The Swan

She's about 55 years old and 100% N.O.S.... I got her a few years ago and only listened sparingly, almost fearful about her weight and vertical tracking force.

She didn't played a groove in years 'til the recent cleaning and check up... papers say it's "only" good up to 15khz, but you'd say the same about a Neumann U47, blaming about its frequency curve, dips and peaks? 

The Swan simply "is" the Holy Grail! 

She sounds so zest, shiny, so rich in texture and music nuances portrayal and soooo quick and authoritative... 

Who cares about using 6,5 grams VTF? 

As Jonathan Halpern - also a passionate and avid DST-design scholar and collector (both Neumann and Lumiere's) - wisely commented on FB after someone guessed about excessive VTF: 

"Remember that its a 15u tip and conical so the pressure is spread. If Neumann thought it was correct, I feel pretty good about it. Neumann was the master of LP cutting and playback with the DST and WV2a, not to mention the lathes and GV2a reverse RIAA preamps. The only experiments I'm aware of were done by RCA with 6g of tracking on a mono LP. They found no appreciable wear after 2000 plays, I believe."

Furthermore, I feel confortable to add the high quality diamond tip was extremely expensive at the time - i.e. USD 9 each (1958 US Dollars...) vs. average USD 1 each of best contenders.

WTF!

I could listen to a record played with The Peak and the DST and then sell my system, as I - simply, plainly said - got The Ultimate Knowledge, found The Source of Sparkling Musical Bliss. 

I'll be able to recall this intense pleasure for a long time simply thinking to the shivers of joy I today experienced with the Swan! 

I got Satori... and shamelessly howled like a lone, old wolf to the Moon.

Listened to Gilliam Welch, Piers Faccini, Ravi Shankar, Skip James and Bill Frisell in a row... every disc was playing like brand new, lots of hidden sounds blossoming here and there, percussions decay, acoustic guitars resonances and harmonics, room and studio noises, female and male vocals a specialty... a palette of new vivid colors.

I had to regretfully stop listening to music - a sort-of coitus interruptus - to go home from my studio... not before having (you'd bet it?) my longest eargasm, ever... 

... and tears (I swear...) poured, as well.

I'm just an old, romantic fart, pals... yet, let me say: too much joy for only one person.

A HUGE thank you to Leonid Sinitsin who freed She from the debrises of a decades long storage.