Soundsmith Aida MKII Cartridge

Why choose the Soundsmith Aida MkII for vinyl playback

Soundsmith Aida MkII is a high-output Fixed Coil cartridge built for collectors who want accurate tracking through demanding passages, including inner grooves, without moving to a step-up transformer or head amp. The Aida MkII pairs a laser-drilled sapphire cantilever with a nude diamond stylus cut in the Contact Line profile, a combination Soundsmith designs specifically to keep the stylus tip stable as groove modulation increases towards the centre of the record. Because the cartridge is a Fixed Coil, or Moving Iron, design rather than a moving coil, it produces a high output voltage directly from the cartridge body, which simplifies system matching for owners running a standard moving magnet phono stage.

What sets the Soundsmith Aida MkII apart from other high-output cartridges?

The Aida MkII's distinguishing feature is its Contact Line stylus, ground with a sharper faceted playing surface than a conventional elliptical or spherical stylus. This shape lets the stylus follow tighter groove modulations and higher-frequency information that a less precisely profiled stylus can struggle to trace cleanly. Soundsmith pairs that stylus with an ultra-low effective tip mass of 0.30 mg, which reduces the inertia the stylus has to overcome as it follows rapid groove changes. The Fixed Coil construction also keeps electrical noise fed back into the record to a minimum and limits stylus jitter, the small, unwanted movement that can blur fine detail during fast passages.

Which phono stages and tonearms does the Aida MkII suit?

The Aida MkII outputs more than 2.12 mV at 5cm/sec, classing it as a high-output cartridge that's compatible with standard moving magnet phono inputs rather than requiring a dedicated MC stage. Soundsmith specifies a suggested preamp gain of 38 to 44 dB and a recommended load resistance of 47kΩ or greater, figures an owner should check against their phono stage before fitting the cartridge. Its DC resistance of 680Ω and coil inductance of 190 mH per channel are typical of a moving iron design and feed into how the cartridge interacts with the input impedance of the connected phono stage. The cartridge fits a standard ½ inch mount, so it suits any tonearm headshell built to that mounting standard, and its medium compliance of 22 µm/mN works best with tonearms of medium effective mass rather than very low or very high mass arms.

How do you set tracking force and stylus geometry during installation?

Soundsmith recommends a tracking force of 1.3 to 1.6g for the Aida MkII, with most owners settling around the middle of that range once the arm is balanced and anti-skate is set. The stylus uses a radius of curvature of 6 x 17 µm, a profile that demands accurate alignment on the cartridge jig or protractor so the contact line sits correctly in the groove across the full radius of the record. Getting tracking force and alignment right at installation matters more with a Contact Line stylus than with a simpler elliptical type, since the sharper profile is also less forgiving of misalignment.

Who is the Soundsmith Aida MkII built for?

The Aida MkII suits a vinyl collector who already owns a turntable and tonearm capable of medium compliance cartridges and wants a step up in tracking accuracy without changing their phono stage for a moving coil model. Because it's a high-output design, it also suits anyone consolidating their system around a single moving magnet input rather than running separate stages for high and low-output cartridges. Soundsmith builds the Aida MkII by hand at its Peekskill, New York factory, where the company has specialised in cartridge design, including Fixed Coil and Strain Gauge models, since 1972.

What does the sapphire cantilever and diamond stylus assembly consist of?

The cantilever is laser-drilled sapphire rather than the aluminium or boron used in many cartridges at this level, a material Soundsmith selects for its rigidity in transmitting groove information from stylus to coil with minimal flex. The stylus itself is a solid nude diamond, meaning the diamond is shaped directly rather than bonded to a metal shank, which keeps mass low at the point where it matters most for tracing fine detail. Together, the sapphire cantilever and nude diamond Contact Line stylus form the mechanical front end that channel separation figures of greater than 30 dB at 1kHz and a frequency response of 20Hz to 20kHz (±2.5 dB) depend on.

Phono Cartridge Guides

• MM vs MC Cartridges Explained
• How Cartridge Compliance Affects Tonearm Matching