A priori avis mitigé
Review procedure
Limited to SME headshell universal mount arms, the Nasotec Swing Headshell was tried in 3 SME arms of varying vintage and condition:
SME 3012 Series I, unrestored and original except for the lead out wire and missing screening can, mounted on a sand filled plywood plinth driven by Garrard 401
SME 3012 Series II, completely original and unrestored driven by the Garrard 401
SME 3009 SII, equally original and unrestored but floating on a Thorens TD160 subchassis
Pickup cartridges included the MusicMaker II, a reasonable ADC VLM II. a Stanton 681EEE, various AT95 and AT110, the Dynavector XX-2 MkII, but the retipped Decca London was deemed too fragile for this test. All the cartridges were feeding the Canor TP306VR+ phono-stage, which has versatile loading adjustment facilities. The remainder of Mark's system comprised either the Canor TP106VR+ integrated amplifier, or an Audio Research Corporation Reference 3 pre-amplifier feeding the modified Assemblage SET300B (kit version of Sonic Frontiers), and the modified Hammer Dynamics loudspeakers in 18mm birch ply transmission lines, with custom outboard crossovers with hyperlitz inductors and couture caps. In order to establish precisely what contribution the Nasotec Swing Headshell makes to the overall sound, it was necessary to try such diverse equipment combinations.
Sound Quality
From the outset the non-78 results were mixed. The sound, despite the well crafted engineering of the Nasotec Swing headshell, often seemed insubstantial. The frequency response does not sound tilted but bass definition seems lacking and the soundstage seems to vary in size. The flatness and centering of records affects these effects in proportion. Warped or off-centre records are most affected, audiophile pressings are least affected. The engineering quality of the product is not in doubt.
"At this price for a headshell, the engineering should be peerless" assert plebs, stage left.
The primary characteristic seems to be a papery colouration. The nearest comparison that springs to mind is that of analogue tape flutter, not as bad as typical stereo compact cassette decks, even those with so called hi-fi pretensions, but domestic quality reel-to-reel decks of the 1970s. To identify the causes of the papery colouration, Mark employed various test discs. TNT-audio.com writers are unpaid volunteers, so we do not like wasting time faffing about with test discs when we could be enjoying music. Tracking ability seemed to be compromised on some test discs compared with a solid magnesium headshell, but curiously not on all. Pickup arm fundamental resonance only changed by the amount predicted by the different mass of the Nasotec swing headshell close to the cartridge. Bias tests do indicate that bias adjustments are completely different with this headshell. Indeed, this headshell becomes the perfect device for identifying the optimum bias setting.
This headshell became a useful vehicle for optimising the bias setting for any particular pickup cartridge using test discs. David finds it useful to rescue old collectible non-standard discs. Owners of multiple cartridges mounted in SME mount headshells will find the Nasotec Swing Headshell a useful tool to add to their set up toolkit. The swing headshell may be used as an aid to establish the optimum bias for each cartridge, which than then be recorded and the cartridge mounted in a headshell of the optimum mass and material for that model.
In a spirit of scientific endeavour, various ideas were tried to identify the source of the papery colouration. A tiny blob of Blutack (always a popular audiophile tuning material) applied at the pivot of the Nasotec Swing Headshell (with tracking force corrected to suit) reduced the papery colouration and beefed up the bass. Curiously it also improved the scale of the soundstage. However, it also defeats the whole raison d'être for this headshell.
[Nasotec Swing headshell in red]
Conclusion
Tough. Drawing a conclusion is what has delayed this review for 3 years and your Old Scribe is no closer now. The Nasotec Swing Headshell is a clever thing. The Nasotec Swing Headshell is very well made. The Nasotec Swing Headshell may or may not achieve what it sets out to achieve. The Nasotec Swing Headshell could solve problems where pick-up arm alignment is less than optimum. The Nasotec Swing Headshell could be a valuable tool in the set up toolbox of the analogue audiophile.
David finds that on the basis of this admittedly narrow test, he would say the Nasotec swing headshell has potential to be a useful tool in playing and restoring 78s that do not track with conventional headshells. That said, at better than $300 it is an expensive tool, and in most cases the more practical, or at least economical, approach would be to buy a better copy of the record. The headshell's most compelling application, then, is likely to be in addressing challenging rarities (as it happens, David's test disk may well fall into that category) or, perhaps, as an aid to a collector who has a large number of difficult records. Otherwise, David doubts the end would justify the cost.
The inevitable structural compromise and mass penalty of a pivot in the middle of a turntable headshell does create its own issues. Mark speculates that the audible papery coloration must arise from this additional joint because preventing it moving does improve the sound quality. The comprehensive list of partnering equipment Mark offered demonstrate the efforts made to identify the effect of this component on sound quality. There were actually many more discs tried and every possible permutation and combination with the arms available. Thos is a very interesting product, and very well made, but the Nasotec Swing Headshell, at the price, cannot be recommended on sound quality grounds.
Denis