effortlessness, energy, pure emotion. This mix of both beauty, naturalness and unhindered information retrieval is a rarity at any price in hi-fi and distinguishes this cartridge in the handful that can be considered to be the finest in the world. The Signature Platinum is a masterpiece!
Reviews
Japan’s Stereo Sound
The My Sonic Lab Signature Platinum is my new reference. If I was told that it cost twice as much as it does, I’d still give it my warmest recommendation, simply because it presents something ground breaking and that, in my opinion, it is not possible to get a better pickup today.
Cartridge Dude, Richard Mak, 2020
Of all the reviews I have ever written on cartridges, this is probably the most glowing ever. I speak with my heart and my wallet. Needless to say, I purchased the review sample less than a month after its arrival. The Signature Platinum is My Sonic Lab’s most expensive cartridge yet, but it is still far less than many of the top cartridges now available. I have been asked many times whether this would be my desert island cartridge. My other two top favourites are the Lyra Olympos (which for all practical purposes is unavailable) and the ZYX Optimum 1 is more expensive and more finicky. Given the My Sonic Lab Signature Platinum’s adequate output, its lower MSRP relative to its peers, it’s lightning-fast transient response, its silky smooth and balanced tonality, it easily it is one of the most versatile top performance cartridge in the market.
Product Specifications
Body
Black Ion Titanium
Type
Moving Coil (MC)
Magnet
Neodymium magnet with special pure copper SH-μX core
Cantilever
Boron
Stylus
Semi-Line contact stylus (3µm × 30µm)
Terminal Pins
Polished rhodium-plated
Output Voltage
0.5mV at 1kHz
Internal Impedance
1.4Ω (DCR)
Weight
13g
Recommended Tracking Force
1.9–2.2g
Compliance
10 × 10⁻⁶ cm/dyne
Dynamic Compliance
10μm/mN
Recommended Loading
100–800Ω (ideal around 400Ω)
Frequency Response
10Hz–50kHz
Channel Balance
< 0.5dB (1kHz)
Channel Separation
> 30dB (1kHz)
Tracking Ability
@315Hz at 2g tracking force
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